Question of the day why did you pick Mopar and why in a body
Wow! How far back do you want to go?
My dad would only own Hudsons (later to become part of American Motors, which was later to become part of Chrysler). He passed when I was only 7. About a year later my mom traded the old Hudson in on a new '59 Plymouth Fury.
When my mom eventually remarried, the family became an Oldsmobile family.
Jumping ahead to high school, all my friends had Chevys and Fords and I always wanted something different. But being an Oldsmobile family, my first car ended up being a '64 Olds Cutlass. I kept that car through college and getting then getting married. After being married for about six months we decided we needed a second car.
At the time my mom worked at a credit union and one of the members she knew was advertising a car for sale - their son had bought the car about 6 months earlier but had since joined the Navy and they weren't going to keep the payments up for him.
When we went to look at the car, there was a bright red '69 340 Swinger with a white bumblebee stripe and Cragars all around! It was love at first sight.
Did a lot of Whittier Blvd (SoCal) cruising in that car as well as a little street racing as well as legitimate passes down the quarter mile at Orange County International Raceway. That little 340 Swinger got built into a strong street runner with a built 340, manual-shift-reverse-pattern 727, and 4.89 rear gears.
About 10 years later I got the stupid idea to build it into a strip only car. More time goes by - a divorce, but I keep the kids and the house. Money isn't there to complete the race car build.
Several more years and I remarry, but during a minor financial crisis I stupidly sell the Dart.
About 10 years ago I got the burning desire to have my Mopar back so I sold the '83 Hurst Olds I was doing a restomod build on and found a '69 Dart on eBay. I've been waiting for it to come out of 'paint prison' (longer story) for over a year now. I hope to have it finished and on the road by the end of 2018. It's not going to be a clone, it's going to be what I want it be.
Wow! How far back do you want to go?
My dad would only own Hudsons (later to become part of American Motors, which was later to become part of Chrysler). He passed when I was only 7. About a year later my mom traded the old Hudson in on a new '59 Plymouth Fury.
When my mom eventually remarried, the family became an Oldsmobile family.
Jumping ahead to high school, all my friends had Chevys and Fords and I always wanted something different. But being an Oldsmobile family, my first car ended up being a '64 Olds Cutlass. I kept that car through college and getting then getting married. After being married for about six months we decided we needed a second car.
At the time my mom worked at a credit union and one of the members she knew was advertising a car for sale - their son had bought the car about 6 months earlier but had since joined the Navy and they weren't going to keep the payments up for him.
When we went to look at the car, there was a bright red '69 340 Swinger with a white bumblebee stripe and Cragars all around! It was love at first sight.
Did a lot of Whittier Blvd (SoCal) cruising in that car as well as a little street racing as well as legitimate passes down the quarter mile at Orange County International Raceway. That little 340 Swinger got built into a strong street runner with a built 340, manual-shift-reverse-pattern 727, and 4.89 rear gears.
About 10 years later I got the stupid idea to build it into a strip only car. More time goes by - a divorce, but I keep the kids and the house. Money isn't there to complete the race car build.
Several more years and I remarry, but during a minor financial crisis I stupidly sell the Dart.
About 10 years ago I got the burning desire to have my Mopar back so I sold the '83 Hurst Olds I was doing a restomod build on and found a '69 Dart on eBay. I've been waiting for it to come out of 'paint prison' (longer story) for over a year now. I hope to have it finished and on the road by the end of 2018. It's not going to be a clone, it's going to be what I want it be.
