How did you get hooked on A-bodies?

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65dartcharger

65dartcharger

Dart Charger 273 Historian
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I would like to hear how other people got involved in A-bodies?

Myself, ,I saw a film with Dean Martin back in 1979 driving a 1965 Dart convertible with the top down. Since then I've been hooked on them. Now I have five 65 Darts!

How about you?
 
Pure dumb cheap luck. First one I got I bought for $45 dollars (also got an army cot, a forced air gas furnace, a big lpg tank, and a compressor all for that same $45) after playing with that and then wrecking it I didnt do anything for about 9 years (got into motorcycles and jeeps) till a came across another one fairly cheap. Also practicality, they are smaller, lighter weight, so makes them easier to make them perform. Helps that I grew up in a mopar or no car family.
 
It all started way back in the late 70,s when working for Ray Barton here in Montreal.We had a 65 hemi Belvedere and started putting the super stock hemis in the cuda,s and darts.After that,I have beed broke every since,Mrmopartech
 
was hooked from day 1.was taken to and from the hospital when i was born in a 1964 sport fury in 1981.it was the daily driver.we still have the car.as well as dad had a purple 71 340 4sd demon.since then i now have a 81 d150 sb 2wd,73 360 duster,74 360 duster,71 demon,73 dart swinger.Thank god that i was raised to love the mopars :wav: hope my twin baby girls will feel the same:)
 
An acquaintance I once knew had a '73 Dart Sport 340 and he took me for a ride in it. I was hooked and that's all it took.
 
Well my father had a 67 Dodge dart that would not run sitin in the back yard when i was a kid. Sat there for about 4 years untill he decided to sell it for $100. I know atleast 15 people came and took a look at it but didn't want to give $100 for a old 67 dart not running. One guy finally told my father if we can get it running I'll buy it. I remember lookin out the window prayin that it wouldn't starte. :angel9: To my luck beleave it or not it never did. :) My father finally gave up on tryin to sell it and decide to just let it rot in the back yard, untill i told him I was glad it never started, and yes all this did happen when i was 4. Few weeks later we decide to give the old dart one more turn of the key, after replacing the ballistic resistor, and at last it's alive. :twisted:
 
Now, guys, we've been over this. 10 pages worth. Please don't make me tell that story again....LOL!
 
hey capt have you ever painted you duster yet? if so did you go with the gunmetal grey?
 
my wife and i went to the 2005 all chrysler nationals for a fun show to go to. something different you know :toothy7: . neither of us had ,or had ever had a mopar before. just went to see what the show was like and check out the cars. well that is about all it took........ :)
 
krabysniper said:
Pure dumb cheap luck. First one I got I bought for $45 dollars (also got an army cot, a forced air gas furnace, a big lpg tank, and a compressor all for that same $45) after playing with that and then wrecking it I didnt do anything for about 9 years (got into motorcycles and jeeps) till a came across another one fairly cheap. Also practicality, they are smaller, lighter weight, so makes them easier to make them perform. Helps that I grew up in a mopar or no car family.
Click to expand...

into jeeps? do you still have one? whats done to it?

if it wasent for my jeep craz i would have my A bodie done by now.
 
Yes, I still use my 1990 XJ as my daily driver for buisness. 4.0, 31x10.5 MT's, lifted 4.5 inches, 225,000 miles and still going. I used to hang out on the ORC bbs for mid size jeeps (occasionaly still do). I will drive it till it dies, then it will either get fixed or replaced by another XJ. Nothing better than a truck that costs me the same as a station wagon for insurance.

1551723-Jeepinthesnow.jpg
 
My family has always had at least one Mopar at any time. Mom drove a Fury III, we had a 54 New Yorker and a 66 Charger (both show cars). After the Charger we got a '70 Swinger 340....My dad wishes he still had that car, but the original owner bought it back from us after HE missed the car.

It's not that I HAD to have an A-body, but it's a cheap, easy to find parts for go-fast cars that fits better in my garage. I'm a stubborn kind a guy, and will not even THINK about getting rid of my Dart. If I were to win the lotto, it'd just give me more money to do what I want to it :thumbup:
 
Mine all started back in 69... A good buddy bought a 69 340 swinger , 4 sp. B5 / white stripe and bench seat. The first night he had it we took out to the local hang out.. still had the window sticker on the window , we put a set of slicks on and away we went...nothing touched it that night. I was 18 and hooked on the A-body's from that moment on.
 
i didnt even know what a duster or an a body was, i got my first and only mopar at 15 for 500 bucks in long beach. i had a chevelle, ford or a chevy truck in mind for my first project car. My dad had brought home pictures of a duster and asked me what i thought. Now im glad i have a duster becuase everyone and there mom has a ford or a chevy, Mopars let alone a bodies are few and far to come buy in Orange County.
 
I was a military brat stuck on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. It's a tiny island and as such there simply wasn't much American iron around to build. So when my Dad & I went looking a '70 Duster 340 was on the very short list of available cars. The rest is history. That was October of 1978.

Ray
 
My Dad built big blocks in the Trenton Engine Assembly plant in Michigan. I remember going to the plant "open house" when I was about 7 and being amazed. The first Mopar I fell in love with was my oldest brother's Aspen RT. It was a thing of beauty, all shiny black with RT striping. When he sold it I didn't speak to him for weeks and was fairly hostile to the friend he sold it to every time I saw him. I was probably 8 or 9 then.

The first A Body that caught my eye belonged to another brother. It was a gold duster with that angry little tornado daring anyone to try and keep up. Man, Dave could really drive that thing too! One of my favorite things was donuts at the end of our street on snow. If my mother would have caught a glimpse of that I'm sure the Duster and probably my brother would have been "evicted" from the house.
 
It started when my brother bought a 65 barracuda 273 hypo 4 speed. I was 9 years old.I must admit I was in love with that 69 1/2 roadrunner 440 6 bbl he bought new then my other brother bought a 1970 340 duster that thing was great. Then the other brother had a 1970 roadrunner 440 6bbl that he put in a 1964 dart Thinking it was 1971 he was the A experimentle champion at cecil county that year I was proud and I was hooked. :toothy7:
 
My dad always had Mopars and growing up a buddy of mine bought a 69 Road Runner. At the time my favorite car was a 69 Chevelle S/S ,you know the yellow ones with the black stripes. Well another buddy of mine had that Chevelle and he always wanted to race the guy with the RR . Ricky owned the RR and was willing to race him any time he was ready . Finally oneday they went out on the interstate and the RR blew away the Chevelle . This went on for three more races and everytime the RR beat the Chevelle and the owner would never come out and say "Hey man you beat me". It was always this was wrong or this wasn't right and started thinking wow this car is pretty fast maybe my dad knows something. So my first car turned out to be a 69 B5 blue 4 speed Swinger with the white stripe. It was all stock except the Cragars and I was blowing people away with it. It was the best car I've ever owned . I was forced to sell it back in 86 and have missed it ever since. I do have a really nice 68 GT right now but I do still miss the B5 blue one.
 
My first Mopar was a Duster,71 Twister with a 318, Sassy
grass green. Seen it on the car lot and just had to have it.
Had all the other kinds of Mopars. But had to go back to
the best Mopars made. A bodies.
 
I was forced to sell my Nissan and needed to find a less expensive mode of transportation. I would only look for a Mopar. I have a '69 Charger that I am working on getting road-worthy again. I found my '71 Dart for a good price and after researching it's potential and driving it, I'm hooked! Although, everyone in my family, except my brother-in-law (who's Ferd, through and through) makes fun of me for wanting to make a speedy FOUR DOOR Dart. I like the fact that no one will give it a second look until all they will be able to see are the tail lights!
 
I used to be a B body guy. had a 68 Charger R/T for 7 years. Ended up selling it about 17 years ago. Told myself I would get another Mopar, but was thinking more in lines of a A body. well a couple of years later a friend of mine gave me my 66 Dart, which I have had for 12 years now. Then 4 Years after getting the Dart I bought my 65 Barracuda for $50. I guess i could say I m stuck on the early A bodys, as I also have a 65 Dart Vert anbd a 65 Valiant.
 
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