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[mshred]

well i saw this thread awhile ago so here it goes...
im not going to try to keep this short since i dont like reading life stories myself (although this may turn into one) but growing up around mopars i new i had to have one...My dad has been building a 69 big block dart since i was a baby and has finally finished it a couple of years ago...he took me to the racetrack as a kid, brought me around his dart, and was pretty much asking for me to get into the hobby lol...ever since i got my license i harassed about getting a muscle car for myself, but no go...I always got the where are you gonna park it, how will you afford insurance, how will you pay for gas, your gonna drive like a phsyco (probably true)...I persisted at it until i proved to my parents that i had a plan, had the money and finally convinced them...i love all muscle cars, but mopars being my fave, there wasnt much of them around here in good shape without ridiculous price tags, so my dad said look in the states...after months of searching for a duster or cuda (im in love with all the abodies) i came across my scamp in michigan...i had never known what a scamp was, and even though they are similar to a dart, i just found it a unique oppurtunity that i couldnt pass up, especially since it was in such good shape...you can find out the details of all that in my build thread here...

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=42473

I have spent alot of money on this car, as i purposely wanted a project to do everything from start to finish myself, but it has been totally worth it...I dont drink, smoke, drugs, etc....the scamp is my drug money and it is the best damn drug in the world! I am also super lucky for having a dad who has the knowledge to help me with it(and have fun with me doing it too- if it wasnt for him no custom fab work on the car), not to mention for getting me into the hobby in the first place...I also cant forget to mention this website, especially when it came to doing the bodywork on my car- most if not all the advice came from guys on here, and i new absolutly nothing when i started out...thanks FABO!! My mom has also been really supportive, as well as my longtime girlfriend who went from knowing nothing about cars to being an expert (no exageration here, she actually surprises me lol) and buying me parts instead of clothes for special occasions lol, and now my twin brother who has always been a muscle car guy too (hes a gm guy, but i could care less since muscle is muscle) is looking to pick up a le mans or chevelle for next summer...my mom complains there is not enough driveway and garage space for all these cars, but i tell her what did ya expect? we were pretty much raised into it lol...anyways thats my story, nothing special, but the truth as it stands....Id like to thank cudachick for putting this on and all the members who have donated- its a very unnesscary but very very appreciated!!!

Ill leave off my post with a video of the scamp running...just got it started not too long ago, and i had to take a video to keep me company over the long winter...enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48I9vy7goA

 

[bayyum]

That's a really long story

 

[mshred]

That's a really long story

:banghead:I was never good at sumarizing LOL

 

[bjkadron]

Hey everybody! I will just do a short intro here and give you the link to my project page.
So, my name is Benjamin Kadron. I am 18 years old and currently working my way through school for my Mechanical Engineering degree. I have loved mopars for as long as I can remember:love5:. I am currently the owner of two ’72 Plymouth Dusters. My first one is a major project that I am turning into a vintage-racing car (my avatar is the rendering I drew up:tonqe. The second is a one-owner (I’m the second) Gold Duster with 73,5XX original miles =D>that I’m not yet sure how I’m going to fix up. I have been called a “walking encyclopedia of knowledge (specifically about cars) and love to help others with their problems. I like drawing and am currently trying to start an illustrating business doing renderings for project cars. I live in East TN. You can read more about my projects at the link in my sig. I’ll try to post more pictures soon. Thanks all for looking!

Benjamin

 

[bjkadron]

Oh yeah!!! I wanted to thank cudachick for thinking this up and all the nice people who have donated!!! Thanks!!!

 

[godfatherofchry]

dam cudaChick; this is going to be a tuff one to pick.

 

[CudaChick1968]

bj, first off welcome to FABO, and secondly you're welcome!!! It's my pleasure and something I've been wanting to do for awhile now. Having the great support of our members and a lot of help assembling a nice Prize Package makes it a fun and worthwhile endeavor.

godfather, I expected a ton of terrific stories and did not want to be in a position to choose based on merit. That's why the winner will be chosen at random from the entrants who follow all the instructions.

So far, I've received and acknowledged 34 entries.

One more time for the cheap seats: If you've posted your story here and did NOT receive an email from me at [email protected], please re-read the rules outlined in my very first post in this thread. I want everyone to have an equal chance of winning but can't pick you if you don't email me a link to your post.

Thanks for keeping this thread alive and kickin! One of the prizes is based on the number of members at the time of the drawing so share a link to this thread with your young gun friends who aren't FABO members yet!

Time to go update the Prize Package ........ :-D

 

[CudaChick1968]

Even though I just did one last night, it was time to update the Young Guns Contest Prize Package once again!!! Ya'll make me proud, and I know the kids appreciate it and are really hoping to win.

Check out the latest revision and add your comments / donations here http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=78251&referrerid=641.

Since the contest started, I've received quite a few comments from the entrants along with their post links. Most read something like this:

"...you guys are all very generous! its stuff like this that proves what a community FABO really is...i dont even care if i win really, just nice to be a part of something like this...thanks again! ..."​

Thanks again to everyone for the involvement and keeping this on the front page!!!

 

[grassy]

It is also great that there are that many young folks running MOPARS..our hats are off to ya Cudachick for doing this..!

 

[72swinger83]

So I turn 26 in December, but I dont care I still would like to tell how I came to drive such a wondderful car with great memories.

First of let me say this, my mother passed away when I was at a very young age, so growing up it was just the boys, my father my brother and myself. Now when my father was growing up it was all mopar for him, he had a 72 duster twister, cuda convertable, among others. Anyway, I came home from school, one day and sitting in the driveway is a dark green car, now I am just thinking that soomeone is there to visit, nope, I am wrong, dad comes out with a big grin on his face, he bought we have a muscle car......but what is it?( i was only twelve) and had never heard of a dart let alone a dart swinger. So later that spring it comes time for my brothers graduation and I soon found out that my brother Mike had a new car, yup you guessed it, the Swinger.

Well soon after Mike leaves for the Air Force and I being younger, get to stare at his car in the driveway, for about 10 years, now my father and I would start it every now and then but we didn't take it very far.

Now the hard part.....

Jan. 05 My brother still stationed in Texas (dyess air force base) has been married for four months and has a four month old baby boy, comes up missing, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, finally after around a month he turns up, but he is no longer with us. ( If you want more on that story go to any search site, and type in Wendi Mae Davidson, or Michael Severance)

So the car once again becomes my fathers and we decided it is time to start "fixin her up" the car that is

So we traded a 47 ford truck, basically just the cab for a local kid to paint the swinger and have been trying to fix her and trying to run it while still making my brother proud, so I have come up with a catch phrase for the car and I think everyone would agree "Mikey Likes It"

Sorry if it is too long of a post, but i think if you google his or her name you will better understand

Thank you

 

[fredsmedina]

So I turn 26 in December, but I dont care I still would like to tell how I came to drive such a wondderful car with great memories.....
Sorry if it is too long of a post, but i think if you google his or her name you will better understand

Thank you

not Too long of a post at all! I'm real sorry to hear about your brother . That must have been hard. Sure he is very proud of you guys fixing up the swinger though.

heres a link to the story is anybody wants to check it out. http://www.reporternews.com/news/2006/Oct/17/airmans-wife-gets-25-year-sentence/

Good luck with the dart!

 

[72swinger83]

Thank You Fredsmedina, that is the correct story, and a good, quick article that reveals everything quickly
Thank you again
Frank

 

[CudaChick1968]

Another bump ... c'mon young guns, get involved! The Prize Package keeps growing (and I'm late on another update -- no rest for the wicked).

This can't be everybody already?!?!

EDIT: The Help CudaChick thread now has a revised Prize Package list -- check out the great new prizes!

 

[cudagirl]

Hey everyone, this is cudagirl's dad cosgig, and I would like to tell Nellas story if thats allowed. If it's not I will have her type it herself, but it would take her forever, so here goes...

Nella is 11 years old and has been into Mopars her whole life because her mother and I both have Mopars and we have had them since before she was born. As you can see by the included picture Nella also drives another brand of transportation, a powered wheelchair. From the time she was 9 months old we could tell that something about her was special, and that she wasn't meeting her milestones like other kids her age. She has an undiagnosed neuro-muscular disease which resembles cerebral palsy, but without any diminishment of her mental capabilities. She has always enjoyed riding in mom and dads cars and doing burnouts in the many cruises that we go to.

In 2004, we had the opprotunity to purchase the 67 Cuda that she now calls Sunfish. It was purchased from the original owner who still lives nearby, and the decision to purchase the car was a family decision. After looking the car over and making the deal to get it home, we decided to make it Nellas car, a car in which she could make all of the decisions on how to proceed, what gets done to it and who will drive her and her friends to the destinations she chooses to go in it. We wanted her to be able to say that it is her car and be proud of the progress in the direction that she chooses to take it. I can say that she does all of that and more. She is VERY proud of this car and makes all of the decisions as to what gets done and what is next.

Since we have had the car we have done a lot of things to it to make it as good as we can with the money we have to invest in it. We have had the seats redone as the old ones were torn and tattered, we bought the rims and tires from a friend, we bought the trunk trim and the hood inserts, carpet and top boot, an 8 3/4 rear end, redid all the brakes and lines, we had to buy a new trunk lid and have it painted, and next we are going to replace the windshield and have the dash painted. We are working on it slow but steady. Nella would like to have it painted purple, her favorite color, but we just don't have the money. It has the original motor and trans and runs really nice so we are leaving that for now also.

Her favorite part of the car is the name. When I first joined FABO, she would follow along and read all of the posts with me, but that wasn't enough for her. She wanted to be a member also and so she joined and made herself a profile. She saw that a couple of people were talking about the names they call their cars and decided that her car needed a name too, something that matched her and the cars personality. She made up her own "Name my Car" contest and had over 5 pages of names to choose from. We had such a good time reading all of the names and comments, and it was really hard to pick from all of the great names, but in the end she chose the one that rose above all of the rest..."Sunfish". It fits her and her cars personality to a tee.

Nella is and will always be just what her name implies, a cudagirl. It's her nickname and her screen name on all of the websites she goes to. She loves to take her car wherever she goes if it's possible, and she likes to load it up with her friends and set off to any destination she can think of, usually with an ice cream stop in there along the way. She is very happy to be included as a member of the FABO family, and now the "Young Guns" club. I don't think she would care if she ever won a prize with Sunfish, it's the journey that she enjoys!!! Thanks for including her here and we wish all of the young guns the best of luck with their cars. You are all winners to us!!! cosgig and cudagirl!!

 

[RPMmachine]

Hello, I'm Tony, I'll be turning 18 in december(next month!). Right now Im working on a 1967 Barracuda Fastback that i bought about 3 or four months ago with all the money i earned delivering pizza with my little VW that i bought in January 2009 with saved up money. My Dad got me into mopars when i was younger, he always had a dodge dart in the driveway and now i bought a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda. Any way i'm doind a full on restoration with this barracuda its going to end up as a street car with improved handeling. Im planning on performance sway bars front and rear and also performance leaf springs and torsion bars. Im going to base this car on the 1973-1976 A body suspension (k member, disc brakes, 8 1/4 rear Big Bolt Pattern etc....) I might end up doing a 5.9 360 engine or i can go with a 318 whatever comes my way until i can afford a crate engine or a fully rebuilt smallblock. Right now im in Barber school so I only get a chance to work on the car on the weekends when i have freetime but the project is coming along great! Heres the car so far if you need any more information please reply!
Right now im working on stripping the metal treating the rust then primering it all before i start any welding.
The car is a 6 cylinder with a 904, I'm the third owner 8)

FLINSTONE MOBILE lol theres no rust on the frames though.

PRIMER!

I found an 8 1/4 rear at the auto salvage in the rear end pile it was underneath a bunch of heavy duty dana truck axles i lifted it out and got it for $200!

 

[moparguy93]

Hi im cameron im 16 and i just bought my first car 1 month ago it's a 69 dodge dart custom 4 door 273 3 on the tree it's a project for me and my dad whichi bought the car for $350 with my own money and so far i have replaced the torsion bars and all i want for Christmas this year are parts for my dart

 

[moparguy93]

i clicked on the number on my post but then i don't know what to do next?

 

[mshred]

i clicked on the number on my post but then i don't know what to do next?

a new window should pop up, copy the link in the address bar then paste it in an email to cudachick (her email is on the first page)

 

[moparguy93]

a new window should pop up, copy the link in the address bar then paste it in an email to cudachick (her email is on the first page)

Thanks for the help

 

[mopardude318]

Well, after reading all the terrific young gun stories, I though I would finally tell mine.

My name is James and I'm 23 years old. I have always been into muscle cars and loud engines since I can remember.... Maybe because I grew up around all that car stuff, thanks to my dad. When I was little, he sat me on the fender of his '69 Chevelle every time he worked on it. When I turned 16, I got my drivers license and started looking for a 66 Chevy Nova. (because my dad and brother are die hard Chevy guys.) After searching for many moons, with no luck finding a Nova, my dad's Gear-Head friend Gary found a 1970 Dodge Dart for sale by the original owner. So I went to go check it out, and when I saw it, I absolutely fell in love with the car, and that's how my Mopar obsession came to be.

The car was a 1970 Dodge Dart owned by an old lady named Hildegard. She sold it to me for $2,000 bucks, and even gave me $25 to put a full tank of gas in it! It was equipped with a 225 slant 6, 904 tranny and a 741 8 ¾ rear axle.
The first thing I did to it was rebuild the entire front suspension with the help of my dad.
I drove it like that for 2 years until the slant 6 threw a rod. My first plans were to pull out the old slant, build a 400HP 318, with a 727, put a 373 sure grip in it and call it good. But, shortly after, I turned 18, joined the US Army, and the car sat in my front yard waiting for me to come home… After 2 deployments to Iraq and 4 years of service, I finally get out of the Army and am able to work on my Dart! The plans for the build totally changed on me as I had 4 years to read all the Mopar Muscle/Action mags I could get my hands on. I even became a member of a couple great forums (BBD and FABO). While enough story tellin’. Here's all the work up to date, my good friend Jordan is helping me too.

Here it is on the way to my buddies house back in Feb.

Out goes the 8 3/4

Interior is out. Solid floors, no rust anywhere!

Here are some pics of our mini-tub job:

Homemade subframe connectors 2x3x120 boxed steel, installed 3" side verticle:

Heres some pics of spring relocation:

Here is my narrowed Strange S60. 35 spline axles, detroit locker, 373 gears, wilwood 12.19 brake kit:

Installing RMS street linx kit, I had to make an 1/8" plate for the rear crossmember, as I had one of the "loose" cars:

Installing the RMS alterkation:

American racing torq thrust 15x10, with BFG radial 295/50/15:

Installing the 4 speed hump:

I will soon have some pics of my 833 4 speed, that my brother rebuilt using new parts from passon performance, with hydraulic clutch, and quicktime bellhousing, competition plus shifter, and custom made shifter linkage.

Heres my small block 408 stroker, built by Hughes Engines: Forged internals, 10:1 compression, stage 3 ported Edelbrock alum. heads, port matched victor 340 intake manifold, milodon gear drive, hydraulic roller cam and lifters, 576, 576 lift at 256* duration @ .050". Hughes 1.6 roller rockers, main stud girdle, 1 3/4 TTI headers and 7qt milodon pan. Dynoed @ 532 HP and 520 FT LBS.

Well, there ya have it. All my work up to date. I will post more pics as soon as everything is finished welded, and the car will be able to sit on its own for a change! BTW, I had to go with 17" rims instead because in order for a 15" wheel to fit on front, it would have to be way skinny for my liking, so I custom ordered american racing thorq thrust 17x8 for the front and 17x11 rear. I'm going with 315/35/17 Nitto 555 and 245/45/17 for the front. Rims should be here in about 2 months...I will keep you all updated....sorry for all the pics if it is too much...

 

[mopardude318]

Well I guess I should have just posted a link to my build!

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=80841

 

[Dusterdude72]

Sure is nice the things that can be done with money,time,right tools and know how.......nice work you got going on there mopardude318.....looks like one awesome build you have going on.

Now come on youngguns, I know there are more of us out there.....let us see your stories!

 

[DoubleADuster]

My name is Aaron. I'm 20 and I live in maryland. I come from a mopar family my dads first car was a 68 barracuda followed by a 70 duster, 69 charger, 83 charger and in 89 I was born so he had to get a minivan. I got a late start in cars and it wasnt about till I was 15 that I really started thinking about it. I found pictures of my dads cars in an old album and wanted knew I wanted to have a car just as cool as he had had. I bought my first car later that year for $500 and it was an 85 Shelby charger with a locked up transmission and holes in the floor. My dad and I replaced the floor instalded all new interior took out the engine and trans and took the trans to get looked at. Then we hit some hard times and we were forced to get rid of the car. I got a running 93' dodge shadow to drive everyday. I worked parttime during school and full time in the summer and by the time I was 18 I had saved enough to seriously start looking for another car. I really wanted a 70-72 Dodge dart and was pretty set on it. I was surfing ebay and craiglist pretty much everyday waiting for something i liked and could afford to come around. Then I saw an auction on ebay for a 71 plymouth duster 318 auto with considerable rust in the body but nothing unfixable and a solid underside in NJ for $3000. It ended in 3hours and I rushed home to ask my dad if I could bid on it. I hadn't considered a duster until I saw this one. I liked the whole idea of affordable muscle that the duster represented. I decided to bid on it and won. the next day I skipped bio lab, went to the bank and set out to NJ to pick up my new ride. I hadnt really asked any question when talking to the seller until we had gotten there. it came down to "do you think it could make the drive back to Maryland?" to which he replied "If your feeling adventurous". We drove back and after overheating and getting stuck on the NJ turnpike with steam rolling out of the hood and having to walk to a gas station for water we made it home. I immediately got a new radiator and that fixed the over heating. After about a month we ran into major electrical issues inside of the car and rewired the entire car. Since then Ive been mainly fixing stuff that brakes, taking it out to car shows on the weekends and saving my money for a more proactive restoration. I've done, alot of body work and learned a considerable amount so far. As plans go I plan on building and installing a 360 in January now that I have enough saved to start. Then I want to swap the rear to a 83/4 and convert the brakes to disc atleast on the front. After the drivetrain is good I want to get the last of the body work I couldnt do finished and get the car painted. Thats pretty much it. In word form it doesnt sound like I have done much but the dusters been my life for the last two years and Its been great. Also I'd like to say that this site has been awsome help the entire time.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Weekend bump for the newbies :-D

 

[Dusterdude72]

Figured I would give a BUMP for the cause.....come on young guns, I know there are more of us on fabo.... sign up for the contest and let us all hear your story