Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
Sometimes I just like to reminisce about just how it is that I got the Mopar 'hotrodding' bug.
Back in the 60s and 70s I got a huge thrill from watching NASCAR racing coverage on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I was a big Richard Petty fan. We had an HO scale racetrack in our basement and I spent countless hours modifying the cars to match those on TV. I used a cassette recorder to tape the race audio and would play it while I raced the cars downstairs.
I remember going to the drive-in theater in Schuyler, Nebraska regularly with my friends. We'd sneak in - in the trunks if we couldn't afford it. On one occasion I went in my buddy's 66 Impala 4 door. We didn't know what was showing until we got there. It just happened to be 'Crazy Larry Dirty Mary' and we were in a car identical to the one in the movie. I loved his 66 but the Charger in the movie was even cooler.
I didn't get my own car until after I graduated high school. The first car I ever bought was this '70 Roadrunner. The factory burnt orange was gorgeous but I couldn't leave well enough alone. After an accident in which I got rear ended, I decided to paint it black. Although the air grabber wasn't original to it, I couldn't resist putting it on. My inspiration for the flames came from watching 'the California Kid'.
Around here it was one of the most radical cars on the streets. I felt like a real outlaw driving it.
I thought that I'd have all sorts of women fighting after me when I drove it.
But the truth of the matter is that most women just looked at me funny.
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View attachment Funny Faces of Celebrities by Willy Rizzo (2).jpg
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Sometimes I just like to reminisce about just how it is that I got the Mopar 'hotrodding' bug.
Back in the 60s and 70s I got a huge thrill from watching NASCAR racing coverage on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I was a big Richard Petty fan. We had an HO scale racetrack in our basement and I spent countless hours modifying the cars to match those on TV. I used a cassette recorder to tape the race audio and would play it while I raced the cars downstairs.
I remember going to the drive-in theater in Schuyler, Nebraska regularly with my friends. We'd sneak in - in the trunks if we couldn't afford it. On one occasion I went in my buddy's 66 Impala 4 door. We didn't know what was showing until we got there. It just happened to be 'Crazy Larry Dirty Mary' and we were in a car identical to the one in the movie. I loved his 66 but the Charger in the movie was even cooler.
I didn't get my own car until after I graduated high school. The first car I ever bought was this '70 Roadrunner. The factory burnt orange was gorgeous but I couldn't leave well enough alone. After an accident in which I got rear ended, I decided to paint it black. Although the air grabber wasn't original to it, I couldn't resist putting it on. My inspiration for the flames came from watching 'the California Kid'.
Around here it was one of the most radical cars on the streets. I felt like a real outlaw driving it.
I thought that I'd have all sorts of women fighting after me when I drove it.
But the truth of the matter is that most women just looked at me funny.
View attachment 05 Drive-in theater, Chicago, 1951.jpg
View attachment 149067_530182473687553_1776603705_n.jpg
View attachment 547934_535296473176153_661313557_n.jpg
View attachment Funny Faces of Celebrities by Willy Rizzo (2).jpg
View attachment img004b.jpg
View attachment img003b.jpg