What car got you into Mopars?

I was looking for a '68 Nova to drop a junkyard 454 into (in 1972) but couldn't find one. I came upon a pristine 273-powered, stick, '64 Valiant 2-door post car (white, my favorite non-color) with a blue interior, and fell in love with the look of it.

I bought it for $600.00, and started driving it, but wanted more suds, so I found a nearly-new 340 and drivetrain (manual/4-speed) out of a low-mileage '71 Demon that had been rolled. Bolted it in with a set of Hedman headers (it came with a 3.91 Sure-Grip 8.75" rear end.) It all went in without a hitch! Now, I had a 13-second car that looked great. Not content, I added a set of slapper bars (didn't know any better, then,) a Lunati cam, a Mallory Dual-point distributor (again, I didn't know any better,) blocked the heat riser under the carb, installed a 4.56 Sure-Grip, and took a Hayes 3,000-pound pressure plate and removed all the centrifugal weights, so it would release cleanly at high rpm, and I now, had a tranny setup that shifted as easily as a VW Beetle. Never missed a gear with that setup. I bought some slicks for it, and drove 'em on the street.... smart... not.

But, I was young and REAL dumb.... and that was the only car I ever had TO THIS DAY, that I never got beat in... and, I raced a lot of motorcycles. But, Chebbies were my specialty...:cheers:


You gotta love a car that NEVER lets you down!!!!
So, that car made a believer (in Mopars) out of me; I forgot all about that Nova project that I had wanted, earlier...:disgust:

The rest is history; current projects are my Vortech-blown, 360 Magnum-powered '72 Valiant (done) and my slant six turbo car ('64 Valiant) that I'm building with my racer-partner, Freddie Nielsen. Both are 4-doors, BTW... and REAL ugly... LOL! Freddie's wife found our latest project in the classifiedS for $700... HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF????

Sleeper city...