memorable 60's showroom moments...

[craigandlynda]

coming of (driving) age in the 1960's was fabulous- and some of us who fit that old fart description remember some great moments in the mopar dealers showrooms...here are my two faves...

1) Spring 1967...Hillside Chrysler -Plymouth, Springfield PA- while my 66 barracuda was getting a dealer servicing, strolled into showroom and saw it there- a sparkling white, 67 belvedere track hemi car...new...in the showroom...huge scooped hood, basic black bench seat, rubber floor, trunk mount battery...narrow throwaway tires on 15 inch skinny wheels w dogdish caps...radio delete, of course..but also, heater delete..and a monster hemi up front, fresh from the factory...i almost FAINTED when i sat behind the wheel...realizing what this monster was capable of...i crawled underneath to view the dana, and noticed lack of undercoating..and monstrous springs. Went home completely unable to even speak in normal sentences. (car was sold the next day to area racer.)

2)Winter 1967...Springfield Dodge, Springfield PA...Couldn't wait to see one in person...the all new styled 1968 Chargers...came into the showroom thru the side door, and there it was, staring me in the face...a shiny new Orange Charger, black interior, new sweeping design...pop open gas gap, slick black vinyl roof (they used to be popular-really!)...and as the salesperson raised the hood on the shiny new object of my affection, there it was.....a crisp, fresh, pretty....slant six.

Any other old farts out there with great showroom tales?

[1969chargerrtse]

Great stories, here's mine. 
Every weekend in 1969 my older brother and I would go to all the new car dealers on Whalley ave in New Haven CT.  We were basically GM boys but who could not drool over those powerful Mopars rumbling down the streets?  I had 69 Charger pictures pasted all over my walls.  I still have them today 40 years later.  My parents were buying their one and only new car that summer.  We were very excited and I kept showing my parents the Dodge brochure with the blue charger spread across 2 pages.  I guess it didn't do much good because Dad was over at Cooley Chevrolet looking at 69 Chevelles.  I remember sneaking down some back stairs and being under the showroom looking at a green SS 396 brand spanking new.   I begged my Mom to come NEXT DOOR  to the County Dodge show room to see the new Chargers on the floor.  There was a green Charger right at the front window with a sign on a pole that said " Dodge Charger 3,050.00 "  I said Mom please look at this car!  She was sick and bent over and said " It's to big" and that was that.   We paid 2,700.00 for the 6cyl chevelle and had it many years.  I still have my brochure of the Charger that was taped to my wall, and under it is a water coloring of my favorite color T5 bronze that I painted one lonely day as a 15 year old at the kitchen table as Mom was doing the dishes.  40 years later I own that big charger and similar to the color in the brochure that hangs in front of the car.  Sweet memories indeed.

[69bronzeT5]

my favorite color T5 bronze

My favorite colour too


Awesome stories guys

[Kevin68N71]

Mostly non-Mopar....although I do remember the big red Dodge sign in Denver for the local Dodge dealer.  And the "Dodge Fever" commercials.  What was that, 1965?

I remember Superbirds in a Plymouth dealership, but I cannot remember where.

My parents buying their 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood at Rickenbaugh Motors in Denver.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, smelled as good as a new Cadillac.

I remember the 1973 AMXs when my sister was looking for a used model (ended up with a 1972 Javelin with a tired 304 2bl, it was slow the day we got it but she drove it for 15 years and 200,000 miles)

LeMans Motors in Denver.  They let me sit in a 1972 Ferrari Daytona (worth I think close to a million now) while my dad checked out the 1972 Lamborghini Espada.  Out in the used car lot they had a 300SL Mercedes Gullwing for, get this, $9,000. 

Ok some of these were 70s moments, but very cool indeed.

[Ghoste]

Not really a showroom moment but I can still vividly remember when my father pulled into the driveway with his brand new red 383 powered 67 Coronet.  I ran to the window and started jumping up and down yelling, "Mom, mom!  Dad bought a race car!"

[Charger-Bodie]

my favorite color T5 bronze

My favorite colour too


Awesome stories guys

If  its you're favorite color why change the color of you're Charger from t5.

[dodgecharger-fan]

I remember my dad and I on the lot at Performance Chrysler here in town, looking at the 73 Charger that he eventually bought.
It was spring 1974, I think.
I had no clue what a Charger was at the time.
While my dad was looking the car over, I'm tugging on his sleeve saying, "We should buy this one dad," pointing at the Road Runner cartoon on the quarter panel of the car beside the Charger.
"That's a nice car," he said, "but the engine's too big." (It WAS the oil "crisis" time, ya know.. and I'm sure insurance costs was a factor he was considering as well.)
I looked at the hood, and said, "Why? It fits." 

That 73 Charger became my first car - I guess it was about 10 years later.

[Brock Samson]

 earlier posts on the subject:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,10109.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,25339.0.html
 
reprinted from an earlier thread...

Mine is the fullfillment of a dream that began when i was 12, and saw a triple black R/T on the third floor of Leslie Leasing...
I've told the story before about how i went to auto row and sat in all the hot new models every fall,.. and finaly decided a '69 Charger was THE King of the Road,..

The story of what it took to finally get my dream car is an expensive convoluted tail that simple words alone cannot begin to tell..
I have a story of sheer will-power to make my dream car that some of you can relate to I bet,. I'm known as car crazy here, always have been, yet I can't hold a candle to some of you folks, in whom I'm in awe..

Now my Skunk is a part of me,..   

   I held fast and was willing to give up most weekends and holidays to scrounge parts and work a second job to afford the expensive stuff, I had the vision and saw my '69 as a full sized model car like the dozens i built in my youth...

I put up with the snickers behind my back from arrogant ass holes at car shows when my R/T had a small block.. while i searched and saved for my eventual 440 6-pack...
and...
   
...I know i will forever appreciate mine alot more then the kids down the block who's parents bought them a new BMW M-5 to go to H.S. in..

horses for courses...       


   

















   git the picture?..   

[69bronzeT5]

my favorite color T5 bronze

My favorite colour too


Awesome stories guys

If  its you're favorite color why change the color of you're Charger from t5.

Dont know..I just really like silver

[Ghoste]

It's alright Cody, I drive a bronze car now but my favorite color for a 2nd gen is silver too so I feel your pain. 

[craigandlynda]

spent a lot of time in the showrooms, during the sixties and early seventies...was fortunate, was able to buy new mopars on regular basis...first was a 66 barracuda i ordered up...273, BR green w gold interior, wanted factory blackwalls w dogdish caps....car came in, was great except i didnt get the dogdish caps...salesman thought he'd be nice and give me a gift, since it was my first purchase...he ordered it w whitewalls and full wheel covers.....well, he was nice and he meant well...a week later i reversed the tires and bought a set of chrome baby moons.

A year and 26,000 hard miles later, i was ready for some real get up and go power...i traded in the barracuda for a white belvedere that the same dealer had received from the factory, one he didnt order...it was a GTX 440, white w red interior..he said it was too loud, he didn't like it, and, being a friend of the family, would let me have it only if my dad approved...dad, (who drove a 1960 chrysler at the time, which he loved to hammer) was concerned that the big motor would use to much gas...after all, sunoco 260 was almost 35 cents per gallon...

bought it, drove it, raced it...foolishly traded it in on a 68 valiant when i had to go to college and economize...got about $1700 for it as a trade in, added $400 and went home in the valiant, slant six three on thetree..oh well.  more later.