Who got you into Mopars?

[gnrl01]

Let's hear your story, was it a show..your dad uncle what. Bonding with buddies or family with your mopar is a great American pastime..share with us how it became part of your life.

[red72chrgr]

Ex-wife's bro-in-law. My driving his 69 GTX down 1/8 mile in Benton,Il. in the 80's.

[Mean 318]

My old man and his 1968 Dodge Charger! I miss that damn car!

[twilt]

Easy...... bought my first 72 Charger in 1983 from my step brother who is about 10 yrs older than me for $275. To him it was just a peice of junk, to me it was gold. Saved up my $$ and bought some Cragar S/S wheels for it, put some bucket seats in it, and drove it like I stole it.    No other "car people" in my family, so i  learned on my own. Had a friend in the Air Force who taught me a little, actually he usually just drank lots of beer and made sure I didn`t hurt myself.  23 years and 25 Chargers later, 72`s are still my favorite.     

[Manfred318]

At a car show when I was 6 or 7. I saw a red and white Daytona, thats when the Mopar bug bit me.

[terrible one]

When I was younger, I told my dad that I wanted a muscle car, and he instantly thought to show me the chase scene from Bullitt. I feel in love with the Charger then and there.

[dads_69]

Been around cars my hole life. Dad repoed cars when I was 8 or 9 , he had a blue/white '69 R/T and a '68 hemi charger when I was growing up. He sold the hemi when I was in high school. I was pissed when I got home that day. Got my first charger when I was 14.
Mark

[Steve P.]

My Uncle Joe, (VegasMike's Dad). He was into mopar muscle when I was pretty young. Around the same time my X-uncle, Jack, bought a 68' Charger R/T and took me for a ride. That was it!! I was sold on MOPAR...

[Zentelis]

Good question..My dad was a Chevy guy through-and-through. Mom's always said he'd turn over in his grave if he learned I bought a Charger 
But, it's my dad that got me into cars and muscle cars.

But I don't know when the Mopar bug bit me All I know is, it bit pretty hard and hasn't let go 

[Brock Samson]

used to see and hear a 'first gen HEMI GTX" in the area,..  that sound made quite an impression on a 10 year old..

[myk]

Got home late from work one night, turned on the t.v. and Bullitt was playing-the rest is history...

[Bullit_68]

When i was a kid my parents took me to the drive-in to see Dirty Mary Crazy Larry when it first came out.When i saw that charger for the first time i couldn,t believe it i loved that car and knew someday i would have one.Then my neighbour down the street had a yellow 71 Cuda i always liked them too and i,ve grown to love all Mopars ever since.Now i just have to finish my 68 charger one of these days.

[Skyview69]

Simple.  The Dukes of Haazard,  My brother's first mopar, a 71 Dart Swinger and then his second mopar, a 68 Coronet 500 and his friends 68 Charger and another friends 69 Super Bee in which I took my first Hell ride!

[TK73]

"Topic: Who got you into Mopars?"

ME 

I was looking for a nice toy about 6 years ago, anything 65-74 that would be fun.  I wanted a 70 Chevelle but was looking around and could not find a decent one in my budget. Found the Charger online and bought it the next day...

[plum500]

Think it was more of a sub-conscious thing as I grew up -- always liked muscle cars and hot rods etc, and of course, as a kid the DOH, DMCL, remember my dad watching Bulltt...  and when he and others talked about cars, Chev was always Chev, Ford always Ford, --- but it seemed that an old Dodge, was ..an old Dodge. And always a nod to the Charger. I thought I should get into a project one day -- thought, hey, a Charger would be cool, next day I was working on the purchase.

[topduarte]

My dad had GTO's growing up, brothers and I turned wrenches on all the family cars when we were 10, 11, 12 etc.

Where I grew up, there were two guys who replicated the DOH charger and lived on the corner and would scream down the street in it and that is when the show was hot on TV.

After that I got into girls and forgot cars for a few years and then in my junior year, everybody had camaros.  I got one for my senior year and was hooked on camaros since then.

Wife and I were looking for a 69 camaro and stumbled across my 67 charger.  It had a sold sign on it and the seller said itwas being sold to a guy overseas but he was having trouble with customs.

A month later the sold sign was gone and next day the 67 was sitting in my driveway.

Also, watching Dirty Marry, Crazy Larry and Bullitt as a kid with my dad had an influence on me bigtime!!

Thanks Dad!!! 

[tin_soldier]

I was about 13-14 (currently 26)at the time when a buddy of my fathers bought a 71 500 for $200.  Thing was arust bucket.  So I helped him strip it.  Then he bought a 72 which he want to clone over to a 71.  I also helped him strip that one.  Then he got married it sat for @ 8 yrs.  he moved to FL I bought all the car parts.  I sold most on Ebay some local and gave some away to those in need.  That made me enough money to by my current car which is the 69.  Which I don't think I am going to part with any time soon.  Or as 1 board member said "only if I was on a street cornner begging for change than maybe."

[PocketThunder]

Rode home from the hospital when I was born in Dads Roadrunner.  Mom held her hands over my ears the whole way home so that I wouldn't go deaf from the sound of the exhaust!

[triple_green]

My cousin was a car guy big time, had 55 chevy and 3 corvettes when I was in jr/sr HS. My dad always bought Mopars. When I went to buy a new car with my dad is late 66 (I was 8 YO), I saw a garnet red 67 Charger and fell in love. I begged Dad to buy it, but he bought a black on black 67 Dart GT instead. This eventually became my first car. Eve though it was a /6, I fixed it up and put cragars and Radial T/As (60 series RWL). That was the beginning of the end with Mopars for life.

[bull]

I have to admit it was probably DOH that had the biggest influence on me regarding the Charger body style. Mom and dad always had Mopars ('66 Belvadere and '78 Cordoba) around but when I first saw the Charger on TV I was hooked. Then, one day when I got put on a different school bus route I saw a broke down and beat up red and white 383/auto '70 that was just sitting there near the end of a friend's driveway. At the age of 15 I bought it for around $400 and began "restoring" it as well as a 15-year-old kid could restore a car. Dad made me put a /6 in it until I turned 18 and then we rebuilt the 383 and it was off to the races. Looking back now I think it's a miracle I survived.

[Ghoste]

I give the credit mostly to my father but I have to give credit to the styling team behind the 1969 Charger as well.
My father was into cars and has always fostered and encouraged my interst in them.  However, he was always (and remains) a Ford man.
When I was about 12, I recall sitting in a fast food place downtown with my friends when this thing came rumbling up and turned on it's right turn signal.  That long turn signal and depp rumble did something to beginning hormones and changed me forever.
When I first went home and described the taillight to dad, he was sure it was a Cougar and I spent a couple of days telling my little pals about "Cougar this and Cougar that".  Then, after school I was cutting through an alley downtown and when I came to the open street, there it was!  The rumbling thing!  It was the exact same one I saw a few nights earlier only it didn't say Cougar on it anyplace.  It said Charger.   
I walked around and around that car and took in every nuance.  That was in 1974 and I haven't changed my mind about them since.

[41husk]

We always had Chryslers groing up.  I learned to drive in a 73 Charger, but really wasn't into mopars until I got stationed in Millington TN at the Auto hobby shop.  Henry McCurdy, was the supervisor and a big mopar guy.  I learned alot from him.

[Chad L. Magee]

My grandfather on my mother's side worked at a Plymouth dealership in a small Nebraska town for over 40+ years before he had to retire due to health problems (he was a heavy smoker).  Two of my uncles used to dragrace their Mopars from McCook, Nebraska to home (a small, quite town 40 miles away).  One had a 1963 Plymouth Fury (ex highway patrol car with a 361), the other had a 1968 GTX convertible (possibly a hemi car, but can't prove that as all documentation has been long lost to time- basement cleaning after a flood).  Both were souped up a bit and they would race top end to see who could get home first, without being caught.  You could say they got into trouble a bit back then.  Unfortunately, the Fury was long gone by the time I was born and the GTX only lived another year before it was wiped out by a drunk driver hitting it.  So, I really don't remember seeing it but I heard stories about it for many years afterward........

[OldGuy]

First, I would credit my next door neighbor for getting me into cars.  At the end of WWII, the service men coming out of the Pacific theater, would buy cars in California to drive from the West Coast back towards the East Coast.  Many of them ran out of money or gas rations when they got to Ogden, Utah.  So, they would sell their cars and get enough money for a train ticket.  Ogden, Utah back then was a big railroad center.  My neighbor bought at least 50 cars during that time and parked them on a 2 acre lot he owned across the street.  He would let me go over there and rummage around through them and pick out the one I wanted when I grew up.  I was about 7-8 years old.  Later, he decided to scrap them all and paid me 25 cents a piece to strip the interiors out of them.  A lot of old (30-40 era cars) went to the scrap yard from there.  Wish I still had a few of those old Plymouth coupes, etc. 

As far as Mopars, a few of my friends were putting 331 Hemi's in their old Mercurys and Fords which made for great street rods.  The year after I graduated from high school (1966), my friend bought a brand new 1966, 426 Hemi, 4-speed Charger, black interior, silver metallic paint.  He kicked everybody's butt with that thing.  I loved his car.  I went away for a couple of years and came back in 1968 needing a car.  Was driving down Washington Blvd in Ogden and saw a 1968 Charger on a car lot.  It was red, black interior, 383, 4-bbl, 4-speed.  Loved the lines and took it for a test drive.  Love at first site.  Got a job to earn some money, always looking for the chance to buy one when I finally got the money together.  Finally, some guy advertised in the paper that he was selling his 1968 R/T for $2,600.  It was a 440, automatic, turquoise paint with black interior and black vinyl top, with a white bumblebee stripe.  He still had the window sticker showing all options etc. of $4,600.  I bought it, loved it, but had to sell it in 1970 due to high insurance, gas prices went up to 32 cents a gallon for premium and my wife was pregnant with our first child.

Picture of my 1968 Charger parked in "secret hiding place" night of my wedding.  However, friends got in and cluttered in up.  I was checking for any damage.

[Brock Samson]

nice post!

did it look anything like this one?..