What got you hooked on A-Bodies anyway?

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T2R9 said:
Coronado Naval base in San Diego. Wife and dang near lived there when we first got married.
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Nice! I loved the Auto Hobby Shops. I lived at the one on Little Rock AFB. One day the guy working there yells "Hey Trace, Colonel is on the phone and wants to talk with you" I'm wondering what the heck and run to get the phone. It was my wife!!!!
 
Mopar Tim said:
NAS north Island? I practically lived there in 1980.....85.
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The Seal base just down the strand from North Island. We were both stationed at the Naval Station but Coronado was convenient since we live in Imperial Beach. This pic was in 85.
 
66fyssh said:
Looks like the Auto Hobby Shop at Keesler AFB!
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I got hooked getting my cousin Gary's '70 340 Duster ready for him as he was coming back from Vietnam for the last time. (Thanks to all the veterans out there for your service!) The car was in sitting in dad's "huge" 2 car showroom at his Plymouth dealership. I had to wash the windows, clean the tires and wax it. I had just turned 13 and dad put me to work and this was one of my first jobs. The car was Gold with a black vinyl top, buckets, and a 4 speed and of coarse being brand new, looked great. I think it took me all day to wax it because I kept standing back and staring at it!
 
72 340 Duster I traded a Chevette and 600 dollars for at Minnesota Motors while I was stationed in Hawaii, they financed 300.00 for me lol..... It did not run well when I got it so I saved up for a month and I bought a rebuilt distributor and ThermoQuad at the NAPA store on the other side of the island for about a 100.00. Turned out the car had sat for a while but was well known on the local bracket scene.. It was Sherwood Green, sharktooth grille, white 340 stripes, bench seat, heater delete, radio delete and vinyl floor.. 727 column shift with 3:55 suregrip.. it had some cragar SS wheels all the way around. It was actually sitting next to a 440 cuda' on dealers lot which I was really lusting for.. but they wanted 1200 plus my Chevette for the cuda'..I only made 525 dollars a month at the time.. so bucks were slim, so they sold me on the crappy running duster and took my money lol..

I found out later when tore it down after I thought I blew a head gasket ( turned out to be a loose header bolt..) that it had a cam and some 2.02 valves and some port/polish done on the heads, they were probably milled too because it had that sound as every one used to say... It was a mid to high 12 car with some goodyear polyglass H-60/14's on the rear, I remember buying a lot of tires because it would destroy them during burnouts they were like 35.00 a piece..lol

Still today that is the one I miss the most.. this is a pic I found on the innerwebz not mine but it is close

340 duster.jpg
 
I started out on B bodys, grandpa gave me his old 65 coronet to learn to drive on.
Bought a 71 challenger with my own money, what an improvement.
After marriage and kids, still had the challenger, my wife at the time had a clean 76 fury that I traded for a 73 duster and gave I think $700 boot on trade.
The old Duster drove way better than any E or B body, just smooth, handled better,
a more balanced car.

Still have a Duster in the garage, just not the same one.
 
always wanted a mopar . A beaked nose broken 73 dart sport was the only mopar I could afford haha . That was 9 years ago

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My dad bought a '65 Valiant station wagon with 225/6. That was the first car I learned to drive in.
Probably the big turn on for me was when my high school friend bought a brand new '67 notchback Cuda with a 273...we went everywhere together in that car.
Then, another high school friend bought a '69 340 4-speed Dart. Whadda car that was in it's day.
My first very own A-body was a brand new '73 Dart Sport 340. I drove it about a week before it was stolen from a movie theatre parking lot...never recovered.
I then bought a new '73 340 Duster 4-speed to replace the stolen.
Have always loved the a-body cars. Probably have had about 12-15 of em over all these years.
Presently, there are 3 of em in my shop: an original '72 340 4-speed Demon, a '72 Swinger that started life as a 318. Both need restoring now.
And the car I'm presently working on: '73 Dart Sport that started life as a 318, but now looking at a built 360 for it.
 
Back in the mid 70s when when I got my 70 swinger 340 I was hooked. There was 340 dusters and demons in every little town kicking everything in sight. Kim
 
P/W got me. 3200 pound 70 Swinger340 and an advertised 275 hp; that's a P/W of 11.3. But everybody, I mean every body said those 340s were more like 300. And the Swinger could be got down an easy 100 pounds in a couple of minutes, so that made 10.3 easy. As a 16/17 year old I was thinking that was about what a Hemi-E was kicking out.......Little did I know, the Hemi's weren't kicking out just 425 hp either. All the same, in factory trim, there wasn't much of an ET difference, and I only had $1200 smackers.
As bad as that Swinger handled, all the other offering I road-tested, were worse.
I learned to "drive" that little beast and it burned off tires almost as fast as it burned gas. Lucky for me, gas was just 37 cents a gallon Imp. That's 8 cents a liter. Or 29.6 cents per USg. I used to take up a collection at lunch time and take younger kids out for a joy-ride. I made money on that deal every time. A full tank cost about $3.70. The car had 5 seat-belts, and I was only using 1,lol. Well, it had a bench seat,so 6 belts. But if somebody woulda sat in that center seat there, it wouldabin kindof dangerous on the 1-2 shift.
. ...... All aboard, 50 cents please! No George not you; remember what happened last time?
 
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Big Green Duster said:
Growing up I always knew Mopar built the biggest, baddest, and the fastest muscle cars but its hard to afford a hemi super bird when your only 17 so I bought my /6 duster instead
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Hey, nothing wrong with that! I bought a /6 for $200 and daily drove it for many years. I think motor had 250,000 when we finally pulled it. It sat on the ground outside the shop for less than a week when some guy pulled up in a white Dodge van and asked if he could buy it. Got $200 for it. FREE DUSTER in the end lol.
 
mycuda said:
Was a Pontiac head at one time.
Then I realized I wanted to lose a thousand pounds and have a car that not many people have, and cool looking.
And be able to have a small block and have just as fast if not faster car!
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You got that right! My 71 Duster with an iron headed 440, ALL STEEL body with factory glass - 2850lbs with the cell full. My Brand-X buddies flipped out when we scaled it at the track. It went 10.90 back in the 80's with unported 452 heads and a flat tappet cam. They had roller cams and aluminum heads running low 11s.
 
bout the only thing mopar left reasonably priced so I got a life time supply
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yeah said:
always wanted a mopar . A beaked nose broken 73 dart sport was the only mopar I could afford haha . That was 9 years ago

MoPar stole your idea for the new Demon! This man needs to get paid. LOL. (just kidding, they did it before on the Kit cars)
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T2R9 said:
The Seal base just down the strand from North Island. We were both stationed at the Naval Station but Coronado was convenient since we live in Imperial Beach. This pic was in 85.
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Station on a Destroyer in 71-72 used to watch the seals get dropped off in the bay.
 
Growing up the janitor at my high school had a 73 swinger and to be honest it seemed like an ugly car to me at the time. When i was 15 i was looking at the paper every weekend looking for a smoking deal on an old mustang or falcon. Then a little 73 swinger with a slant six popped up for dirt cheap i pulled the trigger. That happened the weekend before thanks giving in 2005 so next weekend will be 12 years with it.
 
Money$$$$$$. I mean, my older brothers had some A-bodies, including a '72 340 Demon. But my older brother had a '68 GTX with a few goodies on that 440. I thought that car was the best look'n car, and fast......! Just couldn't afford one. Seems I could always hop in a Duster. Now, A-bodies are just a part of me :)
 
,My uncle had a 55 Dodge, my cousin had a 64 Dodge, my sister had a 65 Plymouth and I had a little 100cc Yamaha when I was 15. I traded the bike and $100 to guy painting our house for a 65 Dart. It was a 270 post car with a HP273 and a 3 on the tree. I cycled through Road Runners, Super Bee's, and Challengers. 12 years ago I decided to get back into the hobby and found my 66. A couple years ago I added the 70 Swinger to the mix. I may sell both and find a nice 64 Dodge Polara or 330 to finish out the hobby. Heck, I may find a old Arrow race car and put it back on the street. Who says you can't have fun when you're in your 60's!
 
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