What's your story with your Mopar?
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
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
