most fun i ever had

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barbee6043

barbee 6043
FABO Gold Member
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Shepherd, Texas ( SE Tx)
i'll share this story in brief as it was one of the most fun things I've ever done.

bout mid 90's , car market soft, I was down on my personal car toys. had the hots for a big block 67-9 A car. dark ages, no internet, but hemmings and MCG. I call on cars in MCG for sale. each ....sold. every month or two there would be one for sale. I seach back issues....each call, later and later issues, the same result, sold. huh I say. so now i'm back to year old issue, call on CA 67 383 cuda. $5500. so I call. it was getting to be a challenge I guess.

I get the owner on the phone, he works for oil co. developing synthetic oil, road races another 67 cuda he built, this car is totally done, laquer paint 10 years old, rebuilt everything, great interior, he has driven it like 10,000 mi. says drive it anywhere. so I tell him I will fly out there on midnight flight. can he pick me up at Oakland airport. ?? YES, he says.

next morning he picks me up in this cuda. he's hauling a-- don the freeway, around some pretty good curves 80 mph. it goes like starped *** ape and around curves like on rails!????? find out it has this BIG front swaybar, really good shocks, and no telling what else. I look it over, really nice car. pay the man. super nice guy. in his garage is a restored 67 hemi car, and his road racer. all very nice. well BS cars all monring....

bout noon i'm ready to head back to MISSOURI! ,,,,i'm asking routes. he says, go up north a ways and go to Reno and hit this 2 lane blacktop, take it across 2-3 states to CO. I will be in desert and might see 3 people. run as fast as ya like! he was right.

this was the most fun!!!!! driving a really nice old mopar. going down back roads( highway 82 or something).. for 3 states. knowing if I did have a problem, I would sit there for how long before anyone come along!? not even a screwdriver with me.... left my pistol at home.. LOL.... then I remember he said he had put bout 10,000 trouble free miles, and this guy was a real gearhead!!! (smart gearhead at that)... so I didn't worry, just drive and loved every minute of it!

spent first night in Reno, 2 nd night just East of Denver. home next afternoon late., after checking out a few boneyards along the way. 2.94 gears, 4 speed, thermoquad, yes , points.... 18 mpg running pretty good clip.&0-80) dessert, mountains,

I drive my old mopars but never went that far on one that old. it was bout 30 years old then. would be almost 50 years old now. LOL

1 week after I get home, a guy, his wife and kids.... down the road called and wanted to come look at 69 road chicken I had for sale. they show up and he spots this cuda in the shed and tells me how I has wanted a BB cuda all his life, and I actually see tears on his cheek. ( this guy has kids that were young teenagers)... I tell him how I have searched high and low, went to Ca for it, didn't buy it to sell........ I wind up letting him have it for what paid for it..... I did get an extra 4 speed and bb A headers with the deal.... I just called it my vacation.... saw him and family at Mopar Nats several times with it.... it was a member of the f amily!!!!

end of story....
 
Great story. Why would you sell the car you lusted after for so long? Do you kick yourself for selling? I kick my self for selling my 67 S big block four speed car and my 69 GTS 340 Dart. More than likely would have got killed in the cuda. That thing would break the tires loose power shifting into third. Tires were a little hard but smoke real well.
 
Great story. Why would you sell the car you lusted after for so long? Do you kick yourself for selling? I kick my self for selling my 67 S big block four speed car and my 69 GTS 340 Dart. More than likely would have got killed in the cuda. That thing would break the tires loose power shifting into third. Tires were a little hard but smoke real well.

from the mid 80's to mid 90's, I had owned a bunch of desirable mopars, a few I had restored, lots of projects cars. I felt good that a person that I was able to put it in the hands of someone that would love it so much. I could have found another one worth the money if I had tried.

year or two later I had chance to buy original 69 cuda, 440 car. it was only 30 mi up the road! fresh original engine on a stand, rust free, needed paint, only thing missing were those small hood scoops, price was $10,000, it thought steep at the time. LOL! he sold it few months later. don't know what he got.

by then I had got interested in early B bodys. back then they were NOT the hot ticket. I like them, still do.

I wrote that account, so perhaps someone else will find the right car, and make a road trip and drive cross country with it. and have a blast!! I emphasis RIGHT car!! LOL
 
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Cool story.

Always wanted to do a trip like that in my '69 Dart.

Should have used the tear trick on the guy who wouldn't sell me my dream car, his '68 Barracuda Formula S 340 fastback!!!
 
cool done it twice. 1st time from New mexico to Ks on a 99 dyna wide glide harley. 2nd time from denver to NE Ks in 86 dodge shortbed 4x4, Best times I ever had.
 
- Love the road trips and the stories that go with them. As the saying goes, it's more about the journey than the destination. I don't suppose you kept any pictures of the '67 Cuda?
 
I've had a few pics of some of the cars that I've had, but snapshots all had ways of getting lost. ( the X had a hatred of old cars). LOL I never was much of a picture guy. I do remember most of the cars I had.

now I try to get some pics of my cars before I do any bodywork. that way if I ever decide to let one go, the buyer could see what it was like. hopefully they don't get lost out of the puter!? LOL

I figure life is a journey. memories are what make it what it is. material possessions come and go, get stole, wrecked, rust out, break, tornadoes get them., fire, hey ya guys in Ca have quakes and mudslides !! LOL
 

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