An enthusiast’s car is never really done. There is always something that we want to upgrade, change, or redo. Dwayne Gouw faithfully works on this Plymouth in the off season even though it might look done, there is always something he wants to do.
Dwayne was introduced to car culture, specifically Mopars, by his dad who drove Chrysler and Dodge products through out his entire life. Dwayne’s first car was a Mustang II and was admittedly a piece of junk. He does look back now and knows that he learned a lot from constantly having to fix that car. He was lucky to work at a gas station back in they day when they had garages where he was able to learn even more from the guys in the shop and got to do things like engine swaps while working there pumping gas.
Gouw now works in fire and safety which is only relevant here because he almost burned this car down to the ground twice. Once while trying to scrape the undercoating off the car with a torch. He noticed a glow coming from the truck and realized the heat lit a car duster on fire that was sitting right next to the fuel cell. The second time, he had just replaced the carburetor and all the fuel lines but forgot to tighten one of the lines up top. Freshly plumb full of race gas, he dumped almost an entire tank of gas on top of his intake and was very lucky to not have caught fire before getting it tightened and cleaned up.
When it was finally time to get himself into a proper street car, Dwayne was looking for a Nova or something with similar street cred. He stumbled upon this 1967 Plymouth Belvedere on Kijiji and the family history of Mopar’s quickly encouraged him to take a look. His wife said no because she knew he would buy it so he took his son… and bought it. The car was rough but he drove it anyways, using in transit stickers like they were chewing gum so he could drive it until he had it good enough to be legal on the road.
Thirteen years ago, he car came with a mild 440 but Dwayne soon swapped that for the built 522 crate engine with aluminum heads and more. He is also running a 727 race prep built transmission with a reverse manual valve body. The 8.75 rear end used to have a mini spool but was hard on tires driving around town. The entire brake system has been upgraded to Wilwood with drilled and slotted rotors, but he opted to keep it all manual, just like the steering. The nitrous bottle in the trunk is just for show but maybe that’s just what he wants you to think. The car currently has about 600 horse power and 638 ft/lbs of torque. He runs 94 octane fuel with VP race fuel octane booster putting it around 100 octane.
Dwayne plans to fully tub the back for wider tires and a pro street look, and if money were no option, a blown 572 Hemi.
During cruising season, Dwayne and his wife take the car out about 2 or 3 times a week and aren’t afraid to unless it’s raining because the car likes to break loose. Favorite shows are the local weekly Red Deer Cruise Night, and the Revelstoke Car show.
Dwayne would like to shout out to local vendors including Red Deer Speed and Custom, Extreme Driveline, and Excel Transmission for helping out, advising, and getting the best parts and helping getting them installed. He likes to use local vendors whenever possible. Mr. Gouw would also like to thank Mrs. Gouw for being supportive and enjoying the hobby with him.
Check out the YouTube Video on the Belvedere here:
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Article and Photography by Brian Holzli
