Limited-Edition Print of 350 (13x19)
Signed and numbered by the Artist.
One of the prettier, yet seldom seen cars in 1968, was the Romeo Palamides built "Stardust" Dodge Charger owned by Don Schumacher.
After the initial success of Schumacher's 66/67 Charger, Romeo built this 68 Charger for Don. The car was originally built with an injected engine and was painted (by Dave Puhl), to match the 66 Chargers paint scheme.
When the car was refitting with a new Supercharger , it was decided to give the car a fresh new look... In 67, the car that drew the most attention (paint wise), was the Don Ricklefs painted, aqua and teal colored "Flying Dutchman" Dart. Not wanting to be outdone, Dave Puhl of "House of Kustoms" (out of the Chicago area), wanted to match "Dutchman's" vivid color scheme, with his own Candied "Viridian" over metalflake silver paint job.
Although the car was beautiful to look at, it's performance left much to be desired.
Romeo Palamides was one of the Most Creative builders in Drag Racing, and is probably best known for his successful line of Jet Cars; although, a couple examples of his stand-out Funny Cars would be, the 72 "Chi-Town Hustler" Charger, and Mr. Norms 72 "Challenger" driven by Gary Dyer and Kenny Safford.
This "Stardust" Charger was unique in the fact that the body was hinged in the front, and the body was raised from the rear to allow driver access.
The engine was located behind what would become the standard location under the windshield, to a mid car position...This engine location, pushed Don's seating so far back that his helmet protruded through the rear window. As good as the cars looks, it just didn't run, and I couldn't find any performance stats on the car at all...
The next year, Don would move to a new Don Hardy Built Cuda that was meant to be the new "California Flash," for Butch Leal. Leal took one look at the car, and was scared to death, he sold it to Schumacher, and the rest is history.
Still, one of the prettier, and sleeker looking cars ever, was Romeo's "Stardust " Charger...Seen here doing some shakedown runs at an empty "Green Valley" Drag Strip.
