Chapter 1
THE BIRTH OF AN ICON
The story of the RAG DOLL starts in Vietnam, in 1969. A 23-year-old American Soldier named Gary Kozlowski was counting the days until he was to return home to Hamtramck, Michigan. Over his tour, Sgt. Kozlowski had saved all of his earnings and war money in an old Folger's coffee can. His plan was to save enough money to purchase a new car that would await his arrival, back in America. Though he grew up a fan of Chrysler products and fancied himself a "Mopar-Man", his first choice was a status-symbol known as the Corvette. He wrote letters home to his father, Frank, and asked him to get pricing on the car, as well as assist in placing the order. Yellow, 4-speed, black interior, and the 350hp 350 small block engine. Those were his requests. When Frank's letter found its way to Vietnam, Gary was quite disappointed in the $5400 price tag. He simply could not afford it.
Time for option two.
Gary, once again, wrote to his father. He asked to get information on the all-new for 1970, Plymouth Cuda. Again, he wanted Yellow, so he chose Lemon Twist, with Black interior and Bucket seats. A 4-speed manual trans with the new Pistol-Grip shifter was desired. Mated to a 383 big block, this Cuda was going to be a fun car. Also new for 1970 was the Black "Hockey Stick" stripes on the rear quarters. Rounding out the options were 14" Magnum 500 wheels, raised white-letter tires and a set of factory Hood-Pins. The whole package was topped off with a Black Vinyl Roof. Franks return letter arrived a couple weeks later with a price of $3200 for the Cuda, the way Gary had spec'd it out.
Perfect! The cash was sent home for the new Plymouth.
When Gary arrived home on January 1st, 1970, the new Yellow Cuda was waiting for him in front of the family home on Evaline street, in Hamtramck. After spending his first day home, reuniting with his family, Gary was eager to drive his new Muscle Car. On January 2nd, 1970, that time had come. Over the course of the next few months, Gary grew to dislike his new Cuda. Lemon Twist was definitely the correct color name. As this lemon must have been built on a Monday or a Friday. Various rattles and discomforts aside, when the winter weather began to break with clean, dry pavement under the car, Gary found himself on the losing end of more than just a handful of street-races. Additionally, he had the car back at the dealer for transmission repairs on 3 separate occasions. But the final straw was when he was taking his mother, Mary, to work. As they drove over a set of railroad tracks, the back window fell out of the car and shattered on the street behind them. That's when Gary knew he needed a new car.
Not long after that, when he was out driving, Gary spotted a brand new Dodge Challenger in a parking lot, wearing a coat of beautiful pink paint. After a quick inspection of the Challenger, he drove right to Johnny Motor Sales in Hamtramck. Gary sat down with his salesman, Joe Russo, and ordered a new Roadrunner. First things first, was the incredible new Pink color he had just seen. New for the Spring of 1970 were two new colors: J6, known as "Sassy Grass Green," along with FM3 "Moulin Rouge" ("Green Go and Panther Pink" on Dodge models), were never printed into the sales brochures. To get it, ya had to know about it. Being a new "mid-year" color, it was not very well known. In some cases (like this one), not even the dealership salesmen were aware. Mr. Kozlowski and Mr. Russo sat and literally argued over the existence of this new color. Finally, Joe picked up the phone and called another dealership to find out the information needed to order the Roadrunner.
Next on the list was a White Convertible Top. Obviously, he inquired about the Earth-Shaking HEMI. But with no powertrain warranty offered by the dealership on HEMIs, that was out of the question—especially with the hefty $825 additional cost on the price tag. The next best thing was the new mighty 440 6-Barrel engine. And as powerful and fast as they were (and commonly known to shut down an occasional HEMI), the Six-Pack engines were also very commonly known to be quite temperamental and required frequent adjustments and tuning to keep the three carburetors working well together. After spending the past year and a half in Vietnam, in the motor pool, working on Jeeps and Tanks, while being bombed and shot at, this was not a memory Sgt. Kozlowski was looking forward to reliving. So, he opted for the only other engine choice available on the Roadrunner... the trusty 383 4-Barrel. Having less than spectacular luck with the Manual Transmission in his Cuda, Gary chose the bulletproof 727 Torqueflite Automatic. And with a new Marital Engagement to his girlfriend, Pat, on his mind, he opted for a Column Shifter and Bench front seat amidst the Black deluxe interior. - It was 1970 and having your arm around your girl was far more important than having her safely buckled in with Seat Belts. - So, the Bench Seat and Column Shift were chosen.
Now that the general "look" of the car had been completed, Gary continued down the order form with a series of options that were geared toward his original intended use of this car... a Boulevard Bruiser! Mr. Kozlowski had full intentions of using this car to compete in the very-alive Street Racing scene in and around Hamtramck and Detroit. Moving down the powertrain line, Gary inquired about a Dana 60 rearend. His father, Frank, worked for Dana Gear & Grinding. And Gary wanted his father's work on his new car. But unfortunately, the Dana rearend was only available with the aforementioned Hemi or a Six Barrel engine. After reconsidering engine options for a moment, Gary stuck to his guns and continued with the 383 engine and an 8 3/4 rear. Going after the largest gear-ratio allowed, a 3.91:1 Sure Grip rear gear was selected. And the new "trap-door" style "Air Grabber" Fresh-Air hood option with the "Performance Hood Treatment" Black accent stripes would help give the Runner some much needed attitude on the big Pink B-Body. Manual Steering and Manual Brakes were chosen to both keep the price down and also stick with the "Bare Bones Race Car" theme. A Rallye Dash with a Tic-Toc-Tach helped monitor the revs and a 26" Radiator kept the engine cool during all the high rpm passes. The Pink Plymouth would roll out of the St. Louis factory on May 8th, 1970, wearing Body-Colored Steel Wheels with Dog Dish Hubcaps, wrapped in a set of Goodyear Polyglas GT white-lettered tires.
As it would turn out, only 429 Roadrunner Convertibles would be built in 1970 with a 383 and an automatic transmission. Furthermore, there were only 5 other people who would order a Pink Roadrunner Convertible. Gary Kozlowski had created one of the rarest Musclecars to ever roll out of a Big Three factory.
