MISS-JADE

The automatic was faster than the manual. Chrysler knew it before anyone admitted it. This car still has the buttons to prove it.

When Plymouth introduced the pushbutton TorqueFlite, the engineers already knew what the track numbers would show. At wide-open throttle, the automatic shifted faster and more consistently than any driver could with a manual. The NHRA Super Stock classes figured this out quickly.

The pushbutton — mounted on the dash, not the floor — became the weapon of choice for serious racers. 1963 was the last year Plymouth offered bucket seats with the pushbutton setup.

After that, the console came back, the buttons went away, and a piece of drag racing history quietly closed. This car keeps that piece alive.

The pushbutton TorqueFlite is still there, exactly where it was in 1963.

What's around it is not stock by any measure — S&W cage, tubbed rear end, narrowed 8¾ locker with 4.10 gears, Simpson 5-point harnesses front and rear.

The 440 cubic inch stroker under the hood is punched .030 over, breathing through a 850 cfm carb and a Direct Connection cam.

500 hp through a body that weighs what a 1963 B-body weighs.

It completed the 2024 Hot Rod Power Tour as a Long Hauler.

That means it drove the whole route.

Not trailered.

Not babied.

Driven.

There were men in 1963 who understood exactly what a car like this could do.