12 Years of the 69

[TexasStroker]

Well, yesterday was a special day for the Charger.  We have had it for 12 years.  Since being 14 the car has been a big part of both my own and my family's life.

I didn't get time to wash it and thus I didn't even dust it off...

I went down into town to get some fresh fuel, drove it south of town on one of my old routes, opened it up a bit (sounds like something is slipping around 90), and headed back into town to get followed by cops, and have kids yell at me etc...

I can't be upset about the belt/pulley issue since that is what I remember best about the car...go out driving, blow a power valve...come back and replace it.  Drive again, burn a plug wire, get a new set, blow the power valve.  Talk to the old, retired mechanical engineer and learn there is a anti blowout kit...

Hit the road and have a bad miss...check the cap and rotor all seems fine...head out and the miss is back...talk to the old, retired mechanical engineer and find out that the cap is bad by simply replacing it (for the record there were no cracks, deposits, anything...even baffled him).  Learn about brass caps, and go driving.  Open it up, hear a whine, find out the alternator bracket broke...weld it up, go driving...decide to change the exhaust, blow a tail pipe off...weld the tail and go cruising to enjoy the new exhaust.  Get caught by a stoplight and watch the sealed beam flitter and smoke (that really does scare the crud out of you if you didn't grow up with sealed beams).  Watch a new battery go bad in 2 weeks, look for anti-rattle clips for Kelsey-Hayes Floating Caliper Disk Brakes only to find they are obsolete, except thru Raybestos...which no local store carries.  Smoke a wire taking the valve covers off, cuss the leaking power steering fluid, have 40-60 year olds start up conversations at stop lights.  Get flipped off by a fox body mustang.  Have a car load of girls stop and flirt with you, have a relic from the 70s fish tail their buick gsx beside you narrowly missing the quarter panel, blow by said relic's gsx, and only find that you did so in front of a sheriff...the list goes on.

That was my daily routine from about 15-18, lol.  I'd go to school, go to work, and drive the Charger.  Every so often something broke/failed and I'd have to figure it out and repair/replace it.  In college it got driven less due to a lack of free time and the fact the fuel cell was hanging from a busted trunk floor.

Post college saw the trunk floor fixed and some other changes. 

I had big plans for this year, but thanks to XV not having their lower radiator support brace everything is kind of on hold...same with the gauge cluster, waterjet guy is tied up and does the big money jobs first.  I'm still hopeful I can get things lined up for the XV lower radiator support brace, a new front valance, install my 10 year old "new" park light lenses, maybe straighten out some of the grille (might stay black though  ), get a new radiator, an electric fan, and finally order the cam/pistons for the stroker.  Oh, and install the MP subframe connectors I bought back in 2000.

I don't get to drive the car near as much as I'd like to, but it is still a great time.  One of the things I had always wanted to do was go back to the campus and get some pics of the car in front of Old Main.  I spent 90% of my time in college taking classes there (Double Majored in Political Science/Geography and Minored in History) and it makes for some great shots. 

I got that done, fired it up and went back thru the campus to the "administrative parking."  You know, that slot for the 4 powers-that-be that is oh so close and yet seldom has a car between the lines, despite being extra wide and literally 100 feet from the doors.  I passed that countless times after parking out in the sticks on side streets despite having my $20-$50 parking permit    Do I hold  a grudge, nah....

But it did make for a nice shot...the Charger was so excited I finally took it and parked it across all 4 slots it spit up some antifreeze, lol.  As I took a few more shots and monitored the UPD car across the way a few sprinkles fell from the sky...I decided to head home, in part bc the car was wanting to overheat and the supreme irony of being stranded with an overheating car while a shower and 25 degree temperature drop comes didn't really appeal to me...

The pics aren't super great, but they have been on the to-do list for a long time...aside from the "President's Parking" shot you really can't tell it is as dirty as it is.  I tried to limit the black bumper and grille angles because I already know what most of you think of that, and don't worry...no plans to change it anytime soon    I wanted to post up last night, but the home modem is on the blink:










It was a nice break and despite the short time we've had the car, very nostalgic.  I still have my very own "Best of the Eagles" mix cd that dates back to 2000 or so in the old cd player.  I think if I can just get the front end lined up things will fall in place and I have 90% of what I need for the stroker motor.  If the money is available I might even treat the car to a GearVendors set-up.  I'd like to change the wheels to a 5-spoke design, but the tread is still good on the ol' BFGs and I can better spend the money elsewhere.

Idk what it is, the Charger will be stone-cold dependable and then just develop some unexplainable issue.  I think it just likes to be worked on.  I threw the 74 Duster together on a shoe-string budget, drive it very hard, and really dont' have any issues with it...despite being 20 years old at the time I did the work and doing the major systems myself (electric, brakes, fuel, etc), haha.  All the issues and trouble the Charger gets me into just adds to the character of the car...and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  At some point I'm confident the Charger will be lined-out, quicker, more dependable, and maybe not leaking power steering fluild...until then I'm going to make the most of it.  It has been a great 12 years and I owe a lot of that enjoyment to the Charger 

[BananaDan]

Great story and great Charger.

[charge69]

Great post and your Charger is sweet!! Hope to get up there soon but, .... not sure if it will be this year's show or not. My Charger is going together but .... time does fly and I will get up there soon enough. Ours is close in color (1969 is R6 red) but I have a white top, stripe, and interior. That is the way it was shipped in 1969 and that is how it will be finished.

Again, great story and very nice car.

[TexasStroker]

Thanks for the compliments. 

As hard as it was on the wallet (I did the work program: AP classes in the morning, machinist by afternoon, haha), it was great.  I'd imagine it was as close to slaving away in the late 60s to get one new and then spend all your money putting parts in the motor only to grenade it and repeat.  As much as things have changed since then, anytime I'm in the Charger it is the same old thing.  Just last year I'm leaving cruise night and the car completely dies right across a busy intersection...have to coast as far as I can...push it onto a parking lot, and then it fires up a few seconds later and runs fine the entire trip home.  My friend following behind me (73 Charger, very lucky there...anyone other than her probably would have rear ended me) pulls in and has another story to add to the list...

I have met a lot of great people and made some good friends all on account of the Charger.  I'm sure virtually any one of us has a similar past with the cars.  That certainly doesn't work for many cars, the Charger truly is one of the legends...it is well know from seniors to young kids and I don't see that changing. 

You're welcome up here anytime charge69, the Red/White combo looks great in the canyon that time of year.  If I can just get enough of the Charger population up here for Chryslers in the Canyon I am dead serious about hosting a Chargers in the Canyon...same set up...$2 group rate admission to the state park, no other fees, no bs...just a collection of Chargers at a fairly swanky hole in the ground    If people want awards I'd even foot them myself.  The best part about these cars is getting out and enjoying them.  We feel very fortuante to have been able to do just that these past 12 years.

[tan top]

   ,interesting story !! made  for  good reading     orange & black awesome color combo on a second generation charger    

thanks for sharing TS  

[Bob T]

Good pics and story T/S , funny what life and cars throw out at you along the way

I took my old 68 Charger back to my College reunion last year, I left there 26 years ago aged 16.
Lots of cars since age 16 but the Charger would be my favourite

Tell you what, it was the best looking car on the whole field 

[TexasStroker]

Thanks again guys.  It would be hard to imagine life without the Charger.  It is amazing how many people you get to meet and the quality of friends you can make just from driving around in the ol' Charger.  Orange and Black is my favorite combo for 2nd gens, but I might be partial, lol. 

Very cool you got to take it back for the reunion BobT, I bet more people were excited to see the Charger than anything else!  I might do the same some day...I think I'm still instantly recognizable by the faculty and staff if I wear my old "Mopar Performance" hat...that thing was filthy, but I wore it pretty much every day.  Since then I've worn out my black Mopar hat to the point it is brown, but it is on my head as I type, lol.

Hopefully I can get some of the long term stuff done to the Charger soon...it definitely deserves the upgrades.  And I say long term only because it has now been quite awhile since first deciding to change this, or improve that and it hasn't happened, go figure. 

[hemi68charger]

Great story........ 

[Charger_Dart]

Nice car, and a great story to go with it. A friend of mine has a car that seems to always throw odd stuff at him all the time. He calls his car Misery LOL.

[TexasStroker]

Haha, it isn't as often that stuff pops-up, but it happens.  Last year at Chryslers in the Canyon the valve body started to have issues and I was either not going up the hill, or laying rubber and going up.  2 years ago on the New Year's Day cruise I went thru the gallon of oil based paint I'm sure some of you remember seeing...that one was more me than the car, although I couldn't see it with the tall grass in the ditches on the turn.

It can be discouraging, but it keeps things interesting...I really think the belt/pulley issue from Sunday was just an attribute to the welded alternator bracket...I'll probably get new brackets and a modern alternator on in the near future.