Jack Werst may not have been a household name, but he was certainly well known for his factory connections. The East Coast regional director for Chrysler’s factory warranty program, Werst had also proven himself as a race driver and, in part as a result, received the second sequentially noted 426 Hemi Barracuda B029 Super Stock built. Like all of the estimated 70 units total converted by Hurst, this car began life as a 383 model before being turned into a drag strip monster. Werst’s nickname, “Mr. 5 and 50,” honored Chrysler’s five-year, 50,000-mile warranty, and this car’s gorgeous refreshing was executed by Muscle Car Restorations. The powerplant beneath the hood here is, of course, the 426 CI Hemi V-8 race engine, delivered from Hurst with a cross-ram manifold, offset Holley 4-barrel carburetors, a set of Hooker headers, 12.5:1 compression ratio, iron heads and transistorized ignition. Werst’s factory-associated car featured an A727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission with race internals, a 4.88 final-ratio Sure Grip gear package and heavy-duty axle shafts behind this. These cars were delivered in primer, so today it again wears Werst’s selected scheme of blue paint with white stripes and race lettering. The black interior was basic, featuring a gutted Hurst Dual Gate floor shifter, lightweight seats on special aluminum brackets, thin Corning Chemcor glass windows, rear seat delete and no sound deadener. In addition to the “more legal” acid- dipped doors, this car has the fiberglass front fenders and hood with a huge scoop. To aid weight distribution, the factory relocated the battery into the trunk, and this car has been upgraded to an electrical shut-off switch in that area as well. With a signature from the late Mr. Werst on the hood and a period brass plaque placed on the dash in his name, the look of 1968 is completed by a set of Keystone Klassic wheels with narrow front tires and ET Drag slicks out back. The man with the warranty plan eventually moved up to Pro Stock, but in the hottest era of the 1960s, if you wanted a car that makes it, this “Plymouth Makes It.”
