Other brands of cars

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
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Location
Colorado
I was mopar to start out, I was mopar when it seemed no one else around me was, I will always be a mopar head.

However, I have had the opportunity as of lately to get my hands on some other brands of cool cars. I'm learning a lot and expanding my car world.

I recently met a guy named Justin and he is a Chevy guy. At first I was kinda like yea yea, it's a Chevy. Then I really got into the car with him and we went through the brakes and really went through the car which is a 68 chevelle malibu. During going through the car I see where some things are universal to any car with wheels, and some things are very brand specific. I got to see and go hands on with a Chevy 402 on an engine stand.

I have another friend named Ron and he is a late model Ford guy. I really have to say that for years I have underestimated how good Ford hardware is from the 90s. From 8.8 rear ends to 460 monsters, Ford really had some good hardware in the 90s. After helping Ron build a Ford explorer, heavily modified for off road and we went through a former cop crown Victoria and went through the 4.6, among many many other projects, I'm really starting to like that era of Ford.

After all of that, I feel like a more rounded mechanic and I feel more comfortable getting deep into more modern cars of all kinds.

Other than mopar, what cars are your interest out there??
 
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I grew up working on Chevy trucks. 73-87 style. My first car was a 77 LTD with a 460. When I bought a Dakota 440 project in 2004 there was no looking back. Now I do honda elements and VW outside of Ma’ Mopar. 3 pedals always preferred, regardless of brand
 
I like cars. Pretty much all brands. Was a Chevy guy as a kid, but always appreciated other brands. Have owned and built Pontiacs, Fords, Toyotas, Jeeps and Mopars. Cool cars are cool cars.

Pat
 
I have my favorites in most brands, but will only have Mopar for myself. My best friend from High school has a 70 1/2 Camero 350, now a 327. My brother had a 65 Mustang with a 271 HP 289. Both were great cars. I like early Pontiac GTO, Buick GS and Grand National, OLDS 442, Ford Mustang, Fairlane, Falcon, Comet Caliente, Cougar, T Bird, Cobra, Studebaker Hawk, Starliner, Starlight Coupe, Avanti, AMC Javelin and AMX. I don't have time to get into engines...
 
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My driving life started with a 62 F100 that I cut my wrenching teeth on. Loved it so much that my 1st "mature" adult hot rod was the same truck. Really like the 60's FMC stable. Have also owned & wrenched on a 64 Buick Special & a 66 225. Loved learning about Buick muscle of the 60's.
 
First car was a 67 rally sport Camaro
Second was a 69 Blazer 4wd
A ride in a 68 Sport fury 440 4 speed, 3.54 Dana 60 car changed everything, ended up putting a Holley 850 dp and a vertex magneto on the fury, and it got even better. Buddy had a dwi and I had to drive him around in the fury.
 
GM's, 80's Firebirds, Monte Carlo's and Cutlass', 80's GM trucks and SUV's. All were V8's, 305, 307, 350. Easy to work on, easy to get parts for and I like the styling. I had a Fox body Mustang, I didn't like it, the car just didn't feel solid to me and was too small. Give me big American iron. Small to me is a Mopar A body.
 
image.jpeg
I had a 4speed 390 rebel in the mid eighties.
This pic was taken on Freitas Road where the American Grafitti drag race scene was filmed
john dodge said:
Rambler...amc....id love to own a rebel machine!!! Red white blue....us muscle
Click to expand...
 
I like many makes and models. However, I have always been fond of and mostly owned Chrysler Products. I do like the
Fox body Mustangs. The drivelines were really well put together. I also learned how to drive in a '67 Chevelle. So kinda have
a soft spot for that model.
 
Mopar first, but I have owned many muscle cars in 50 years. There are some fine machines out there, and if you believe it's mopar or no car, your going to miss out on some great cars. Only owned a couple Fords, but had quite a few GM's over the years.

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Rainy Day Auto said:
I was mopar to start out, I was mopar when it seemed no one else around me was, I will always be a mopar head.

However, I have had the opportunity as of lately to get my hands on some other brands of cool cars. I'm learning a lot and expanding my car world.

I recently met a guy named Justin and he is a Chevy guy. At first I was kinda like yea yea, it's a Chevy. Then I really got into the car with him and we went through the brakes and really went through the car which is a 68 chevelle malibu. During going through the car I see where some things are universal to any car with wheels, and some things are very brand specific. I got to see and go hands on with a Chevy 402 on an engine stand.

I have another friend named Ron and he is a late model Ford guy. I really have to say that for years I have underestimated how good Ford hardware is from the 90s. From 8.8 rear ends to 460 monsters, Ford really had some good hardware in the 90s. After helping Ron build a Ford explorer, heavily modified for off road and we went through a former cop crown Victoria and went through the 4.6, among many many other projects, I'm really starting to like that era of Ford.

After all of that, I feel like a more rounded mechanic and I feel more comfortable getting deep into more modern cars of all kinds.

Other than mopar, what cars are your interest out there??
Click to expand...
I'm a Mopar first kinda guy but have also had other brands. Had 4 different Camaros, a Chevelle, a C10 truck, K5 Blazer..all kinds of stuff....Rainy as you got elbows deep in the 402 just take note of small things on why most of us prefer Mopar...like the oiling holes in the crank. Mopar chamfers these hole from the factory to help spread oil over the whole journal...gm does not. Think about how wide a big block Mopar is compared to the 402...this helps the rod angle when the rotating assembly is moving making it easier to push the piston up through the cylinder, you will see more GM products with a rod hung out the side of a block than you will with a Mopar because of this...just a couple things you can notice when playing around with this 402.
 
I love the Fords in the early to mid 50's. My favorite Ford Muscle car era would be '66 Fairlane, we've owned two of them. My favorite Chevy body style in the muscle cars is the '67 Chevelle.
 
Like everyone I have to say that I am definitely a Mopar guy first and foremost and currently have something like 11 of them (2 Ebodies, 1 B body, 1 A body, 10 Challenger RT, 01 Viper, 52 Dodge pu, 01 1500, 14 2500, 05 Durango, 09 Caliber). I have owned quite a variety of cars over the years to include 2 Vettes, a BMW, an Audi (complete POS), a number of Japanese cars and a couple of Ford PU's when I was young. I have worked on a lot more and even wider variety. My dad was a Ford guy and I had to work on them which caused me to grow up hating them for the most part. All that said, I can admire and respect most cars and understand why people love them. Some notable cars would be the early 70's transams (like the instrument clusters), late 60's early 70s GTOs and Avantis. There are some European cars which are cool but most are far outside anything I could afford.

I have been thinking for a long time about getting a Triumph Spitfire, I don't know why I want one but I do. I think I just need to drive one and get it out of my system. My wife commented that we don't have any convertibles so that got me thinking about the Triumph. I have looked at Fiat 124's and MGs as well but I like the lines of the Spitfire better.

We just bought a Subaru Forester for my wife and I have to say it seems like a very good car. I thought about getting a Porsche but cannot bring myself to do it. I really like the Mercedes SL550 but the retractable hard tops can be a ***** to fix not to mention stupid expensive.

All in all, I like cars that I can potentially afford which means older and used. Not that I don't like new cars, just can't afford them without selling off some of what I have which I don't want to do.
 
I like Pontiacs also. There's a 77 Trans Am SE sitting in my garage, waiting its turn. It will be my wife's car when we get it done. "East bound and down......lol."
 
It is fun learning the idiosyncrasies of a particular model of car whatever it may be. You learn to appreciate the design characteristic of the engineers when we own them and work on them. When you think about how automobiles are manufactured it is usually skewed toward ease of assembly. More so today than yesterday. A new Camry almost falls together these days. Reminds me of the old "snap-together" model cars. I'm working on a 65 Corvette right now. The Corvette is rather challenging to work on.
Build numbers and variations are super interesting to me. I just acquired a 65 Impala. Number one sold model of car ever. Over a million were sold. The SS model came with a 3/8 fuel line, even if it had a six cylinder, but you could not get a bench seat. LOL
 
Had a problem with owning BMWs for awhile, had 5 of them in a row.
 
I've never been brand loyal.
I started out in 1969 with a 57 Chevy BelAire, but the following year I got the 70Swinger340. I had to learn to fix it real quick cuz I kept breaking it. That led to the accumulation of spare parts,and of course that led to trading of Mopar parts. And in a few years I had a lotta spare parts. So from then on, the leaning was towards A-bodies.
As I picked up mechanical knowledge and tools and skills, it was a natural that I became an auto mechanic. Most all per 2000 brands.
Over the past 50 years I have had several other branded cars, but there has always been a least one Mopar in the stable.
But I've never been fond of imports.

I remember as a teenager, me and Pops talking about it, and I was vehemently against any 4-bangers, saying I will never own one. Especially not a foreign one.
Well in 1969 the big three only had a few RWD models,so I thought I was pretty safe.
But then my kids came along, and the gas crunch,and killer interest rates, and then; I had to eat my words, and a RWD 4banger was in the driveway. And a couple of decades later a FWD 4-banger came home. Now I'm on my third 4 banger. And I really like it.
But I'm semi retired now,Dad is long gone,I only work on what I want to, and FWD 4-banger cars are NOT on the list.
They have always sucked, continue to suck, and will forever suck. FIFTY years have gone by. Back in the day,I could squeeze low to mid 20s mpg out of a 9.5Scr 318, in a 3200pound A-body. And today My 2014 Orlando,with it's VVT-2.4DFI (Direct Fuel Injection),6-speed, on a good day, makes 32@3600pounds..
Fifty years.
There is something wrong with this picture. My 4+1speed, 11/1, hotrod 367, at 3650pounds, has made 30.
If you ask me, there is a conspiracy to sell gas, lots of gas, lots and lots and lots of gas. Somebody is getting really really rich selling lots and lots of gas,, and just maybe, he has the power to put a cap on the mpg numbers. I mean you know, think about it.
Fifty years of technology for 12 mpgs at best, with engines less than half as big.
No!, Smart cars don't count. They are no where near 3600pounds.And I'm pretty sure they can't spin even one tire.
 
i love all different make of cars.. always loved mopars but had pontiacs first... the whole mopar or no car crap always seemed kinda stupid to me. with that attitude you are missing out on some awesome cars...
 
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When I was a kid, I was a buick/olds/pontiac guy until I saw the light (que the angelic aaaaaahs) and bought my first Mopar at 16.

Before that I had a 55 buick special riviera, a 66 olds 98 with a 10.5:1 425, and a 72 350 skylark.

Since then, I've been 99% all Mopar, with only 1 chevy- a complete POS 85 s-10 (buy it was Petty blue with matching nova rally wheels) and 1 ford, a 71 torino gt 351c shaker hood car, which actually was pretty cool.
 
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it was way more than what we just liked it was a bloodline to us, from my grandfather's 1 New Yorker to my best friend's Cuda to my brothers roadrunner and my 340 swinger and my Cuda other Mopar guys back in the day in my neighborhood it was a loyalty thing like your high school or your girlfriend if I had to look at one more Chevelle or Camaro or Mustang so boring nothing wrong with them just way too many. My son now has an SRT Challenger and we don't feel we're missing anything! But maybe a Viper
 
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