Tommy Lee Bird over on YouTube has a great channel dubbed the Hot Rod Hoarder and it’s always bristling with cool old hot rod and race car content. Mr.Bird was at the Holley MoParty in Bowling Green last month and brought back a ton of footage of the coolest old Mopar racers, street machines, and gassers on record. If you haven’t been to the MoParty, here’s a quick cheat sheet to bring you up to speed.

The Holley MoParty features a huge turnout of amazing Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, and AMC muscle cars, but the highlight for many are the historic drag cars, street machines, and street racers that pack into Beech Bend Raceway Park for a weekend of fun.

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In the video above, Mr. Bird takes on a tour of his favorite cars at the 2023 MoParty. You’ll see a street racer from Chicago, Mr. Norm’s Dodge Coronet, a 1969 Dodge Charger 500 drag car, and a 1969 Dodge Daytona with original paint. Bird also found several street machines from all generations, and of course, historic drag cars like the Hurst Hemi Under Glass Barracuda, the Mopar Missile Plymouth Duster, and more.

This event always delivers when it comes to action…drag racing, autocross racing, and the burnout contest keep you running wide open all weekend long. Be sure to watch until the end to see the burnout contest, where Sleepderdude slays everyone in his alcohol-burning AMC Gremlin.

We loved all the footage of parts, rims, tires, and entire cars for sale. There is much flotsam and jetsum from over 100 years of the automobile industry, hiding in garages, barns, and boneyards. For one weekend, it all gets dragged out onto the grass. Tommy Lee has a great way of explaining the history of all treasures at show/swap meets like this.

We really dug the Hemi Under Glass Barracuda

One of the most amazing Mopar machines ever built is the Hurst Hemi Under Glass, a series of Plymouth Barracudas that could do incredible wheelstands on the drag strip. These cars had a 426 Hemi engine mounted in the rear, which gave them a lot of weight and power on the back wheels. The name Hurst Hemi Under Glass came from the fact that you could see the engine through the large rear window of the car.

The Hurst Hemi Under Glass was created by George Hurst, the founder of Hurst Performance, in 1965. He wanted to show off his auto parts, such as shifters and wheels, in the A/FX class, which allowed carmakers to try different engine and body combinations. He got the idea from Ray Brock, an automotive journalist, who suggested putting a Hemi in the back of a Barracuda to make it faster off the line. The result was a car that could heave its front wheels off the ground and run on its rear wheels for the whole quarter-mile.

The original driver of the Hurst Hemi Under Glass was Wild Bill Shrewsberry, who helped to turn it into a wheelie exhibition car. He left after one season and was replaced by Bob Riggle, who became the most famous driver of the Hurst Hemi Under Glass. Riggle drove the car from 1966 to 1975, and then again from 1992 to 2016. He had several crashes, including one in 2016 where he flipped over with Jay Leno as a passenger. They were both unhurt, but the car was badly damaged.

The Hurst Hemi Under Glass was not just one car, but nine different versions, each based on the current model year of the Barracuda. The original 1965 car was taken apart in 1967 and no longer exists. The other cars have been restored or rebuilt over the years, and some of them are still being driven today. The current driver of the Hurst Hemi Under Glass is Mike Mantel, who took over in 2016.

We don’t know which car is in the video but we do know we love it. At a run time of more than 30 minutes, the video takes a minute to get through but worth every second. The Hemi Under Glass is just one of many cars Bird shows us. It is an amazing sequence he’s brought back for us.

There are many events to whet your whistle at the MoParty show, including:

• Swap Meet: A place where you can buy, sell, or trade Mopar parts and vehicles with other participants.
• Off-Road Experience: A chance to test your Mopar’s off-road capabilities on a specially designed course.
• 3S Challenge: A combination of speed, stop, and steer, where you have to navigate a course that requires acceleration, braking, and turning skills.
• Autocross: A timed event where you have to drive your Mopar through a cone-marked course as fast as possible without hitting any cones.
• Burnout Challenge: A contest where you have to create the most smoke and noise with your Mopar’s tires.
• Car Show: A display of Mopars of all kinds, from classics to moderns, judged by various categories and awards.
• Countryside Cruise: A scenic drive through the beautiful Kentucky countryside with other Mopar owners.
• Drag Racing: A head-to-head competition where you have to race your Mopar down a quarter-mile track against another Mopar.
• Dodge Thrill Rides: A ride-along experience where you can experience the power and performance of Dodge vehicles driven by professional drivers.
• Dyno Challenge: A measurement of your Mopar’s horsepower and torque on a dynamometer.
  Grand Champion: A title awarded to the Mopar that performs the best in multiple events throughout the weekend.
• Mullet Contest: A fun competition where you can show off your hairstyle and win prizes.