What? Who? Why? or How? Got you turned onto Mopars?

[71-440]

These are some really cool stories.
Here's mine.
My Mom and dad always bought chevy's growing up. No one in my family was into muscle cars or racing.
I started getting into the muscle car scene at 16. I had friends with older siblings that all had hot rods.
Firebirds, Chevelles Mostly GM. My first Muscle car was a 1965 Pontiac GTO.427 Muncie 4 speed. I bought that at 16. After a couple of years
I sold it and bought a 1970 Olds W-31. That car was a blast. Owned it for 5 years. After getting married and the W-31 was gone a friend of mine
Bought a 69 Satellite rust bucket. His plan was to rebuild it. So after a year getting parts and doing bodywork etc. he had a chance to pickup a 440.
It was in an old fire truck in a junk yard. I went with him to check it out. We took a can of gas and a battery. When we got there the truck had no hood so the motor was sitting outside
in the weather. Well we got it to turn over pouring gas in the carb an jumping the starter with the battery. He bought it for $100.00. when he finished that car and he took me for a drive
I was hooked. Took him 2 years to finish it.
My next car was a MOPAR. 1974 Barracuda. Had that car for 4 years but had to sell it as the family was growing and times were getting tough.
Jump ahead to 2009.
My chance to get back in a MOPAR. 2009 Challenger R/T. Put some work into that car. Custom tune,Shorty headers,JBA exhaust. plus numerous other things.
Never ran a car on a track as I street raced my other cars when I was younger.
I took the R/T to Beech bend drag srtip in Kentucky and the first year ran a 13.4 ET. on street tires. Can't remember my 60'but it wasn't great.
The following year ran a 12.9 with a 1.85 60' on M&H drag radials and front skinnies. All on a stock motor and tranny. That car was a exception.
Had to sell it in 2014 due to health issues and other family issues.
That is one car I truly miss.
Jump ahead to Dec. 2017 . I had a chance to get this 71 Challenger so I jumped on it.

To this day after that ride in my friends Satellite I never looked at another Muscle car if it wasn't a Mopar. Nothing else out there
can hold a candle to what I think are the most beautiful looking and heart pounding rides ever.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...lol

[IRON MAN]

I grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. The state allowed you to drive at age 15 if an adult was in the car. My parents taught me how to drive in their "special order" 1960 Chrysler Windsor 413 cu in. Was that ever fun at the drive in theater. Trunk could sneak in two people easy. Here's a picture of what it looked like.

[gumby]

Cool thread and stories.
So here is mine. Growing up I had exactly zero family that gave a crap about cars.
Thru the 60s our family cars were Pontiac wagons. From there they moved up to Ramblers. That was thru the 70s. Late 70s the moved up again to Pintos. First hs car (late 70s) was a 69 Rambler. Drove it hard and the thing never quit. Traded with my mother for a 72 Pinto. Always have been mechanical and worked on them all the time. Year or so owning it a local hs girl fresh with new license plowed into it almost ripping front end off. Promptly bought a 71 to replace it. Oh and cut the roof off. Pic attached. This one was sideswiped and totaled by someone running a red light. No not me. But it was actually on the same street and less than a mile from first one. Bought that back for drivetrain. Bought a shell of a Pinto wagon for next to nothing. Put them together and sold it for small profit. All this time messing with these Pintos I was hanging out with friends that had 340 and 360 Darts and Dusters. The Mopar bug was formed. These would stomp most others in races. Soon after a Challenger came up for sale by a friend of my brother. Soon to be mine. 1983 and $1,200.00 dollars later it was mine. And still is. Started as 74 318 w/3 spd stick. Power nothing.  Now 360 4spd pistol grip. Pb, ps,

Owned a Pinto/Bobcat/Mustang II. Wanted to chop the top off and make it a full time roadster. Never did. Took out the back seat, built a frame of 2x4's and plywood and liquid nails. Mounted 2 15" woofers. Carpeted in indoor/outdoor blue carpet. Mine was a Mustang II. WoW, did that thing ROCK? lol. Had a panoramic mirror that spanned the windshield. It was like driving a tank, lol.
But you could see anything behind you, and off to the sides. Just a little slit up front. Crazy, it was. 4 banger. Wasn't fast, but it was loud.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

I was about 9 when Nash Bridges came out, his 'Cuda certainly caught my attention...

[gumby]

Always liked Mopars. They were SO much better looking than ANYTHING else out there? So much better EVERYTHING!
At 15, I looked at a 73 Charger SE for sale. Bronze with black top. 400. Rallye gauges. Buckets with the buddy seat. Gorgeous, it was. $1200.00

I tried to buy it without my parents knowing, but I had to get them to co-sign the loan.

Wanted a Challenger - but you gotta do what you gotta do? Only Mopar around available at the time.

Made my dad clean out the garage of all his junk so I could park it inside. Every other day, I would back it out, wash it and wax it, lol.
I turned 16 on the day school got out for summer. BEST B-DAY present EVER! lol. (to myself)

Even met a GF, while I was washing it one day, 2 girls came by on bicycles, and offered to help wash it? lol. Ended up dating one of them for 2 years.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I don't got much but I'll give it a whirl- Was it dad's 53 Plymouth (the only "new" car he ever bought). Or maybe my grand dad's 52 (maybe 51) Dodge business coupe? Maybe Richard Petty winning all those races. Or Norm Nelson in all the USAC races at State fair Park? Could it be the 68 Barracuda fastback that the guys at the gas station ran at Great Lakes Dragaway. This car had custom paint and was called KING KONG. One badazz car! Could it be the Cuda and the RR I saw lining up and lighting them up on 76th street? Who knows that was a lifetime ago, but something stuck that's for sure.   

[Bullitt-]

Who knows that was a lifetime ago, but something stuck that's for sure.   

I figured you'd say...Because Chicks Dig Them ..   

[HEMICUDA]

At 8 years old, one uncle had a red 383 4 speed Challenger and another had a B5 70 383 4 speed Roadrunner, my old man was never into cars.  Thank god they weren't a Camaro or Mustang.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Who knows that was a lifetime ago, but something stuck that's for sure.   

I figured you'd say...Because Chicks Dig Them ..   

Wade, you know it brother!     

[YellowThumper]

Ok: I have to admit that convt. PInto gets my attention.

Ya know for an early 20 single guy it was a blast to drive.
Bolted in lower frame connectors.  Bodywork was never finished completely. Roof was just a heavy vinyl tarp that snapped on all around.
What held it up in center was a rollbar.
Had to drop windows slightly to unsnap area that held it to the lower door window. Roll down unsnap, get out, roll up, close and snap. Repeat. Over windshield never leaked. Only water that came in was very little at the door side windows.

Had many grand visions of completing it. Had measured and figured out i could adapt a 67/68 Camaro convertible top to make it legit. Also wanted the 302 conversion. etc...

Young and energetic with big mechanical dreams.
Then the Mopar disease hit and moved on to play with the big boys.

Bumped compression and some extensive porting that thing flew...

[Plum_crazy_T/A]

My grandma had a 1959 Sports Fury custom ordered with the 395 Golden Commando motor. It had dual racing mirrors, dual rear mounted antennas, swivel bucket seats and the imitation tire on the trunk. Two tone paint too. I thought that car was so special.

Then my mom got hired by Chrysler Corp in 1967. She started bringing home all the sales promotionals and they were just as cool if not cooler than the 59 Fury. By the time the E bodys came out I was hooked.

I drove 6 pack, 4.10 dana cars to school and work daily back then.

[72 Challenger]

Ok: I have to admit that convt. PInto gets my attention.

Ya know for an early 20 single guy it was a blast to drive.
Bolted in lower frame connectors.  Bodywork was never finished completely. Roof was just a heavy vinyl tarp that snapped on all around.
What held it up in center was a rollbar.
Had to drop windows slightly to unsnap area that held it to the lower door window. Roll down unsnap, get out, roll up, close and snap. Repeat. Over windshield never leaked. Only water that came in was very little at the door side windows.

Had many grand visions of completing it. Had measured and figured out i could adapt a 67/68 Camaro convertible top to make it legit. Also wanted the 302 conversion. etc...

Young and energetic with big mechanical dreams.
Then the Mopar disease hit and moved on to play with the big boys.

Bumped compression and some extensive porting that thing flew...

That is the most ambitious Pinto project I have ever heard of! 

My backdoor neighbour sold his house recently and knew I was into old cars, offered me an old pinto that was sitting in his garage for free. He thought it would make a cool couch or wall art lol.

[ZEN357]

My father was always a GM guy, in turn I was always a GM guy.  After owning several Trans-Ams, Z/28 and a Fiero GT, I traded my last Z/28 for a Ford Mustang GT Bullitt.  My father went out and bought himself a 2006 Chrysler 300C Heritage model.  I got to drive the 300 one day and the Hemi sold me on Mopar.  I still own my Mustang but now I also own a 2016 Challenger R/T Plus 5.7 Hemi 6-Speed and I bought my fathers 300C Heritage Model when he went out and bought a 300 Varvatos edition.  The 300C is my everday driver.  I lost my father last year.  I think about him every day when I get in my 300C.  I bought my Challenger a few weeks before he passed away.  Sad part about it is because of his health and schedule I never got to give him a ride in the Challenger.  That's how I became a Mopar fan.

[js27]

I was 13 and my older brother just bought his first car in 1969. A 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury 413 with a console Auto Black with a red interior. The first time he took me for a ride and mashed the pedal to the floor and I heard that Carter AFB open up and got planted in the seat I was hooked. 4 years later I graduated high school and bought my first Mopar. A second owner all original 1967 GTX 440 console Auto. That was the beginning of my mopars over the years. I street raced it for 2 years and never lost then put it on the strip and raced brackets until 1979 and then put it back on the street and sold it in 1980 when most muscle cars were gone off the street. I ran Heavy Bracket with consistant  low 12's and dipped into the high 11's one cool night at Maple Grove Raceway. This was with a single 4 barrel 383 with a 4 speed and 101/2" slick.No nitrous all MOPAR POWER. Here are a few shots of my 1st baby.
JS27

[floorit426]

Two of my older brothers had Barracudas, a '65 and a '66. I thought they were cool, but I bought a '67 Cougar, for my first car. Then, one night, we were cruising past a performance car lot and I saw two Mopars that caught my attention. One was a yellow Mr. Norm's Demon, the other was the yellow Cuda that  I ended up buying. I think I made the right choice, but the Demon would've been really cool, to have. I've managed to hold on to the Cuda now, for over forty years. I own nothing but Chrysler products, now.