So how far back does your Mopar experience go?
- Thread starter 65 Cuda 340
- Start date
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I got brought home from the hospital where the stork dropped me off in a brand new 1964 Dodge Dart 270 wagon that my folks picked up a week before my earthly debut
Big_John
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
My first memory of anything, not just mopars, but anything, was riding over to look at a 57 Chrysler Windsor with my parents. We met the owner at a local drug store. He was a Catholic priest.
This was 1958 and I would turn 4 later that year.
The Windsor had the optional record player and my Dad had to remove it because the priest had just bought a brand new 58 New Yorker and that car didn't have one.
This was 1958 and I would turn 4 later that year.
The Windsor had the optional record player and my Dad had to remove it because the priest had just bought a brand new 58 New Yorker and that car didn't have one.
Challngd73
Well-Known Member
My dad and uncles always had mopars. In 75 when I was born, my parents moved to the country and my dad sold his 1969 383 roadrunner to buy a lawn mower. After that, I remember playing in the Chrysler imperial that sat in our driveway forever. My real passion for them started in the mid 80’s when my uncle was giving us rides in his 65 barracuda with a 70 AAR 340 in it. My dad also had his 66 barracuda with 273 and dealer installed AC. My uncle passed in 89, and his barracuda proceeded to rot out back by the barn. Fast forward to 2011, I bought my dads barracuda from him, and it’s the car I’m restoring now. For nostalgia, my uncles 65 rear window is in my barracuda, and I still have his 70 AAR 340 block sitting in my garage.
19DART66
Well-Known Member
Bill Crowell, My father's first car he bought after getting out of the Marine Corp after WW2 was a Nash, said it was the worst car he ever owned. When my older brother and my twin brother and I were borned we were all brought home in my Dad's 49 Dodge coupe. The year after my twin and I came along he traded that 49 in on a 55 Dodge 4 door and that one in on a 59 Dodge 4 door hardtop Coronet after my sister was borned( this was the first car I remembered, I was 5 then), after that came a brand new 64 Dart 270 wagon with a 273, 3 on the tree. Then came the year I will never forget, 1967 my Dad bought a new Coronet 440 wagon, the dealer had a 67 Charger with the 4 bucket seats on the showroom floor and at 13 years old I was in love with that car. Begged my Dad to buy that one, but in hindsight a 4 seater car would not have worked for a family of six. When I was 14 there was a gas station on the main drag nere our home and one of the mechanics had a 66 red/white Dart GT 273 hp 4 spd. with Cragar SS wheels with Lebanon Valley and South Glens Falls winners sticklers all over the side windows. One day I seen him pull up to the light in front of the gas station and drop the hammer on it when the light turned green, that car swapped sides in all 4 gears and my only thought was "I GOT TO OWN ONE OF THOSE SOME DAY". That thought stayed with me till I bought my 66 Dart in 1999.
Now even though I was weaned on Mopars, in 1969 at 15 I bought my first car a 61 2dr. Bubble top Impala with no engine or trans but a 4.56 posi rear end, and a Candy Blue with white and silver lace paint job below the body belt line. For the next 3.5 years I put every dime I made into a 12.5 to 1 compression 302 small block, with ported LT-1 heads, big solid lifter cam, tunnel ram with two 660 Holley's and m20 muncie 4spd. boy did that car teach me how to be a mechanic, I swear it broke every time I put my foot in it. At the end of summer in 1973 at 19 my father co signed a loan for me and I bought a 1969 Coronet R/T, light bronze poly with a tan interior beautiful car loved that car, a 4 foot wide oak tree jumped out in front of it on a rainy late October night in 75, a month after I paid off the loan.
Except for a few Jeeps and a 1994 Formula 350 LT-1 Firebird and a Conquest TSI (all the wifes vehicles), I have never owned anything but Dodge cars and trucks and a slew of Dodge Muscle cars since 1973.
Oh sorry, nope that's a lie I did have three non Dodge winter beaters a 65 273 4dr Satellite, a 78 Satellite wagon with a 400 4 barrel and a 66 Chevy stepside short bed with a 6 cylinder 3 spd that used more oil than gas, no kidding if you poured oil in it when it was running it would come right back out of the tailpipe, worst winter beater I owned, had a helluva time getting that truck started when it dropped below 30 degrees, most likely because it was always oil fouled.
Now even though I was weaned on Mopars, in 1969 at 15 I bought my first car a 61 2dr. Bubble top Impala with no engine or trans but a 4.56 posi rear end, and a Candy Blue with white and silver lace paint job below the body belt line. For the next 3.5 years I put every dime I made into a 12.5 to 1 compression 302 small block, with ported LT-1 heads, big solid lifter cam, tunnel ram with two 660 Holley's and m20 muncie 4spd. boy did that car teach me how to be a mechanic, I swear it broke every time I put my foot in it. At the end of summer in 1973 at 19 my father co signed a loan for me and I bought a 1969 Coronet R/T, light bronze poly with a tan interior beautiful car loved that car, a 4 foot wide oak tree jumped out in front of it on a rainy late October night in 75, a month after I paid off the loan.
Except for a few Jeeps and a 1994 Formula 350 LT-1 Firebird and a Conquest TSI (all the wifes vehicles), I have never owned anything but Dodge cars and trucks and a slew of Dodge Muscle cars since 1973.
Oh sorry, nope that's a lie I did have three non Dodge winter beaters a 65 273 4dr Satellite, a 78 Satellite wagon with a 400 4 barrel and a 66 Chevy stepside short bed with a 6 cylinder 3 spd that used more oil than gas, no kidding if you poured oil in it when it was running it would come right back out of the tailpipe, worst winter beater I owned, had a helluva time getting that truck started when it dropped below 30 degrees, most likely because it was always oil fouled.
dICKj
Well-Known Member
I think l have you all beat. I’ll be eighty on my next birthday. I took my drivers test in my dads Chrysler 300c. He took me to the drags and let me drive it for my 16th birthday. I have had more MOPARs than I can count. The most memorable being a junkyard four door 63 Plymouth with a swapped-in 426 max that was a gift when I came home from Vietnam.
The first Mopar I drove was a 67 Plymouth Fury 2 4 door sedan. 318 wide block. Now I have a 75 duster 360 with 41,000 original miles and 74 duster 360 4 gear car that I made into a 10 second race car. I have had some very rare cars also. But back then they were only a daily driver cars. Nothing special. My favourite car was my 1970 340 Swinger. Kim
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Got me beat - I'm only 70.
Cool gift for your Viet Nam service. Love Max Wedges. Tried to talk Dad into buying a 63 Max Wedge Dodge for $700 in 1967. He was tempted, but said no. Seller wouldn't let Dad drive it, but he took us for a ride and at the time that was far and away the fastest car I had ever ridden in.
Love 340s too, and got one of them for my 65 Barracuda as a gift when I came home from Vietnam - to replace the 273 I blew up trying to drive home from Charleston SC in second gear just before we set sail. I had broken the 3-4 shift fork the day before and had to get it home one way or the other. Two hundred mile trip, almost made it all the way home. Still have the Barracuda, and it still has a 340 (albeit not the same 340).
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