{"id":83449,"date":"2024-12-13T02:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T07:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=83449"},"modified":"2024-12-09T09:21:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T14:21:50","slug":"hemi-hilborn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2024\/12\/hemi-hilborn.html","title":{"rendered":"HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> & Hilborn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who doesn\u2019t get a little misty-eyed at the sight of Tony Holmberg\u2019s 1967 Dodge Coronet R\/T coming into view on-screen? Add a 572-cubic-inch Ray Barton-built HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine with a Hilborn fuel injection system and the excitement is monumental!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a Pro Street look and over a meter-wide rear tire width, this Dodge could easily double as an eye-catching asphalt roller on any road construction project worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Tony Holmberg from Torsby in southern Sweden brought the car from the USA to Sweden in 2015. It arrived in the region of V\u00e4rmland in roughly this condition, built by a father-and-son team in Chandler, Arizona, USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They started rebuilding the Dodge in 1998, so it took them quite a few years to finish it. According to reports, the car managed to roll only 100 kilometers before they sold it,\u201d Holmberg says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Judging by the Coronet\u2019s condition, that could very well be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, it\u2019s chance that determines which car catches your heart. Holmberg was browsing eBay casually when this Mopar\u00ae<\/sub><\/strong> vehicle appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI wasn\u2019t exactly looking for a 1967 Coronet, let\u2019s put it that way. These models aren\u2019t usually my thing. I was searching for a good race HEMI with a compatible transmission to put in my 1968 Charger, and the Coronet had just that. So, I thought I\u2019d buy the car just to get the parts. Then, when the Coronet arrived in Sweden, it was one hundred percent correct and in beautiful condition. So, what do you do? I couldn\u2019t just pull out the engine and transmission from such a fine car,\u201d Holmberg says with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if a car is in excellent condition, there\u2019s always something to adjust. The rear axle was soon changed from a 4.88:1 ratio to a more street-friendly 3.73:1. The 10-inch velocity stacks lost two inches to allow room for a substantial HEMI scoop. Then there was the matter of the rear leaf springs, which were far too weak for the car\u2019s weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI replaced them with stronger parts so the car could actually have some suspension travel,\u201d Holmberg explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, the Coronet comes in Road\/Track styling, at least if you look at details like the taillight panel – a feature so striking it can make you wonder whether you\u2019re looking at the front or rear end of the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authentic? No.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis isn\u2019t an R\/T car; it rolled off the line with a 318-cubic-inch engine. But I doubt many miss the original engine when the HEMI roars out 865 horsepower,\u201d Holmberg notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coronet might look like a pure race build, but everything actually works: horn, turn signals, electric door locks, window lifts and so on. But there\u2019s one thing Holmberg would like to change – the steering.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt has rack-and-pinion steering now, and the car doesn\u2019t steer well. The Coronet isn\u2019t exactly the kind of car you throw around in a drift,\u201d Holmberg says in his classic V\u00e4rmland accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, and there\u2019s no power steering either, as such conveniences drain power. However, the car does have Wilwood brakes all around, so it stops quickly and easily. Holmberg is especially pleased that he just has to turn the key and drive off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Along with the Ray Barton-built HEMI engine, the car includes a race-prepped 727 transmission and a Dana 60 rear axle. Safety features include a five-point harness and a full roll cage. The engine is serviced with a nearly ten-liter Milodon oil pan, dual electric fans, a Meziere electric water pump, a large Ron Davis radiator, an Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump and dual four-inch exhaust pipes. All gauges come from Autometer\u2019s Pro Comp series, and the rear suspension is a four-link setup from Chassisworks.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Tested on the drag strip? Yes, Holmberg has made a few runs at Orsa Drag Strip. Did he get a time? Well\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something we need to talk too loudly about. You\u2019re lucky to get it under twelve seconds. It\u2019s all about the gear ratio and tire height not quite aligning. It should be able to hit low elevens without much trouble,\u201d Holmberg says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It should be added that he has two yellow Dodge Chargers for faster drag racing. One comes with a supercharger and an engine that should propel it down the quarter-mile in about 9.5 seconds. If he plans to do that, Holmberg would need to address the fact that the car only has a lap belt\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Holmberg, as mentioned, hasn\u2019t done much wrenching on the Coronet, but that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s afraid of a little grease under his nails. Most of his life, he\u2019s worked on engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s true that no ordinary person today can work on engines expecting it to be like it was in the 1970s or 1980s. It takes a bit more now,\u201d Holmberg says with a grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Holmberg is approaching 70 years old and has been into American cars for over 50 years. It shows. In spirit, he\u2019s eternally young, even if he may no longer feel as immortal as he did at 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI bought my first Dodge Charger then, in my twenties. It was always sliding around. How many Chargers have I owned? Not that many. Six or seven, maybe, including a HEMI car in the early 1990s,\u201d Holmberg says, smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n

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He bought his first American car at just seventeen – a Plymouth Valiant, naturally, one of Sweden\u2019s most common Mopar vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Who doesn\u2019t get a little misty-eyed at the sight of Tony Holmberg\u2019s 1967 Dodge Coronet R\/T coming into view on-screen? Add a 572-cubic-inch Ray Barton-built HEMI\u00ae engine with a Hilborn fuel injection system and the excitement is monumental! With a Pro Street look and over a meter-wide rear tire width, this Dodge could easily double as an eye-catching asphalt roller on any road construction project worldwide. Tony Holmberg from Torsby in southern Sweden brought the car from the USA to Sweden in 2015. It arrived in the region of V\u00e4rmland […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":83456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2624],"tags":[2948,3012],"class_list":["post-83449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-owners-clubs","tag-dodge-classics","tag-dodge-europe"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/HEMIandHilborn_Feature.jpg","social_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/HEMIandHilborn_Social.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83449"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83622,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83449\/revisions\/83622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}