In the ’60s, Mr Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge wasn’t your average dealership. Instead of simply selling whatever Dodge was building that year, Mr Norm’s targeted the youth market that wanted performance above all else.

And when Dodge couldn’t offer what his buyers wanted. Owner Norman Kraus was willing to build it himself. Hemmings has an excellent article on Kraus, including how he gave birth to a 383 V8 in the Dodge Dart. The story goes that Kraus wanted something to compete with Chevrolet’s Chevelle powered by the 396 engine and tried to order Darts from Dodge outfitted with the company’s 383 V8. He was turned down, however, when Dodge’s engineers said the 383 wouldn’t fit in the compact Dart. Instead of giving up Kraus ordered a new Dart, a 383 crate engine and tasked his mechanics with figuring it out–which they did. Dodge quickly followed Mr Norm’s lead, which gave birth to the Dodge Dart GTS with (you guessed it) the 383 engine.

This car isn’t a Dart, but it is a 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T with the 426 “Elephant” Hemi that was sold new out of the Mr Norm’s dealership. Kevin Oeste does a great job with his Muscle Car of the Week videos, and this car in triple black with the four speed and piston grip shifter definitely has us drooling. Check it out and let us know what you think.