What makes mopar guy different?

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I don't even go to Mopar shows anymore. I have to agree with UDUST81. I've got a very nice '72 Duster 340 in Y8 Gold I believe it is. I bought it from my father the original owner in 1980. Restored to factory in '97. But after a few shows I came to the realization that if you don't own an E-body, Roadrunner, or any Hemi powered ride, then get the hell out. The Duster is the black sheep of the Mopar family. Shows like "Married With Children" don't help. Hell they even called it a Dodge. Actually I have had more compliments from Ford, Chevy guys, than any Mopar Tool. So I just enjoy mine on the occasional weekend drive. Then cover her up in the garage. Now granted, I have nothing against Challengers, Chargers, and the lot. ( My father traded in his '68 GTX in '72 for this Duster….Said because of gas mileage.) But the high brow attitude of most Mopar guys keeps me away from the shows. And don't get me started on Mopar truck owners.
 
doogievlg said:
I took my dart to that show at joe Kidd a couple times . I lived right off merwin ten mile. If you graduated in the 70s from Amelia with that charger then I have heard a thing or two about that car from my dad. The pumpkin runs mopar turn out is sad and the abody turnout is downright pitiful.
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No didn't graduate from there. Blanchester. Car was on road about 87. When I first started the Pumpkin Run they had 300 to 400 cars. At that time I knew a lot of the members of the club that started it.
 
abodyjoe summed it up very well.Like others on this board have said...I am a car guy and appreciate a well done car of any brand but I prefer MOPAR over all of them.
 
HotLines said:
Joe, you cannot imagine what it's like when I see the tears in the eyes of the new Challenger owner as my 90 chebby LT4 six speed when it pulls a hole shot on'm or when I drop the hammer at 75 and pass them. A friend called me and said he was going to Medford, cruising at 75 when I passed him he got shook up and said it sounded like a plane

This is between A Body Joe and I... no need to attack me, I got 3 Mopars
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when i was cruzing the strip in medford with my friends, we ribbed each other a lot, but it was only fun. i had a 64 GTO, and 3 of my best friends drove a big block chebby, and 69 GTX and 69 road runner. most of my friends and i were always happy and willing to talk to anyone interested in listening to us. This site and even in this thread, i see the ground pounders dissing the stone stockers, which tells me that you can be a mopar fan and still have your nose in the air at the same time. Im not seeing many at car shows that are rude or snobbs, and ive been to a few. most seem friendly, but then, i also dont go to shows with the cars that only see the pavement while unloading from the trailer, i go to the shows that have cars that are driven, and have people that bust *** to try to afford a few good parts.
Its not just mopars, its all makes that have the same diversity of people and ways of thinking. none are all right, and none are all wrong.
myself, i have problems calling a jeep, amc, or any other non chrysler a mopar. even the new cars to me dont have much mopar in them other then the name. hell i used to know a mopar just by the sound of the starter, which are far different sounding then the new stuff. Would i like a new challenger? hell yeah, but never even for half of what they sell for. id invest in the old iron instead, cause its what i can relate to, and i like working on them.
being in the motorcycle club world, we see the new riders trying to act like club members by sticking on patches and acting all bad assed and we call them rub's, which stands for "rich urban bikers". they have the money, buy a bike, most get scared or crash and sell there ****.and just like car people, a guy can pay to have a motor built and put it in a car and it could be the fastest thing around, but if the driver has no clue how to drive it, its all for nothing. its going on everywhere, lifes changing.
 
I have met many great Mopar people since my re introduction to the hobby 9 or so years ago. I have always been a Mopar fan but tripped and fell back in the 80's when life got in the way. I have a core of great Mopar friends that we all spend time with going to shows and swap meets together. There we meet many great Mopar people,collectors, vendors, and normal guys like me and you. When I went to Farmington, Minnesota a couple years ago I met up with Keith and Mike and half a dozen other A body guys that I am proud to call friends. (I hope they feel the same). I went out to eat last Saturday with two of my Mopar buds and ran into 2 local Mopar guys that my friends had never met. The 4 of us will end up getting together for more good Mopar times later this summer. I also hosted a small informal meet and greet at the Nats a few years ago. I met quite a few of you Mopar folks and had a great time. Mopar people are the greatest!
 
I was at a Mopar show at a dealer last year. There ended up being so many cars they had to seriously expand. I did meet and talk to one guy who had a 69 RR that he kept bone stock and a 100 point car. It was his neighbors car initially, but he wanted to keep it factory stock because he bought it after he got out of the Army from 'Nam. He had the car for decades! Nice RR, it even had the acid fumes from the battery he left on it. He didn't mind me getting close to it taking pictures, even after I told him I wasn't with anyone, I just had a Mopar that I was working on. Real nice, friendly and open guy. Then I met someone else who was real stand offish with his car. I think he got it as an investment cause he didn't know a lot about the car, he bought it that year. This year at the Madison Spring Classic in Wisconsin, there was a guy there who had a TA. An honest to god TA, he DROVE to the show. He lives over a 100 miles away! Real down to earth and friendly guy. He says he bought it to drive it. He hit a deer once and said he was glad cause it could of been worse. Yet he still drives it a lot. Bona fide TA, no joke. So there are all kinds out there. Maybe sometimes someone else looking at the car earlier was a real asshole and the owner is kinda soured on people at that particular time. If the owner don't want to talk, I just take my pictures and go about my merry way. I didn't know them before I walked up, and I walked away without knowing them. I didn't lose any sleep either way.
 
UDUST81 said:
i dont know about everyone else but all the mopar guys ive met in person were real jerks. whether theyre know-it-alls or hyperjudgemental. most of the time im treated like i couldnt possibly know anything about mopars and im not worth their time to talk about their car. ive rarely met a mopar guy who i legitimately would try to seek out again. idk maybe it is the checkbook guys ruining it or something. either way i dont love the fans i just love the cars.
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UDUST81, you should stop by and visit my son that moved to Des Moines. He's got his '70 Roadrunner and 2010 Challenger SRT down there with him. His '68 Charger is still back here in Nebraska. He's not always the most talkative but he really enjoys chatting Mopars with other folk.

My experiences have been totally different from what everybody else on this thread have been saying. I've got a lot of Mopar buddies and we usually bend over backwards helping one another out. Now, we're always outnumbered at the car shows and it seems to me that we are often shorted when they give out trophies. Almost all of the people that are judging the local shows around here are more into Fords and Chebbies.

I've yet to attend an all Mopar show. Maybe guys act differently there. I dunno. But I am surprised that all of you guys have had such bad experiences with other Chrysler fans. My personal worst experiences were always with the Bowtie crowd. Not that they're all terrible or anything but they seem to rarely give a second look at anything that's not made by GM. I always like to look at all makes myself.
 
Demoman 3955, good output and very well said.

Let me just say, Grants Pass is way different than Medford
 
I never really did much around shows, but my recollection is that most everyone enjoyed hanging/talking with each other, regardless of brand. Then again, this was mainly before the "big" money started moving in on selected cars.
 
Back in the mid 80's, I hit a lot of shows with my 70 AMX. Found out that most ot then were run by "Chebby" guys and forget wining anything if you didn't drive a Chebby! My best experience at a show was in Clinton MO. and they put me in the "sports car" class with a **** load of "Vettes".Got a lot of dirty looks esp when that lowly AMX tool 2nd place. :) I'll never show my 71 Scamp at a show cuz of the way they tend to judge cars. I've had a Mopar ever since I bought my 69 Super Bee new.Even the cruzes around here have very few Mopars in them and the ones that do show up draw a croud cuz of the HEMI's under the hood.Hell even a new CTS Caddy draws more around it. Most of the people around here that have Mopars are great people and will answer any questions one has and also help them when needed. So give them a lil time before you judge them as a$$holes. :)
 
doogievlg said:
I got mine when I was 15 simply because it was old cool and cheap. I have meet some mopar guys who blow me off when I ask them for advice and then I have meet guys who don't mind me swinging by unannounced. Over the weekend I needed advice and a part and I couldn't get the help I needed on this site.

I drove fourty minutes to this old timers house having no clue if he would be home. I walked up and knocked on his door and we went down to his shop and talked motors and he showed me some of the motors he was building for people. When I asked him about the part he pulled down a box and told me to buy him a beer next time I see him at the track and gave me the part. Guys like that are getting harder and harder to come by and I hope one day I'll have kids showing up at my shop asking for help.
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in the mid to late 80's when i just got into the mopar hobby the majority of mopar guys were like that guy. they were guys who owned them for the love and fun of them no the money. seems to have flip flopped over the years.
 
abodyjoe said:
what makes mopar guys different??? these days way too many are worried about a tin tag on the dash and paint markings and will only go to mopar only shows.

hopefully with mopars not being the latest fad the mopar enthusiast will return to the guys that liked the cars and loved to use them. the hobby was a lot tighter before mopars became the latest and greatest thing for check book guys. the old guys helped out the young guys a lot more then they do thee days.. i think a lot of it is because the old guys and dying off little by little and there are more and more check book guys that only know mopars from an investment point of view.
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Well said and right on
 
Joe is totally right , in the nj area in early 80s we had a few Mopar heads that had some money a several kinda restored cars and they would show up at shows and just because of who they were got awards . One of them owned an original hemi cuda conv that was poorely restored but he would get an award just cuz he had a hemi cuda . Joe is also right, there was fraternity in the 80s , mopar guys helped mopar guys .
 
Don't know about where you live, But My MOPAR group is very active. We always show up at shows many cars deep ! And throughout the year take random cruises. Last week we had 24 Mopars take an all day trip to the Richmond raceway. We are the minority in shows, and everyone knows when we show up ! Def draw a crowd and have no problems talking to anybody .....
 
65-440 said:
Don't know about where you live, But My MOPAR group is very active. We always show up at shows many cars deep ! And throughout the year take random cruises. Last week we had 24 Mopars take an all day trip to the Richmond raceway. We are the minority in shows, and everyone knows when we show up ! Def draw a crowd and have no problems talking to anybody .....
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I didn`t read all of these posts,but there are so many chevy`s and mustangs, they just aren`t real intetresting to us old mopar heads. I go only to 1/4 mile races,and mopar meets---just my 2 cents---bob
 
I only go to car shows that are hosted by Non-profit groups because I like to support worthy causes! I am way to wired to just sit around all day at a show doing nothing! I go to the Nats because they have a big swap meet, drag racing, and like to cruise the night life!!

I am personally old school as are most all of my friends. I typically help out people whenever I can, give parts away to help fellow enthusiasts, and can/will talk for hours with anyone who wants to talk Mopars!! You guys must not be from around here!!
 
One thing that has always intrigued me is that Chev guys mostly just like Chevs and not the others that came out of GM eg Olds, Buick, Pontiac.

Mopar guys however love Plymouth, Dodge, Desoto and Chrysler. You very rarely see a Mopar guy that owns a Plymouth rubbish a Dodge or the others. I think it has a lot to do with Engine and drivetrain sharing.

We are unique from the others and I think Mopar got it spot on in this respect. Also the name Mopar is all encompassing and covers all the brands under the Chrysler umbrella. It doesn't matter if you own a Dodge, Plymouth or Chrysler because in the end you own a Mopar. It is just like one big happy family.
 
I guess it's whatever turns your crank. for me, it's always been Plymouth and Dodges. As for car shows, I do whatever I can geographically speaking (no trailer queen). But most importantly, I bring my car. the one I built with my dream in mind, not the car the TV shows think I should have built. Love my 64 Signet ragtop, and I love to see the cars other guys dreams have built.
 
Other then the guy I got that part off of I honestly can't say I have ever meet someone real nice and open about his mopars. There is a pretty good mopar crowd around cincinnati but most I have talked to stick with their clique or will bs with you about cars but when it comes time for help or finding parts they are always too busy.

I guess there is a couple racers at the local track who are great guys too. They always give great advice and I bought some shock plates off one guy.

I guess my bad experiences with a handful of guys comes to mind before the good experiences with two guys.
 
What's a "car show"?
Seriously, the last car show I took a car to was probably in 2001.
I sold a 72 340 Challenger at that one.
The fellow did even care when I told him there was Bondo under my nice Y3 paint.
Actually I just put a sign on it and the fellow who was my age said that he bought it for his college age son. (I even told him a young person shouldn't have the car)
Yea right. When he drove off in it with his wife, I know who bought the car.

But more to you original point.
Please ignore the topic of this thread and see my post 48 and 55.
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=273974&highlight=misanthropist&page=3
 
All these complaints about Mopar people, yet FABO is all Mopar people and some of the friendliest and helpful bunch of people around!

I attend both "open" shows and Mopar-only events. I've encountered the snobby type at all events. Perhaps they want to be valued or liked because they have a rare or expensive car. Maybe they are threatened that my little A-body or truck will steal some attention from their ride. Honestely, I don't care why they seem unhappy.

However, I have to say my experience has been overwhelming positive at car gatherings. I have met really nice people, time and time again. I never pretend to know more than I do, I ask questions and find people love to talk about their car/truck. I offer a lot of compliments and that starts a lot of friendly conversations.

I do prefer Mopar-only shows. As a dodge truck and A-body owner I know the challenge of finding parts. I think other Mopar owners appreciate the effort it takes to complete an old Mopar project. So many of the popular Ford and Chevy cars/trucks have parts readily available that the part acquisition process is simple.

Both my cars are powered by inline 6 engines. Even though the majority of classic car/truck owners are V8 guys, I feel welcomed most places I go. I'm sure some people judge me based on my car/truck and it's engine; that is fine with me. Some people feel compelled to criticize; that is fine too. BUT, these elite and judgemental people are in the vast minority. I think Mopar people and auto-enthusiasts in general are a friendly bunch. I really enjoy meeting you people!
 
moparspares said:
One thing that has always intrigued me is that Chev guys mostly just like Chevs and not the others that came out of GM eg Olds, Buick, Pontiac.

Mopar guys however love Plymouth, Dodge, Desoto and Chrysler. You very rarely see a Mopar guy that owns a Plymouth rubbish a Dodge or the others. I think it has a lot to do with Engine and drivetrain sharing.

We are unique from the others and I think Mopar got it spot on in this respect. Also the name Mopar is all encompassing and covers all the brands under the Chrysler umbrella. It doesn't matter if you own a Dodge, Plymouth or Chrysler because in the end you own a Mopar. It is just like one big happy family.
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i knew a guy with a 64 dart. i pulled into a cruise and he was looking at my plymouth and was like oh i can't have a plymouth in my garage.. i looked at him like dud you do know other then some sheet metal my 64 valiant is pretty much the same car as your 64 dart..lol strange dude..
 
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