What car got you into Mopars?

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Flashback

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Curious, we all no doubt have different experiences that led us to the mopar fold. Usually, it is a family members car, or a friends that got us hooked.

For me, started as my parents '66 dart wagon that they drove all over the place and I became a huge fan of it's dependability even as a kid. Then, just before getting my license, a friend of my older brother took me for helluva ride in his 69 road runner...scared the crap out of me...loved every second of it. That cemented my loyalty to mopars. Two years later, I bought that road runner and still own it today. By my signature you can tell I bought a 66 wagon too.

What's your story?
 
............I liked the looks of them over anything else............ofcourse Wyle E had alot 2 do with it as he could never catch that bird........kim......
 
A Consumer Report magazine. When I was 15 in 1983 I got a magazine at the library that had just about every muscle car from the muscle car era and their 1/4 mile times. I made a list of all the et's and I noticed that mopars were dominating the list with the fastest times. I loved the looks of the 67-69 barracudas and I had to have a four speed. Well as luck would have it with in a few days a 69 383 formula s 4 speed car was listed in the local paper for sale for $750 the next day my dad and I went to look at it and he ended up buying it for $650. I have now had the car for 26 years and Im currently in the middle of a full restoration. The car is full numbers matching motor, tranny, uniboby stampings, VIN, fender tag and build sheet and all the hard to find big block odds and ends including the rare red wheel well liners. I guess I got lucky and have LOVED all mopars every since. Thanks dad!!
 
Fall / Winter of 70-- Traded + cash, my '63 Impala SS for a '69 383 RR ---a father had bought for his kid, and evidently the kid had not played well ---"It's too much car for him" he said.

Summer of 72? A friend was getting married, sold me his '70 440 sixpack. Had US Indy slot mags, cyclone headers, and an 800 Holley. Sixpack was in the trunk. Had "hang on" air, and got 13.8 mpg at 70

Flew up from San Diego to Sac and drove it back. My luggage was a spare tire and overnight bag. On the way back one of a bunch of HD riders wanted to race, and I shook my head. He flipped me off, so into 3rd we go. He was a VERY embarrassed dude around the campfire THAT night
 
efriedrich said:
A Consumer Report magazine. When I was 15 in 1983 I got a magazine at the library that had just about every muscle car from the muscle car era and their 1/4 mile times. I made a list of all the et's and I noticed that mopars were dominating the list with the fastest times. I loved the looks of the 67-69 barracudas and I had to have a four speed car and as luck would have it with in a few days a 69 383 formula s 4 speed car was listed in the local paper for sale for $750. The next day my dad and I went to look at it and my dad ended up buying it for $650. I have now had the car for 26 years (its the car in my avatar) and Im currently in the middle of a full restoration. The car is full numbers matching motor, tranny, uniboby stampings, VIN, fender tag and build sheet and all the hard to find odds and ends including the rare red wheel well liners. I guess I got lucky and have LOVED all mopars every since.
Click to expand...

very cool
 
my first car! 1970 dodge dart! I was 16 and was looking for a 66 chevy nova. my dads friend found the dart, and i loved it! im glad that he found it for me! it made me into a mopar dude! lol....i still have that same dart...im 24 now.. :)
 
First time I went to Island Dragway in NJ there was a wagon there, believe it was called the Teachers Pet or something like that. Had a Max Wedge with a crossram with a pushbutton in it. Just something about the car was like a magnet. The owner was one of the coolest guys I had ever met. Had always been a Ford guy up to that point. Refuse to give up the blue oval entirely, thanks to me 64 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe......but it will be outnumbered in the garage, my wife has a 69 Valiant as well oas our Dart....
 
My cousin's "Chicken Coupe"


Picture%20007.jpg
 
I got into MoPars because all my GM products died under my right foot in a short time. When my best freind said to me, "You gotta getcha one of these!" and he proceeded to take me for a day long beatdown on the car, I said, OK, it'll be worth a shot.

Never looked back at a chevy since. Screw'em and there weak *** engines.
 
My 65 Barracuda that I owned 20 years ago in Alaska. It is exactly like the one in my avatar except the one from Alaska had nicer chrome and interior, but had bunches of bondo.
 
After my dad came back from vietnam, He took a job as a car salesman in southern california. The first car he ever sold was a 1972 dodge demon. The cool part is that he sold it to my great grandmother. I remember riding in the back seat when I was a little kid.The car eventually was handed back down to my dad. Once in his hands , we drove it every where. All the way from North Dakota to New Mexico, and California to East Texas. I drove it in high school Here in New Mexico. fast forward another 10 years, my dad passed it down to me. After all these years its in need of a restoration, but Its well worth it
 
My Dad bought a '69 4dr /6 Dart Custom brand new from Pierce Dodge in Littleton. I've owned 4 '69 Darts & a '68 Formula S Barracuda since then. I think I'm addicted to A bodies... I liked them so much, I wrenched at 3 Mopar dealerships from '73 to '82.
 
I was looking for a '68 Nova to drop a junkyard 454 into (in 1972) but couldn't find one. I came upon a pristine 273-powered, stick, '64 Valiant 2-door post car (white, my favorite non-color) with a blue interior, and fell in love with the look of it.

I bought it for $600.00, and started driving it, but wanted more suds, so I found a nearly-new 340 and drivetrain (manual/4-speed) out of a low-mileage '71 Demon that had been rolled. Bolted it in with a set of Hedman headers (it came with a 3.91 Sure-Grip 8.75" rear end.) It all went in without a hitch! Now, I had a 13-second car that looked great. Not content, I added a set of slapper bars (didn't know any better, then,) a Lunati cam, a Mallory Dual-point distributor (again, I didn't know any better,) blocked the heat riser under the carb, installed a 4.56 Sure-Grip, and took a Hayes 3,000-pound pressure plate and removed all the centrifugal weights, so it would release cleanly at high rpm, and I now, had a tranny setup that shifted as easily as a VW Beetle. Never missed a gear with that setup. I bought some slicks for it, and drove 'em on the street.... smart... not.

But, I was young and REAL dumb.... and that was the only car I ever had TO THIS DAY, that I never got beat in... and, I raced a lot of motorcycles. But, Chebbies were my specialty...:cheers:


You gotta love a car that NEVER lets you down!!!!
So, that car made a believer (in Mopars) out of me; I forgot all about that Nova project that I had wanted, earlier...:disgust:

The rest is history; current projects are my Vortech-blown, 360 Magnum-powered '72 Valiant (done) and my slant six turbo car ('64 Valiant) that I'm building with my racer-partner, Freddie Nielsen. Both are 4-doors, BTW... and REAL ugly... LOL! Freddie's wife found our latest project in the classifiedS for $700... HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF????

Sleeper city...
 
Friend next door had a '70 challenger,that got me interested in mopars..guy with a '70 340 duster moved in across the street thats what got me hooked :-D:-D
 
When I was 10 my best friends neighbor had a 70 hemi cuda with a 4 speed. He took us out for a ride a few times. That was the first time I was ever in a car that did a burnout and a hard launch!
I will never forget that feeling of being thrown back into the seat!

That car still comes to the racetrack every now and then. I will have to take pics next time its out.
 
There was a kid who went to my high-school, who soon became one of my closest friends, who drove a 74 dart four four with a mild 318. My family has always bought Chrysler products since my great uncle Jim bought his first new car back in 1957, a 57 Plymouth plaza that when he moved here to Arizona, he left the car in Ohio. I would say though that my buddy dart got me to buy my own mopar when I was 15, my 65 dart GT. On a second note, the fastest car my dad ever recalls riding in was his buddys 67gtx with a 440 back in the 70s.
 
not mine in the picture but THE first mopar I ever owned a 1973 dart swinger slantsix
 

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...so back in high school, my buddy had a 70 Olds 442 W30. It was a low 14 second car in Denver, and the fastest car at my high school. The closest car to my buddies 442 was a 69 383 Roadrunner with a 4 speed. Needless to say, they ran each other a few times with the big Olds always coming out on top. At that point, I was a staunch GM guy...but that 4 speed Runner opened my eyes to Mopar. Fast forward a few years, and my dad calls me one day and tells me that he bought an old Race Car...a 63 Dodge Polara with a 440, tunnel ram, reverse manual 727 with 4.88 gears and a spool in the D60. I left College (SDSU) late Thursday night and drive home to check out the new ride. He fired up the 440, and I was hooked. That was the loudest 440 I had ever heard, still have not heard many louder. We raced it for a few years at Brotherhood Raceway in Long Beach before they shut it down. Dad ended up selling it a few years later, but I still miss that car a lot. I wish I still had it. Fast forward a few more years, I ended up buying an original 66 Dart from the original owner. 3 weeks later I bought the 64 Dart I have today. The 66 was sold and ended up on Barrett Jackson.

My dad now has a 65 Belvedere with a 440, 727 and 4.88 gears.

Thanks,
OldMoparsRule!
 
I was taken home in a from the Hospital in 1976 in a 72 Demon and rode in a wicker basket in that car for years. Plus my parents all drove Mopars until the 90's pos Dynasties and Bryden Motors.
 
Watching the original movie "Bullitt" when I was 11. Yeah the good guy was in a Furd but the Charger was all it took. Been hooked ever since.:love7:
 
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