ORIGINAL: RLSH700

A 426 HEMI will fit into the engine bay of those cars? It doesn't look like it would fit.

...Okay, heres what I know from personal experience. In the 60's there was a firm called Cornell Labs on Genesee St across from the Buffalo NY airport that did crash testing and other automotive destructive testing. Road barricades, lite poles, vehicle to vehicle etc. One of my 66 Hemi Chargers was purchased by an engineer who worked at that facility from the Dodge dealership that I worked at from late 65 to 71. Actually several of the engineers purchased new and used cars from us. In the spring of 1969 we picked up a 69 Hemi RoadRunner Coupe at their facility to do some tune-up and performance work on it to make it faster.They were using it as a TOW VEHICLE to sling shot cars in to barriers and poles to study crash testing results. I remember that we ran the valves, re-curved the distributor and installed a set of Hooker headders. No pipes or mufflers, just headders. We made several high speed passes up and down US 20 to make sure it ran OK, boy howdy, it it run good!!! The resturant near the dealership called to complain about the plates rattling on the shelves when we did our fly-bys!! When we were done having our fun, the dealership owner said lets go. I followed him in his 63 Imperial back to Buffalo, listening to the open pipes of a Hemi blast all the way. WOWSER!! We just dropped the car off and left, I thought the end of ever seeing this car again. Later that year, the boss had me take some tools and go to the labs to do some repair work on the brake system. Hot dog! maybe I get to have some FUN. Imagine my surprise when they escort me out back to the RR and see a concrete slab about 3' tall with the RR body welded to I beams and a HUGE truck rear end installed with a MONSTER drum and cable assembly attached. No interior except a ton of electronics, no front wheels, just a red RR body and Hemi now used to cable tow vehicles into objects. When I asked why, the engineer said they could controll the rate of speed better, rather than tow vehicles at ground speed. I was there to bleed the brakes from th RR master Cylinder to the hook up they used to slow down the Monster drum assembly so it didnt wrap up the cable in knots as it spooled down, after a crash test. The RR was totally controlled by remote controll from a block house a little down range where that actual crash took place and was filmed for further review.Start-up, warm-up, TF engagement, cable pull and shut down was done by electronics, servos, and solenoids. The actual speed of the towed victim was kept constant by a type of rev-limiter on the Hemi that would let the engine rev to a pre determined rpm for the target cable speed, then cut off and allow the engine speed to drop to the target lower rpm and the re-accelerate to the peak rpm over and over, sort of like rrRRR...rrRRR...rrRRR...rrRRR...rrRRR, sounded tough on the Hemi, but they got the cable speed and ground speed they were looking for. After fixing the brake deal, I got to watch a crash test into a lite pole for Interstate use done for New Jersey DOT . They used a Ford Falcon (62-63) into a lite pole to test the break away strength of the pole.That was the last I ever saw the RR and I understand they went to multiple hemis mounted in a block house, however I never did see that in person. I did make inquiries in the late 70's early 80's about motors and parts to Cal-Span Corp, who now owned the facility, no response. In the early 90's I was invited in for some wheel balancer tests{ I was a Manufacter Rep for FMC Automotive Equipment} for PacWest Racing. I made more inquiries, but the engineer wasnt aware of that phase of testing back in the 60's and 70's. It was GREAT to work in a dealership back in the day!!!!