Mr. Norm's Demon GSS
 

Mr. Norm (Norman Kraus), the legendary “King of High Performance” is well known for the potent street and strip muscle cars he created at Grand Spaulding Dodge, like the 1968 GSS 440 M-CODE Dart and 1972 GSS Supercharged Demon. The new GSS Challengers, Chargers and Rams continue this proud tradition by offering tire smoking performance and trend setting style. Watch for the upcoming new 2018 Mr. Norm’s Kenne Bell GSS Challenger Hellcat Wide-body that’s armed with over 1000 horsepower.



DIXCO HT/x Hood Tachometer on a 1972 Supercharged Demon GSS

In ’72, Mr. Norm went supercharged. His special hi-po package that year was a 340 Demon with a Paxton supercharger that pressurized a box enclosing the Carter Thermoquad four-barrel carb, providing seven pounds of boost. It was a nice jolt for the already snappy 340 four-barrel Mopar V-8 and pushed the Demon well into the muscle car performance envelope previously dominated strictly by 440 and 426 Hemi Mopars.

One of these cars in the spring of ’72 during a test. The special striping, scooped fiberglass hood, paint and emblems all made for a very striking–and shrieking–street package. Even with a Torque Flite automatic and mild 3.55 gears, this little 340 screamed–quite literally. It was definitely fun at lights looking over at the dorks in the Chevelles, Camaros and Mustangs as they stared at the white Demon, puzzled expressions on their faces, trying to figure out what that weird whining sound was coming from under the hood. They found out when the light turned green and I smoked them, literally and figuratively

Fact is, smoking–the tires, that is–was a real problem with the Demon GSS. It carried stock wheels and tires–tiny little E70-14s on Chrysler Rally wheels. Our track testing at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, was almost futile. There was no way we could come off the line with those tires. Finally, we just rolled off at idle, then mashed it as we passed the tree. Still, the Demon came up with 13.92 ETs at 106 MPH–definite muscle car territory. We speculated that with bigger tires, say G60-15s on seven-inch-wide wheels and a 4.10 gear, the car would easily have run low 13-second ETs. That was big-block territory in 1972.

Although there was never an official horsepower rating for this car, you can calculate that with a curb weight of about 3,300 pounds and a trap speed of 106 MPH, you’ve got around 350hp under the hood–or 9.42hp per pound. Nice.



Mr. Norm installed on his Demon GSS with Supercharger a DIXCO HT/x Hood Mounted Tachometer to handle the optimal engine RPM.