The car that started it all?

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My cousin bought a 72 Gold Duster, 318, skake skin roof, quarters rusted out. I fractured my wrist one night and was in the walk in clinic, and had quite a walk home, so my uncle came to get me, in this Duster my cousin had just bought. Still had single exhaust. As soon as we left the parking lot my uncle floored it and did a nice big burnout to cheer me up after the wrist incident. After that I badly wanted a Mopar.
 
ALL OF THEM!

Old cars are in my blood!

There isn't just one that sparked my interest because I grew up around them, my first car was a 27 T 2 door sedan body and frame that my dad gave me when I was about 4 or 5. He rewired some guys car and the guy tried to pay him with a bottle of Jack, my dad says "I don't drink but I will take that!" I played in that car until I was about 12 when I traded it for a 73 El Camino, parted that out and bought a 56 F-100 and a 79 Buick Estate wagon (for the guts), did my first sub-frame job at 13 sold that and never quit!

If I had to pick one car that really sparked my interest I guess it was my dads 53 F-100 that I now own and am trying to sell/trade...
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He built it back in the 70's when he owned a few Chevron stations in and around Seattle and used it for his work truck. He traded it to his best friend for a custom VW bug (yeah I know) in the early 80's and I bought it back about 5 years ago.

The one that sparked my interest in Mopars would have to be the 70 challenger R/T from the movie Natural Born Killers but my first mopar was a 77 Lil Red Express clone with a balls out 383/A833/and sure grip 3.91.

I would sell everything I own including my dog for a Tucker...and then I would customize the hell out of it!:snakeman:
 
no a mopar or even a domestic but Ill throw it in there, 1987 Toyota mr2, I rode in one when I was 14 and wanted one so bad, got one at 16 and thought it was the most awesome car ever made, wanted to go faster so I started getting into american muscle but kept it a while and then sold it, wish I still had it though, it was a really fun car and I let it go for practically nothing...
 
When I was a young kid, my dad had a 1930 Ford Model A coupe. He sold that car when I was around 6 but I clearly remember riding around in that car. A couple of years later, he bought a 1931 Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster. He still has the car. That was the first car I learned to drive. Many fond memories of Model A club national meets. These cars are/were all original.

The first musclecar I rode in was a 1970 GTO convertible 455HO 4 speed. It was a turquoise color with white interior and white top. A pretty valuable car now. This was in the late 1980's. A guy I worked with at the gas station while I was in high school had it. He was 3-4 years older than me. He used to give me a ride home from work before I had my drivers license.

The first musclecar I drove was a 1971 Oldsmobile 442 convertible W30. This was an extremely rare car back then, I think the owner said there were less than 50 in existence back in the late 80's. The guy who owned it was the son of the owner of the gas station. One day, I was walking home from work to eat lunch (had my car by now, but had the engine apart for a valve job) and he saw me just starting to leave the station. He asked me if I wanted to take one of his cars home. I said sure and he went behind the station. A couple of minutes later, he came idling around the corner putting the top down. I couldn't believe it! Being a typical 16 year old, I drove it home, woofed down lunch and took it out to show my friends. It had the 455 with W30 package, TH400 w/Hurst dual gate shifter, 3.42 rear. That car had a ton of torque. It would lay huge patches on the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. I came back an hour later with a little less tire life, but a memory I'll never forget.
 
when i WAS about 5 my uncle totaled my grandmothers 4 door 58 chevy, so she went out and bought a brand new 1966 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA it was the coolest car I had ever seen, even if it was a left over base model 225 slant 6, 3 on the tree. gold with a white interior. I was in love with that car, growing up she would always tell me "when you are old enough this is your car," man I had some plans for that car no more 6 cyl 3 speed rip it out! and drop in a 318 & 4 on the floor!!! perhaps change the seats to black. But alas when I was 18 and living on the west coast my mom borrowed it and totaled it in a head on collision (not her fault) I never even got a chance to drive it so thats my story sad but true. the good news is I am now replacing the car I always wanted its a citron gold 66 with a black interior a 318 14" rally wheels and soon a 4 on the floor!
 
Mine was a 1970 340 4speed Duster with a Mallory dual point distributor, Hedmen headers, 3310 780 Holley 4.30 gears I bought in 1971 for 1700.00. Since then it has been Mopar all the way, and that was a looooong time ago.
 
i was brought home from the hospitle in 72 340 demon so its in my blood but my dad is a oldsmobile man, at a very young age i watched vanishing point, i sat on the floor and watched the whole thing turned around to my dad and said "i want that car daddy" iv ben all mopar ever since, my dad got me my first project car when i was 12 it was a 72 demon 318 3 speed completly rusted out but we got in running and i leard how to drive in that car in my back yard and around the block when the parent wernt home. when i was 15 i bought my 73 slant 6 duster thats in my sig, i tore that car down to nuthing slapped a 340 in it and it was my baby, never finished it insted i got a 71 charger and compltly redid it from a 318 to a built 340 sold it now i want another duster to build from the shell up. theirs my mopar story,
 
My dad always had old cars. I remember riding in his 69 Mustang. He would light up the right rear and with only header mufflers I thought that was the coolest thing watching the smoke out the back window.

My uncles had Mopars, I loved looking at them whenever we went to their shop. Had a few rides too.

Then in the late 80's my dad started getting some Mopars. and that was all I wanted.
 
For me it was my dads racecar (pictured). And my oldest brother bought a 75 Roadrunner, and my Dad knew a guy with a yellow 71 Duster 340 car. So it was Mopar for me from then on.

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easy first car show when I was a little kid I saw a '70 challenger. I was hooked
 
metallidart said:
My dad had a friend that had a 68' Dart 340/4spd, and another that had an Olds, what were the high-performance 350's, a w-30?
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The high-performance Olds Cutlass with the 350 was the W-31, the W-30 was the 455.
 
metallidart said:
How many of you were hooked into cars by a certain car?
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OK, this goes back a lot of years but my dad drove what was the hottest car on the road back then. Hudson Hornets. But I was only about 6 years old. He passed way too soon at the age of 44 just a few months before I turned 8.
Growing up after that I was into models. Started out with airplanes and ships but then got into building model cars with an older cousin.
The one car that really hooked me was the McMullen '32 Ford HiBoy on the April '63 cover of Hot Rod Magazine. It was the very first car magazine I ever bought and it was because that flamed black roadster got me hook, line, and sinker.
I can even tell you where I bought the magazine. My mom and stepfather both worked for the school district and were off for Spring vacation that year. We drove up to Sequoia National Park for a few days to break in one of the new Drivers Education cars the school district had bought. I bought that Hot Rod Magazine at the store at Giant Forest in Sequoia. I was hooked from then on.
My first Mopar was a '69 340 Swinger I bought used in November 1969 from a guy that had just bought it a couple of months earlier but then decided to join the Navy. I loved that car. It's the reason I bought my 'new' '69 Dart a couple of years ago - I just had to have my Mopar back.
 
I pretty much grew up in and around this 1941 Willys Sedan. My parents built it over a 10-15 year span before and right after I was born. Had a 383 big block, 727 trans, and 8.75 sure-grip... glass front fenders. Was a fun car and very cool. We sold it when I was in 4th grade so we could get the roadrunner back on the road. Was sold with a small block in it and all of these pics were taken after we sold it. I have no idea who took the pics.

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I can think of two cars that did it for me- my uncle had a yellow 360 Challenger many years ago (with white vinyl interior, and I believe a white vinyl roof) that was awesome. Then my brother had a blue '72 340 4spd Duster -it just dawned on me that today is the anniversary of it's 'death'- it burned when my brother's garage burned down in the early morning hours of Christmas day, about 15 years ago:(
 
I remember when i was young my dad was into cars big time, he always drove Cadillacs. He had a '56 2 door with 2-4bbls, a batwing air cleaner and wire wheels. That was his favorite car and we still have it. He always drove Cadillacs from as far back as i can remember. I really fell in love with '57 Chevy bel airs when i was 9 and i used to see them all the time at a local dirt track racing or on the street. I could never find one in my price range to fix up though.
A year later, my oldest brother got a '69 Coronet R/T 440 auto. Man did that car go and it got me hooked on mopars. Same time my other brother said to me "let's go look at a car" It was on a local car lot and it was a '67 Coronet R/T 426 hemi auto. I'll never forget how that car sounded and the look of the engine. He could have bought it for $1400 in 1971 dollars but it got sold the next day before dad could get the money out of the bank.
The car that solidly addicted me to mopars especially a bodies was a '71 Demon 318 3 spd standard floor shift that i bought in 1981. I've been hooked ever since. That was the best car i ever owned. I'm in the process of building one very similar to it now.
Memories.....
I'm still going to own a '57 Chevy bel air 2 door post some day though.....:-D
 
i have yet to piece the puzzle together.

But i do remember at about 7 yrs old seeing a white model a hot rodded out driving around my town and never seen the car again. Never knew who built it or who it was.
When i was 16 i started driving my dads 1989 power ram 318 and 4 speed. Hooked to mopars since then, but also tinker in early hemi's and hot rods.
 
There wasn't any single one car for me, I always loved cars for as long as I can remember. By the time I was 4 (1961) I could tell you the make, model and year of nearly every car on the road and I continued to do that for years afterwards. But what I loved most was the drag cars, especially the early Funny Cars. I begged my dad for what seemed like 3 years to take me to a drag race. When we finally did go we went to a good one too, Jungle Jim, Gas Rhonda, Brutus and a host of others I can't remember now. Those cars belching fire and shaking the ground scared the crap out of me but I was so enthralled and excited it will be forever etched into my memory. I think I was about 8 or 9 then.
 
Awesome Thread! I can't pin it to one car either. Growing up, my father always had subscriptions to Road & track and Car and Driver magazines that he would give me after he read them. I would read them cover to cover and when we would see a car on the road while driving I would tell my dad stuff like "that 87 Ford Thunderbird has a 0-60 of such and such or a base price of this $$. Him and his brothers grew up building race cars in the 60's and no matter how new our car was he did all the repairs. He passed that on to me when I started driving and I hope to pass that on to my daughter when she gets old enough.
 
In 1967 I was 15 yrs old and went with my Dad to a Plymouth dealership where he made a deal on a 1967 4 door valiant slant six family car. While my Dad was in the office making the deal I sat in a red 1967 GTX parked in the showroom. I was hooked on mopars from that moment on and in 1970 I had a Duster 340 which I will forever regret selling.
 
My Dad was a typical East Coast late 50's hot rodder; his focus was 49 and up fast iron. So I grew up around cars that where above average. By the time I was 12 I must have been ready, because it happened. Dad and Mom took my brother and I to the theatre to see a new movie- American Graffitti. Sitting in that darkened theatre, my eyes glued to the screen, the scene came up where the 58 Impala comes up to a stoplight at dusk. Oh, man! I was gone, never to return! That white late 50's silhouette with the red scallops, chrome wheels, and just the right rake...To this day, I'm no Chevy man, but there will always be a place in my driveway for a 58 Imp.:clock:
 
For me, it was not any particular car, rather, it was a book, Hot Rod, by Henry Gregor Felsen.

http://www.damfino.com/authors/hfelsen/carsanddeath.html

I was probably 10 years old when I read this and despite the rather gory ending, I desperately wanted a '32 Ford roadster. Always dreamt of finding Bud Crayne's roadster, disassembled in a long abandoned garage waiting for me to reassemble and resume terrorizing the streets.
 
My dad's '63 Sport Fury with a hemi and four speed out of a Roadrunner.

Also, my mom drove a '69 Charger R/T 440 auto to work every day.
 
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