car that influenced me when I was young

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My grandfather had a 53 Ford Skyliner, the glass roof one, that my dad bought from him in the late 50s'. Seemed luxurious to a 5 yr old. One day he came home and told us he'd gotten a new car, so we went outside to look at it.g
He'd traded the Skyliner in on a 1960
Ford Falcon, and when I got behind the wheel & looked around I said " This thing's Cheap!", while I gazed at the dash.
I think the Falcon left when the VIPs arrived.
 
Friend had a 70 Coronet R/T. 440/727. I had recently purchased my 69 Charger (383/727) and thought it was pretty fast (it wasn't!). He took me for a ride in the Coronet and laid down 2 black stripes "forever" on the street. I learned right there that I wanted more for my car to be able to that kind of thing! I was hooked and have never looked back.
 
Brother's '71 340 Duster was the one for me. Dad was a car guy, but they weren't the kind of build that got me interested while Steve's Duster did. And yes, it has a fully functional Airgrabber hood.

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Here is the same car many years after he sold. Pretty much stock looking except for the Airgrabber.

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I still think Plymouth would have sold tons more of these cars if they had offered that hood stock. I still think about how to add one to one of my cars, too bad it doesn't work as well with the '73+ hood/nose.
 
Three houses from my mom & dads lived a hemotologist @ St Vincent Hospital(or Methodist?). Dr Dugan, I think, that owned a red Hemi Challenger, race prepped.
At some point Bobby Joe Sams worked on it at his Sunoco in Nora, a suburb south of Carmel In, where Sams moved his shop to layer.
Don't know any of the racing history. Anyone remember it or know what happened to it?
 
It was 1965. I was 17. Mrs. Aiken owned part of our small town Mopar dealership. She was a "horsey" friend to us horsey kids. She was about 35 and married, but I sure wished I was older and she was single! She was one of the coolest of all. Anyway, she would loan me and this horsey girl her '64 383 Sport Fury and her 2 horse trailer, to go off to a horse show near ish by. No chit!!!!

First fast car I had a ride in? 64 Impala 409 4 speed.

Drool over? A kid moves to our small town, he had a 55 Chevy, 327 4 speed, fiberglass front and roll n tuck. I still wonder how I never had a tri five Chevy????

Fav car of any? AAR Cuda, my first one of 5-6. Only E body I ever had that did not rattle,. This was about '87/
 
I remember Nobile Paquette’s sister used to drop him off at school every morning in her orange 70 Cuda. She was the most beautiful creature we ever saw….tall, long straight brunette hair, those big bell bottom jeans with the paisley inserts…..just…..oops, yea, the car was cool too!
 
The car that did it for me was the very first time i saw a 1970 Plymouth Cuda.
Back in the dinosaur days, we were required to wear a sport coat and tie, attending high school class. 1966-70.
Must have been late September 1969, and was shopping for a new sports coat to wear, at a clothing shop in downtown Waterbury, Connecticut.
Walking out the store, there was a brand new 70 Cuda parked right in front of the shop.
A white one.
I probably spent a half hour walking around that car, and drooling all over it.
What a great looking piece of machinery.
The next year in 1971, a ordered a 71, 383 Cuda, from the local Chrysler-Plymouth dealership, and kept that car for 39 years.
 
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There have been plenty of cars that influenced me, but the first one was a 66 or 67 Cyclone 390 GT that one of my dad's coworkers was trying to sell him. I was about 7 or 8 years old and managed to get a ride when the old man was 'test driving' it. The smell of tire smoke and exhaust, the sound, and the rush of acceleration had me hooked immediately. A few years later my friend's older brother bought a 69 Firebird 400, man that car was just COOL!
A cousin had an SS454 Chevelle, another had a 71 Challenger convertible, my asshole brother bought a 71 Mustang Mach 1 with a 429 SCJ 4 speed drag pack car, his friend had a 69 Charger Daytona, yeah things snowballed from there.
 
The newest Hot Rod 'Quarterly' has a 61 Plymouth Belvedere on the cover.
From 67-70 I attended Culver Military Summer Camp, and on some weekends family would visit. There was a restaurant with a road right next to the window near downtown Culver on Lake Maxinkukee and I saw what I now know was a 61 Plymouth painted Dark Blue & Silver Grey & had Cragers. Made you realize how paint can make a car much better.
 
We had a neighbor that was into high end original GM muscle cars growing up. His younger brother, Jeff is my age. He also had a super cool and clean 72 Cutlass. Steve, the older brother had a 1969 GTO Judge. I would say this was probably about 1975-1977. The car was bright orange with the purple stripe accented with yellow around the purple stripe. Really striking. It had the BW T10 with 4.33 GM 12 bolt posi. I used to wake up early in the mornings to hear him fire it off under the carport and drive it from the back of the house and park it out front on the street. The exhaust was pointed right at our house, so I could hear it GOOD. Every once in a while, it would lope to a stall and he'd have to come back out and restart it, especially if it was cold out. It was a Ram Air IV car and had a distinct lope. I loved it. He also had others, including a 1970 Grand Sport Corvette, 350/370 4 speed and my personal favorite was his friend's 1970 plain jane GTO. 400, 4 speed, no stripe, no wing, no tacky hood tach. That car was just all go. But man that 69 Judge did look the part. I loved the sparkly "Judge" glovebox door emblem. That was cool stuff.
 
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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
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My first love was a 69 GTX.
 
Would drive by this 71 gtx every day on the way to school had a banged up rf fender
But it was gold yuck . But the hood stripes were reflecting stripes...it looked so cool in the night It never moved i stopped by once to ask if it was for sale ...no...one day it was gone
Then I seen it repainted ..someone ruined the stripes
 
When in Sea Scouts Dennis Sputh had a 68 GTO Pale Yellow w/black vinyl top. Remember riding with him a lot, we even did Road Rallies in it.
 
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Pops ‘63 Belvedere 383 4 bbl 4 speed
“Family car” now only a memory….….
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Not even trying to but built this 30 years later with similar color and wheels
 
An older neighbor around the corner had 69 Coronet RT, B3 blue with a white vinyl top and interior. With Cragar Mags, that car was beautiful. I don't know what exhaust or cam it had, but it was loud. His sister won a new 72 Mustang convertible in a contest.
I don't know quite remember what that was, as it wasn't as cool as her brothers car.
 
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When I was 17 I had a 1967 GTX 440 4-speed Dana 60 and after a few years sold it. Now its coming back home to me this summer

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1. HotWheels since I was 4 or 5.
2. Walking to elementary school I would walk past an FJ5 ‘70 Superbird sitting in a driveway.
3. Watching Milner’s coupe and that Wicked ‘55 at the Uptown Theatre.
4. The summer I turned 12 years old, every morning at 7am the neighbor would whack the throttle to the floor twice, then hit the key in his ‘73 or ‘74 Charger SE 440 car. Man, it sounded so good warming up with the high idle through those “Machine Gun” tips.
Charcoal Silver, black top and interior.
5. My older friend Sam’s 1970 Challenger R/T, 440 Six Pack, 4-speed, Super Trac Pac, FK5, Black Top/interior. That car was fairly quick, especially for the time (1980) best et. Was 11.93 with slicks.
After Sam’s car I bought my first Mopar, a ‘69 4-speed 383 Road Runner w/3.91 gears, great car!
Been a Mopar guy ever since.
Dave
 
When I was about 18 the local Dodge dealer was sent a 68 S/S Hemi Dart.
He kept it in the back corner of the showroom so no one would see it.
We were looking it over one day and the salesman came over and ask us if we wanted to hear it run...
It damn near blew the windows out of the showroom, that convinced me.
 
My brother worked at a shell gas station
Think it had about 4 bays
One bay had a hemi dart in it
Green.....not sure if it was a "real" one
This was around 1980
I just remember drooling over it
 
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