Filmed at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois, this walkaround features a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX in Bright Silver, powered by a 426 Hemi and four-speed manual, owned since 1980 by Jim Patterson. In the years since, the video has taken on new meaning for viewers who return to hear Jims voice and laugh one more time. Its a reminder that the best car stories are never really just about the car. Watch the full walkaround below.
A lot of restoration videos fade into the background of a channel’s catalog within a few months. This one didn’t. Years after it was filmed, viewers keep returning to leave comments that have little to do with horsepower and everything to do with the man standing next to the car, describing a friendship, a kindness, and eventually, a loss. What started as a straightforward walkaround at a muscle car show in suburban Chicago has become something the Mopar community treats very differently now, and the $400 price tag the owner mentions paying for the car is almost beside the point.
A GTX Built Around the Right Engine
The car itself is a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX finished in Bright Silver paint, powered by Chrysler’s 426-cubic-inch Hemi engine paired with a manual four-speed transmission, the single most desirable drivetrain combination Mopar offered that model year. The GTX nameplate was Plymouth’s answer to the growing muscle car arms race, essentially a Belvedere dressed and engineered specifically for buyers who wanted the biggest available engine without waiting for a Road Runner or GTX-specific redesign the following year.
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Filmed at One of the Biggest Mopar Gatherings in the Country
The footage comes from the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois, one of the largest indoor muscle car shows in the country, held every November and drawing serious collectors and their best examples from across the Midwest and beyond. Getting featured at MCACN carries weight in the community; it’s the kind of show where owners bring cars they consider genuinely show-worthy, not daily drivers, which sets the stage for exactly the kind of detailed, unhurried walkaround Lou Costabile’s “My Car Story” series is built around.
Owned Since 1980, Bought for $400
According to the video, owner Jim Patterson had owned this GTX since 1980, and according to comments discussing the segment, purchased it for roughly $400, a price that sounds almost unbelievable set against what a numbers-matching 426 Hemi four-speed GTX commands today. That gap between purchase price and modern value is a familiar story among long-term Mopar owners of a certain generation, who bought cars like this one when Hemi engines were simply used performance parts rather than six-figure collector pieces.
A Car That Became a Tribute
In the years since this video was filmed, comments have shifted from typical car-show chatter into something more personal, with viewers offering condolences and describing the clip as one of the only recordings they have of Jim Patterson’s voice and laugh. It’s an unusual thing for a car feature to become, but it speaks to how deeply personality and ownership history are woven into cars like this one within the Mopar community, where a car’s story is inseparable from the person who kept it alive.
What Made This Particular GTX Stand Out
Commenters repeatedly single out small, specific details that separate this car from a typical restoration: the honesty of its condition, the owner’s evident comfort revving the engine without hesitation for the camera, and the fact that it presents as a driven, loved car rather than a trailer queen kept behind glass. One viewer calls it possibly the favorite muscle car featured on the entire “My Car Story” channel up to that point, a notable claim given how many significant Mopars the series has covered over the years.
The 426 Hemi’s Reputation, Earned the Hard Way
The 426 Hemi’s legendary status in the muscle car world comes from its racing pedigree first and its street application second, originally built to dominate NASCAR before Chrysler detuned it slightly for street use and offered it as a limited, expensive option across select Mopar models. A four-speed GTX with the Hemi represents the top of that street-legal hierarchy, a combination that was never common even when new, since the option’s steep price and insurance costs kept most buyers away from checking that particular box.
A Reminder of What These Shows Are Really For
Beyond the horsepower figures and the option codes, this video endures because it captures exactly what events like MCACN are meant to preserve: not just the cars, but the people who kept them running for decades and the stories only they could tell. Lou Costabile’s format, letting owners talk at length about their cars rather than narrating over them, is precisely why a simple walkaround filmed years ago has quietly become one of the most meaningful clips in his catalog.
A Nameplate That Barely Outlasted Its First Year
The GTX nameplate itself had a short run on the Plymouth lineup, introduced for the 1967 model year pictured here and continuing only through 1971 before being folded into the Road Runner’s broader success. Plymouth actually launched the budget-focused Road Runner the very next year, in 1968, specifically because the GTX’s higher price point limited its sales volume compared to what a stripped-down, big-engine muscle car could do at a lower cost. That makes 1967 GTX examples like this Belvedere-based Hemi car something of a transitional artifact, built during the one model year before Plymouth’s own marketing strategy shifted toward chasing volume over the GTX’s more upscale positioning, which only adds to the rarity collectors like Jim Patterson’s family now recognize in cars like this one.
Why This Channel Gets Owners to Open Up
“My Car Story” has built its entire catalog around exactly this kind of access: unhurried, owner-narrated walkarounds filmed at major indoor shows rather than scripted studio segments. Lou Costabile’s willingness to let owners like Jim ramble past the spec sheet and into family history is a large part of why the channel has become a trusted archive for the Mopar community specifically, since so much of what makes a car like this one significant lives entirely in the stories its owner can tell rather than anything printed on a build sheet or window sticker. That patient, owner-first approach is exactly why this particular walkaround outlived its original moment and became something the community keeps coming back to. Few restoration channels manage that.
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