What's your story with your Mopar?

Curious to know where you fall in the line of Mopar owners

  • Bought it fully restored

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    67
-

charliec

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Messages
1,345
Reaction score
2,850
Location
richmond texas
I get rolled eyes from a lot of friends who don't understand the process of rebuilding a car. They just can't fathom having a car on a rotisserie for years, or taking so long to work on meticulous detail. They tell me they don't see any change from the last time they saw it, even though I know the progress made. So, I'm curious how many of you built your cars in one fashion or another and how many of you bought a car already restored.
 
which one?I bought a 69 dart with a 225 and drove it. A 69 Dart the PO put a 440/727 in,drove it and switched to a 340/4-speed.There was my 1st dart,a 70 340 Swinger that I rebuilt the engine and was the first car I took to the drag strip and raced with slicks...and the current "A-body wagon" is waiting for refurbishment.
 
I am the 2nd and 5th owner of this car.

I bought it the first time in 2001 (I was 14) for $400. It was dark green and sporting a 318, 7.25 and column shift. I quickly threw headers and a 4 bbl on it.

I drove it all through high school and for my senior project my dad and I painted it. After high school I wanted to put a 440 into it, and got done with a short block but couldn't afford the heads, so I sold the motor and eventually the car.

It went to my brother and I moved out of my hometown for college. He put in a 8 3/4, but left the 318 untouched. He never insured it and that landed the car in the impound yard after a routine traffic stop.

He didn't have the money to get it out so it was sold at auction. I had since moved back and saw it for sale in my hometown, however, the jack *** that bought it wanted $4k for it (2005). I tried to get him to come down, telling him the story, but no dice. After that I never saw it again.

Fast forward to 2011, my wife and I bought our first house and while we were unpacking I found a copy of the registration for the car. I took that as a sign that I should see where it ended up.

I had the VIN # and the plate # from the registration and an old poloroid sporting the way it looked when I sold it. So I posted an ad on the forums, craigslist and social media. No real hits, until one day someone called me up and said that his brother owned the car about 5 hours north of me.

Said he bought it in my hometown for $1500! I was so mad, but glad I found it. So now came the tricky part, the guy that called me was in the military, so couldn't confirm if his brother still had it, but did within the last year. He gave me a number to call, however when I called it turned out that the owner of the car had just gone to jail and sold the car before he went in.

BUT he was due to be released soon. So I waited for him to call me back so I could get a lead on who he sold it to. He eventually called and turned out he had sold the car months earlier, so I was barely too late. He described it and sent me pictures and it looked identical as to when I saw it last (2005).

Now I was tasked to find the new owner, which proved to be the most difficult of all because as it it turns out the owner of the car just went to prison on some massive drug raid charge. The previous owner and current owner were friends. I looked him up in the inmate system and he wasn't getting out anytime soon and the previous owner was not to associate with anyone of his past, so he couldn't tell me where the car ended up.

So from then on all I had was a name of the current owner, so I scoured Facebook and found his profile and his friends, non of whom returned any of my messages. So I searched for every friend on his list on the web and finally found his girl friends phone number. She had the car and was willing to sell it, but for a hefty price.

She wanted $5k for it (no doubt seeing dollar signs from the story) I drove up to see it anyway and talked her down to $3k figured it still had a running motor, 8 3/4, MSD ignition, demon carb, etc. Some really good parts and the body was fairly straight minus the lower quarter rust.

So that is my story. One I grin at telling every time. Enjoy the read.

Brought it home, March 9th 2013. Been working on it ever since.
Rebuilt 340
Upgraded Suspension
4.10 gears
A500 OD
4 wheel disc
Electric steer, 16:1 manual box
A/C
EZ wire rewire
FITECH EFI
Paint and body work

All above done myself, minus some rust repair and setting up the rear end. Learned as I went. It's almost ready for the road. I need to update my build thread. Lol

IMG_20130309_121307_006.jpg
 
which one?I bought a 69 dart with a 225 and drove it. A 69 Dart the PO put a 440/727 in,drove it and switched to a 340/4-speed.There was my 1st dart,a 70 340 Swinger that I rebuilt the engine and was the first car I took to the drag strip and raced with slicks...and the current "A-body wagon" is waiting for refurbishment.
Do you have photos of the wagon to post?
 
Grandparents purchased the car new (12/1966), I acquired it 4/1985, started restoration 1990 (stopped 1990), picked up restoration 2006, done 2008.
Drive the hell out of it (drove it to work today).

Fill in the blank.

April 1969
1969-05-11_101.jpg


January this year
2020-01-26_004.jpg


Alan
 
Everything I've bought needed work, and most still do. I'm about to work on my Dart that I've owned for 22 years and neglected most of those years while buying 7 C body cars. I have two definitely getting restored, third and fourth in the que, and a truck getting whatever it needs. I know where my money is going for the next twenty years, and that I should just buy a car that's already done. Maybe I'll learn that lesson and buy a wagon that's done, completing the fleet.
 
Bought many cars, but the 340-4 1972 Demon - Bought in 2002 needing love and the 1966 Barracuda bought from a guy I worked with 10/89.
Back then I did not "RESTORE" I fixed em and drove them. Then came a wife, a house, 2 kids, 1 Divorce, tuition for kids, second wife, second house.
Now I have a full shop (welder self employed 25 years this Jan) I can afford to "RESTORE UM."
Barracuda is about 100%, Demon is about to go under the knife. Now its not "what does it cost." BUT " I need it today because I cannot get back to it until next Saturday afternoon after I finish up another job for a client."
My real hold up with the Demon is it is too much fun to drive. I don't want to take it off line for 3 years for complete rebuild but she deserves that. Sad truth is at my age I worry about taking apart, not waking up and leaving my sons a pile of parts and it will be sold for dirt to one of you cheap sums a beaches. LOL!
 
I've got 2. A 73 Challenger and a 68 Dart. My dad bought the Challenger brand new and it has always been in the family. After long Iowa winters it was pretty rusty and taken off the road in the mid 80's and stored inside. I took the car apart in the mid 90's and it sat disassembled until 2012 when I finally got it back together. I sent the body off for rust and paint work since I'm not a body man. I did most of the component restoration and most of the assembly.

Original picture outside my grandparents house in 1973.
challenger73002.jpg


A picture from 2015 with the car outside my grandparents home in the same spot.
102013006_zps32359bec.jpg


I bought my 68 Dart in the fall of 2013. My 4 1/2 year old son had just died from cancer and I needed something to keep my hands and mind busy. I documented everything and took it apart. I sent the body off to be blasted and the small amount of rust fixed. I've been working on all the components while I try to save up for the rest of the body work and paint. I've got most of the sub assemblies completed except for the convertible top mechanism. Hopefully soon, I can get the car back into the shop for paint.
081813001_zps9ce3c915.jpg

DSCN2323_zps65391f4d.jpg

DSC03401_zpsgto7axb1.jpg
 
Like people that find stray cats and dog’s, there story of an unhappy life by an abusive past, I pick them up, take them home, spread some love on them, now they won’t leave..... LMAO!!!!

So we continue to play together...
 
67 dart GT convertible, 273 2bbl 904 auto, dad bought new in 67, drove it as daily driver for 25 years and 300,000 miles.

Dad passed away (complications due to dementia) I inherited it. Mostly compete and mostly original, it had its share of scrapes over the years, an engine and trans rebuild, and now a new top. Interior is original, even down to the warn carpet where my dad wore a hole to sheet metal from his left foot.

Even while he couldn't remember who I was, he would still ask where his car was.

He and I would have had a time going to car shows.
 
Got my Duster in 2011. It "ran" when I bought it...well actually it started, but didn't stop, drive or turn. No lights, no wipers...but we love it. Fast forward to 2020, it runs great, stops, turns and can be driven on the street. But done? Nope, not even close. Always something to fix, make better or to do to make it better, faster etc. Not sure any of my projects were ever truly "finished" in my mind.

Be well,
Pat
 
Last edited:
A coworker need some quick cash is how I ended up with mine. Did everything myself expect the upholstery.

1DBB1D8A-DAD6-4817-A436-E34A036C21C7.jpeg


A24BC509-5AF4-4F17-87A3-8C07776B14E4.jpeg


714A9838-5121-4B54-85E5-472B5EAC83BF.jpeg


4DB5A592-CF74-46F5-AE6D-6B214E6442D9.jpeg


9BEEDC13-6B47-4FC8-893A-1C78284CACF1.jpeg


B115BDE4-B018-4D9F-AD67-30CF75BF82EA.jpeg


5028F491-186E-4B12-8DF0-8B1179ADE3A8.jpeg


B47DAF71-38B9-4D84-A571-8BAE2A0A5489.jpeg


98065BCB-B840-46C3-9620-5BC425E1664C.jpeg


EA723CFC-AA03-4AFE-8999-F46CC908E325.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Like people that find stray cats and dog’s, there story of an unhappy life by an abusive past, I pick them up, take them home, spread some love on them, now they won’t leave..... LMAO!!!!

Rumble, I think we must be related somehow. I just became the proud staff member (not "owner") of a new kitten, found on the road where someone dumped it.

Car-wise, when I retired I knew I was going to get something classic to have fun with. I chose a 66 Valiant. After over a year of looking I found it on CL about 45 miles away. It was a stone-cold survivor, with only the radio (dash cut for a DIN, Grrrrrrrrrrr) and a manual choke cable being items that were NOT there when it left the factory. Everything else - paint, interior, drive-train - was still original with 126K miles. This one is getting a stealth rebuild this winter with everything you can't see from the outside getting replaced or upgraded. New spunked up slant, A230 swapped for the A904, 8-3/4, 3.55 gears, 15" tires and wheels, KH front discs, 10" rear drums, leaf springs, full front suspension, 1.03 t-bars, Bilstiens, front sway bar, and probably more I'm forgetting. I call it Gramma's Grocery Getter but it will be lots more fun and dead-nuts reliable.

Kalama.jpg

20160827_012140.jpg

DSCN1735.JPG

DSCN1736.JPG


Then I got the itch bad for a 69 Dart. I had a 67 way back in the day and have had a soft spot for them ever since. Again, several years of looking and finally I find one 10 miles from me. Sadly, the PO had passed away far too young, and his wife was selling the car. I think she was willing to let it go for what I could afford because she knew it was going to get fixed and driven, completing her husband's dreams. This one hadn't been registered for 25 years and was seriously a work in progress. It has some rust issues to fix - which I said I would NEVER get into but here I am - but otherwise it's straight and mostly in workable condition. Much to my surprise it's a 340 car with a 727 but I have everything I need to put in a 4-speed. The interior is shot, the paint was put on with a brush I think, but the bones are very good and it's pretty straight. It runs and drives but with no way to know what was done and what was not I'm going through everything before I take it on the street. Currently all the rear gear is out and it's getting new primer and undercoat then the new springs and 8-3/4, fuel tank and lines, 11" rear brakes and lines all go back in. Next will be the front end rebuild, QA1 adjustable shocks all around, front sway bar, and 73+ front discs. After that if I can get the electrical sorted out I will be taking this out to see what it will do. Here it is the day it got it's first bath in a quarter century, and where it is today on the lift.

DSCN0083.JPG


DSCN0286.JPG


Great idea for this thread!
 
The E body I bought done but, I keep doing things to it. The Duster has been in and out of my life for a very long time. It was my dear friends high school car and, he drove it for some time after. I have known the car since around 1990. My friend and I made a deal on it years ago as he had bought a car from Arizona and, the other one needed a lot of rust repair.
I started the rust repair and, since I got it as roller I put the motor in and built the transmission. I got most of the rust repair completed somewhere around 2004. I sold it unfinished to buy a Challenger from another buddy and, sold it in 2009. Went through a couple cars then, had a chance to buy the Duster back....made the deal and basically stripped it back down and started over. Work on it for about 1 1/2 years and now it's back on the road but, not finished just yet. The Duster was originally going to be for me then, I bought the Challenger so I tried to give it to my wife, she dont want it so, i tried to give it to my son....well he dont want it...so it's back to me again. It might just become my work car....

20200503_193004.jpg
 
My Dad gave me the 65 Valiant Signet he bought from an old lady in 1970. He wanted to put a 340 in it like a 66 Valiant he had years ago but his health has declined greatly over the past few years. We were standing in the driveway one day and he said "You want the Valiant? I'll want to give it to you but you gotta put a 340 in it". I obviously said yes. The next day my Dad's best friend calls me and says he has a 12k mile 1968 340 for me. I take some money with me and he wouldn't take anything for it. So far I've rebuilt the engine and in the process of getting it painted. As a side note my sister, brother and I all came home in the car after we were born.
 
Hi all! I'm a newbie here. Quick story, I hope. I have a 69GTS, 340-4speed, 3.23 open. 3rd owner, about 73. Drove it for a couple of years & needed a van to haul my motocross bike. Traded to my brother. He punched a hole in the gas tank, ran over a fence post, & broke a shifting fork in trans. Stored in a garage for 20+ years. He needed money, so sold it back to me in 97 or so. Fixed fuel tank, trans, & rebuilt engine. Sat again for another 23 years. Life got in the way. Here we are today. Just completed a rotisserie restoration, Not done by me. Should be ready for paint in the next couple of weeks. I'm getting excited!
 
Had mine for 30 Years. finished the first restoration about 27 years ago. It looked and ran great. After about 15 years the Lacquer paint I used was cracking and spider webbing, So I blew it completely apart (again) and finished a 3 year restoration about 5.5 years ago. I did everything myself; body, paint, interior, engine rebuild, etc. My neighbors thought I was crazy. They have no concept of the number of hours of prep that goes into a good paint job. My wife helped quite a bit.

Cuda06.JPG


Cuda08.png


Cuda01.png


Cuda40.png


Cuda49.JPG


Cuda61.JPG
 
I was really into Mopars from 1978 to 1994 owning mostly B and E body's up to then, had a 72 dart and 2 69 valiants in the 80's. After a divorce I sold the Mopars and got into Corvette's. Eventually I found a new good wife and became happy again and the Mopar craving came back. I started looking and realised a B or E body is now too expensive for me so I got to thinking maybe I could find a Demon reasonably priced somewhere because I always wanted one. Only thing I could find at the time was a 73 AMX javelin so I bought that. Then I found a 74 360 dart sport on craigslist and traded the AMX for it. I told the guy I was looking for a Demon really but couldn't find one. We became friends and I started collecting parts to turn the dart sport into a Demon clone. Then my new friend came up with a 73 duster cloned into a 72 Demon and I traded the dart sport for it. Then I found a 71 Demon on craigslist between Hazard and Pikeville Ky. And went and looked at it, told the guy I would take it soon as I got the money out of my 401K. Got my money and called to tell him I was coming to pay for it and he told me it was sold yesterday. I was sick because I missed out on it. My wife talked me into calling back and asking who bought it that maybe they might sell it to me for a profit. I called the guy and got the number and when I dialed it my friend's name popped up! He had bought it knowing I was looking for a real one. He had it sitting in my driveway the next morning! I traded the Duster demon clone back to him and some cash and was very happy, now I have the 71 demon I always wanted!

00X0X_apb7SGn2rBO_1200x900.jpg


20200514_184728.jpg
 
I was really into Mopars from 1978 to 1994 owning mostly B and E body's up to then, had a 72 dart and 2 69 valiants in the 80's. After a divorce I sold the Mopars and got into Corvette's. Eventually I found a new good wife and became happy again and the Mopar craving came back. I started looking and realised a B or E body is now too expensive for me so I got to thinking maybe I could find a Demon reasonably priced somewhere because I always wanted one. Only thing I could find at the time was a 73 AMX javelin so I bought that. Then I found a 74 360 dart sport on craigslist and traded the AMX for it. I told the guy I was looking for a Demon really but couldn't find one. We became friends and I started collecting parts to turn the dart sport into a Demon clone. Then my new friend came up with a 73 duster cloned into a 72 Demon and I traded the dart sport for it. Then I found a 71 Demon on craigslist between Hazard and Pikeville Ky. And went and looked at it, told the guy I would take it soon as I got the money out of my 401K. Got my money and called to tell him I was coming to pay for it and he told me it was sold yesterday. I was sick because I missed out on it. My wife talked me into calling back and asking who bought it that maybe they might sell it to me for a profit. I called the guy and got the number and when I dialed it my friend's name popped up! He had bought it knowing I was looking for a real one. He had it sitting in my driveway the next morning! I traded the Duster demon clone back to him and some cash and was very happy, now I have the 71 demon I always wanted!

View attachment 1715547643

View attachment 1715547646
Everybody needs a friend like that!!!
 
i bought my car back in 2014
it is an EV2 71 duster, but it started life as something green
so, someone must have redone it somewhere in the last 40 years or so

they left the /6 drive train in it, which i upgraded to a 360
then a 408

what is really cool about my story is my son
he was 5 at the time, maybe six and like most kids his age loved old muscle cars
so one day we are out cruising and he goes "dad! check out that car!"
im like, which one?
he goes, the orange one.
so i slow down, and look at this orange car, and its an orange duster, parked at the end of a driveway
now, at this point, we are moving, like we're rolling through a stop sign and he goes "dad! its for sale!"

so im like, ok, lets check it out
we pull in, the owner comes out, we chat for a while, look it over, take it for a test drive and i end up buying it and taking it home

that was 6 years ago, and my boy always like to point out that if it wasnt for him, i would have never seen the duster

he is about that age that he is going to sit down and think through this
put two and two together
consider what we were doing there, 3 hours away from home
just cruising
and with about 5000 dollars in cash more on me then i normally carry
 
I bought my 66 Barracuda a few yrs ago- 1975. A nice driver and drove it many yrs but not winters. Restored it 1989 and it still looks good. I don’t know if I could have picked a better ‘First Car’
 
-
Back
Top