charger70
Well-Known Member
My 1st Mopar.
I think I was 17 when I got it in 75. (photo from 1979).
My first car was a 66 Ford LTD 2dr. It was nice but not much fun. What I really wanted was a 70 340 Challenger.
For days I begged and begged my Mom to go look at one I found at a dealership. Finaly we went and we took a local mechanic along to check it out. As we pulled into the lot my heart was crushed, somebody was driving away with it right then and there....
I just wanted to leave but Mom wanted to go in and look around. After about a half an hour we were walking out when in drove a pretty Duster. I really wasn't interested but our mech friend suggested we have a look.
It was a 1970 340 3spd manual 8.75/3.23 Rallye wheels and F70 RWL tires. It had vinyl floors and a green vinyl bench seat, --radio delete-- and a rear window defogger!
Hows them for a list of options?
67,000 miles for $1300.00
I KNOW, I KNOW!!! the Dart Sport stripe is wrong but the dealership added them when they touched up the door dings and scratches for resale.
After a quik trip down the road I was hooked. For days I begged and begged my Mom to let me buy it. After several worried and sleepless nights for fear that it would be sold out from under me too, we went and picked it up. The next year I added the Cragar S/S wheels and tires.
I owned it for 4 years and took it to North Star Dragways just north of Minneapolis a couple times. By then it had 104,000 miles on it. Best time from memory was 14.9 at 93 MPH. Slow because of Driver error as I didn't know how to come off the line without the tires up in smoke.
At 110,000miles I rebuilt the 340, added headers and a 4spd with a Hurst Comp Plus. I know it was quicker than before but I never went back to the strip to prove it.
After body school I went to work in the body shop at Buetz Dodge in Mankato MN. My buddy Denny Wanous helped get me in there. The dealership closed down a while after I moved on. Faced with the loss of their jobs Denny and fellow employee Lee Daschner bought the building and ran L & D auto body. Denny eventually bought out the other half and is still doing some very nice street rods from there.
In the photo I had just repainted it and I had grown so used to the stripes that I reinstalled an nos set. The next summer I had taken it apart with a bit of tranny trouble and a guy offered to buy it less motor and tranny. The underside was beginning to show its age with MN rust popping thru in a few places. It was time I thought to grow up get responsible, so I pulled the fresh motor, stored it and sold the shell. Last I heard it was on its way to being crushed after having an encounter with a field aproach and a mailbox or 2.
So there goes another "Wish I wouldn'ta" story.
As you can see by my car list the "responsible" phase didn't last, now I'm nudging 51 and in it deeper than ever.
I really loved that green 340 car, its the reason I have my current Duster. And it isn't a garage queen. To start things off I pulled the/6 and installed a 360/727 auto. and 3.23 8.75.
Last year I put an a518OD in it then drove it from AZ to MN and back. This spring it got a set of 3.91 gears and a rebuilt 1995 Magnum 360 with a 390HP cam and the new Mopar Performancem EFI fuel Injection. I used the old 340Exh manifolds I still had and 2.5 inch TTI with flowmasters.
The first time at Speedworld, NW of Phoenix, it ran a 13.88 at 101. And I know there is more in it.
Man I love this thing too!
SHEEESH CAPTNKIRK!! How do you do it?
I think it took me over 2 hours just to post this!!
I think I was 17 when I got it in 75. (photo from 1979).
My first car was a 66 Ford LTD 2dr. It was nice but not much fun. What I really wanted was a 70 340 Challenger.
For days I begged and begged my Mom to go look at one I found at a dealership. Finaly we went and we took a local mechanic along to check it out. As we pulled into the lot my heart was crushed, somebody was driving away with it right then and there....
I just wanted to leave but Mom wanted to go in and look around. After about a half an hour we were walking out when in drove a pretty Duster. I really wasn't interested but our mech friend suggested we have a look.
It was a 1970 340 3spd manual 8.75/3.23 Rallye wheels and F70 RWL tires. It had vinyl floors and a green vinyl bench seat, --radio delete-- and a rear window defogger!
Hows them for a list of options?
67,000 miles for $1300.00
I KNOW, I KNOW!!! the Dart Sport stripe is wrong but the dealership added them when they touched up the door dings and scratches for resale.
After a quik trip down the road I was hooked. For days I begged and begged my Mom to let me buy it. After several worried and sleepless nights for fear that it would be sold out from under me too, we went and picked it up. The next year I added the Cragar S/S wheels and tires.
I owned it for 4 years and took it to North Star Dragways just north of Minneapolis a couple times. By then it had 104,000 miles on it. Best time from memory was 14.9 at 93 MPH. Slow because of Driver error as I didn't know how to come off the line without the tires up in smoke.
At 110,000miles I rebuilt the 340, added headers and a 4spd with a Hurst Comp Plus. I know it was quicker than before but I never went back to the strip to prove it.
After body school I went to work in the body shop at Buetz Dodge in Mankato MN. My buddy Denny Wanous helped get me in there. The dealership closed down a while after I moved on. Faced with the loss of their jobs Denny and fellow employee Lee Daschner bought the building and ran L & D auto body. Denny eventually bought out the other half and is still doing some very nice street rods from there.
In the photo I had just repainted it and I had grown so used to the stripes that I reinstalled an nos set. The next summer I had taken it apart with a bit of tranny trouble and a guy offered to buy it less motor and tranny. The underside was beginning to show its age with MN rust popping thru in a few places. It was time I thought to grow up get responsible, so I pulled the fresh motor, stored it and sold the shell. Last I heard it was on its way to being crushed after having an encounter with a field aproach and a mailbox or 2.
So there goes another "Wish I wouldn'ta" story.
As you can see by my car list the "responsible" phase didn't last, now I'm nudging 51 and in it deeper than ever.
I really loved that green 340 car, its the reason I have my current Duster. And it isn't a garage queen. To start things off I pulled the/6 and installed a 360/727 auto. and 3.23 8.75.
Last year I put an a518OD in it then drove it from AZ to MN and back. This spring it got a set of 3.91 gears and a rebuilt 1995 Magnum 360 with a 390HP cam and the new Mopar Performancem EFI fuel Injection. I used the old 340Exh manifolds I still had and 2.5 inch TTI with flowmasters.
The first time at Speedworld, NW of Phoenix, it ran a 13.88 at 101. And I know there is more in it.
Man I love this thing too!
SHEEESH CAPTNKIRK!! How do you do it?
I think it took me over 2 hours just to post this!!
