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

[69bronzeT5]

I'm surprised I never replied to this. I grew up in a very GM based family. My parents had a '69 GTO Ram Air III 4 speed, '70 GTO Judge and a '76 Trans Am they sold before I was born. Growing up, my parents had an '80 Monte Carlo, '71 Camaro RS Z/28 and a '90 Bonneville SSE. My dad would restore and wrench on cars for his good friend which included a '70 Buick GSX and a '71 Camaro RS Z/28. My Mopar love came from one car; the General Lee. I grew up watching Dukes of Hazzard re-runs on TNN in the mid '90s. I knew right away I wanted my own General Lee. In 1998, my dad found a '69 Charger in a field and bought it for me. I've been in love with Mopars since that moment.

[I_bleed_MOPAR]

My Dad also.    He was a GM guy in his youth (Pontiacs and Olds) but the fastest car he had was a '58 Chieftain 4 dr. (ex- Ga. State Patrol car) w/ a 370 Tri-Power that he built himself. Started out as a Buick mechanic but went to work at a C-P dealer in late '65 (DeKalb Chrysler-Plymouth in Decatur, GA). Bought a '67 Belvedere II s/w new and never looked back. Later on he bought a '65 Valiant 2 dr. sedan for his DD and shortly after a '67 Dodge van.
Learned to drive in the Valiant and became my first car. 170/6 and 3 on the tree. Told my Mom he was afraid I would get run over in it so he decided to slip in a V-8 and automatic. Uncle ran a junkyard and Dad had picked out a 273 Commando in a '65 'cuda. My uncle told him he could have a 340 out of a '68 'cuda if he wanted it.  So over the winter of 1970 I helped my Dad and uncle put a 340/727 in my Valiant. Dad used the complete exhaust system from the '68 'cuda including the chrome tips. He had to notch the rear valance for them. Used a Mustang shifter mounted in the floor next to the tunnel as close to drivers seat as possible (he disassembled it and heated the shifter up to bend it over the opposite way). With the driver in the car, you could barely see the shifter from the passenger side under his leg and not at all from outside on the drivers side. When I turned 16 in Feb. '71, I had one of the fastest cars in HS.  Real sleeper as it still had the 13" tires on it and would light them up at anything under about 25 mph. 
Funny story about it's sleeper status I'll relate at another time. Wife is calling. 


Tim

[WCC]

Nash Bridges - wanted a '71 Cuda ever since I saw that show the first time. Over here E Bodies are super rare and convertibles just about unheard off.

[Beetle]

I was 16 South of Springfield Missouri drove past r&r salvage, nothing but cool old mopars out front and in the back, I found my favorite car ever a 68 fastback barracuda for 800 bucks 340 formula s.  Oh I wish I had the money then (1984) . I got to know the owner of the salvage yard he had a shed in back with 50 hemi cars and about 80 440 6pack cars he also owned a Sox and Martin 1970 cuda he had in his house (house in the middle of the salvage yard. ) I think his name was Ron Sloan but I may be wrong. I ended up moving to Minnesota where I found my 1973  Challenger 340 rally car. I think it actually found me. It's been a loving relationship ever since. Next car will be a 68 barracuda fastback. But I need to finish my Challenger first she deserves it.

[Flatdad]

 My 2 older brothers were into cars, so I got into cars as well. Dad used to take us to car shows and influenced us to take an interest in mechanical things. As kids, we watched Dukes re-runs, wanted Chargers, and played with Hot Wheels cars.

One day, while sifting through the Hot Wheels rack at a Wal Mart, I came across an orange car with the familiar coke bottle shape, but it was no Charger. It was a '70 road runner with 'Hemi' decals on the hood and a black stripe down the middle. It became my favorite car and I had to have one someday.

Fast forward to driving age, the eldest ended buying a '77 Trans Am (guess what movie influenced that), the middle brother found a '68 Charger R/T, and I got my road runner!

After 10 years of ownership they're all still projects. I ended putting together a Hemi for the road runner and my middle brother built a street strip Belvedere since his Charger is still immobile. Our cousin ended up getting into Mopars as well, and this year we all met up at Muncie dragway to race each other.

Left to right: Dad's '73 Camaro 383 stroker, the '77 TA with a Turbo'd 400, the truck is a coworker of my brother 5.3 LS1, '67 Belv with a 440, my road runner with a Hemi, and our cousin's road runner with a 360.

[RUNCHARGER]

That's a fun lineup and nice you're kept them all.

[Guscuda]

My dad always talked about his mopars he had in the 60's, 64 Plymouth, 68 roadrunner, 68 gtx, 69 dart 340 and a pink challenger t/a that my mom had to have. His best drag racing stories are of the gtx and the dart.

[Djdimart64]

As a teen, all my friends drove the obligatory Mustangs, Camaros and Chevelles. But for me, the General Lee was the baddest car on the planet and no other brand could hang with it.
My parents adamantly opposed my desires to, in their words, but someone else's problems by getting an old car. To nudge me away from old cars, they always made sure I had a reliable ride until I quit college.  After that I was on my own.

A good friend of mine had a pretty awesome shop where we used to rebuild cars and farm equipment and I used to use his shop to maintain my 87 Ranger. Well, his son owned the 73 Cuda that is now in my possession. The car just sat there next to the shop for close to six years with me constantly bagging him to sell it. I always got the same response, "No way man, I'm going to fix it someday"
After six years of nagging, he had a unfortunate event that resulted in his fully loaded Chrysler Laser being totalled with only liability coverage. In a financial bond, he was now willing to negotiate. We came to mutually agreeable terms and the car became mine. I have owned it ever since and intend to pass it on to my daughter when I die.
Why the Cuda and not a Charger, simply economics and availability, but most important, it wasn't a Mustang or a Camaro. The wife has agreed to let me get another project after the Cuda is finished and back on the road. I am only sure of one thing, it will be some Mopar

[71383bee]

I always had a thing for muscle cars.  My dad was a ford man and talked about the late 60's and 70's cruising HWY 100 in his fords and wrenching on the weekends.  the era and stories always appealed to me.  When i was driving age in the early 90's I would definitely take notice to just about any 60's or 70's muscle car driving around.  I recall a 73 Charger SE in our neighborhood and i just loved the style. 

I got hooked hard core on mopars after we moved to another subdivision when i was 15 we had two neighbors with mopars.  My favorite was my neighbor Carlos who had a stunning B5 70 Challenger Convertible 340.  It was a blue interior auto done up with white R/t stripes and emblems.  When i turned 16 i was over visiting and he asked if i had gotten my license yet and I said yes.  He pulled his keys out and tossed them to me and he said lets go for a ride! I learned a lot that day and he let me wring out that 340 slapstick on the freeway!  I was flat out hooked and never turned back! 

My other neighbor had a 69 roadrunner tucked away in his garage that he only ran once or twice a year.  It was Tor red with a black interior and a 4 speed 383. 

After college I was obsessed with getting a 71/72 Charger and after one terrible 72 rust bucket i got a 71 Super Bee FC7 car.  It was a rolling project with parts that took me ten years to build but I loved it.  After that i moved on to an EL5 N96 383 Roadrunner and finally to my first E body.  I hope to hang on to this car for quite sometime but eventually in my life i would love to get my hands on a chally convertible again. 

[challengermaniac]

When I was 15 my dad had bought a Polaris from my uncle whom worked at a Dodge dealership.  Well, God bless my dad for getting the idea of using a toilet paper roll as his oil filter (I know, sounds unbelievable) which promptly tanked the motor after 100 miles while we were on vacation.  My uncle somehow worked his magic to get Chrysler to warranty repair it (no wonder they went under) and while the work was being done he lent my dad a brand new Challenger in Red with a white interior and I was hooked right there!   

[Bossgold]

I always felt Challengers looked super cool. I wanted this T/A car and made my offer only to loose out by one higher bid. It was a fair offer and I thought I had it in the bag. I was going to give up when I found this AAR car......never thought it would work out but here it is the day it was delivered

[Chryco Psycho]

looks like you did well , Nice AAR 

[CudamanTom]

I caught the mopar bug back in 1979 when I saw the black 71 Cuda in the movie Phantasm. 
I loved it from the moment I laid my eyes on it. 
Over the years I owned other cars up until 1998 when I purchased my first 70 Cuda convertible, rallye red with white top/interior. 340/6 too.
Sold it for a business expansion and told myself if I sold the business, I would buy my dream car, the black 71 Cuda.

Well in 2011 I found a sassy grass green 71 Cuda and couldn't resist (had to have another Cuda). 

THEN, in 2013 I found a black 71 Cuda Convertible at a price I could afford. That was it. Full force determination to get it. And I did. 

So I blame the Phantasm movies for my expensive habit. 

[Chryco Psycho]

I was into Mopar long before Phantasm but for sure you were not the only one influenced by it 

[cavemanno1]

Hi guys!

I'm from Hungary and I have never seen any Mopars when growing up.I was born in 1979 and when I was a kid we still had Socialism till 1989 so we obviously didn't have any American cars.You had to wait 4-5 years,if you were connected 2-3, to get a car,it was that bad!
After 1990 people started to get some GM's and Mustangs.I didn't even know the name Mopar till I went to the UK which was 2001.I was never into cars but motorbikes.However,when I moved to London there was a 1967 Mustang fastback Bullitt replica down the street!Got friendly with the owner and he let me drive it.He gave me a WHS tape of the Bullitt movie and I asked him what was that black car.He told me that's a '68 Charger and the same car was in the Dukes of Hazzard just a years younger.I saw the DOH when I was a kid but never cared much about the car back then.But when I saw that black '68 I was hooked on and promised myself that my very first car will be a '69 Charger and I will drive it to the church on my wedding day.
For some reason I didn't like the round tail lights on the back but loved the '69s! That's changed since then because I have a '68 Charger now.
So I promised myself that I'll have a '69 Charger as the first car but knew nothing about them,heck barely spoke English back then
Had my '69 Charger in 2011 which I had to sell a couple of years.However,I have  a1968 Charger r/t factroy 4 speed,Dana 60 car and a '70 Cuda. The Cuda is actually my wife's as she has come so fondly of it.The influence came from 303mopar when I started talking to him about chargers and he showed me his '70 Cuda.I have never seen a Cuda before in my life and I fall in love with it!
Wish I could buy more of them but as we all know their prices are crazy high!
Would love to have a '69 Charger again,a '70 RR,'68-69 Coronet,'70 Challenger and a 85-92 Ramcharger!

Believe it or not but over here in Hungary our Cuda is the ONLY one in the country and my '68 Charger is the only r/t 4 speed as well.
Sad but there are only a handful of classic mopars here!