It's not about the money or the horsepower

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R

RON B

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When my kids were going to graduate High School I built them each a Mopar of their own. The 1st son received a 66 Coronet 440. My daughter got a 70 Dart. My youngest son got a 71 Duster. They weren't high powered cars but for their 1st car I felt that they were enough. I had a 71 Challenger. They were all affordable and I did the work myself. Each vehicle has some unique stories but I don't know if anyone would actually read this thread. Anyway, when I have to go food shopping with the wife I always head for the magazine racks. This week I saw a magazine showing the history of Pink Floyd. It brought back memories related to the Dart. There was a radio station (WDHA) giving out tickets for Pink Floyd for the most outrageous or the biggest pink object that showed up at the station. When I was building up my daughter's Dart she said she wanted it pink. Couldn't talk her out of it. When the time came around when they were giving out the tickets she insisted we drive to the station. We did. There were people with pink hair and pink clothing. When we pulled in people freaked out. We won on the spot. They came out with the banners and took all kinds of photos. We won 2 tenth row center seats for the concert. They announced my daughter's name and the Dart several times on the way home. We won the tickets in the summer. There were several businesses with their bay doors opened as we road by. Workers in a car wash came running out giving us thumbs up. I didn't expect to win but that was like one of the best days of my life. The car was Panther Pink with a black bumble bee stripe. It was also cool showing up at weekly cruise nights with all the cars as there were not a lot of Mopars to be appreciated at that time. My point of this thread is to enjoy what you have. If you got the money fine put a Hell Cat engine in your car, but for me I would rather have a nice looking car that I don't have to fill up every time I take it out for a drive. I am restoring a 69 Formula "s" at this time; The 340 has all the horsepower I'll ever need. As for the concert, it was great. It was weird turning around looking at 10's of thousand of people in the stadium while I was just feet away from the stage. I never could afford any seats other than the nose bleed section. Go luck with your rides.

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Great story too....., my daughter has the pink 70 duster in my avatar did the car when she was 14 done for her 16th bday and she will be 21 in june she loves the car,
just finishing up my sons 1978 d150 warlock he is 16 got to have it done for his prom on the 28th of this month. HOPEFULY everything goes to plan ,,lol
 
RogerRamRod said:
Great story, and something your daughter will never forget either.
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Thanks Roger, I started watching the shows on Velocity again. I gave up for a while but now that I'm retired I started working on my own projects and watch the shows for inspiration. I can't believe what people invest into these cars on these shows. You can see why the original matching number cars are losing out to crate motors, updated suspension and drive trains. I listened to the Barrett Jackson Auction and they in favor of it. They say "the car doesn't know what it came with". My daughter is my only offspring interested in cars. She knows the makes and years. She wants me to finish my projects so she can drive them.
 
70duste said:
Great story too....., my daughter has the pink 70 duster in my avatar did the car when she was 14 done for her 16th bday and she will be 21 in june she loves the car,
just finishing up my sons 1978 d150 warlock he is 16 got to have it done for his prom on the 28th of this month. HOPEFULY everything goes to plan ,,lol
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Beautiful picture. My daughter will love it. The warlock is a perfect 1st vehicle for a kid. Should be a real head turner. Hope you meet your deadline. You're not going pink on the Warlock are you? LOL
 
no its not pink...lol black with the gold stripes and wheels , we did put a BB 383 in it tho, looks stock too. ill have to post some pics of it when I get home.
 
70duste said:
no its not pink...lol black with the gold stripes and wheels , we did put a BB 383 in it tho, looks stock too. ill have to post some pics of it when I get home.
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Looking forward to those pictures. I used to be an auto appraiser for an insurance company in the field. I traveled most of upper NJ. Found a lot of cars in people's d/ways and backyards. I found a 71 Duster in a tow yard. An old lady owned the car. She rear ended another car and didn't want the car anymore. I paid $50.00 for it. It just needed some minor work. I painted a blue color that was an option for ford at that time. It only came on t-birds and mustangs. I had to look at a damaged car at a Plymouth dealership. I didn't think nothing of it. The workers inside came out to look at the car. They thought it was an original never touched vehicle. I didn't want to ruin it for them. Now Plymouth is gone. They were (and still are) great cars.
 
Enjoyed the story!
And I agree, drive what ya got.....there's a LOT more to MOPARS than having 600hp....

Jeff
 
MrJLR said:
Enjoyed the story!
And I agree, drive what ya got.....there's a LOT more to MOPARS than having 600hp....

Jeff
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Thanks Jeff, glad to see there are other people that share my opinion. You have to drive the cars to really appreciate what you have. I can see the logic in trailer queens. people drive like assholes and you always have to be on the look out. There was a modified model t that used to go cruise night every week. We used to have traffic circles near the show. This t was a mass amount of work. Borderline magazine. An older woman decided to change lanes and plowed into the t. With no fenders, exposed frame, and a fiberglass body there was nothing to save it from the impact. It was totaled. The drive is the memory you keep. Sometimes things are meant to be. I'll be quick. I was driving on a highway by us one summer afternoon. There was a 67 Dodge Dart Convertible driving with the top down. there was family in the car. No doubt about it, they were all bonding. Something they'll all remember. I liked the car. i knew it was rare. Here's what I meant on meant to be. My brother call me and said someone was just getting rid of a car. He didn't want it anymore and was moving. Went to the home. It was the same car I saw months b/f on the highway. It had 275 miles (something like that) on it but the owner had the original 6 cylinder rebuilt. The 1/4's were rusted and it needed work all around. He had the quarters which were those 1/2 quarters that came up to the middle contour line above the wheel opening. I had a one week vacation and worked on the body at the shop. One of my co-workers said he purchased some red paint for a side job but the owner of that car bailed. So far I got the paint & car for free, but there's more. My uncle died. Wasn't close to him and never knew he collected Mopars. He had several cars behind his garage. There was Plymouth with the Dodge simulated original mags wheel covers on it. My cousin said I could have them. I did the bodywork and painted the car during my vacation. Did the conv top and interior at my home. I had roughly $1400.00 into the car. I drove the car for about a year. There's not a lot to compare as to riding around at night with a rag top. The cassette was old. Could only play partial cassette tapes. Only thing I could blast was Racing in the street by Bruce and some Janis Joplin's songs. It didn't matter. It was fun. It was meant to be. Sorry about the old photos.

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I'm not positive and tried to check out the year that the Carisle Mopar Nationals selected either a Plymouth Signet or Dodge Dart 4 door that won the Best of Show. Had to be a shocker for everyone there.
 
RON B said:
Thanks Jeff, glad to see there are other people that share my opinion. You have to drive the cars to really appreciate what you have. I can see the logic in trailer queens. people drive like assholes and you always have to be on the look out. There was a modified model t that used to go cruise night every week. We used to have traffic circles near the show. This t was a mass amount of work. Borderline magazine. An older woman decided to change lanes and plowed into the t. With no fenders, exposed frame, and a fiberglass body there was nothing to save it from the impact. It was totaled. The drive is the memory you keep. Sometimes things are meant to be. I'll be quick. I was driving on a highway by us one summer afternoon. There was a 67 Dodge Dart Convertible driving with the top down. there was family in the car. No doubt about it, they were all bonding. Something they'll all remember. I liked the car. i knew it was rare. Here's what I meant on meant to be. My brother call me and said someone was just getting rid of a car. He didn't want it anymore and was moving. Went to the home. It was the same car I saw months b/f on the highway. It had 275 miles (something like that) on it but the owner had the original 6 cylinder rebuilt. The 1/4's were rusted and it needed work all around. He had the quarters which were those 1/2 quarters that came up to the middle contour line above the wheel opening. I had a one week vacation and worked on the body at the shop. One of my co-workers said he purchased some red paint for a side job but the owner of that car bailed. So far I got the paint & car for free, but there's more. My uncle died. Wasn't close to him and never knew he collected Mopars. He had several cars behind his garage. There was Plymouth with the Dodge simulated original mags wheel covers on it. My cousin said I could have them. I did the bodywork and painted the car during my vacation. Did the conv top and interior at my home. I had roughly $1400.00 into the car. I drove the car for about a year. There's not a lot to compare as to riding around at night with a rag top. The cassette was old. Could only play partial cassette tapes. Only thing I could blast was Racing in the street by Bruce and some Janis Joplin's songs. It didn't matter. It was fun. It was meant to be. Sorry about the old photos.

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I can certainly agree w/ the diveable opinion , but their are those of us that can`t get enough h.p. ! I want mine to run like a race car and drive it too ! LOL
 
famous bob said:
I can certainly agree w/ the diveable opinion , but their are those of us that can`t get enough h.p. ! I want mine to run like a race car and drive it too ! LOL
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I have to be honest. When I rebuilt my 340 and hooked it up to the exhaust it was loud. Loved it. When I drove it thru the dirt parking to pull it into the shop it shot me back into the seat. Liked that too. I'm anxious to get it on the road. I'm 67 now. I get nervous at 75-80 mph in my Rouge. I purchased a control arm thru a club member (oldmanmopar). Spent about an hour looking at finished and future projects. He's show & go to the bone. There were racing trophies has tall as me and he was featured on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine. The duster was a wheel standing car. When he spoke about engines it was like another language to me. I'm a body man but I also do full restorations. I could go into detail but the thing I was trying to say about money and horsepower was that lot a people give up their projects because they are waiting around for a bigger motor or a 70k restoration. I looked at a 69 Barracuda Convertible to buy. A friend of mine said the owner had it in his garage for about 8-9 years and wanted to sell it back then (I have plans of buying it). It was a pos torn apart carelessly. The owner told me he owned it for about 20 years. Went over the car with the owner. It was an original 318 car. He swapped the 318 for a 360. Asked him if he had all the parts for the conversion. He didn't know what I was talking about. In the next breath he told me he was going to buy a crate engine for it. He's about 45 yrs old, divorced and living with mom. He does odd jobs here and there. This car will never be done (by him anyway). He could have spent all that time the car was in the garage driving around enjoying the car if he left the original motor in it. It's not unusual to see DIY'S bail on finishing the car because they put them aside to buy things they really don't need or couldn't afford. Same with the guy who pulls an original good running 383 to put a used 440 in that had no documentation as to where it came from. He never got it to run & it just sat there (going on about 8 years). I give you motor heads credit I am amazed at the motors and engine compartments I see at the shows. I always liked when someone like an older family man stops and looks at your car and says to you know I had one of these when I first got married. Most likely it didn't have a Hell Cat Engine. Enjoy what you have. Cruising down the highway or the back roads seems more exciting to me than pulling wheel stands in the middle of town.
 
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