Rear - Leaf Springs

The 1965 Dodge Coronet was built in the Spartanburg, SC shops of famed NASCAR pioneer Cotton Owens as a dirt track / short track car for driver David Pearson's usage in the Chrysler Boycott shortened 1965 season.  During the 1965 NASCAR Grand National Season, Pearson won the Sandlapper 200 on the 1/2-mile dirt Columbia Speedway at Columbia, South Carolina.  Pearson also won the Capital City 300 on the 1/2-mile dirt track at the Richmond Fairgrounds.

James Hylton purchased the car as a turnkey from Owens at the end of the 1965 season and both Hylton and crew chief Bud Hartje set their goals on the 1966 NASCAR Grand National Season.  "The car was built to run dirt and it was super heavy" stated Hylton "we only had one car so we ran it at all the tracks that NASCAR ran on back then."  In 1966, Hylton won the coveted NASCAR Grand National "Rookie of the Year" award by compiling 20 Top-5 and 32 Top-10 finishes in 41 races.  Hylton finished second in the 1966 points championship to David Pearson by a thin margin.  Hylton was 1,950 points behind first place Pearson and 10,736 points in front of the third place finisher, Richard Petty.

The only change that Hylton made in 1967, was to change the car's paint scheme from white to yellow.  The same reliable 426 cubic inch engine that propelled the car in 1966 was again used for the 1967 season.  Hylton again finished second in the Grand National points championship with an incredible 26 Top-5 and 39 Top-10 finishes in 46 races.  In any ordinary season, this would have been good enough for a championship but 1967 was the year that Richard Petty won a CUP record 27 wins.

Up until the last race of the 1967 season, the 65 Coronet had survived 87 NASCAR Grand National races without a scratch. That changed on October 29, 1967, as Hylton spun the 48 Dodge in oil from Bobby Isaac's motor on lap 55 at Rockingham.  The car was unable to compete at the season's final race at Ashville-Weaverville Speedway and was sold to a dirt track racer in Virginia.  The Dodge soldiered on there until it was eventually scrapped. Hylton stated "there will never be another race car like that 65 Coronet".