YOUNG GUNS! Sign In and WIN

[CudaChick1968]

Since posting this reply to our newcomer Mopar_Chick's welcome thread, I've been giving the idea some more thought. Here's the general plan (always open to suggestions).

Starting in January 2010, one name will be drawn at random from the Young Guns' names who participate in this thread. I'll kick in something cool for the winner and in the meantime hopefully get other FABO vendors / members to help out with donations** of gift certificates, cool Mopar memorabilia, A Body parts, items of individual craftsmanship, decals/stickers, etc., to make up a sort of Goodie Bag / Box to award to the winner.

If there's enough interest and participation, this can be a monthly, quarterly or annual event to support the younger members of our hobby to help them finish their projects and give them inspiration to keep Old Mopar Love going well into the future. And it'll be fun reading the stories and learning why they went Mopar while their friends were going ricer.


HOW TO ENTER:

For our EXISTING* FABO members who are 25 and younger on or before January 30, 2010, tell us your Mopar story below as a reply to this thread. It can be as long or as short as you wish and include whatever you want to share ... about you, your car, your restoration efforts to date, what your plans are for its future, etc. The story does NOT have to be about your A Body but keeping it Mopar-oriented would be preferred since that's why we're all here. (Please see my reply to 805MoparKid's post below for details.)

Once you have replied to this thread with your story, click on the Post # on the upper righthand side of your post. When it opens, copy the link that appears in your browser [for example, the link http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showpost.php?p=693375&postcount=1 will bring up my opening post in this thread]. Send that link in an email to:

PhoenixSpecialtyCoatings@yahoo.com

All entrants' names will be kept in a container and only one entry per person will be allowed. We gotta keep it fair ... I don't want to see the same story attached to five different user names!!!

On January 31, 2010, one winner will be drawn at random from amongst all entrants who emailed the link to their post to me on or before January 30, 2010. The winner will be notified by email and/or Private Message through FABO.

If there's enough donations to keep this going we'll do another giveaway at a later date, drawing from all non-winning names previously received.

Thanks for reading! Now let's see some stories. :-D




* Entrant must have been a registered FABO member on or before October 22, 2009 to qualify for the January 31, 2010 drawing. If you're a new member who found FABO after October 22, 2009 and have 25 or more on-point posts to your credit, please feel free to add your story below in the event another drawing is held at a later date. I don't want to discourage any Young Gun from participating in this thread.

** Vendors / members who want to donate to the Goodie Box, please email a description of the offer to me directly at CudaChic1968@aol.com (my PM in-box is almost full) so as to keep non-Young Gun Story content and chatter to a minimum in this thread. It should be about them!!! Since I'm not sure what kind of response this is going to get, donation / item shipping details will have to be worked out later. (Trying to keep expenses to a minimum for all involved.)

* * *​

IMPORTANT EDIT:
Small Block has graciously started a separate thread for general commentary and the prizes to be awarded to the winner, and not surprisingly is the first member to get involved with a donation! [[[[[Big hug and smooch on the cheek for Small Block]]]]] Memike is kicking in a FABO t-shirt, and 65 Dartman will throw in "some kind of parts or something that can be used on a variety of A Bodies." Guys, thank you so much for your support of my idea and for your generosity! This is EXACTLY what the FABO family is all about!!!

As with prior benefit efforts on this site, I'll try to keep the prize list for the January 31 drawing organized and posted on the "Help CudaChick" thread rather than this one.

Another hug goes out to our first storyteller Ross, who brought it to my attention that my instructions for entering were not going to work (the "Thread Tools" application doesn't appear after clicking on your Post # ... oooops, my bad! SORRY!). I've re-worded the instructions above to make entering as easy as possible. I apologize for any confusion and for the lame instructions. [Hey, it was 2:30 in the morning and I couldn't sleep so I came up with this thing LOL]

Small Block's suggestion about including new Young Gun members who discovered FABO after this contest was started has also been added above to the "*" area. Good idea Bill, thanks!

 

[res1vw21]

Great Idea Leanna!

well here is my story
BTW I am only 21

'77 Aspen R/T-custom
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=46651
Well I know it's not an A body but here it is, my Aspen.

My aspen started life as a '78 se in baby **** brown with a part vinyl top. It was ugly. When I first saw her I wanted to cut the kmeber out and drop it in the '49 Plymouth 2dr that my dad has as a parts car to his '49 Plymouth special deluxe drop top with a m body front clip and a 331 hemi. I was 9 at the time.

My pop knew I would start playing with cars so he kept the aspen and we cut up an '82 doba instead. When I was about 14 I started to se what the aspen could be and started to research what I wanted to turn her into.

When I was in high school I took some body classes and brought the aspen to school where I started to strip her down and fix the dents and rust. She had some of rust in all the usual F body places and I dove in head first. I also started to collect all the parts I needed to turn her into a R/T cloan with a twist.

When was in high school there were lots of little rice rockets running around and I wanted to build something that would beat them all, so I started to get crazy ideas in my head and convinced my dad to buy me an 11.71:1 366. I also bought a close ratio big block a body 4spd and a '68 b body 8 3/4. The idea was to go fast and not break anything.

Anyway back to the restoration part after I got out of high school I still had 318 904 8 1/4 primer gray aspen that wasn't all that fast but I had all the go fast goodies sitting in the garage. I took the 318 out and started to clean the bay to paint it and sure enough one thing led to another and I decided that if it is all apart I may as well take the time to do the body work right and make the car look decent.
At the time I still didn't know how to really do proficient body work so I found a body man on craigs list and took the car to his shop. He looked at the car and said two weeks we can have this thing in and out and painted. I thought sweet for 2 grand and I help do the sanding that’s not such a bad deal. It was supposed to be painted for sunbust in late august. We worked on the car and it soon became apparent that all the body work needed to be redone so the car was taken back out of primer and the work started. I had done very little right. I learned as much as I could and started to pick it up quickly.

In about October of ’06 I got busy with work and community college so I didn’t go to his shop as often and little did I know that was my biggest mistake. He started to drag his feet and pretty soon it was hard just to get a hold of him, o yha he always “needed” more money because the original amount was for if we didn’t have to take it back to metal . I actually had almost forgotten about my car until summer of ’07 when we started to work on it a bit more, but at this time I was racing hydro planes and having lots of fun with Tara.

’07 rolls around and not much has happened to my car I still am collecting parts for here but my direction has change I now want to build a really fast road race car for taking to the track and racing. At this time I have about 13K into the car including a complete suspension upgrade and rebuild. I still don’t have the car back but I have all the parts except the body. I decide that I will let the guy store my car for free as long as I can, and finish collecting everything for her.

’08 rolls around any I finally get a call from him saying that he can’t afford to store it much longer, and it is almost ready for paint. I say cool, let me come up there and help you finish it up since I know what I am doing now and we can get her painted and out of there. Every time I try to go up there he has an excuse, usually along the lines of I forgot you were going to come up, or I have to go to court… Anyway I didn’t visit the aspen once this last summer despite the fact I planned to at least a dozen times. I finally got a hold of him in October and after being dicked around for 3 weeks I went and got my car back.

Sorry for such a long winded intro, lets get to some pics. I am trying to do these in chronological order but I don’t have the first ones because they were on film. O and I now have about 18 grand into the car and I figure 17 different aspens and volares have gone into building mine.
Please see attached thread for the rest!


'71 Dart Swinger
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=34453




'72 Scamp
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=42915&highlight=Emilys+scamp

 

[clhyer]

Leanna, this is a super idea. Would you believe that I'm only 23? =P~

For you young guns, if you have already made the post; maybe some months or years ago when you signed up, just post a link to the original thread or cut & paste.

Here's to Leanna for contributing to the site:cheers::cheers::cheers:
C

 

[71dodge]

im gonna enter i just cant do it now i have school btw im 15

 

[74slnt6]

this sounds like a good idea to me, well ill be 16 on december 13th 2009. i was always interested in cars for as long as i could talk. I was first hooked on mopars the first time i took a ride in my uncles 70 rr 383 TF. my whole family is loyal to mopar, on my moms side and my dads side. my uncle on my moms side had a 67 camaro but traded it in for a 74 cuda, my uncle on my dads side his first car was a 70 340 duster. my dads first car that he bought was also a 70 340 duster. both my dad and uncle turned their dusters into strip cars, but are in the process of converting them back to street use. I guess it could be said that my family pretty much influenced me into mopars, ha ha.

my first car was purchased by myself, all by myself. its a 74 duster i purchased off of ebay in june of 2008. I was 14 at the time i bought it. Its a 74, gold duster car. " little old lady special " with only 49159 1/10's when it was loaded on the trailer. the best thing about the car is the interior. even though its a 198 slant 6, it had been special equipped with a console and bucket seats. it has a 7.25 rearend with 2.76 gears. the original color is B-1 powder blue, which it still is and always will be, it also has a black canopy roof that is mint condition. the plans for the dust include a big block 440 magnum with stealth heads, a edelbrock performer intake, a holley 4160, and 10.75 to 1 compression. a transpack will follow up in the trans, a 727 t-f with a 8.75 rear end with a 3.55 suregrip. keystone klassics are on it now, with firestone firehawk indy 500s. a duster hood scopp was put on, with a 70 go-wing. a 340 wedge sticker sits on the hood and a "duster 340" decal fills in the tail light panel. giving it the appearence of a 340 car, but in all reality being a big block a bod.

all my friends where i go to school drive gm's , such as an elcamino 305, a 85 chevy 350, and so on. I was always attracted to the mopar body styles, the sounds, everything about them.

so to wrap it up, thats my story i always liked mopars and always will. i like the idea of the contest too, but i wont officially be a young gun til im 16, but i might as well get started here now ha ha. ill upload some pics later on, im at school right now, and maybe add some more details too...

ok i finally found some time to add some info and email my entry. pictures can be found at this link, hopefully it works...

http://1974plymouthruster440.webs.com/

i just kinda threw some pics in there in some random order, so it is what it is and a lot got duplicated some how?

so any ways, it seems as though almost everyone i go to shcool with hates on my car... nicknames were given to it like cruster, and ruster. ( most of the haters are gm boys ) but oh well, all you can do is race em and win i guess lol. thats about all i got to say. id like to thank fabo, and expecially cudachick. as well as all the people who contribute to the cause. i dont know where i would be know without the help of the great members here. - tom wirth - 74slnt6

 

[memike]

What a very cool idea Leanna :cheers: Would you believe I just turned 26 :-#
line up Young guns :cheers: this is going to be very cool to say the least :thumbrig:

 

[DRENO]

Good on ya,Leanna.:thumleft: That's the FABO spirit!8)

 

[swedefish]

Good on ya,Leanna.:thumleft: That's the FABO spirit!8)

x2 , you´re my hero from now on 8)

 

[FASTBACK340]

Good on ya,Leanna.:thumleft: That's the FABO spirit!8)

I nominate Leanne as THE bitchinest person on FABO! You are an Angel.... THIS is the spirit of doing good for your fellow enthusiast. :cheers:

BTW: You should have a package coming your way in a few weeks. I need for you to do some more of that magic you do. 8)

 

[RPMLegends18]

Im Ryan, from Modesto, CA. I will be turning 20 next month. I have always grown up around Mopars. I remember watching my dad wheel his Dodge Dart street stock around local short tracks for many years beating up on the Chevys. I think that is really what got me hooked on the Dart. He purchased a 74 Dart Swinger, 2 door 225 slant, 904, 7 1/4 as a parts car for his street stock in about 1990. The car had a bad left side motor mount and the previous owner wanted nothing to do with it so my Dad got the car from him for (he says $100) very little. Thankfully he got out of racing street stocks in '92 and started driving the very first Legends Car on the west coast. And the car was never cut up or anything. The only problem was it sat out in our horse pasture with a broken windshield all that time, a small half dollar sized hole in it. So the dash pad was severely damaged. The bench seat was also pretty bad. But when I turned 15 and my permit was starting to get closer and I was going to need a car. So I asked my Dad what was wrong with it. He said it ran when I parked in there 15 years ago. So I got the keys opened her up...had that wet musky smell...popped the hood and started peaking around. Granted I really had no idea what I was doing. So we pulled it out of the pasture and my Dad said have at it. We irragate that pasture so there was mud up past the K-Frame. The distirbutor was also cover in mud. So after cleaning the mud off I pulled the cap and cleaned it up inside of there. Put in back on, threw a battery in it, and changed the air cleaner. And it fired right up. My Dad came out looking like holy crap you actually did it. I was pumped and wanted to go drive it. But the brakes were shot. So we pushed it in the garage and I started removing the old windshield. Luckily my Dad took the glass out of the race car and put plexiglass in there so we had a windshield. Got that installed then the brakes and tires. After all that was finished up I could finally drive it. And the best part of all I HAD A DART! I drove the car like that for about a year, I lowered it one day (alittle to much) and hit something scraping a hole in the pan. Luckily there was no oil that really dumped out. So nothing internally happened. But we had to take it out to fix the pan. So I figure since its out why not drop in a V8? My Dad said if I could find a V8 K-Frame with disc brakes we'd do it. Next week at the local junk yard I found a 4 door Valiant (73) about to be crushed. Literally the guy was driving the forks through the windshield when I stopped him. They pulled it out and sold it to me for $125. From the T bars forward. Now it was V8 time. An old 78 360 we had laying around was the perfect candidate. It was out of a Dodge PowerWagon. So with the V8 came a T F 727, an 8 1/4 out of a Duster...and BBP wheels. After about 3 months it started running like crap. So I pulled the valve covers off and cranked it and ( I cant remember which cylinders now) but 3 of the rockers were not moving. So I purchased a cam and installed it. I dont know exactly how it chewed up three lobes. I probably wasnt doing my part in checking the oil enough. Then drive went out in the transmission and on the freeway one day (again my fault) it went bang. Tossed the #5 rod threw the pan. An ugly sight. Split the cylinder, all the coolant mixed in with the oil...bad bad bad. So it was then time to build an engine, we choose a 318 this time. The block was pretty bad looking on the outside but once the heads were pulled and taken all down it wasnt too bad. Although the there was some water in the #3 cylinder and the old pistons were a ***** to get out. So it had a sleeve put in and was cleaned up to .030 over. We installed a 340 crankshaft and flat top pistons. With a MP Purple Shaft. Eddy dual plane and a Holley sit atop it. After I hit a armco barrier and crunched up the left front. I wanted to put a 72 Dart front clip on it, I figure since I gotta change fenders and bumpers and everything else to fix the damage what the hell, why not. So I did. Then it was the wing window doors (Im a sucker for wing windows)...and then last week was the 72 rear clip. So now when someone asks, I hesitate and say its a 72 8). And yesterday I started stripping the paint so I can get it straight as an arrow and shoot it black. My finished plans for the car is mini-tub, Magnum heads, black with flat black out and flat black strip across the back, black interior...I need to get the bench redone, and hopefully...just hopefully one day I can bolt a 4 speed behind it. I plan on keeping this car until the day I die...maybe be buried in it lol.

That is my story, rather long...but once I get going...lol

Thanks for reading,
Ryan

 

[65 Dartman]

** Vendors/members who want to donate to the Goodie Box, please email a description of the offer to me directly at CudaChic1968@aol.com (my PM box is almost full)

PM sent on donation

 

[memike]

here is some support Leanna, Small block and I want in on the gifting side

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=78251

 

[amzchad]

I love your idea and i think its great cause the younger ones are whats gonna keep this going with the new generation. Keeping these cars availible for years to come.


My name is Chad Gobbell and I am 17 and I guess i will start with what first got me into cars and stuck on mopar. For as long as I could remember my dad has had plenty of old mopars. My favorites were his 72 challenger and his 72 charger. The challenger was built with a mild 440 an abody 8 3/4 with huge drag slicks in the back. No minitub no roll cage. Along with a 70 grill. This was the car he always took drag racing and he was running low 11's. This car was in beutifull shape and was supposed to be given to me when i was 18. But when i was 15 he had moved to wyoming. He came up to me and asked me if it was ok him to sell the challenger and the charger in order to buy some land that he could build a house on in wyoming. I agreed as thats what was best for him and he sold the two cars on ebay and brought in enough money to buy 40 acers right next to yellowstone and he will soon be building a house. (my parents devoriced before i turned 1)

My dad wasnt the only person that kept me into cars his whole side of the family was a bunch of drag racers. So when i was to go see my dad all of the family and family friends when out to the strip for the day and always had a good time. My uncle buys and sells cars constantly but he is a mopar or no car guy. He has owned just about every mopar and is now driving a 72 duster just like my cousin. My dads side of the family only has mopar.

My cousin was also one of the people that i really look up to. I watched him buy his first car and own a few other mopars. He still has his first car but now it is equipped with a crate 360 magnum. This is his drag car and he is now running high 10's. But he also has no roll cage or minitub.

My grandpa has also been sucked into the drag racing thing and he purchase a dodge a-100 that he has built for dragracing. He dropped in a crate 360 magnum and is running low 13's at the track.

I have nothing but support from my dads side of the family. But i live with my mom and step dad. They put a roof over my head and feed me. Dont get me wrong i am very thankfull for what they do for me but when it comes to cars i dont have much support from them. My stepdad, Ken, is a master mechanic and used to be a huge car guy. He hates his job and is pretty much out of the car thing. The problem here is that if i want to do anything to my car it has to be stock. He acts like my car is his and he has controll over everything i do to it. I cant work on my car at home, i cant open my hood at home, the only thing i can do is wash and wax it. Anything else i do also comes along with an opinion and how i cant do it. I do everything at my grandpas or my school. I would kill to be able to do it with my dad but i am in california and he is in wyoming.

But right now i am in high school and the school has a great auto shop with a great teacher. This has allowed me to buy my last car (74 dart sport) for $600 and sell it for $2300. I bought the dart sport and my goal with that car was to make it a great driver and look good. I did just that and i sold the car and bought my 72 swinger. I paid $2300 for my dart and it was equipped with alot of goodies. I have power disc brakes, power steering, huge sway bars, v8, 8 3/4, perfect interior and a 4bbl set up. The only problem with this car is rust.

I just recently got ahold of a 67 firebird convertable that i am restoring to sell it and fund my mopar. I am hiding this at my auto shop and i am working on it everychance i get at school. I have 3 hours mon-fri to work on the car and i have already got alot done. The plan is to sell this and get a demon or sell this and my dart and get a challenger. Once i get either of those cars i am gonna keep it and build it the way i want to and really do a full restoration that i can pass down to my kid.

I am currently working at a hot rod shop in my small town. Buisness has been slow and i am now looking for a second job. Untill i get that job my builds are at a hault.

Thanks for listening

Chad

 

[Burntorange70]

Man I missed the boat buy 3 years. LOL

Good idea leanna. Thats way cool of you.

 

[805moparkid]

well i have one q. i want to do this totally but all of my work has been on a b body... i know this is a a body site but its my firsl car and love... if not i can use my 68 dart ive been tinkering with.

thx ed

 

[CudaChick1968]

well i have one q. i want to do this totally but all of my work has been on a b body... i know this is a a body site but its my firsl car and love... if not i can use my 68 dart ive been tinkering with.

thx ed

Ed, GREAT QUESTION!

Everyone on this board got into cars at some point in their lives. I bought my Cuda 18 years ago when I was almost a Young Gun of 26, but my first car at 15 was a 1969 big block Impala lol.

The way I see it, what you're working on in the Mopar world isn't important, but the fact you're working on it yourself -- with or without help -- IS. So no, your story doesn't have to be about your A Body. Keeping your tale Mopar-oriented would be preferable so it if starts off with your 1974 Datsun, maybe concentrating on how you migrated from there to Mopars would be the way to go.

I see it's already time for another update to the instructions. That's fine by me ... keep the suggestions coming!

 

[71dodge]

ok here goes nothing. hi my name is dylan and im 15 years old. i recently got a 71 dart swinger from my dad as a gift for my birthday. he bought the car and had plans to redo it. we bought it from a guy that collected mopars and we got it for 2500 and draged it home. so we got it to run found out it had a bad head gasket on the /6 so it sat in the garage in primer for about 2 years. finally we go to look at a nova some guy was gonna give to us and it was junk so my dad sen that i was disapointed so he offered me the dart and i couldnt refuse. the same day i went got a battery at started to work on it. a few weeks later me and my friend were board so we decided to pull the viynl top off and see wat was up with the rot so when we got it off there was rot EVEWERE. it was so bad the roof was no longer salvagable there was almost nothing holding the back window to the car lol. but the cars body was to nice to trash having no bondo or filler in any of the panels so i got a roof off of waggin for some big block parts so i got that waiting to got on. the we cut the front floors out cause they were rotted. then me and my buddy were getting anxious so i sold my atv and went and bought a 318 for the car cause the/6 would not cut it lol.then i saved up some more and met another member (yellow68runner) and i got a tranny k frame and headers for the 318. then i got really excited and me and my buddy pulled the /6 out of the car and got it out of here. then we pulled the front end off getting ready to do some work to it. i also took all the trim off and sold it to other memebers. i started to do some body work to it and when i couldnt do any more i started somthing else to keep it going. so one night i was thinking man wouldnt it be sweet if i could get a big block for my dart. well i posted an ad asking what i should do and homeclonded said he had a 383 that he would sell with a 727 for cheap so i sent him a pm and he sent some pics i had a little bit of cash and i got it for a freakin awsome price and i couldnt refuse so me and my dad drove down to st.pete and grabbed the new big block that was going in the car boy was i excited. so the next day my buddy comes over to help unload it off the trailer and i set the engine hoist in the grass (stupid me) and when we get the motor in the air and start to move the engine the hoist gets caught and tips with the motor on it pining me up against the car (that hurt). so my dad helped get it off we got the motor in the garage and we got and dolly for it to sit on and it bent the engine hoist legs so and i was not hurt and neither was the car lol. so no i am kinda at a stand still with the car cause im 15 and have no job and no money but i have plans to redo the heads and but a big cam in the motor. and put 2 bucket racing seats in the car and make a custom dash and paint it fj6 (green go) and maybe a fiber glass scoop and paint it black. and mini tub it with a nice set of star wheels and make it sound and look good it will be a while but it will be nice when it is done. well sofar thats were i am with my car here are some pics of it and the motors enjoy

 

[71dodge]

just a few more pics of the car and its parts

 

[69bronzeT5]

My name is Cody and I just turned 17 on October 11th. I'm from Surrey BC, Canada. I've been a Mopar fan for as long as I can remember even though I grew up around GM muscle cars. My dad's friend owned most of them, including a '70 Buick GSX and '71 Camaro RS Z/28 that my dad and me restored. Although, I'll admit I didn't do much considering I was really young. I was a huge Dukes of Hazzard fan and ran home from school everyday to watch it. Even though they were reruns, they were new to me. I had General Lee toy cars, General Lee diecasts, a General Lee model but I really wanted my own General Lee.

In late 1998, one of my dad's friends was walking in a neighborhood in Richmond B.C and came across a Charger sitting in a field under a tarp. It was rusty, had spray painted '01's on it, missing parts and somebody had keyed the car and threw the front bumper through the windshield. It was not a pretty site but it was a true '69. My dad's friend told my dad about it and my dad headed over there. He went to the closest house and it happened to be the owner's friend who lived there. The owner had been storing it in the field but was planning on sending it to the scrapyard within the next few weeks. He apperentley used the '69 for parts for his '69 R/T which was sitting in the warm garage. My dad got in contact with the owner and found out it could be bought for $400. So my dad bought it. My dad's friend said good thing he bought it because he was going to steal the gas cap off of it but because we got it, he'd leave it haha. Anyways, I still remember that cold December night when I finally got to see it. A flatbed tow truck came and picked it up from that field and I remember sitting in the front seat of my dad's car as we followed the tow truck. All I did was sit there and stare up at the taillights of the Charger. On Christmas 1998, I opened a little box with car keys in it....you should of seen the look on my mom's face when she looked in the driveway! Over the years me and my dad fixed it slowly and got parts for it. In 2006, my parents seperated, my dad left and I was left to work on the car by myself. So far (money permitting), I've restored the grille and sandblasted a bunch of parts. I have also got a bunch of parts for it from the guys at dodgecharger.com. I have pictures that were taken right after we got it home but I have to find them. For now...

Back in 2001...

2007....

Current (had to take the front bumper off to get it to fit! )....

In October 2008, my dad bought and gave me a silver '90 Mustang LX 5.0 for my 16th birthday. However, he called me in late October and said he found a Duster sitting in a guys driveway in Delta B.C. At this point, Dusters weren't really that high in my books for some reason, I'll admit it. However, by looking at pictures in Mopar Muscle and online, I figured out it was a '73-'76 judging by my dad's description of the taillights. On November 8th I was in Vancouver attending a model car show and my dad took me to see the Duster. I looked at the fender tag and vin tag and saw that it was a '73 318 car. After talking to the owner, my dad talked to guy down from $1,200 to $650. After months of my dad trying to come up with extra money to buy the car, it was finally mine on February 21, 2009. Apperentley the kid's grandpa bought it brand new from Johnston Motors in Vancouver and drove it for years before giving it to his grandson. It stayed in the family from 1973-2009. Me and my dad traded the Mustang and Duster straight across. However, my dad and me wrecked the Mustang on March 29th while exiting the highway on the way to a car swap meet. It will be getting fixed though. Since I decided to live with my dad when my mom decided to move to the Interior of B.C, the Mustang sits in the garage with the Charger. The Duster sits in the driveway for now. I've done some work to it (again, while money permits). I got the starter rebuilt, tore out the old moldy carpet and headliner, cleaned the whole interior, got a Tuff wheel from it (again donated by the members of dodgecharger.com), bought 15x7 Rallyes for it and cleaned and painted those, me and my grandpa did body work on the lower quarters, front floor pans and sail panels. I painted the front fender and installed the missing front fender trim on both sides. Otherwise, the car is exactly how we bought it. I always wanted to start a registry for some kind of Mopar. When I found out that there was no registry for Dusters, I started one. Eventually I added Dart Sports and Demons to it also. Since then, I've become a huge fan of these cars.

The very first time I saw it on November 8, 2008....

January 3, 2009.....

February 21, 2009....(at my grandparents)

At a Mopar show back on July 12th. I got 1st Place in the Young Guns class (pardon the messed up dates on the pictures)...

In December 2008, I was talking to a friend of mine who has a private junkyard. He had a '70 Coronet 500 that was sitting there after being parted out. I jokingly said one day "so, you ready to give me that Coronet yet?" and he goes "Well, if you help me sell some cars, it's yours". So I've been posting ads online and managed to work off the car. I still have to go pick it up. It was originally F8 Green, green interior and a black vinyl top (still in this combo but interior is gone). 318 auto car.

That's pretty much the story of me and my Mopars. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

 

[71dodge]

heck ya man awsome story i like the charger btw

 

[Mopar_Chick]

Since posting this reply to our newcomer Mopar_Chick's welcome thread, I've been giving the idea some more thought. Here's the general plan (always open to suggestions).

Starting in January 2010, one name will be drawn at random from the Young Guns' names who participate in this thread. I'll kick in something cool for the winner and in the meantime hopefully get other FABO vendors / members to help out with donations** of gift certificates, cool Mopar memorabilia, A Body parts, items of individual craftsmanship, decals/stickers, etc., to make up a sort of Goodie Bag / Box to award to the winner.

If there's enough interest and participation, this can be a monthly, quarterly or annual event to support the younger members of our hobby to help them finish their projects and give them inspiration to keep Old Mopar Love going well into the future. And it'll be fun reading the stories and learning why they went Mopar while their friends were going ricer.


HOW TO ENTER:

For our EXISTING* FABO members who are 25 and younger on or before January 30, 2010, tell us your Mopar story below as a reply to this thread. It can be as long or as short as you wish and include whatever you want to share ... about you, your car, your restoration efforts to date, what your plans are for its future, etc. The story does NOT have to be about your A Body but keeping it Mopar-oriented would be preferred since that's why we're all here. (Please see my reply to 805MoparKid's post below for details.)

Once you have replied to this thread with your story, click on the Post # on the upper righthand side of your post. When it opens, copy the link that appears in your browser [for example, the link http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showpost.php?p=693375&postcount=1 will bring up my opening post in this thread]. Send that link in an email to:

PhoenixSpecialtyCoatings@yahoo.com

All entrants' names will be kept in a container and only one entry per person will be allowed. We gotta keep it fair ... I don't want to see the same story attached to five different user names!!!

On January 31, 2010, one winner will be drawn at random from amongst all entrants who emailed the link to their post to me on or before January 30, 2010. The winner will be notified by email and/or Private Message through FABO.

If there's enough donations to keep this going we'll do another giveaway at a later date, drawing from all non-winning names previously received.

Thanks for reading! Now let's see some stories. :-D




* Entrant must have been a registered FABO member on or before October 22, 2009 to qualify for the January 31, 2010 drawing. If you're a new member who found FABO after October 22, 2009 and have 25 or more on-point posts to your credit, please feel free to add your story below in the event another drawing is held at a later date. I don't want to discourage any Young Gun from participating in this thread.

** Vendors / members who want to donate to the Goodie Box, please email a description of the offer to me directly at CudaChic1968@aol.com (my PM in-box is almost full) so as to keep non-Young Gun Story content and chatter to a minimum in this thread. It should be about them!!! Since I'm not sure what kind of response this is going to get, donation / item shipping details will have to be worked out later. (Trying to keep expenses to a minimum for all involved.)

* * *​

IMPORTANT EDIT:
Small Block has graciously started a separate thread for general commentary and the prizes to be awarded to the winner, and not surprisingly is the first member to get involved with a donation! [[[[[Big hug and smooch on the cheek for Small Block]]]]] Memike is kicking in a FABO t-shirt, and 65 Dartman will throw in "some kind of parts or something that can be used on a variety of A Bodies." Guys, thank you so much for your support of my idea and for your generosity! This is EXACTLY what the FABO family is all about!!!

As with prior benefit efforts on this site, I'll try to keep the prize list for the January 31 drawing organized and posted on the "Help CudaChick" thread rather than this one.

Another hug goes out to our first storyteller Ross, who brought it to my attention that my instructions for entering were not going to work (the "Thread Tools" application doesn't appear after clicking on your Post # ... oooops, my bad! SORRY!). I've re-worded the instructions above to make entering as easy as possible. I apologize for any confusion and for the lame instructions. [Hey, it was 2:30 in the morning and I couldn't sleep so I came up with this thing LOL]

Small Block's suggestion about including new Young Gun members who discovered FABO after this contest was started has also been added above to the "*" area. Good idea Bill, thanks!

Hey thanks there Cudachick what a suprise it was to see my name up on that thread! and i do REALLY think the Young Guns thread is an awesome idea! i mean they have it at car shows why not the best MOPAR forum ever FABO!

 

[7DUSTER3]

Hey guys,

My names Bryce, I'm 21 and live in Orange County Ca. I guess i should start from the beginning. It all started when i was 14 and was looking to buy a muscle car as a father son project so that when i got my license i would have a unique car to drive around in. I saved all of my lunch money and would pack a lunch for school, plus a decent amount of birthday cash to purchase my duster when i turned 15. One of my dads co-workers mentioned to him this beat up looking thing down the street from his house that would be a perfect project car. So one day after work my dad and his employee drove to this guys house in Long Beach to find my diamond in the rough 73 plymouth duster. My dad came home and showed me some pictures, told me that it was a Duster (at the time i had no idea that dusters even existed.) He told me to do some research to see what i thought about it. (That's when i found FABO) I quickly read about MOPARS and how unique and different they are from the pack. I thought that it would be nice to have something other then a Mustang or a Camero like everyone else in the OC. So on one saturday morning we got up really early with 600 dollars cash in my pocket and knocked on the guys door. He said he wanted 800 for it but my neighbor found out for us that he would take 500 in cash if presented to him right then and there. So after a little negotiation the car was on our trailer back to my house.

The condition of this thing was a joke but it was my joke with my own money so that made it that much more to me. Half of the 225 slant 6 motor was inside the car in the back seat. It was missing the whole passenger side quarter panel so you could crawl through the trunk into my car. There was a red shop rag in place of a gas cap just waiting for some kid to run by and set the car on fire. It was an eye sore for the first few months but when i was able to get a job i quickly turned that around. My parents always joked around with me saying that my mopar was my girlfriend and i treated it better then i did anything else. I was still in high school working against my workers permit putting in 30 35 hours a week to support my mopar fix. My first purchases were a super six conversion, Hooker Headers, thats right headERS There was 2 pieces to them and everyone questioned me when i said it! and a flowmaster 40 series exhaust and air shocks for the back. I repainted the car midnight blue in my later years of high school and got my interior reupholstered.

After a few minor changes here and there and graduating high school i got a better paying job and landed another one to keep my fix going, I parked the car with plans for a 360. With The mopar bug in my body i bout a 2005 dodge ram with a hemi and was able to park my duster and install the mildly built 360 with around 400 horses.

Ive spent so much money on my mopars through the years roughly guessing about 20 grand just on my Duster from day one to complete restoration in HS till now. All of this has come out of my pocket with my hard earned money My parents have taught me to appreciate value of a dollar and always told me that if i wanted something and worked hard for it, i could have it. And thats where im at today....

 

[805moparkid]

Well my name is Ed Thomson and im 19 and this truth is about my first car. It all started when i was 13 when my dad and i started looking for my first car. we had been to see dart and dusters, and chargers, coronets any mopar that was in my little price range. so after a heartbreak of have a 67 GT dart with a 318 and buckets pulled out from under me i was bummed... well a week then a month then i turned 15. my dad (who is and has been a truck driver all his life) told me he found a car near our house! so that weekend he took me to see it, expecting to find another dart or something. but no it was this odd looking thing that had PLYMOUTH across the tail. it was a 65 Plymouth Belvedere II? i had never seen one and honestly thought it was ugly haha, me being 15 at the time hadn't had the taste yet. it had a old faded For Sale sign with 5K written on it. my dad could tell i was confused about what i was seeing. so we knocked on the door and the owner came out and we talked for an hr or so, getting the history and what not. my dad telling him it was for me and that the price was high so we would think about it. we after 5 visits i got him down to 3000 and she was home. so we rebuilt all the drum brakes and new brake lines. so while we got the car to where he felt it was safe enough i was getting my license and all that good stuff. so the time came that dad had to show me how to drive the beast, manual steering/brakes and a 3 speed column. took me a bit but i got it and it was great! so off to HS i went with my first car. so while i was driving the car everyday to school i was working two jobs (almost 45hrs a week), saving so i could build the motor. we picked up an Rv 440. i took it apart and cleaned, then polished the inside and outside of the whole motor. WOW! that was a lot of work. so after spending all the money i saved into the motor it came out a 505 wedge with edelbrock victor heads and an endless list of stuff i saved to get. so i put the motor together and then it all sat while i was at Wyotech. well chassis fabrication came around and then one of my teachers (Ryan Smith) showed us the movie of how the Funny Car Farm built that dart into an AWB. well by now i am a mopar or no car kinda guy and i have read as much as i could get on the AFX cars. and i had a chance to build one so i did, all thru chassis fab i converted the belvy to an A/FX car. i moved the rear Axle up 12" and the front torsion Bar suspension 10". pics below(i hope they work) so after spending 3 months of non stop working is was off to Street Rod where i had another great Teacher (Andy). he helped teach me how to make the inserts for my .25 panels and move the wheel well openings forward to match the new wheel base. this was another 3 months. so after alot of work and time i decided to move to AZ with my girlfriend, and the 65 came with of course, along with my daily driver 68 Dart with a built slant. now who ever reads should know there is alot of stuff left out so it will fit on one page but this has been an almost non stop project since i was a freshman in HS. and it still has a ways to go but it will always be my first, 65 Plymouth Belvedere.

 

[fredsmedina]

Alright, to start out, I’m 18 years old. I’m going to California State University, Sacramento to become a mechanical engineer.
<
Here goes my story. My dad is the one that got me into mopars, and now I’m the one keeping him into them. He used to own a 69 roadrunner, but he had to sell it in the late 90’s due to a divorce.My grandma and grandpa bought a 74 charger SE in 1976 when it was just over a year old from a used car lot..my grandma drove this car for years and then finally in 2001, my dad decided that she was too dangerous driving such a big car(she is about 4’5” tall and literally sat on phonebooks to see over steering wheel!), so he bought her a little import and we got the charger. Ever since then, I’ve loved Mopars and learned so much about them. I was 13 years old when I started getting really interested in the charger and hoping that that would be my first car. My dad wasn’t really interested in the charger at all. I talked him into letting me get it running again though. So after spending days trying to figure out what was wrong, we finally got it running. And I love the car!! Since then its been an okay daily driver withjust over 100xxx miles on the stock 318. But just about a month ago, the ignition wiring fried or something. So we have to go through that now and figure out whats wrong. And as money allows, we will get that back on the road. For now though I’m focusing my attention on my car.
<
So I bought my 67 dodge dart dart with 1500 bucks of my own money from a guy off of craigslist. . I had saved up all of that money since I was 15 between working and doing various side jobs for cash. I bought it as a daily driver that just needed a front end rebuild and patching up the trunk that was rotted through and then it’d be good to go as a daily driver. Of course this never happened though. 5 minutes after buying the car, on my way home from the sale, the transmission went out on me! My buddy was following me in my truck, so we tied a rope to my dart and got it the rest of the way to my house. I had no clue about transmissions, so my first thought was take it to a transmission shop, “AAMCO” and see what they say. AAMCO was ridiculous and they wanted 1500 bucks to rebuild my old 904. So I decided to just take my dart back in the condition that they left it. I figured out that the stock 7.25 rear end had froze up which was what destroyed the transmission. My dad felt bad that I bought my dart and wasn’t even able to drive it, so he bought me a TCI streetfighter 727 transmission. I then went ahead and bought an 8 3/4 rear end with 3.23 suregrip gears. Also while going through the car, I've found sooo much rust, and i've started replacing everything. In the last month or so, I pretty much taught myself to weld by reading books and stuff on the internet. My dad helped me out learning to weld too. We're both novice welders though. I'm now pretty decent with a MIG welder.
<
The car is in the garage on 4 jackstands right now. And I’ve owned it for a couple months now and only driven it for 5 minutes! As money and time allow, I’ll be fixing her up. The one reason i'm glad that the whole tranny went out and stuff is that i'll have an even greater appreciaton of my creation once i'm all done putting her together. And I’m still going to need to paint it next summer probably. I want to be driving my dart sooo bad! Cant wait til its finished. By the time its done I’ll have a brand new drivetrain. So far I’m into the project more than 4 grand(not including initial price of car). I probably shouldn’t be spending the amount of money that I spend on my car because I desperately need the money to be paying for my college education.
<
This is my first mopar that I’ve owned completely and I have a great appreciation for these cars!

here are some pics of the charger and some of my dart. (sorry about the ford towing my dart lol)

pics of the charger aren't uploading for some reason.? i dont know why

 

[green1]

Darn; age discrimination.