Factory high-performance Mopar components

Besides all the new car action, their parts department was unique in that, in addition to selling replacement parts and factory high-performance Mopar components, it was like an in-house “speed shop.” The back room of Grand-Spaulding was stocked with all kinds of aftermarket racing equipment including;

• Edelbrock manifolds
• Holley carbs
• a line of “Mr. Norm” equal-tube-length headers
• Crower cams
• Milodon oil pans
• a variety of custom wheels and wide tires

Setting up the cars was done on their in-house chassis dyno, which measured rear-wheel horsepower, allowing fine-tuning of each car sold. A Sun distributor machine was used to re-curve ignitions and the mechanics knew how to re-jet, and further tweak the carburetors for maximum performance.

The first Demon GSS was a 1971 car, and the creative-workings of these machines included the installation of “six-pack" inductions and borrowing the basic idea from the limited-production 1970 Challenger T/A, which were somewhat different from the factory pieces as the GSS cars had adjustable ball-bearing progressive linkage instead of the standard vacuum arrangement.

Grand-Spaulding took things a few steps further, with the addition of a Crower cam, premium valve springs, competition valve job, and on automatics a re-worked valve body for improved transmission shifting. With a heavy-duty pinion-snubber traction bar mounted atop pinion area of the 8 ¾-inch differential, these Six-Pack Demons ran in the 13.40 – 13.50-second range in the quarter mile, with speeds of 103-plus mph.

When the factory released information in late 1971 that the next generation of 340-cid engines were going to receive some “performance killing” changes, which included the fitting of smaller valves and less compression, down from 10.5:1 to just 8.5:1, things were not looking as bright for a street-killer Demon 340 package car. The horsepower rating went down from 275 to 240 and some said this was the end of true high-performance.

Norm and top wrench Gary Dyer had other ideas and got busy on a new-for-1972 GSS car to keep up with the times.

It was a walk through the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show that prompted Norm to get the idea of adding supercharged power to the 1972 Demon 340, creating another GSS high-performance car, and one that would actually take advantage of this lowered C/R.

A deal was worked out with Joe Granatelli at Paxton Products, who were suppliers of belt-driven, centrifugal superchargers. This system was calibrated to work on the small block Mopar engine, using the stock Thermo-Quad carburetor, albeit completely sealed-in with a pressure box.  

Besides the actual supercharger, the ’72 340-cid engine was treated to

• a set of Crower aluminum valve spring retainers
• modified fuel pump
• fuel pressure regulator
• Milodon competition oil pump
• re-curved Chrysler electronic ignition distributor
• re-jetted and re-calibrated carburetor
• full-capacity hoses
• oversize pulleys
• a special high-capacity air intake filter

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This belt-driven supercharger devise turned out to be the perfect response to the lower factory compression ratio for the 340-cid engine, as the new 8.5:1 pistons were ideal for blower applications.

The supercharged 1972 Demon GSS cars were road tested by numerous car magazines of the day with great praise of the blown high-winding small block engine. The sounds of the supercharger package added some flavor to the car, and the editors were impressed with the low listed selling price, before any other options of $3695.00. 

The GSS Demon with supercharger was a one-year-only car, as by the time the 1973 model year came around, performance was drying up and the federal government was clamping down hard on emissions as well, including the modification of cars sold at dealership.

What is unusual about Dodge Demons and (from ’73 on) Dodge Dart Sports is that the body panels are miss-matched as far as the front and rear wheel opening styling, look closely at the rear lip design, it’s doesn’t match up with the front, which was borrowed from a Dodge Dart. The factory simply took a standard Plymouth Duster with its unique wheel lip design and slapped a pair of new front fenders on it.

The 14-inch Rallye Wheels add a little flash to the outside, and a set of “period” E70 Polyglas Goodyears were fitted as per the originals. 

A-Body folklore has it that originally these vertical taillights were really designed for a re-modeled Plymouth Duster as they seem to match the special grille used on 340s and “Twister” models, however, when Dodge wanted a piece of the action, the Demon received them.

 An 8,000-rpm electric tachometer was original to the car as delivered to the owner. Aftermarket hood mounted tachs were the rage in the early 1970s.  

It’s a “functional” air scoop, however for this particular supercharged application, the air intake for the engine is located up front on the RH-side of the radiator.

This car has undergone a full and complete restoration.

Optional “Tuff” three-spoke steering wheel and center console adds some glitter to the bucket seat-equipped Demon interior. 

The Demon 340 instrument panel for ’72 featured this rectangular speedo which was changed from the dual round Rallye Gauge clusters of the 1971 version however, when there’s less than 12K on the odometer, none of that really matters.  

Everywhere you look it appears to be in true showroom condition, like it would have been in the spring of 1972, and it has a scheduled build date from the factory.

When the car’s resto was completed, Norm Kraus himself authorized the car, and signed it with this notation under the hood. The car has Norm’s blessings!