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 What is your Mopar Story?Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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58Donnie |
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Account Suspended Posts: 2827     Location: At "The Rock" in upper East Tennessee | We mine starts off when I was about 11. I saw the movie Christine and fell in love. I made the vow then and there that I would have a car like that. By the time I was 13 I found a BAD rough 57 4 door for $300 bucks. I worked all summer for that car doing odd jobs and in the fall I bought her. It was a learning experence. The more paint I sanded on the more bondo and rust I found. Needless to say she ended up falling by the wayside and getting sold. Fast forward to when I'm 22. One day I am looking at a brand new edition of our local "trader" sals paper and I see an ad that reads "57 Plymouth for parts $100" I called that second. The guy told me she was a wrecked 2dht that he didn't think could be fixed. Before two more hours passed I was a his door. He walked me around to a barn where I saw my "real" Christine for the first time. Her front clip was off and taken apart, Her engine and trans was sitting beside her on a tire, Her passenger side rear quarter was bent/rolled under so badly that the car sat crooked (bent frame as well). It didn't matter. All I could see from that point was that 2dht body line and bumper wings at all four corners. I took her home with me. To make a long story short I was young, and stupid. I did very little restoration on her and at the time had no idea how much she was worth. I got sacred off by that crash damage. I kind of fell on hard times and one day My buddy where I had her stored at called me and said that a guy had offerd me 250 bucks for her and I said OK. >>>I know, I know! How stupid could I be? I regretted it from the very first day. I never even got to say goodbye. The guy loaded her up in parts and took her with him. She was lost. My buddy gave him the open title and We never even knew his name. Years later in 2000 after years of searching and not being able to afford another one of my beloved 2dht's. I found a '58 4d for a $1000. I bought it and put into storage untill I could get finished with Paramedic school and finish the restoration on a '71 Mach 1. Jump forward to Febuary '06. The restoration on the '58 had begun. One day I am looking through parts on ebay when I run accross a good looking front bumper. I notice that the Item is located about 30 miles from me. I emailed the guy and asked him to call me. As our conversation evolved We figured out that he owned the same '57 2dht that I had owned 10 years before. He had bought it from a guy 6 years ago. I ask ed if I could come and see her and he said that would be fine. I was there the next day. It was like I was meeting a long lost love. When I pulled up he had her sitting out and there she was. All put together with all of the crash damage repaired Chrome gleeming in the sun. We talked for about 4 hours. He told me that he had turned down 5K for her not long ago (I saw an oppertunity I knewe that I could get at least 7K out of the Mach in a hurry) I made him an offer and told him to think about it. He said he would. I figured that I would never see her again, He would look on ebay and see what these cars are selling for or just what a rough set of bumper wings were bringing and laugh at my offer. 2 days later he sent me an email saying he would take $7500 for her. We worked out the details and I knew the quickest way I could work this into the budget was to sell the Mach. Before that day was over the Mach was on ebay 6 hours later she sold for the "buy it now" of 8K to a guy in Austrailia. # days later after the wire transfer offunds was complete my Christine came home to me. I know I could have gotten more out of the '71 but I wanted her sold. It was like I had made up for a terrible sin. I remember a part from Christine where Lebay said, The I made him get rid of it, You know for decencey. 'course it didn't matter. The car came back 3 weeks later. Well mine waited 10 years but when she came back she came back much better then before. She will be with me until I die. She is in the link in my signature. | ||
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| Bryan1960Windsor |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 689 Location: Santa Barbara, California | Well, mine started back in 1984 when I was 14. I went with my father to Great-great uncle Paul's house to pick up a couple pieces of furniture (uncle Paul had passed a couple years prior and the children were settling estate). Parked in the rotting garage behind the house was an awesome car with these big fins on the back of it. Brown in color, and had a white top. The tires were flat and the rims had sunk into the clay floor of the garage. I wiped off the dust and read the state inspection sticker on the windshield, and the car had last been on the road in 1974. Inside, the interior was in superb shape, and the odometer read a little over 29,000 miles. I pushed Dad to ask about the car and the answer came back with a 500.00 pricetag. With a bit more pursuasion, the Belvedere sedan was given new tires and towed under a shelter at my dad's farm. The cleaning began...months of it...and Marvel Mystery fluid in the cylinders... hand turning the engine little bits every day. a year and a half later, she roared to life and purred like a kitten. License in hand, 16 years old, Mopar fins behind me, I hit the road! Next came the little ad in the paper for a 500.00 '63 Belvie, which came to the house to live with the 59. (I lived with mom at this point). While visiting my dad an hour and a half away one weekend in 1987, I spotted a very sharp fin tip waaaayy in the back of a little used car lot. I just had to go see what this fin belonged to, as I had never seen one like this. It turned out to be a 1960 Chrysler Windsor sedan...with 26,178 original miles on her. They had 1200.00 on the windshield, after a little dickering, the owner came down to 600.00 Needless to say, that one came home too...and became the third Mopar in my mom's drive LOL Sold the 63 and the 59 years later, rotated a 62 Newport in and out of the mix, then came Pearl, the 60 Windsor, then the 59 New Yorker, then the 66 300 convertible, then the 59 Windsor, then the 61 Newport...the '95 v10 3500 dually is here too to haul Pearl and her hauler. Also now a Jeep in the drive LOL That's it in a nutshell... still have my orginal 60 Windsor, 80K miles now, still purring... Presently: 1959 New Yorker and Windsor 2 1960 Windsors 1961 Newport 1966 300 convt '95 3500 v10 dually '05 Jeep -Bryan | ||
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| NYer Mike |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 310 Location: Woolwich Twp, NJ (South Jersey) | Let’s see, my first exposure to Chrysler was with my fathers 1968 Newport. It was a 4 door with the hi-perf 383. My mother sent my father out to get a carton of cigarettes (remember 1968) and he came back with a new Chrysler and no cigarettes. It was blue on blue with a cloth interior. Great car! I remember helping my dad rotate the tires with the spare. It took me a while to understand why we had to do that. We would knock the skin off of our knuckles with those skirts. This was the car that I started helping my father with. Every winter we would get the Firestone Town & Country studded snow tires out and rotate the rears to the fronts and put the studded tires on. More knuckles. Every spring and fall we would detail the car and use that darn Simonize wax, I had to do the lower sections of course. After a while the car developed problems with the starter. I think we would have to change out the starter every three months. The next Chrysler my father had was a 1973 Newport 2 door - man what a boat!! It was white w/ a black vinyl top, black vinyl interior and loaded. It had a 440 w/ duals etc... Even a search seek radio that had a floor switch next to the hi-beam switch for changing channels. This is another memorable purchase by my father. My parents, sister and I where out shopping, my mother and father took us all out to by a new television and stereo. They purchased our first color TV and am/fm phonograph console stereo. Both where consoles. After purchasing and setting up the delivery date the whole family went out for dinner. My father was in a very festive mood and enjoyed quite a few Johnnie Walkers with dinner. We left the restaurant, got in the 1968 Chrysler and the darn starter struck again. My dad went to the trunk, got a hammer and smacked the starter. The car started and we drove approx. 3 blocks and he pulled into the Chrysler dealership. It took him no time to sign on the dotted line and purchased that 1973 that evening. My mother had to drive us home since he was not feeling to well. In the morning, he woke up with a hangover, color TV, am/fm stereo and a car payment. He nursed that hangover for a long time. We had that 1973 for 9 years. My father gave it to me when I was in high school. My first car and experience with the gas crunch. Ended up getting rid of it when I went to college. What a shame, it had only 52k on it but the body was rotting out. Wish I had that drive train today. But, the one thing I learned is that you never want to go out for dinner after a big purchase, it might lead to another big purchase. | ||
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| 50scars |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 663 Location: Oakley, Ill | I've had lots of Chrysler products over the years. When I was 16, I had a paper route that was 16 miles long--naturally, I drove it. Back in the 50s, it was not at all unusual to find entirely servicable cars for under $25. Delivering papers to rural mail boxes is hard on cars. Clutches and brakes mainly. One car I had a 48 Dodge 8 passenger sedan. Wish I still had that car. Fluid drive was fantastic for going from mailbox to mailbox. Didn't use the clutch at all. Actually the brakes didn't get that much use, because it was a little lethargic, even back then. I was sitting at a stopsign, waiting for traffic to clear, when a car left the road and smacked me. Caught my car on the rear door and quarter panel, and drove it in about 2 feet. He came from the right, crossing 2 lanes of traffic moving at the speedlimit of 65, before he got to me. My next Chrysler product was a 60 Valiant. They wanted $750 for the Falcon, but only $500 for the Valiant. I was out playing Juan Fangio one night, and missed a turn, jumped a ditch and ended up in a field. I drove home, ignoring the red light that went on. The next day it wouldn't crank, because it was the oil light. I had torn a hole in the oil pan. I was talking to a local guy, and he said he had an engine that would fit it in his warehouse that someone never picked up. I could have it for storage fees--like $75. So me and several pals got it home, and I opened the crate. It said Chrysler Marine on the outside. There were a lot of belts and pulleys, and stuff. It also had a Paxton supercharger. It was a marine racing engine. I had to use the water pump off my engine, and played with the motor mounts and a few other screwball things, but I got it in, and operable. Operate it did. This was 1966, when the big money kids at Skidmore got their dad to pop for a GTO or 442. Don't remember the name of the main drag in Saratoga NY, but I used to play the stoplight GT, and edged them out most of the time. It was so much fun to open the hood at night, and all they could see was the slant 6. The super charger went on the bottom side of it, and the plenum looked quite a lot like the stock air cleaner. The duct work entered the bottom of the plenum. I had the automatic, and it slipped in first, so I didn't attract a lot of attention to myself burning rubber, I just jumped across the street and left. The cops always went after the guy who made all the smoke and noise, let my rusty little Valiant escape. My government job took me away from upstate NY, and I gave the car to my sister. She ran it for almost 4 years, then the bolts backed out of the ring gear, and went between some stuff in the pig. She junked the car because some gas station jockey told her it was impossible to fix--probably another college student who didn't know about going to a junk yard and getting another year end. My most fun Chrysler product story is about the one I have now--a 56 Imperial. I was at a national car show for another marquis. I saw this pretty nice original 56 Imperial on the street with a for sale sign. Being unsupervised, (wife not with me), I looked the owner up. He wanted a pretty reasonable price. I came back and offered him half that, expecting to meet half way. He took my offer. Now I had 2 cars, and 1 driver, 600 miles from home. The wife on one of my pals looked the car over, and said she'd drive it home for me. Gutsy woman-offers to get into a 47 year old car she has never seen before, and drive it 500 miles. We all got on the interstate together. The car I was driving works real good at 55-60. His car is a highly modified car. Both of them are 6'4". plus. Both of the kids show that heridety counts. Anyhow, they immediately left. The rest of the story was related to me by the kids. The first gas stop, he took on 16 gallons, she took on 6. The factory air in the Imperial works. It was raining and in the 90s. The daughter went to ride with Mom, so she wasn't alone. The next gas stop, he took on 16 gallons, she skipped it, and ragged him about it. He ran out of gas, and she had to go get him some. A few more twists of the knife. He ran out again before he got to the station, she went and got him another can, laughing all the way. She took on 12 gallons, he took on a total of 18. They crossed West Virginia, Kentucky, went up to Indianapolis, and across Illinois to my house, he taking on gas at the rate of about 7 MPG, her getting around 16. When they got off the interstate to use the 2 lane roads, she jumped ahead of him at a stop light, and kept him behind her for 100 miles. My wife called me about 8 hours after we left, and said that they had left that car, where was I. They were running with the big dogs on I-64--80 at least. The next year, she had her own car--a 4 door with air. His class had about 50 cars in it, so naturally, he won nothing. Her class had 3 cars in it, and she took 2nd. She razzed him about her winning a trophy, while he got nothing. You know, it is quite understandable why some women get smacked. | ||
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| RoyalGate |
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Expert Posts: 2011 Location: Ballwin, Missouri | When I was going to high school, all of the guys I ran around with were a little older than I was so they got their driver's license before I did. They were all a bunch of F--d lovers. There were three brothers that all had F--ds and on was faster than the other. When I finally got my license I was allowed to use my grandmother's '51 Plymouth, 6 cylinder, three on the tree, business coupe. What a let down. I almost hated going out in it, but it was transportation, slow as it was. On special occasions mon & dad would let me use their car, a '55 Dodge almost exactly like the one "55john" posted pictures of, except ours was red and white. I really loved driving that old car. It didn't last to long, some a--hole ran head on into mom on the highway and totaled it out. My dad was on the board of directors of our local little two engine fire department and one of the other board members owned the local Dodge dealerdhip so dad usually got a really good deal on cars he bought from them. To replace the '55 Dodge dad went to see them and came home with the owner's dad's demo, a BIG, LONG, BLACK, BEAUTIFUL, 4-DOOR, '58 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer. This old guy loved to drive fast and their dealership was the main supplier for the highway patrol in our area so, what dad brought home was a 361 D500 "Police Package" car. Unsilenced air cleaner, heavy duty suspension, and a 120 mph "cerified" speedometer. I instantly went from the bottom of the heap with the guys I ran around with, to the top. None of the F--d lovers ever would admitt it but the CRL would fly, and hit a tire chrip going to third gear. They all tried, but none of them ever did beat that car in a drag race. That's when my love for Chrysler Products really took hold. I had bought a P.O.S. '59 F--d to get back and forth to trade school with after I got out of high school. I remember, one day mom had to take me and come and get me from school. The P.O.S. was broke down, as usual. Sitting at a stop light this '57 Ch**y came rumbling up and stopped next to us. It sounded nasty, cam, headers etc. so I very slyly reached up and pushed "1" and waited for the light to change. When it changed I stomped on it and never looked back, and hit a really loud second gear chrip with the tires. I figured I would be grounded for about 20 years but what the hell, it was fun. When I looked over at mom she had a big grin on her face and all she ever said was, "this thing is faster than I thought." The day I graduated from trade school I traded the F--d for a NEW '65 Coronet 500, 426 street wedge, four speed. For a lot of years I drove high horse power Dodges. '65 Coronet 500, "68 Coronet 383 four barrel automatic (never did like that car, couldn't keep transmissions in it), '69 Coronet RT, 440, four speed. Then I got married and had to slow up but I still owned Dodges. Looking back, I can only remember owning two none Chrysler Product vehicles, The '59 F--d P.O.S. and a Ch**y suburban to pull my racecar trailer. BUT, it was that first '58 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer that got me Hooked for life. And the size of the back seat was wonderful at the drive-in movies !!!! And now I'm back to a '59 Dodge Coronet again, because I couldn't find a '58 Coronet at the time. | ||
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| horace |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 471 Location: MN | My dad sold Dodges while I lived my ladhood, so I have lots of stories. I have pics of me standing by a 49 Coronet with the lettering LOWER ON THE OUTSIDE HIGHER ON THE INSIDE. I'd send in the pic but after countless tries I just don't get it. I'm sitting in one of those little pedal cars, oh where, oh where is it. My dad sometimes drove home my Uncle Lawrence' s 57 2 tone green Royal D-500. This nifty car had a hihway hifi player init. We loved to listen to Johnny Horton's songs on the way to school. In 58 I remember my dad a 58 green Custom Royal 4dr Lancer for a demonstrator. He shot a deer, just loaded it into the trunk, remember there weren't pickups all over then. My first car was a black 53 New Yorker dual pies & all. I used that horsepower. One day dad came home with a perfect 1950 Coronet he wanted me to trade for. I was arrogant enough after I realized this was a done deal to ask how much I would get to boot. Well, I ended up with the 50. He must have been right because I still have it in my shed. Yes, it is still in nice shape. Too Too many stories Horace | ||
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| Kenny J. |
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Inactive by user's request   Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | One of my uncles had a green '59 Plymouth sedan, one of my mom's cousins had a white '60 Valiant and I liked them. Then my father bought a new '68 Imperial and I was hooked. K. | ||
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| Ray Bell |
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Expert Posts: 2478 Location: Dalveen, Queensland, Australia | Originally posted by RoyalGate .....When I looked over at mom she had a big grin on her face and all she ever said was, "this thing is faster than I thought."..... Priceless! And what race car were you towing? For me... my dad bought a '37 Plymouth 2-door 'sloper'... it was the family car for a very short time, 16mpg was a little worse than dad could stand and he got rid of it... traded it on a Holden. No more Mopar, other than Simca Arondes, in my life until Ben got his Dodge. Though Ben had Valiants for a long time too. So I've never owned an American-based Chrysler product. Driven a few Valiants, but never owned. But about 1966 or so I read a magazine article about Walter P Chrysler and I've admired him ever since. Reading Iacocca's books a couple of years ago sort of fitted in with that too. He repeatedly stated how well engineered Chrysler vehicles were. I await my chance to find out... | ||
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| mrtester |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 802 Location: Norcross (Atlanta area), GA | Very simple. My uncle sold them from his dealership, until 1963. He sold my father a '53 Coronet, '56 Belvedere, '59 Savoy, '61 Dart Seneca, and a 1-ton '59 Dodge D-300 flatbed-stake for his business. Dad kept buying Mopar products long after my uncle retired from the auto business. If only the bodies lasted as long as the engines in those long, hard eastern Iowa winters. | ||
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| RoyalGate |
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Expert Posts: 2011 Location: Ballwin, Missouri | Ray Bell - 2006-03-28 6:38 PM Originally posted by RoyalGate .....When I looked over at mom she had a big grin on her face and all she ever said was, "this thing is faster than I thought."..... Priceless! And what race car were you towing? Ray, I had a '68 Dart I raced for 21 years. (Desktop Pictures 001.bmp) Attachments ----------------  Desktop Pictures 001.bmp (96KB - 51 downloads) | ||
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