your Mopar's story

I have a fairly sad story too.
My car had been sitting for 13 years, wrapped in a tarp beside a garage. I'd been looking for a project I could turn into a driver pretty quickly and had been looking for about 6 months with a budget of 4 to 6K. Everything I looked at were mostly rot ridden, non running and price non negotiable with little potential to become something without some serious cash expenditure. I'd seen this little Dart advertized for a few months far below my budget price and thought, " boy this really must be bad if everything else I've looked at for 6k is a comparison". I wasn't really sure if I was a "MOPAR" guy yet either. Well I called the owner and he filled me in on it. Blown tranny, 360/300HP Mopar performance crate motor, 7.25 rear end, sitting for 13 years unstarted wrapped in a tarp but he says the body's solid. I take a ride up on a cold sunny January Saturday and he's got it unwrapped, hood up, trunk lid open. Gave it a good look over and was very surprised at how clean it really was. Even if it needed a drivetrain it was worth more than the asking price. My 12 year old son was with me and he's not one to hide his cards very well and there was no doubt he loved what he saw. So I asked if he'd had much action on the car, curious why it hadn't sold yet. He said lots of action but only one offer. It was a bad experience for him but I got him to tell em about it and he was right as they offered him half of his asking price. he told me his rock bottom and we made a deal. I threw a battery in it that I brought with me, checked all the fluids, oil was clean, clean whish he said he had put it away right but I know everyone says that. We turned it over while I fed gas into it from a gatoraide bottle and it fired up. His eyes got huge and my boy was smiling ear to ear. I asked if we still had a deal and he said of coarse.
So, the sad part. He put the car away when his wife died of cancer and he blew up the tranny at the same time. He and his wife loved the car and had gone to many shows with it. He bought it from her brother in the beginning when he himself was diagnosed with with a cancerous brain tumor at the age of 23. He's in his late fifties now. At the time, cancer was being treated with cobalt therapy and everyone was dieing either way. He was one of the first recipients of radiation and chemotherapy and boasted, thanking God that he was still here today. He decided that now since his daughter had turned 21 and it had been 13 years since his wife died, it was time to sell the car and not be reminded of her every time he looked out the window. What a great guy and an incredible true story. I assured him his car was going to a good home to be resurrected and loved the way he'd loved it. Now I'm a complete and total "MOPAR" guy and loving every minute of it. My boy loves this car and it may someday be his.