doogievlg,
I hope this little bit (actually rather long) of "my car story" helps.
First off I'm now 62 years "young". In early 1980 (I'm 20) a very close friend of mine (22) was killed. He married his wife the previous year and at the time of his death she was pregnant. I told her "no one but me get's Rio's car, what do you want for it?". $700, I got a loan for $1,000 and gave it to her. 1973 340 Duster, bench seat, 4 spd, white, black gut and stripes, 44,400 miles - only thing original was the 8 1/4 open end rear, the engine was a 360 with headers & intake, had a Lakewood blow shield. The trans was from a early to mid 60s car (had an output flange and the front of the driveshaft had a slip joint), the hurst shifter had a straight, maybe 7" stalk with a "T" handle, had to have the bench seat a bit further back then comfortable to go thru all the gears. I drove the car as my daily and had an unfortunate incident leaving work one night that sent a piece of angle iron thru the oil pan, hit the flywheel and broke the rear main of the crank. Got another 360 from a friend who worked at a salvage yard for $300 out of a 76 Cordoba that was slammed in the rear hard, the car was immaculate otherwise with only 30k miles. Swapped my intake, carb, headers, blow shield over, got a Mr. Gasket Vertical Gate shifter, aluminum Shieffer flywheel, new clutch etc and got it back on the road in a month or so.
Attached is a picture of it circa mid-1980 at Washington's Crossing State Park on the PA side.View attachment 1715794786.
In late 80 I joined the Navy. Had a blast during my 5 year stint with it and my shipmates whenever we were not deployed. I got out in late 85, sold it to a Navy buddy for $1,500, with the understanding if he ever sold it no one but me would get it. While he had it, for some reason he decided to rebuild the engine (remember it only had like 30k+ miles on it and ran tip top)? Anyway he went .030, 10.5:1 pistons, purple stick and cut the crank .010/.010 rods and mains, once again??? I drove it after he had it running, it ran pretty strong. He sold it to his twin brother when he moved to California (from around mid 87 the car was sitting in a garage I was renting along with my 64 Falcon Sprint) the car had not been run in years and during swapped ownership between he and his brother it basically sat and occasionally he or his brother would come and take something off the car to do god knows what, but never put anything back together. In 95, after bugging him a bit (still in Cali.) I got it back for $300.
Here's the point of my drawn out reply... I still have the car! I got married in 89, our daughter was born in 91, we moved many times until purchasing our home, I changed careers several times, our daughter has 2 degrees and she married about 5 years or so ago (no children yet). in Sept. 2017 I had had enough of Managing a District of 12 accounts (main reason was my Regional Manger boss), I was on the way to visit a client, got 2 phone calls along the way that I didn't like one little bit, I called the site manager I was going to visit and told him I had received a call that dictated I turn around and go back to my office at home, and asked him to offer my apologies to our client. I arrived at my home, went to the office, put the date on my resignation letter, printed, signed, scanned and emailed to my boss - done. 4 years back I moved our daughter (her car loaded to the roof, on a U-Haul car carrier connected to my truck, bed loaded to the hard tonneau, back seat packed just below the back window) from Levittown, PA to Marysville, WA (husband's newly built ship got home ported in Evert, WA). My wife (of just 11 days shy of our 32nd anniversary) passed on Father's Day 2020, in January 2021, I purchased a home in Lord's Valley, PA, our home of almost 30 years sold in May of 2021 and I have moved everything to the new place. So, now that I'm 62 and most of "the priority things in life that just happen" have happened, once I finish renovating the new place (hopefully next summer?), I "will" be able to get back to my Duster... BTW over the years that I've had it, I've acquired many things it needs (which I will do, or at this point "plan" to do), such as; full AMD floor (rail to rail, toe board to rear seat riser), panels for the lower quarters and trunk risers (actually installed left quarter and riser a few years back). Presently the car is totally disassembled I.E. only thing left in the shell is the rear glass = engine & trans, rear suspension, K-Member, fenders, doors, dash, pedals, wiring, interior, out and pretty much all stowed (except block, heads & trans) in the rafters of the garage.
If you like your car and wish to do as much as you can yourself - do it. There is no shame in getting "especially" someone you've known, and wrenched with for years, to help get you over the "want to get it drivable" hump. Make sure it is in your wedding and there are pictures of; it, you and your "soon to be" lovely bride in your wedding album.
Moral of my story: You might not be able to keep them "all" forever, but you can pick "the one" that you want to keep and keep it forever. No matter how long it takes to get it finished - "are they ever 'really' finished"? Answer "No and I hope not".
I've attached another picture of my newly wed wife and I leaving our reception - although not a MoPar, the Falcon Sprint was a neat little hot rod which I sold shortly after purchasing our home ($6,500 in 4/1993) so I could pay my father-in-law back the 3k loan to purchase our home. Pictured it is obvious who steered the home ship of life during our "journey", not so obvious "by my choice and desires".
Lastly - "these are the things memories are made of" (at least for me). Best wishes to you, your lovely bride, your car, your "as life goes forward" family, and the "when you have time, times" that you will work on, or just take your wife and family for a ride to get ice cream.
Remember: The "Trip of Life" is not about the destination, it is about the "Journey".View attachment 1715794818
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