Mopar Dufuses in the 80s

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moparmat2000

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Anybody remember Mopar Dufuses in the 80s. You know back when these cars were cheap to buy. I mean there were guys rebuilding and restoring them, but then there were also the typical Mopar Dufus. Since these cars were fairly cheap to buy a lot of em got butchered up by the typical Mopar Dufus.

There was a guy in my neighborhood that had a white 70 duster with a slant six. He ran it around with cragar S/S wheels and super skinny tires front and rear, a cherry bomb muffler, sun super tach, hijackers, and extended shackles. He may have even put a harwood rivet on pro stock scoop too near the end. The car was an embarassment in its own right, but he never missed a chance to get his *** beat in a race either. It was like the 80s version of what ricers do now by making their cars look fast even though they are slow.

Any Mopar Dufus stories from any of you?
 
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The only dufus **** I seen was the guys with the little lights mounted on the rear shocks.
 
When I was in high school the street freaks were the going thing at the time, nobody could jack one up in the rear high enough at the time, hijackers with shock extensions and spring shackles were hot items, topped off with a set of Lakewood's and N-50-15 tires on the rear. A friend had a 73 road runner so high he mounted his license plate on the rear end. I've had to remove a lot of spring shackles and repair broken up shock mount cross members when I started restoring mopars in the mid 80's:lol:
 
Last time I wrote about dufuses painting their grilles black with cheap **** paint and not even masking anything off, before the paint **** bomb went off......I got so many members telling me that I am the mean one.

Careful, lots of sensitive people here who get offended easy. Make sure you don't hurt anyone's feelings, even with drug dealer back primer cars, with blacked out grilles.
 
there's a lot of that same **** going on today , only they are doing it to sell them at stupid prices , they call them flippers , there are even TV shows about them.the junk they call restorations , you know , the cars that are still covered in dirt , grease and road tar everywhere but on the outside where the Bondo and acrylic enamel reside
 
:eek:

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They got mine too, I have a really nice one to replace it with thank goodness.
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Funny, my '67 Dart came with one of those blacked out '68 grilles, still have it hanging in the garage.
 
Made it easier to drive with one hand and grope your girlfriend with the other!:lol: I will never miss hitting wet spots in the road with the 68 charger and those N-50's either.
 
Ok, admit it. Everyone here had those foot shaped gas pedal and dimmer switch.Yep, I had the mini steering wheel too.
I remember when just about every mopar had those damn traction bars on them.
 
If we are talking the "Joe Dirt" type of Mopar car modifications, lets include some of the things we STILL see to this day:
*BLACK engine bays in cars that are NOT painted black. Come on, people....this looks like **** and makes people think that you took cheap *** shortcuts elsewhere. Rare exceptions include Factory prototypes, Drag Race cars, dedicated road course cars and people that are retarded.
*Traction bars on any rear wheel drive Mopar.
*Tires that stick out wider than the body of the car.
*Hood scoops taller than the roof of the car.
*Thick shag carpeting.
*Diamond tuck seat and door panel upholstery.
*Underbody components painted any color other than black or gray.
*"Keep on truckin" mud flaps.
*All brightwork trim painted flat black.
 
If i hadn't wanted a retro 70s car, i would have bought one of the new challengers, since i spent thousands building a duster, just like the one i had in 1974, then its gonna look like a 74, 44 years ago.traction bars and air shocks, along with a smiley face on the rear end.
 
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Getting .. OLD .. sucks !!! .. except for .. MEMORIES !!!

I installed the tiniest steering wheel I have ever seen, black diamond tuck upholstery (done up in Tijuana for $150--everything dash, door panels, seats, etc.) I also had air shocks for awhile. This was on the '63 Grand Prix I purchased for $100.00. Painted it blue (Petty Blue-not sure?) with gold pearl. Installed an aluminum intake on the 389--don't remember now if I had swapped in a 421--I'm losing it! I drove the Pontiac to community college auto shop classes where I was building my '65 Valiant bracket racer. This is circa '73-'78.

"Picked-up" (AKA met for the first time) my favorite girlfriend one night cruising Main Street in front of Salinas High School in the Pontiac. She sat on the console straddling the automatic gear shift while a buddy of mine sat in the co-pilot's chair. On the AM radio Gary Wright was singing "My Love Is Alive" and Heart was singing "Crazy on You." ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZqItCGY3Ns

63 Pontiac1.jpg
 
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Getting .. OLD .. sucks !!! .. except for .. MEMORIES !!!

I installed the tiniest steering wheel I have ever seen, black diamond tuck upholstery (done up in Tijuana for $150--everything dash, door panels, seats, etc.) I also had air shocks for awhile. This was on the '63 Grand Prix I purchased for $100.00. Painted it blue (Petty Blue-not sure?) with gold pearl. Installed an aluminum intake on the 389--don't remember now if I had swapped in a 421--I'm losing it! I drove the Pontiac to community college auto shop classes where I was building my '65 Valiant bracket racer. This is circa '73-'78.

"Picked-up" (AKA met for the first time) my favorite girlfriend one night cruising Main Street in front of Salinas High School in the Pontiac. She sat on the console straddling the automatic gear shift while a buddy of mine sat in the co-pilot's chair. On the AM radio Gary Wright was singing "My Love Is Alive" and Heart was singing "Crazy on You." ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZqItCGY3Ns

View attachment 1715238794
Ahhhh...the good old days!
 
I have a blacked-out grill. Traction bars. Tires that stick out. The little lights on the bottom of my shocks. I did take the little steering wheel out recently and put a stock one, but that was for control purposes. Beaver skin headliner. Snake skin rear deck. Hopefully this winter I'll do diamond tuck bench seats. I made you the door cards in beaver skin also. It's so soft! I want my car to look like someone redid it in 1978.
 
I have traction bars. Without 'em I'd never be cutting 1.9 60ft times with regular radial tires and an open rear... :D Love the look of the Charger and cuda posted above! !! ! My kind of style, right there.....
 
Ok, admit it. Everyone here had those foot shaped gas pedal and dimmer switch.Yep, I had the mini steering wheel too.
I remember when just about every mopar had those damn traction bars on them.
I was born in the mid 80s and when I was driving age in the early 2000s even I thought those foot shaped gas pedals were the coolest thing I had seen. I had one in my first A body which was a 72 dart
 
How about those people who paid thousands upon thousands of dollars to make a car look just like the day it came out?! That's so stupid! Isn't it?
I have absolutely no imagination and have to have things exactly the way someone else made it.
 
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