After searching for the entire 26½ years that I have owned my car I FINALLY tracked down the original owner. I had already talked to every owner but him. I found out his parents still lived around here, got in touch with them, and they had him call me. Man did I find out a lot including further verification that it is as close to original as I thought. Which makes me even more pissed that it got hit this summer. The most amazingly cool thing I found out is that he has a bunch of pictures and 8MM films of the car on the street and track from '69-'72. He says that one of the films is of a 10.92@127MPH pass at Cecil County Dragway in '71!!! He is going to get everything together and send it to me. TOO F'N COOL!!! I also found out why it won't run on pump gas. The pistons, which I was told were 11.5 to 1s, are actually .60 over 12.1 to 1s resulting in 392 cu.in. He tried a number of different solid cams from Mopar, Crower, Isky, and Sig Erson and didn't remember which one was in it when he sold it to his younger brother because he "detuned it so his brother wouldn't die". It ran 12s when his brother had it. He sunk $1,200 into the heads in 1970 (huge money back then) with a guy who was legendary around here and they are maxed-out as far as 906 heads can be. Back then it had a custom-made crossram on it. He actually did blow up the 8¾ which is why the Dana 60 is in it. I knew from the numbers on it that it was a '69 B body rear and he said it came out of a totalled '69 Hemi Road Runner. He had it professionally shortened by another legendary shop around here. He was the one that put the 5.38s in it and he said he used to launch the car at 5,000RPM and shift at just under 9,000RPM! Holy S***! He put nothing but the best into the car and it was pretty much the only street car in town running in the high 10s back then. I have had tons of guys through the years tell me stories about it and how it was "the car to beat". We were on the phone for 2 hours. It was just too cool. I can't wait to get all the stuff he is sending me.
Score!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter 2shelbys
- Start date
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daves66valiant
68 Dart 340/727:66 Signet Vert 340/5spd: 68 D100
What a cool story. To bad about it getting crunched. I remember that one.
68383GTS
Well-Known Member
COOL...Glad to hear you found the original owner.I found the original owner of my 68 GTS a few week ago.I have only been looking 3 years.He gave me 50 old photos of the car.I know the feeling yo get when you find the original owner of a car I have done it on 3 different cars.
Jim
Jim
70dart
Well-Known Member
Great find! How bad was it hit?
clhyer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
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- 3,734
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Very cool. I "almost" got our man last year as we were nearing completion of our 'bird. I talked with his daughter who told me that he had died a couple years before. She didn't really remember the car and therefore had no interest or anything to add that I didn't already know...
I was confused by your saying the car is close to original? It doesn't sound too stock...
C
I was confused by your saying the car is close to original? It doesn't sound too stock...
C
Original paint except for the hood and trunk panel and original interior except for the carpet. It is also numbers-matching which is amazing considering how hard he ran it.
That's pretty cool finding the original owner of your car. I never did meet the original owner of my Demon yet(if he's still around),but did meet all the other owners,or people who knew of the car,and got plenty of stories to go with it.
John
John
3404speed
Ancient Decrepit Member
awesome, awesome, awesome...congrats
340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Way cool! Does he still live in the area? If so you could take him for a ride. I bought my Barracuda from the original owner in '79 and went back and took him for a ride years later. He just passed away though.
No, I am in Maryland and he is in Colorado but he is planning on coming back to see his parents sometime soon and we will hook up then.
pettybludart
Well-Known Member
Cool!! That,s history,Pleasr post a vid. when you can of that bad *** car back in 71 .Nice story, tell us more as you find out more about you car!!
charger70
Well-Known Member
Cool deal!
bobscuda67
Well-Known Member
That is a crying shame what happened to your car. My worst fear is that happening to me. But it is way cool that you found the original owner, and he is doing all that for you.
pastortom1
Well-Known Member
GREAT!!!..........
Keep us posted on the "stuff".........and I hope you find the best body man in 12 states to get that thing back to where she belongs.
Great story..............:toothy10:
Keep us posted on the "stuff".........and I hope you find the best body man in 12 states to get that thing back to where she belongs.
Great story..............:toothy10:
cjcx3
Twisted Sundance
Way too cool!!! I am one of the luckiest few .... my Dad is the original owner of my car.
340 Dart
I don't know ****.
That is too cool!!:cheers:
When I get the movies I'll have them transferred to DVD and I'll post any that are good enough. I can't wait to see them.
pettybludart
Well-Known Member
That Would Be Cool To See.let Us Know.thanks
Dons67Barracuda
Run What You Brung
i like your Garages
Slappy
Well-Known Member
Thats awesome! How would you go about researching the past owners? My cars are nothing special but it would be cool to know.
Vic Storm
Well-Known Member
Thats cool that he has all that history with the car, your car just got very collectable, that was a very good score.
Bigdummy
Not a Nova
me too!Cool story
clifftt
Well-Known Member
Ouch! Sorry about that fender!! What a wonderful story on the history.
The original owner E-Mailed me a few of the pictures he is sending me. One was taken in 1969 right after he bought the car and the other 3 are from 1970 after he completed the mods to "make it the fastest car in Baltimore". I still can't believe I finally found him and that he has all this great stuff. Can't wait to see the movies (which he has not found yet).
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