!!! SEARCHING FOR HISTORY / INFO ON THIS CAR !!!

I have put this page together in an attempt to find additional information on the history of my current project '70 HEMI Road Runner.  On this page you will find everything I know about this car, from known areas it has been, previous owners, along with some pictures that I have of the car prior to me owning it.

If there is a chance at all that you were into Mopars in the 70's and lived in mid or southern Texas, PLEASE take a few minutes to read over what I have to present here.  Some of it may ring a bell with you or you may know someone that had a cousin who's friend went to school with the father of a guy who... well, you get the idea.

It's gotta be from Texas!

All paperwork that I have found was generated in Texas.  Aside from R&R Salvage in Mo., all previous owners lived in mid or south Texas.  I have talked to a previous owner who lived in the Houston area.  He purchased it from a nieghbor.  Info on that neighbor is non-existant.  The only clues prior to this neighbor are some physical clues from the car itself, and those take us to south Texas.  So with that, here is all I know...

South of the Border!

In the upper corners of the windshield were stickers issued for 1972, allowing easier/frequent crossing of the border into Mexico.  Here is the sticker-

There was one of these in each corner.  The date is 1972 and these "passes" are for the popular border crossing town of Reynosa, Mexico.  Reynosa is adjacent to McAllen, Tx, which is the biggest immediate city.  See map below-

Along with these stickers are some bumper stickers at the rear showing a visit to an agricultural fair in Nuevo Leon, Mexico in 1973.  Also, while cleaning the car out I found several coins... all Mexican.  Although the car was originally B5 blue, I do not know it's condition or color during these Mexican traveling years.

Remember, the car was originally B5 blue with a blue interior, 4 speed and no striping of any kind on the outside.  I can't help thinking that it was sold new somewhere between McAllen and Houston.

The car moves north a bit.

The trail picks up again in the Houston area in the late 70's.  Phillip Gessner was in the service and while home on a 3 month leave, bought the car from a neighbor.  He tells me the neighbor, a women, was tired of dealing with her son and the car and promptly separated the two by selling the car.  At this time the car was painted black, had radiused wheel wells with small flairs built in.  It was powered by a 383 and sported ET slotted mags all around.  The front and rear bumpers were blacked out on the bottom half.  The HEMI K member was still there but the HEMI mounts were cut out and big block mounts welded in place.  It is believed all this was done years earlier, maybe even during the Mexican border crossing days.  Anyhoo, Phillip worked on the car during most of his leave, adding, amoung other things, an over the counter 6 bbl set-up he got from the Plymouth dealer in Houston that his father worked at.  Phillip tells me that after all that work, the first night out the trans broke and he never messed with the car again.  He had to return to duty and the car was later sold by his father.  From what I can assume, based on the pictures and dates, the car was parted out over a couple of years and the rolling body was sold off in the early 80's.  Here are some pictures of the car in Phillip Gessners driveway as he installed the 6bbl setup...

What I'm hoping to find is someone who may have lived in the McAllen, Corpus Cristi, Houston or anywhere in between, that may remember this car running around the streets.  Who knows, YOU may have owned it at one time... or your buddy, or dad or uncle or whoever!  Again, I don't know when the flairs and black paint were added or when the HEMI was yanked and the 383 was put in, but by the looks of things, it was within the cars first few years.