Car that hooked you on Mopar

Well there were two Mopars that gave me a rude awakening when I was just getting into muscle cars. I had just picked up a 72 Nova, auto stock 350 SB. My buddy and I were cruising around looking to see what she could do. Roll up on a "Old Guy" 65-66 Belvedere, brown paint, totally plain jane, little hub caps, steel rims etc. We hit in from a stop and I got a good 2 + car length jump on him off the line. At about 60 mph he walks by me like I was in reverse. My buddy was laughing so hard I thought he was gonna puke. :eye: Never found out what he had in it, but never assumed "plain" looking cars were slow again. Learned the meaning of Sleeper"...the hard way LOL!

The second encounter was against a 70 340 Duster 4 spd. Was late/early, 1:00 AM and was just cruising around looking for a few races. Pulled up to this orange Duster at a light, shooting the poop with him while we waiting for the light. I say, "want to give it a go?" He smiles, says "sure". He pulls on me right off the line and I never gained on him. Turns out, a few months later we ended up working nights at the same place and became good friends. I eventually got built the Nova to the point where I would get him, but always loved his car.

I never forgot those early races, and learned to respect the few Mopars that I encountered on the street back then. It took me 30 plus years of building & driving Chevy/GM cars before finally taking the plunge on a Mopar last year. Wishing I did it years ago!
:burnout:

Pat