When were you bitten by the car bug??

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probably as a kid in the 70s, there was still alot of nice iron cruising the streets back then,and my dad and uncles were wrenching their stuff. its what men did. there was a time the average guy had to know how to keep his car running :)
 
6 or 7... Hot Wheels, model cars. Learned to drive tractors before I was 8 (didn't need to reach the pedals- they had hand clutches and throttles), learned to swear at the same time from my grandpa who was teaching me to drive. By 10 I could sort of drive the "farm car" '47 Plymouth on the dirt farm roads, with wooden blocks wired to the pedals.
My older brother had a '55 Chevy with a straight 6 and three Rochester 2 bbls. on an Offy manifold, and an Isky cam that I became infatuated with and pestered him about incessantly every time he was working on it (which was quite often). It has just been snowballing ever since.
 
i remember many cars in our small town before i was even a teenager. A red 55 chev with radiused rear wheelwells.It was a 4 spd and had a 348ci. Another guy bought a new 64 Chevelle with a 327.
Another was a new 66 mustang with a 289, 4 barrel, 4 spd. and dual exhaust.
We thought life couldn't get any better!
 
As a kid it started with Matchbox, Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning etc..., then I moved into scale models (AMT, Monogram, Revell etc...), then my friends and I moved into building "go-karts" (biked through the neighborhood on garbage night looking for old gas powered lawn mowers), then at 16 once we got our driver's licenses and the fun began.

I attribute my Mopar addiction to my uncle (with his black on black '68 Dodge Coronet 440 R/T), my grandfather (always had Mopars a turquoise '64 Dodge Polara, a gold '67 383 Dodge Monaco, a '69 318 Plymouth Satellite (which eventually became my 1st Mopar)) and my stepfather (a '64 Chevy Impala, a '70 Chevy Impala), then started buying my grandfather's cars for family use.

I dabbled in Chevy for a while. My 1st new car was a '80 Chevy Monza (like the maroon car in the pictures):

1978_Chevrolet_Monza_hatchback.jpg
chevrolet-monza-2.jpg


It was dark green, tan interior, Buick 231 V-6, TH350, PS, PB, A/C car. I added headers and a small 4-bbl to the Buick 231 V-6, but it just didn't have the V-8 rumble. A friend of mine had a Monza with a 305 V-8 that was rear-ended, so I bought the V-8 from him. My car then went through a massive change. I painted it '75 Corvette Yellow, swapped in a black interior, changed the front nose to the 2+2 Spyder style, added a cowl induction hood, Cragar SSTs (big 14" rears and little 13" fronts) tilt steering column, and rebuilt the .030 over 305, Holley 600 cfm, Hooker headers and a small cam. Here is the final result of my 1st automotive endeavor:

Drvr Frnt Done.JPG


I sold the Monza when we started having kids. I lasted about 8 years without a "toy car" and started looking for a Mopar. Then, in 2002 my 6 year old son and I found the Dart GT.
 
Birth! I came home from the hospital after I was born in a 1970 Tor Red Plymouth Superbird 440 6BBL 4 Speed. When I was young enough to move around on my own, I’d sit in a diaper box on the living room floor and pretend I was driving and shifting. Later on, my dad gave me a pistol grip shift handle to use when I was “driving”. It was out of a non console 70 Road Runner. I thought that thing was enormous! My mom has a picture of that somewhere. Most of my dads cars were 4 speeds so that’s what I liked!
 
My two uncles had a Gas/ Service station in a small neighboring town. It was a treat to go there. Was into model cars and then Hot wheels came along
 
My older sister was gonna marry Jim Mitchell who gave me a ride in his 68 AMX. His dad worked for AMC in Kenosha and would pick us up from gradeschool in his Scrambler. Jim had a rusted 66 GTO in the driveway. Havent found a cure yet.
 
Shoot,
Probably around 5 or 6 y/o. We had Tonkas Hotwheels, and model car Amt and whatnot. I thought it was so cool that a pile of parts could be turned into a car. (Ha ha still do) .
I suggested at 10 years old when the family VW square back motor blew, that we “just get a motor for it” and do it ourselves. Pops said no. Sold that for 400 bucks. Still kills me
BUT it wasn’t until Gramps took me for a ride in a big 390 equipped Ltd, and casually, did a Smokey burnout leaving the Shell station that I was hooked.
Still remember the smile on his face, the sound of the 4 barrel opening up. Maybe 12 yrs old. My old man and family were never car people.
 
Always, I am a third generation mechanic/engineer from both sides of my family. I remember standing next to my dad in a 59 Chrysler Windsor as we drove. If he did not want you to pass him you wouldn't. I love trying all kinds of combinations with any motor.
 
I was about 8 it was the mid seventies. My older brother had a friend that had a '67 Charger I remember riding in the back of that car.
That did it for me I was bitten. I always liked how Dodge ran there tail lights all the way across the *** end Ie. Charger, Challenger. Nothing sexier.
 
Probably a combination of Riding on the back of my Dad's Norton and the guy who owned the 72 TX9 Duster across the street. My Dad was changing cars like his underwear when I was around 5 so throw that in the pot too..... Oddly enough I ended up with the TX9 before I turned 18......

JW
 
My car addiction started prob in the mid 80s as a kid. We used to play with slot cars all the time. Seems each Christmas got a new track, the one I remember most came with red and yellow Lamborghinis. My Mopar addiction started in high school. Everyone loved Acura and Honda at my school. My best buddy had a 67 Belvedere 318 4 spd with 3:91 sure grip. Riding in his Plymouth was just a blast he drove the crap out of that car. He still has it over 25+ years.
 
Used to hop up slot cars back in the day. Then Dad got a 68 300. They all came with 440 4bbl and would smoke from a 25 roll. Then one day on Michigan avenue in Detroit I saw a vette (which every knew could never be beat) stage up at a lite next to a 454 Chevelle and I thought this is gonna be fun. Then in the middle lane between them rolled up a 340 Duster and I thought He's gonna get embarrassed. Then the light changed. Mopar or no car!
 
When I was born (1946) when the doctor delivered Me and then He held Me upside down and slapped My rear end, I looked back and He had on a Dodge Brothers hat, instead of screaming, I instead said one word, "HEMI" that was the start of My lifelong addiction to Mopars. :)
 
ir3333 said:
Darts were among quickest on the street.
Click to expand...

yeah the ls6 chevelle would run 13.7
The 340s would run the same but a little faster with a little tuning
Talk about a well engineered package

Go Mopar
 
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My interest in cars must've formed in my dad's nuts, because it's definitely genetic and I distinctly remember practicing stabbing the gas and brake pedals while in the womb.

That said, my interest in Mopars specifically formed as a kid when I saw some wing cars behind glass at museum/dealer in Salina KS, which you could see from I-70 as you drove by. Seeing the Duster Twister scribble (which I thought was the Tasmanian Devil at an early age) and the Road Runner decklid decal on a Hemi Orange 'bird cemented my love for Mopars by giving me something I could identify with as a kid. Chrysler got decades of return on investment with that Warner Bros. deal.
 
The TV show Route 66, one of my uncles 65 Riviera GS 425 2x4bbl, other uncle took me to big event at OCIR in 1970 and Hot Wheels
 
aengineguy said:
The TV show Route 66, one of my uncles 65 Riviera GS 425 2x4bbl, other uncle took me to big event at OCIR in 1970 and Hot Wheels
Click to expand...
I worked at a salvage yard and begged the owner to allow me to at least let me get the carbs and intake off the easily restorable car (65 also) I lost my job when they (the carbs) disappeared one day.
 
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My dad was NOT into cars other then to drive his company car around. He did buy my mom a 1959 T-Bird. At 15, he took me to a SOHIO gas station figuring out that that is where my life would go & not into the business world.
As kids my brothers & I would play with the little electric slot cars, I had dirt bike then street bikes & both of my older brothers had 1966 Fairlane GT's, one was a GT & the other a GTA. My first was a 1968 SS 396 - 325HP Chevelle, had it about a year then moved on to a 1969 Swinger 340 4-speed. Many cars since the early 70's of various brands, still have 3- 1969 Darts, two are Swinger 340 cars in various conditions.
 
A friend's grandparents were taking us to Cape Cod and he was name cars. We were 10 years old. So I started learning them. Then started to build models.
 
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