MOPAR JOHNS B5 DAYTONA RESTORATION!!

[Mopar John]

69_500,
  I hope we meet up in Indy! If you didn't get to check the car out in Talladega it is better now! Yesterday I was on the road all day! I went to Troy's shop in southern Illinois to go over our finish list. We also documented all the NOS that I've bought since the car was restored. Today I spent all morning putting on the NOS parts. I added a NOS horn relay that I got from MAXWELL WEDGE Jim on this site. Also added were an NOS oil sending relay, NOS trunk bumpers that I thought might have been wrong because of an incomplete part number, a correct vacum hose fitting and the two remaining headlight rings. I have a few more parts on hand that need to go on but I may wait and let Troy who works with this stuff every day do it. Just now while I was writing this the door bell rang?? It was my mail lady with my NOS rear brake shoes from Minnesota. Thanks to another Mopar guy responding to my want ad!! Thanks again to all who have helped us!!

[Mopar John]

                                                 1999 TALLADEGA PART 2!
Like I said earlier we were based out of Birmingham again for this meet! I had changed the gears in my Dana back to stock 3:54"s so criusing out to the track and back was a lot better than in 1988. I didn't take any pictures of the car show on Friday or the lineups. We all saw those from the 88 meet. Our featured guest at the museum was the KING himself Ricjard Petty! He was there to answer questions and sign autographs for us. They had one of the Pontiacs he was driving on display. There was also one of the cars that he recently had wrecked real baddd!!! I have attached some pictures of Richard and his cars.

[Mopar John]

                                                     1999 TALLADEGA PART 3!
I mentioned how on the t-shirt from the 1996 meet that the tribute cars were gaining in popularity. Well this meet kept up that same trend with a couple of new tribute cars! While I mention back to 1996 I was faced with the loss of my dear grandmother that year also and should have mentioned it then. Without her and my grandfather much of this would not have happened! Martha Borzych June 20th 1898 - February 14th 1996 RIP!!
  Back to Talladega. The #43 Richard Petty Superbird replica was there, a #71 Daytona replica, a #42 Marty Robbins Daytona now owned by the Croxfords and Wayne perkins with his #99 Dow Daytona replica. I have left Wayne to last because the picture of his shows the drivers side smashed!! Wayne pulled over on the interstate to help another wing car owner who had car troubles. He was backing up to the exit ramp when a motorcycle came down the ramp at a very high speed and hit the Daytona @#$%^&*()_! Waynes car I am told is an original yellow HEMI car to boot!! In additon to the tribute cars Tim Welborn had the real #71 car there. I believe it had just come out of some restoration work to get it running again with period correct parts. Enjoy!

[Mopar John]

                                               1999 TALLADEGA PART 4!
On Sunday we had our parade lap! This one was like 1988 with 2 rows of wing cars. I think this looked better! It was like we were out there racing sort of? This time there was no Winston car running around the outside groove! Maybe it was because we started earlier like we do now! I have attached some pictures from cars in front of us and behind us.

[Mopar John]

                                                1999 TALLADEGA FINAL!
10% of the known HEMI DAYTONAS get wrecked at this meet!! On Saturday Wayne Perkins in his #99 DOW HEMI DAYTONA gets sideswiped. Then on Sunday on the parade lap 2 more HEMI DAYTONAS get wrecked!! We were going around the track and a HEMI Daytona lettered up as the WINGED WARRIOR has the left rear wheel and tire start wobbeling and it comes out from under the car and rolls down to the infield #$%^&*()!! No one got hit and we were lucky because he was on the outside line! Then as the car is working it's way to the bottom rolling along on the brake drum it also comes off @#$%^&*()!@!! It rolls down the banking and slams into the side of Dave Jones HEMI Daytona @#$%^&*($%^&! WOW!! I have attached a picture of the Winged Warrior Daytona, Daves Daytona and a picture of someone retrieving the wheel and tire. There is also a picture of the brake drum laying on the track! That's it for 1999 TALLADEGA!

[tan top]

   more awesome pictures John  , great  stuff   

[hemi68charger]

... Then as the car is working it's way to the bottom rolling along on the brake drum it also comes off @#$%^&*()!@!! It rolls down the banking and slams into the side of Dave Jones HEMI Daytona @#$%^&*($%^&! WOW!! I have attached a picture of the Winged Warrior Daytona, Daves Daytona and a picture of someone retrieving the wheel and tire. There is also a picture of the brake drum laying on the track! That's it for 1999 TALLADEGA!

[Dave Kanofsky]

That was a pretty crazy meet!  
Remember Sean Machado (sp?) rebuilding the bottom end of his motor at the museum to be able to drive it home?

My SuperBird gave me fits too.  I went through three fuel pumps (I eventually found out the pump pushrod had mushroomed at the cam), and I lost a brake caliper.  

I was giving Wayne a ride in my car for the parade lap after what had happened to his, and then we had to push mine off of the track!  Wayne got to steer because he was the lightest, my dad and I, and Mike O'Donnel had to push the darn thing up the embankment to get off the track, through the pits, and onto the trailer.

[moparstuart]

That was a pretty crazy meet!  
Remember Sean Machado (sp?) rebuilding the bottom end of his motor at the museum to be able to drive it home?

My SuperBird gave me fits too.  I went through three fuel pumps (I eventually found out the pump pushrod had mushroomed at the cam), and I lost a brake caliper.  

I was giving Wayne a ride in my car for the parade lap after what had happened to his, and then we had to push mine off of the track!  Wayne got to steer because he was the lightest, my dad and I, and Mike O'Donnel had to push the darn thing up the embankment to get off the track, through the pits, and onto the trailer.

I had that same fuel pump rod problem at this last years meet in virginia , and you got that right that wayne is thin as a rail LOL
 

[Mopar John]

                                                                2000
The remainder of 1999 was spent getting ready for the divorce! I had to get her stuff out and got rid of what I didn't want also. I was closing the door as Troy says on several fronts. Financially I didn't have any charge card debt but was finishing a 12 X 64 addition to my shop and had 6 payments left on my new loader for my compact tractor. Matt was starting his senior year and was in a good band! They started practicing at my house in the basement and made 2 CD's. They were very close to making it! With all the animals gone and the boys grown up I decided to do some remodleing over the winter. I started in the living room. I tore out the old animal smelling carpet, moved the answering machine to the kitchen and painted the ceiling and walls the color of my choice. I also went and bought the thickest pad and carpeting that I could find. It was heaven to just walk in there after a long day. You can get a glimpse of my decorating in Matt's graduation picture. I made a list of all the things that I wanted to do and it had 3 columns, 1 for things I could do, 1 for things someone else would have to do and last was things that would cost money. I didn't have much money having lost my wifes nursing salary and paying all the bills. I also started reading at night trying to figure out what went wrong with my marriage and how I would handle dating once I was ready for that. I started saving to buy back the cars while the divorce was dragging on due to the fact my ex went through 3 differant lawyers @#$%^&*()! I wanted to keep the refinance as low as possible. When I finished the first addition to the shop I started parting out my cars I had out back. I realized as parts came off others were being ruined by the weather! I had about 14 cars back there all 1968 1969 1970 B Bodies. The new addition had 64 feet of floor space 2 feet deep and 3 shelves 64 feet long 2 feet deep! The bottom on the cement was for engines, transmissions, rearends, and suspension parts. The rest went on the other shelves. Later in the year I started the second addition to bring the main building out from 48 feet to 64 feet even with the first addition. When done it was 48 X 64! I had room for 5 more cars inside! Well Matthew finished high school and graduated. He went to our small school and my niece Jen also graduated. There were only 28 seniors that graduated! Late in the year Matt went shopping with me for clothes and I started dating. I decided to make a list of what I wanted in a woman and if I couldn't find it I would remain single! I also decide I wanted to date 20 differant women before I got serious!! I wanted to become an expert and not get into another bad relationship! Many guys get lonely and end up in a relationship that is worse than the previous one. Hey Troy the good doors are opening!! I have attached some pictures of the graduation and additions to the shop!

[wingcarenvy]

Great story John, keep it coming. I really enjoy hearing the stories of the people of your generation. The pictures are priceless and now your memories and pictures will go on for ever. Thank you.

[hemi68charger]

                                                                2000
......Hey Troy the good doors are opening!! I have attached some pictures of the graduation and additions to the shop!

That's awesome John... As individuals created by God on this lovely planet, we all deserve happiness and joy, without having to do too much compromise. It's one thing to compromise in the spirit of a successful marriage, but it's a completely different story when you have to compromise on all your hopes, dreams and basically live the life you never signed up for......

I had to laugh about the dating thing. I went through a similar situation with an ex-fiancee of mine. Broke up and swore I would never compromise again. Like you, I created a checklist, but found out later it was better served as liner material in one of the Mall's pet store cages. I dated bigtime thanks to this new (at the time) online singles gig. 
At that time, I was away from my civilian job and full-time with my Air Force weapons shop ( I at that point had been activated post-9/11 to support F-16 Combat Air Patrols over Houston, Operation Noble Eagle). Because I was dating so much, the guys in my shop referred to me as I-P, Internet Pimp... And when I started chatting one day with a lady from France for fun ( I can write and speak French a little), they started calling me Double I-P, International !! Internet Pimp. 
Got to the point that only 1st dates happened at the local Starbucks.. Man !!!  going on dates got rather expensive....

Fast forward, this is where I met my lovely wife Kim and it's been 7 wonderful years. We even had a Mopar theme in our wedding vows.. I won't bore ya'll with that unless someone wants to know..

OK, enough of me.........  John, I'm happy for you that things seemed to be pressing forward ten years ago for you.............

Troy

[Mopar John]

                                                      2001 PART 1 LINDA!
 I didn't do any internet dating but used several differant avenues to arrange a date. Some were friends of friends and even my kids set me up! Well it's early 2001 and I'm on number 7 of my goal of at least 20 and I run into LINDA! Yes, that LINDA back from 1980. She was really mad for me dumping her for a lot of years @#$%^&*()!!
She asked me how I was doing and I was almost embarrassed to tell her that I was finishing up another divorce! Remember I dumped her to take the ex back in 1980 @#$%^&*()! I think it brought her some satisfaction! I then asked her how she was doing and she informed me that she was getting divorced?? We spent a lot of time talking and this led to some dating again!! We decided to give each other another chance in this fine life we live in! Linda turned out to be my lucky 7!! She had evrything that was on my list and extras! I will give an example of something that was on my list and talk about compromise. I had that I wanted someone that liked rock and roll music. My ex liked country and I liked rock and heavy metal! When the radio was on someone wasn't really enjoying things. Linda likes rock like I do and we have gone to the following concerts together STYX twice, REO twice, ZZ TOP, BLUE OYSTER CULT, FOGHAT, CHICAGO, JETHRO TULL and a Beatles act in VEGAS!! DO YOU GET MY POINT HERE!! It wasn't long and we realized things were working out real well and she moved in with me!! She helped me with some expenses knowing I had a refinance mortgage and she eliminated an expensive apartment!!
Linda is a car gal and really likes Mustangs! Next best are my Mopars to her. Now get this her birthday is April 26th or 426!!! So I call her 426 LINDA and now have that lettered on her side of the racecar! I have attached a picture of us from one of our first dates.

[Black Charger]

Mopar John,

This is a great story! You should seriously consider putting your story into a book. I KNOW a lot of car guys (especially those into Mopars) would find it an excellent read. Those pics you have of the various Mopar musclecars give us younger generation a chance to see what they really looked like in their heyday. People who watch the Barrett-Jackson auctions with an regularity would be DELERIOUS at the thought of someone owning THREE Superbirds at once!

Speaking of winged cars, a guy that lived near my hometown has TWO lime green Superbirds. One is a 440 automatic car that he had completely restored about 10 years ago, and the other is an original 440 Six Pack bird that he drives on nice days. His name is John Schmitz. Last I heard he moved down to Effingham. Do you know him? He used to have a lot across the street from his farm FULL of old Mopar musclecars until the late 1990s. Car guys from all over would drive by the place just to drool over what he had. His place earned the nicname "Mopar Heaven."

[70Sbird]

Mopar John,

Speaking of winged cars, a guy that lived near my hometown has TWO lime green Superbirds. One is a 440 automatic car that he had completely restored about 10 years ago, and the other is an original 440 Six Pack bird that he drives on nice days. His name is John Schmitz. Last I heard he moved down to Effingham. Do you know him? He used to have a lot across the street from his farm FULL of old Mopar musclecars until the late 1990s. Car guys from all over would drive by the place just to drool over what he had. His place earned the nicname "Mopar Heaven."

Black Charger,
Welcome! I don't want to steal too much of Mopar John's thread but here is a picture I have of John's restored 'Bird! I believe that is him near the side of his car. These were taken in July 2007 in Roanoke IL at a Mopar show. That is my Blue Bird, John's Limelight car in the middle, and the other limelight car belongs to Dave Kneip of Morton IL. Dave and I both had our Cars at Talladega this year as well.

Mopar John,
I got to speak to you briefly at Tim's museum this year, but I really am enjoying your thread and story here, Keep it coming!
Scott Faulkner

[Mopar John]

Black Charger WELCOME TO THE FORUM! I hope it was my story that got you to join! I don't know John Schmitz but another forum member 70Sbird has helped us out here! Scott was good talking with you down there! What a great meet it was. I am already planning for the next one in 2014!

[moparstuart]

Black Charger WELCOME TO THE FORUM! I hope it was my story that got you to join! I don't know John Schmitz but another forum member 70Sbird has helped us out here! Scott was good talking with you down there! What a great meet it was. I am already planning for the next one in 2014!

I really really really wanted to go to the 09 meet , having never been . Now i must make 2014 !!! Please let the economy get better .

[Mopar John]

                                  2001 PART 2 AERO WARRIOR REUNION!
For 2001 our AERO WARRIOR REUNION was held in Auburn Hills, Michigan near Detroit. On Friday we went to tour the Dodge mansion built by one of the brothers that founded the car company. If I remember right he didn't live long enough to see it finished. We only had a few cars show up the first day. This was Lindas first meet and Dennis Fortin was there with his B5 blue Daytona. This worked out great because I had sold Dennis some parts for his restoration including some date coded glass. Linda also knew Dennis from telephone calls on parts and started to feel welcome. This also gave her an idea of what my B5 Daytona would look like restored! On Saturday we went to the HENRY FORD MUSEUM and I have a picture of Linda near the entrance. This also worked out well since she's a FORD gal! I have a picture of Dennis's B5 Daytona and a copper one from the Chrysler MUSEUM on Sunday!

[Mopar John]

                                  2001 AERO WARRIOR REUNION CONTINUED!
On Sunday we went to the new Walter P. Chrysler Museum for the 12th Chrysler Employee Motorsport Association Show. We had special parking up on the lawn right in front of the new museum! They treated us like royality and we all got goodie bags including the dash plaque! There is a picture of me standing in front of the museum under the name plate. I also have a couple of shots of the cars. It was a very good turnout for a non Talladega meet!
If you look toward the back in the one picture of the cars you will see a parking lot with all the employee show cars. They also had a nice turnout to make for a great show!

[hemi68charger]

Hey John..........
Man, your story of hooking back up with Linda is GREAT.. Sort of like destiny !!!  It was meant to happen, regardless of what path you took to get there. Apparently, you both needed to take different routes to get to the same place....... Too bad there isn't a "mapquest" to love....... 

Looks like you two had a great time that 2001 weekend.........

Troy

[Mopar John]

Troy,
Thanks for the kind words and your good door bad door theory! The bad doors are closed and good doors are still opening! Linda and I are still together and we ate with you at the Talladega musuem. She was the one that got the apple with the hole in it.

[hemi68charger]

Troy,
Thanks for the kind words and your good door bad door theory! The bad doors are closed and good doors are still opening! Linda and I are still together and we ate with you at the Talladega musuem. She was the one that got the apple with the hole in it.

Ahhhhhh,, ok, I remember now................   

Looking forward to the next gathering....... If you're ever down here in Houston, the "door's" open...........

[Mopar John]

                                                2001 PART 3 DRAG RACING!
I didn't mention anything about my drag racing in 2000. I competed the full season at ROUTE 66 RACEWAY in Joliet and finished 12th. I was out of the top ten but still qualified for the NHRA DIVISION 3 ET FINALS in INDY again! For 2001 I freshened my 440 and was ready to go! Linda was now attending the races and now my CREW CHIEF! She helped file fit rings and install the second set of valve springs after the cam was broke in! We did well in 2001 and won one of the meets! We were down to about 10 meets a year and it was tough to win one!! PRO ET is the largest class with a field of about 100 cars and 7 rounds of racing to win. This day started out bad and got real interesting! In my first time trial the staging rev limiter didn't work and my trans brake went to full redline at 7,000RPM !@#$%^&*()!! The takeoff was so violent it spun the rearend in the leaf spring u-bolts until the driveshaft couldn't handle it! It broke the end of my race aluminum driveshaft off !@#$%^&*()!! They towed me back to the pits and Linda asks me what are you going to do?? I told her that I was going to unhook the trailer and drive back home to Westville, Indiana 75 miles away and get the stock steel driveshaft!!!!! She couldn't believe it! I told my racing partner Keith what my plan was and left for home. When I got home there was a message from Keith about u-bolts. I grabbed my stock steel driveshaft and some u-joint straps and headed back to the track! When I got back Keith and my other Mopar pals had the car up on jack stands and had the rearend turned back where it was supposed to be. Then keith asks me where the u-bolts were and I showed him the straps. He says you brought the wrong parts @#$%^&*()!! We ended up taking a u-bolt off his tow vehicle and putting in the stock drive shaft. Believe it or not we made the tail end of the last time trials!! WOW!! Then we started racing and I was winning!! But there was a problem! The rear end was sliding back on the side with the truck u-bolt and we were moving it back each round!@#$^&#$%!@!! Linda was scared that I was going to wreck the car at high speed! I kept winning and Keith was out and was helping me move the rearend back! In the semi-finals and final we didn't have the time to move it back@#$%^&*!! It was a little scary on take off but I had to try and win this thing! We ended up winning the meet!!!!!! Thanks KEITH and THANKS LINDA for the win! This helped me to one of my best season finishes in 6th place! I have attached a picture of the lucky driveshaft that I still have. I have a pile of all the parts that I have torn up over the years to show all my grankids when they grow up. Speaking of grandkids I have a picture of my granddaughter Ashley starting to grow up. Last I have a picture of Linda and I all worn out but happy after the big win!!

[Mopar John]

Troy,
Here is Lindas famous box lunch apple with the hole in it.

[hemi68charger]

Troy,
Here is Lindas famous box lunch apple with the hole in it.

   Yeap..........    You do keep everything !!!!!! Even if it's in a picture......    That whole boxed lunch for what? $10 or something like that?