The car that got you into Mopars?

[ws23rt]

My first car was a complete and running 57 Desoto Firesweep. I paid $50 for it at age 14.
The next car was a Chrysler 300C with passenger front side damage (minor cause it ran fine). Paid $300 for it.
At 19 I bought a new 69 383 4sp Superbee.
All of these cars I bought with money I earned working small jobs.  Was making $1.25 per hour when I bought the 69 Bee.

[Lennard]

When I was a young lad from about age 7 on up, the Church we attended had a bunch of guy in their late teens early 20's that were heavily into GM cars and didn't mind us little guys pestering them about their cars, most had Chevelles. Mom and Dad would let them give us rides and hang out with them after church from time to time. Somewhere around the age of 9, I saw a 70 white Superbird and knew what it was, the older guys couldn't believe I knew what that car was and someone drove a 68 bright yellow Charger around the area of our neighborhood and I knew what is was and tell them about it, so the older guys started calling me Dodge boy. Mom still has mothers day cards and Christmas cards from that time that I would sign, love  your Dodge boy. 1969 Dodge Charger,  got my first one in 1977, age 16 and paid $ 175.00. Had a Earl Scribe paint job and ever time I would wash that car, the water would turn blue as I washed that paint off. Had a 318 with auto, someone added a 4 bl intake with a Carter carb,  could almost run with a bubby that had a 68 Roadrunner with a 383 4sp.

Mike

Great story
The car that got me into second generation Chargers was that orange one, flying across the television screen.  

[smithenhiven]

My dad got me into Chargers.  He wasn't exactly a "Mopar" fan persay,  rather more strictly a "Charger fan", he had many over the years.  My profile pic is me standing in front of one of his Chargers back in the 80s when I was a kid.

[Homerr]

I grew up in the '70's and riding in my parents silver '66 Belvedere hardtop with 318 poly.

[Dodge Don]

[Bad B-rad]

That car was on display at the Nats one year, next to the Dodge Charger Concept car from like 1999.
It was so cool to see it in real life.

I am not a huge NASCAR fan, but I bet it is safe to say, that today, not many folks are watching NASCAR on Sunday, and running to the dealership on Monday to buy the model car their favorite driver is using, like they did back then.

[RCCDrew]

First for me was the General Lee when I was little. That show turned me into a gear head for the rest of my life. I can remember seeing what I now know is a mercury cougar and thinking, those are weird looking General Lee tail lights.
The next and most impactful Mopar for me was a model of a 71 Superbird that I built. I didn't know at the time that they were never built. I pulled the body off and put it on a pinewood derby car. That was the fastest derby car around. It made me start researching why Plymouth would build such a crazy car. After reading about how Chrysler was so much more wild and went to greater lengths for performance than other manufacturers, I was hooked for life.

[pipeliner]

My 70 Charger RT

[paironines]

These two Chargers were my mom's and uncle's cars. Both cars are assumed to be long gone as in destroyed. I have the VIN for the 69 but nothing has ever come up in my searches.

[4mayhemi]

Back in 1986, I was 15 and had $1800 life savings to spend. Everyone in my town had ChevyIIs, Camaros and Mustangs.  Boy, I really wanted a Charger.  Looked at 6 or 8 of them, all rusted POS and hodgepodge of parts.  Dad "suggested" that it must be dependable for school. Ran out of Chargers, started looking at other models. Found a 73 RR, normal rust and plush inside, 70K miles. Did some bolt-ons, Cragars, bondo and stuff waiting for that drivers license.

Man, that 340 was bulletproof. Even kept up with the 5.0's. Took it to college, smooth 8 hr roadtrips too. Could pack a ton of beer in that whale of a trunk.
Didn't love the looks like I would have a Charger, but it sure made me love that era of Mopar.

[68CoronetRT]

Movie Bullitt got me into Mopars.

That and when I was 16 a guy at a car show let me drive his beautiful 68'. I dropped myself off back at the car show and his only request was that I tell his old lady that he should never sell the car. Her response was "You want it? you can have it!". He looked at me and ALMOST gave me the car on the spot. He did want a little cash for it and said he'd take 3,000$ for the car. So I get home and beg my dad for the money but unfortunately we were fairly poor so didn't have the extra cash. Bear in mind this was like 2002 or so, so Chargers were easily going for 20k+ at the time. This car was so nice. Wish I could go back now and get that car again. It was so bazaar it all feels like a dream to me now, but my friend was there and confirms he rode in it with me.

The reason for being so cheap was that his friend had passed away and just gave him the car in his will. So this guys wife was reasoning with him and saying that I looked so enthusiastic about the car that he should "pay it forward". My heart was pounding SO hard. This car was basically restored. I should have atleast gotten his number. Oh well.

Ever since then I've been a fan of Mopar.

[DixieRestoParts]

Here is an excerpt from a story I wrote about the F3 Charger I own. I didn't know much about cars then, just what I thought looked cool, but I had the bug for hot/fast/cool car:

"1982

A time when VW diesel Rabbits and late model Cutlasses with big tires on all four corners roamed freely among the few big blocks that were still being daily driven. The once proud 'shine running country of East Tennessee was being taken over by "good on gas" econoboxes. The horror, the horror.

There were still a few wild-eyed southern boys with a need for speed. I was one of them. The muscle car was my P-51 Mustang, my Sopwith Camel, my pure adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, I didn't have one. So, I set about rectifying that in the summer of 1982. I must have looked at every Camaro and GTO for sale within 40 miles. One day after looking at Camaro's all day, my best friend (Jimmy) and I were eating a burger at the local drive-in restaurant. The C&W, great local place to cruise. It's still around, but in a more sedate form with inside seating. As we sat there talking about the cars we'd just seen, a '71 Challenger pulled up. Gold with Black interior, rally hood. Jimmy went crazy telling me how cool Challenger's were. How fast they were. He already had the Mopar bug - but no car. It was definitely a good looking car.

As we sat there, I looked up and down the line of parked cars, and saw an F3 Green 1969 Charger R/T SE parked a few feet away across from us. It had slots with 3-bar spinners. I looked at it, then the Challenger, then back at it. Finally, I uttered the immortal words, "Jimmy, that car is me." "

And as they say, the rest is history. I bought that same car about 2 weeks later off a used car lot just up the road from the C&W. 440, 4spd, 80K original mile car. Jimmy eventually got his Challenger and currently owns 2. Attached pic is of Jimmy and I back in the day.

[Bad B-rad]

That is a great story!!!!!!
My first Mopar was not my favorite/ dream Mopar, but it was a B-Body, and in 1997, 1998 230Horse power was a bunch,At least for kids my age, most of my friends/peers had trucks,(the S-10 was a favorite, not of mine) and Beretta's.
The "Fastest guys around" only had an 86 Iroc-z's or an 89 Mustang 5.0 five speed.
I remember at the time I had a 68 Coronet and on the top of the windshield I had written "Bad Mother" with a vinyl letter decal set that you would use for boat numbers or what not. Well after a bit of time and a few rain storms my window wipers had removed the "M" in Mother and I never replaced it so it said "Bad other".
One summer day driving around, I had run into "Tommy" and his bad ass Iroc-z, no one messes with Tommy. Well I smoked that Iroc in my Coronet, I mean it was not even close. So after wooping up on him, I went to the block party up the street. About ten min later Tommy pulls up to the party and parks his car next to mine. As a bunch of his friends come over to greet him, and hand him a beer,  he exits his ride. One of his buddies cracks a joke about my windshield sticker, "Bad other?", Badder then what?" he snarled. As a few of the friends laugh. Well Tom, who looked down at the ground the whole time, said "man,you do not want to mess with that car, it is one bad Mother" and finished telling the story of how I just destroyed his beloved Iroc-Z.

Now my Coronet was not all that fast, it was just fast for the cars of the day, that I ran into any way. It wouldn't be for a while till someone had something faster then my Coronet. And again because every one had slow cars at the time they all thought the 440 on my 1/4 panels after Coronet was the engine size not the model of the car. I guess that's how Tommy and others who fell to my mighty Mopar helped them sleep at night, by telling themselves it was a 440 that just beat them. Not a 318 2bbl bone stock engine, still rocking points and stock exhaust manifolds into a y pipe and stock mufflers!!!!

[tan top]

DMCL and Bullit !!!

yep me too !  saw DMCL  then bullit ..... as a kid in late 70s , then  dad said you got to watch this new tv show , that's starting DOH  , in that order !!

number one DMCL

[nvrbdn]

Growing up in the 60's I was in love with the looks of the Mopars. The favorite being the Charger. Well, when I was about half way through the age of 16 when dad said if I got a job he would buy me a car. Ha Ha, I had a job the next day at a IHOP. So dad says to just find a car, and not necessarily my dream car. Well, at church on Sunday a beautiful white hat special 68 charger in blue came in the parking lot. They guys son said it was for sale, and I was all over dad. Yep, in 1973 I was the owner of that fine car for 750.00 with 65,000 miles.

[ACUDANUT]

That car was on display at the Nats one year, next to the Dodge Charger Concept car from like 1999.
It was so cool to see it in real life.

I am not a huge NASCAR fan, but I bet it is safe to say, that today, not many folks are watching NASCAR on Sunday, and running to the dealership on Monday to buy the model car their favorite driver is using, like they did back then.

The cars they run today are not the 70's.  Nothing they run today even looks like anything sold sell at dealerships today. 

[Bad B-rad]

[/b][/quote]

The cars they run today are not the 70's.  Nothing they run today even looks like anything sold sell at dealerships today.  
[/quote]

Exactly, I am not a fan, but I thought NASCAR, stood for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
And today what is raced is not a "stock" car.

It may be a bit cooler if they DID use stock cars, at least for a few races per season.



For my Father, a die hard Chevy fan, who had a ton of Chevelles growing up.  It was a 1966 Dodge Charger that got him into Mopars.
I was 22 years old and Him and I were looking for a muscle car to build, we went to a guy who must have had 15 different muscle cars to pick from, we almost got a convertiable Olds 442, but I told him "Dad, I have a bunch of Mopar parts we should pick a Mopar" so we looked at a 71 Charger, and a 66 Charger, we bought the 66, was an org 361 auto car, in VERY good shape.
I slapped a 67 383 2Bbl engine in it and we had it going in no time.
With just bolt on stuff we had the 383 running 14.2@98mph.
My father always told me his 72 Chevelle 402"Rat"(4 speed 4.10 posi) would have taken the Charger off the line, but the Charger would have caught it and then blew by it.
He also said that the Chevelle may have gotten the jump on the Charger out of the gate, but he said as soon as we came to a turn, forget about it, he would have had to slow WAY down in the Chevelle, and the Charger just took the turn and kept going. He was amazed at how well the Dodge handled.(They ran 66 Chargers on NASCAR, I used to tell him,hell Elvis drove and raced a 66 Charger in that one movie!!!!!)
So that 66 Charger got me and my old man a bit closer and it helped sway a life long GM fan to go a bit Mopar. before he passed he was no longer a Gm only guy, we was Gm and Chrysler!!!!!
Now that was a special car.

[73-Charger-Canada]

My first Mopar love was my high school girlfriends' Dad's car. He had a 1971 Duster that he had put a 340 in to go bracket racing here in Ontario, Canada. Gorgeous car, red with a tan interior (not sure what engine originally, probably 318). I got to work on it with him while I was just a young guy, then see how the differences we made while working on it would make a difference to ETs at the track. That was my inspiration for both Mopar and drag racing. Now I bracket race my C*maro (I know, I know...) but more importantly I have my 1973 Charger 440, 4 speed (Gold with black twin side stripe, green bench seat interior, Hurst pistol grip etc.) so I can beat on the chevy and love on the Mopar!

[69wannabe]

It was the General Lee for me also!!! Was looking for a muscle car after selling my old cutlass and the dukes had just came back on TNN and we had been watching it alot and I thought man I need one of those cars!!!!! Then someone suggested I watch Vanishing Point and that really got me into liking the mopar's even more!!!! If I didn't have the charger I have now I would have to have a white 70 dodge challenger R/T with a pistol grip 4-speed 

[Todd Wilson]

I grew up in the '70's and riding in my parents silver '66 Belvedere hardtop with 318 poly.

Yup!   I grew up same time and the family had Mopars.  Grandpa had a 68 Dart, Grandma had a 70 Duster and my dad had a 68 Coronet and a 72 Charger and an uncles buddy had a 68 Charger.  Planety of them around.  I limped around a Cordoba with a junk 400 in High school (mid 80's) for a short while until I bought my 71 Charger that I still have. Several friends had various Mopars back in the day!


Todd

[moparstuart]

the movie Bullit  68 charger  and my older brother had three 70 Road runners  when i was growing up 

[morepower]

riding around in my dads 69 B5 blue 440 charger got me in the hobby