1968 Dodge Coronet R/T Mopar - All Show, All Go

It is an ugly dichotomy, this hobby which we so passionately pursue. In one corner, we have hideous steel monstrosities that run like hell at the track. In the other, divinely sculpted works of visual enchantment that have never cracked open their secondaries. Those that strike a balance between these diametrically opposed disciplines are a rare breed. Those that brew up a mix of speed and good looks with any degree of success are practically an endangered species. And those that can combine speed and looks on a reasonable budget are damn near extinct. Such insurmountable odds notwithstanding, Scott Miller has managed to pull the hat trick with his '68 Dodge Coronet R/T.

It runs 11s, looks good doing it, and was built on a budget of $23,000. The story begins way back in Casper, Wyoming, 19 years ago. Still in his teens, with fond images of Smokey and the Bandit entrenched in his memory, Scott was ready to break his piggy bank for a '78 Trans Am. Then, instinct suddenly took over and he walked away from the deal as if following subliminal orders from a higher power. "When I was a kid, my dad had a '67 GTX with a 440 motor, four-speed, and a Dana 60 rearend," says Scott. "I guess I was destined to become a Mopar guy because of that. Isn't that how it always works out-you end up loving the same cars that your dad did?"

Instead of snatching up a cruise-worthy Poncho, Scott picked up a rotted-out Coronet that had been vegetating in a field for years. "One of my friends told me about a Coronet he spotted in someone's yard, so I stopped by to check it out on the way to work one day," he explains. "The quarter panels were rusted out, the tires were flat, and the top end of the motor was junk. But overall, the car was straight. They really didn't want to sell it because they were the original owners, so I probably paid more for it than I should have." Nonetheless, the $2,000 price tag seems like an absolute bargain by today's market standard.

After trailering the car home, the first order of business was to rehabilitate the stock 440. Working on a tight budget, Scott had to proceed frugally. The rebuild entailed a simple cleanup hone, and a set of fresh rings and bearings. The stock rotating assembly, oil system, and rocker arms were retained to keep costs to a minimum. Like any hot-rodder, Scott wanted to pump up power output while the motor was apart. Due to a lack of affordable aftermarket castings at the time, Scott elected to port and rebuild the factory iron heads. They were fitted with new 2.14/1.81-inch valves, and milled to bump compression up to 10.5:1. To take advantage of the increase in flow, a Mopar Performance 248/248-at-0.050 cam was slid into place. It is all fed by a Holley 950-cfm carb and an Edelbrock dual-plane intake for a broad powerband. (Dave Burtonolli Racing Engines gets credit for the work.)

At this stage in the restoration, the Coronet was ready to rumble. For some gearhead kids living in a cold climate far away from a race track, street racing is the activity of choice as soon as the snow melts. "In Wyoming, it's only nice enough outside to do that sort of thing four to five months out of year," says Scott. "I got 14 tickets in one year and lost my drivers license twice while street racing." Of course, in retrospect, he is quick to reprimand his youthful irresponsibility. [PHR in no way sanctions or condones street racing.-ed.]

With the bulk of its street racing days behind it and residing now in Texas, Scott decided to polish the Coronet up a bit by addressing parts which had been previously neglected. After years of abuse, the factory TorqueFlite trans had seen better days. John Goble Transmissions of Waco, Texas rebuilt the 727, and threw in a 3,400-stall converter in the process. For some extra scoot coming out of the hole, the factory 3.23:1 ring-and-pinion set was replaced with 3.91 cogs. Putting it all down to the ground are massive Mickey Thompson 28x12.5x15 Sportsman Pro tires, wrapping 15x10-inch Weld Draglites. This combination is good for 11.95-second ETs at 117 mph, which falls in line with Scott's claim of 500-550 hp. The factory four-wheel drum brakes that were marginal in 1968, become downright hazardous with this kind of power. Since high-buck aftermarket brakes were out of the question, Scott scored a set of front discs and spindles off of a '74 Duster, and matched them up with a larger master cylinder.

Minimalism and functionality best describe the interior. Lightweight racing buckets from Summit and Simpson lap belts cinch occupants into place, and Scott custom-fabricated the seat brackets to save a few bucks. Aside from an Auto Meter tach for track duty, the cabin is stock, with original trim bits that look factory-fresh. And do not bother looking for back seats-there are none. In their place is a piece of molded carpet, perfectly tracing the contours of the floor panel.

Like most racers, Scott focused his efforts mostly on performance, choosing not to dwell too much on outward appearances. But when snide asides started getting on his nerves, the next phase of the Coronet's buildup took shape. "The paint looked so bad that every time I took the car out, people said 'this will be such a nice car once you get it painted,'" says Scott. "I must have heard that a dozen times each weekend." Content with the performance milestones his car had achieved, the next challenge was getting its exterior on a level commensurate with its accomplished track record. And so Scott called upon J.R.'s Customs of Waco, Texas, for help.

Since budget bodywork often ends in budget results, Scott allotted a much bigger chunk of change on aesthetics, than on any other portion of the buildup. And by "much bigger" we are talking about a total of-gasp-over $9,000 on the paint and body. In all fairness, show-quality bodywork does not come cheap. The fact that the body was primed and blocked five times, in addition to receiving two coats of paint and four coats of clear, makes the price tag more palatable. And when reclining at dusk and admiring the crisp reflections gleaming off of the car's panels, the notion that it was money well spent is only reinforced. To put it succinctly, the Coronet's sheetmetal and paint is well beyond that of your average feature car, which is probably why it comes home with a trophy from just about every show it enters.

At the end of the day, most track stars are still ugly, and most show cars are still pansy wagons. That is not going to change any time soon-if ever-which is exactly what makes Scott's Coronet so peerless. It is a car that mixes two decades of memories, blazing performance, and a gorgeous veneer. And neither drag race experts nor show car gurus can argue with that.

Budget BreakdownSometimes you reach a point with a long-term project car where you just cannot put an exact figure on the cost. Maybe you have misplaced some receipts, the receipts you do have are faded beyond the point of recognition, or you just stopped saving them altogether. All three scenarios apply to Scott Miller and his Coronet, and the problem is compounded by the fact that his project has spanned two decades, leaving his memory a little fuzzy. Below is a rough breakdown of Scott's budget. For items where an exact amount was unavailable, we have printed prices from the Summit catalog.

By The Numbers68 Dodge Coronet R/TScott Miller * Austin, TXTotal cost to build: $23,358