car that influenced me when I was young

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nutz

nutz

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so i few cars i will never forget when i was young
had to be 71 we went on vaca and dad rented a orange plymouth fury wagon ,thought the hiden head lights where cool
dad ended up buying a new one that was green with a 440 ...loved that car always look for one ,story was he was picking up sis late at night got hit totaled out car (was in slippers and robe cop picked up sis and gave dad and sis a rde home) dad was a atf officer ,remember mom complaining cause we were late for a movie and dad was doing over 100....i look every once in while to see if any are for sale
around 73 my sis boy friend bought a 67 hemi gtx (think he said he paid $3500) burgundy everything was chrome under the hood he was saying what a great deal he good cause it was during the gas shortage
richard pettys superbird ....watching on tv ..THE KING
then my first car 69 dart swinger tan (yuck)225 3spd posi ...poor thing didn't have a chance ..live close to a bunch of dirt roads learned how to ralley in that car ,drifting ,180s even figured out how to do a 360 in it
 
Dad's 1968 383 Coronet 500 back in '78 and the occasional Dodge Challenger going by us "Balls to the Wall" for me. Been car crazy ever since...
 
A guy Keith in High school. He had a Grungy B5 68 GTS 383/4spd. He pulled horror in that car all the time. Got me hooked on Darts. I bought his later for $75 !
My dad caught me trying to put the drivetrain in my slant GT convertible and stopped me. Made me part it out so I wouldn't kill myself.
 
This car. The day Dad brought it home, the whole neighborhood came over to see it. It was like a celebrity came to live at our house. Everybody who ever saw it fell in love with it, including my brother and I. We’re still looking for it to this day, but sadly I’m sure it’s long gone.

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My dad had a 66 Barracuda. I used that car for my drivers test. About a yr later I spotted a 66 Formula S for sale and bought it. Still have it
 
Was looking arould last night for wagons
Think his was a 70 ...
Wood trim 9 pass (there was 6 kids)
I guess that's where I got my love for wagons
Always thought the 57 nomad was the bomb
 
I'm guessing it was around 1966 when Dad got Mom a '61 Chevy Impala SS, turquoise, blue interior. Beautiful car and pretty bad-assed too for a stay-at-home Mom. Over the years Dad gravitated to Cadillacs, Mom toward Pontiacs and I think I'm the only family member including cousins that landed on Mopars. That's probably because of the '72 'cuda I wanted when I was 15 that was for sale at the used car dealership next to the roller rink.
 
My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Opatka, had a hemi orange 69 Road Runner. Just a 383 car with the black stripe treatment on the hood. That car and at the bottom of the hill that I grew up on, there was a black on black 70 Cuda that just looked bad-***. The couple that owned it, used it to trailer their 70 triple Black Road runner to the track on an open trailer every weekend. I had to have a 70 Cuda! After my first 2 free Darts (74 4dr and then a 71 Swinger), a 71 Barracuda found me - and it was black! Yeah, I was cool in my mind. A kid 3 years behind me in school, wanted to be just as cool, ended up buying the 70 down the hill two years after I found the 71.
 
Cruising around in my friends 440 ‘70 Charger during the late 70s in Columbus, Ohio. Thinking back on it all now, I’m surprised we both survived!
 
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My dad and grandfather were attornies for many drivers and others @ Indy 500 starting sometime in the 1930s. I wasn't allowed to attend The Race until I was 10 yr old, but remember qualifying/practice days, and the 'Sound of the Novis' was memorable!
My dad was attorney for either Charlie Taylor personally, or Charlie Taylors' Hoosier Chrysler Plymouth on west 38th & Lafayette Rd in Indianapolis, about 2 miles from The Speedway.
Around the year Fury convertible was Indy 500 Pace Car, he started driving Turbine Bronze Fury VIPs with a Black Vynal roof. He had 2 or 3 of those as 'Loaner Vehicles' , 3k miles max before turned in.
When Horizons came out my Mom & Sister drove several of those, too.
 
One friend in HS had a green 383 '68 Roadrunner & another had a yellow '70 Barracuda 383. Both 4 speeds.
My girlfriends boyfriend had a '65 Fury 426 wedge 4 speed w/ a blown clutch I was offered for $300, but I had no idea how to fix it then.
I remember standing in the backbseat of my Moms' 55 Ford 2 dr Ranch Wagon(Creme over Salmon) and ID-ing cars as they came down the street.
Many more ...
 
A few Mopar's in my family. My uncle had a 56 Dodge Royal. My cousin had a 64 Dodge 880 2 door. My sister's first car was a
64 Plymouth Belvedere. It was a 4 door Poly with a pushbutton but such a nice car. It had those clear plastic seat covers on it and it was perfect. My first car was a 65 Dart 270 post. White with red interior. It had a dealer painted top. (textured like undercoat) HP 273 and a 3 on the tree. Now Ulf tells me they only made a few of those with that combo. From there I went through Road Runners, Coronets, Super Bees, and Challengers. 20 years ago when I turned 50 and the hobby brought me back with my 66 Dart. and away we go. It has been a fun ride.
 
Another friend traded a Sunbeam Alpine for a 64 Chevelle that Bob Orrs' Carburetor(also near Speedway)had put a 396/375 4spd in it, w/ a 4.56 gear. WOW!
But was a real ***** to drive with that gear & the overlap
 
That guy ended up with an identical Fury like my dad had, years later & we cruised that one a lot. He owned more cars than anyone I've known & he rolled them all over into the next loan, and the next. Had a Turbo Trans-Am...LAME!
 
My neighboor had a 67 Camaro that he always worked on and I would go over and watch him. He got it running after working on it one day and asked if I wanted to go for a ride. He had no passenger seat or back seat in it at the time so I sat on a milk crate. The sound of that car made me hooked on muscle cars forever. I also had an uncle who came to my cousins house with his brand new 69 GTO he had just picked up from the dealer. He took all of the kids for a ride and I sat in the back with a permanent smile on my face when we shifted through the gears. SO happy I fell in love at a young age and have kept it all these years.
 
I was working at a company called GC Murphy in 65 in the stockroom unloading boxes of Prestone antifreeze in July. One of the assistant managers asked if I wanted to go home and change (I was soaked through and through abd my tee shirt was dyed blue from the Prestone logo on the carton!). Told him no car so he told me to take his - a 64 bronze Sport Fury, 383 or maybe a 426 with a 4 speed! After carefully driving this beast, I was hooked!!!
 
It was in 1972 I was 17 I blew the 389 engine in my 65 4spd GTO My dad gave me a 1969 Coronet R/T 4spd dana car. I Bought another one in 1973. Second owner 1300 miles but with a dealer installed complete 440 six pack engine ordered new . Never got beat with that car until.

A friend at that time bought a trade-in at a dodge dealer in late 1975 on an Aspen R/T. It was a 4spd 69 swinger with a built W-2 engine retired street race car.
"You didn't steer that car you aimed it". (A real Elephant Tamer).


Due to the larger wheel openings in the rear of the 70 71 Duster Demons. I evolved to that A- body. I never looked back I just kept buying 70-71 340 cars.

I just loved RPM's . My motor cycle was a 1972 Kawasaki 500 2 stroke triple. That was almost my end. Went into a tank slapper Street racing . Was in a Coma for over a week and a year to learn how to walk.

But I met my wife nursing me through recovering and we been together since. We have three children and two of them think the throttle is an off and on switch. So we had first-aid kits everywhere. They take after their Mom.
 
There were many! But to keep from writing a book I will have to say a big one was my brother's 1970 roadrunner 383 pistol grip four speed cherry red no stripes. Just a fresh rebuilt 383, headers and new HP clutch. He would race anybody anytime and he was a good wheel man. We won a lot more than we lost... Honorable mention my grandfather's 413 Chrysler New Yorker, the neighbors 1970 mustang 4-speed Cleveland 351, and the top of the pecking order in my area 390 rambler scrambler pro built custom red white and blue lace paint job, smoked plexiglass hood scoop covering two big Holly's on a tunnel ram. It was the late '70s in these cars were everywhere.
 
nutz said:
so i few cars i will never forget when i was young
had to be 71 we went on vaca and dad rented a orange plymouth fury wagon ,thought the hiden head lights where cool
dad ended up buying a new one that was green with a 440 ...loved that car always look for one ,story was he was picking up sis late at night got hit totaled out car (was in slippers and robe cop picked up sis and gave dad and sis a rde home) dad was a atf officer ,remember mom complaining cause we were late for a movie and dad was doing over 100....i look every once in while to see if any are for sale
around 73 my sis boy friend bought a 67 hemi gtx (think he said he paid $3500) burgundy everything was chrome under the hood he was saying what a great deal he good cause it was during the gas shortage
richard pettys superbird ....watching on tv ..THE KING
then my first car 69 dart swinger tan (yuck)225 3spd posi ...poor thing didn't have a chance ..live close to a bunch of dirt roads learned how to ralley in that car ,drifting ,180s even figured out how to do a 360 in it
Click to expand...
63 max wedge , red 2 door hard top , 63 max wedge black 2 door sedan , later on my dad bought a new 63 sport fury , not a max wedge tho.
When I got out of the service , the red wedge owner (drag racer ) switched to hemi`s , super stock and then later prostock . I later found my first hemi in a junk yard (68 roadrunner) , with about 11,000 miles on it , rolled -totaled.
The owner of the junk yard started it for me , it was perfect , "I WAS HOOKED !"
 
Oldmanmopar said:
It was in 1972 I was 17 I blew the 389 engine in my 65 4spd GTO My dad gave me a 1969 Coronet R/T 4spd dana car. I Bought another one in 1973. Second owner 1300 miles but with a dealer installed complete 440 six pack engine ordered new . Never got beat with that car until.

A friend at that time bought a trade-in at a dodge dealer in late 1975 on an Aspen R/T. It was a 4spd 69 swinger with a built W-2 engine retired street race car.
"You didn't steer that car you aimed it". (A real Elephant Tamer).


Due to the larger wheel openings in the rear of the 70 71 Duster Demons. I evolved to that A- body. I never looked back I just kept buying 70-71 340 cars.

I just loved RPM's . My motor cycle was a 1972 Kawasaki 500 2 stroke triple. That was almost my end. Went into a tank slapper Street racing . Was in a Coma for over a week and a year to learn how to walk.

But I met my wife nursing me through recovering and we been together since. We have three children and two of them think the throttle is an off and on switch. So we had first-aid kits everywhere. They take after their Mom.
Click to expand...
72 Kaw 500 H1 & 750 H2 was the shorter wheelbase shorter swing arm, & pulled easy wheelies & the reason for that tank slapper & also twitchy as road race bikes are even today.
 
Friend from HSs' grandfather had a 300G. He took us out 79th st, from the farm one day. He usually didn't put his foot in it too much, because black smoke rolled out the back when he did. Ran fine, just blowing out the carbon from all the featherfooting.
I ended up working at his sons' military museum for a few years, restoring vehicles.
 
My brother had i think a 71 h1
I remember he said it was the fastest 1/4 mile bike made at the time
He ended up cooking the middle cylinder
Friend in hs had a 440 six pack challenger
Someone ran him off the road .....
My friend had a 67 396 4spd chevelle in hs
I would go over his house at night and wrench on it
We got it going went to school waited for all the buses to leave.passed 13 on the way home on a 2 lane country road
Someone put a tall gear in it for gas mileage
He would drop it down to 3rd and could hit over 80
stuck one wheel in a ditch a few months later and bent the frame....he thought it must have been bent before cause it bent too easy
 
I loved them all, since I can remember. Seriously, I was intrigued by cars. Dad's '64 Fairlanes, '49 Ford, '56 chevy, and a hundred others that he and my older brothers owned. My brother's '72 340 Demon made an impact on my liking Dodges. I thought that car was so cool. The decals, stripes, just a cool car to me.
 
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