The story of how I found my Hemi , 4speed Super bird by Bob Kropp

[moparstuart]

 I received this story in an email from my buddy superbirdtom in alaska .

  Its from the MOPARSUNLIMTED club newsletter a northwest mopar club. I then emailed bob and asked him if i could post the story here . Its a great story and bob gladly said yes post it up.  I also here it will be in this months winged warriors news letter . 

[moparstuart]

 The story of how I found my Hemi , 4 speed superbird    By Bob Kropp

   In may of 1982 I was driving my 70 charger R/T and stopped at the unocal gas staion in bothell.  I really didnt need gas , but it was something to do. After filling up the attendent asked if I really liked those old mopars and i said " You Bet" .  That is when he told me that there was a Superbird forsale down the street , followed by saying i think its a hemi .  I was stopped dead in my tracks and asked where ?  He said at Knoll lumber in kenmore.  Now at theat time I was a painting contractor and was a customer of Bothelll paint.  It was just across the street from the unocal station.

     I went into the paint store and asked the manager if he would do me a favor.   I knew that bothell and the lumber yard stocked olympic stain and they trades stock back and forth .  I asked him to call knolls and ask if there was a Superbird down there , which he did with a puzzled look on his face.  Craig knoll said sure enough and to send me down to take a look at the car. The bird sat under a carport with the nose unprotected and the full of water , "what a Great sight" .  Craig said that the car belonged to his brother who had just passed away and that he was handling the estate .   The car had been in storage and was the last thing he had to deal with .  I asked if it was ok to bring a friend down to look at the car and craig said it was ok .


     I had never even ridden in a Hemi car let alone driven one , and knew verylittle about them , so i called the local expert brian boyett.  The next day we went to look at the car.  Brian  said it was a real hemi car but someone had changed the motor .  We spent about 4 hours trying to get the hemi fired off.  She had been sitting for a couple of years and finally sucess .

   
      The car had front-end damage and a loaded gravel truck had hit the rear passnger side quarter panel .  There was a black 67 coronet R/T interior in her and the 4 speed had been replaced with a 727 torqueflite. Ater scrapping up as much money as I could .  I went and made him and offer on the car .  By this time 2 other people had found out about the car and craig said he would give them 72 hours to best my offer .  This was on a thursday morning now i had to wait (chewing off fingernails left & right) .   So friday evening craig called and said to have a tow truck and a pick up truck there monday morning at 6 am sharp before they opened .  When we arrived the tow truck started to hook the car and craig took us up stairs where there was a complete nosecone , fenders , hood and a spare wing in storage .  Craig said that his brother had , had three of these cars ,and that a dealership in seattle could not sell him bird so he made it back into a regular road runner . He was tired of counting these parts in inventory and ask charles to just come and take them off his hands.  Charles said ok and gave them $100.00 and two six packs of beer for the parts.

[moparstuart]

While we finished the money transaction craig told me that I was getting the car because he could see how much I loved the car and that the other two buyers were just looking at the car as an investment .  Then he asked me what i did for a living ?  I told him I was a paint contractor. He asked if I had ever done painting for a certain contractor.  I said yes I had done a very nice house for him down in the denny park area . Craig said he thought he remembered seeing me and that was his house .  He had liked my work so much  that he said he was building a new house out in the monroe area and wanted me to  give him a labor bid . So I got another job out of this whole deal .   


     Many people said , you lucky guy ! But for twelve years ever since the dealer told me I could not afford a superbird , I had been making trips to eastern washington, oregon and Idaho  looking at cars that were too expensive or that were in such a terrible condition that they were not worth the effort , so if you really want something take aim and move your feet.



     As many of you know , I have tatal fun with my car. Sometimes I get grief about driving the car as much as I do , but the real fun is DRIVING THEM -- not looking at it on a trailer or in the garage. Besides, I want my tombstone to read , "HE DROVE HIS HEMI CAR EVERYWHERE"( stuarts comment " ME TOO" LOL ) . Here is to your dreams and MOPAR to ya.

[moparstuart]

Fast forward a few years to phase II . Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride in my hemi superbird.  I got the car home with the help of steve blackwell, we changed the fluids, did a tune-up and put fresh gas in the tank . Now it was time for the first test drive. Niether steve or myself had ever driven a Hemi car. Once we enjoyed the smell of Hemi exhaust at an All-Mopar Spring Round-up at laks sammish. We fired her off and went for a ride. After about a half hour, Steve took over driving.  He said, "lets see what she will do, " and with that,into first gear we went , he banged second gear and all hell broke loose. The fan clutch was rusty and snapped off the end of the shaft and went right through the radiator! This was the start of the many things needing to be done to the car.



     I always tried to do at least one improvement to the car each year. The first couple of years were dedicated to finding parts. I found the four-speed, bellhousing and clutch. Then i came across a hemi k-member out of a 67 coronet rollover. I spent a couple of years looking for a good quarter panel. I installed the front clip that came with the car, (selling the dented parts to a gentleman whose car had been hit and the nose clip was replaced with a standard front end--putting another superbird back on the road again.)

I put the four-speed in, took out the wood paneling on the doors and installed the white interior.



     Then the car went to dwayne tanni's brother to have the quarter installed. When working on the car, he found an unopened small canned ham ( someone's lunch on the assemble line, I am sure ) under the quarter glass . The car was now whit ein hte front gray on the doors and blue in the rear. Everyone called it the "Rainbow bird".

[moparstuart]

  I didnt have the heart to tell bob this was the real rainbow Superbird , or rainbow bright Superbird as i like to call it .  My buddy wayne perkins car.

[moparstuart]

In the late 1980's, the car was sent to Maaco and painted. When I picked up the car, it was pretty close to B5 blue, but withthe aging process , it started to turn turquoise in color. Ray Guardiano applied the graphics and buffed the car out. Again , I drove it everywhere.



     In 1999, myself , along with five other aero car owners, took our cars to the 25th year wing car reunion in talladege, Alabama. Two weeks of driving the car LOVE everyday!! We traveled over 7,500 miles in two weeks. At the reunion I was chastised for driving my car. Everyone thought it should have been trailered. But like I have stated-- I DRIVE IT!!



     In the early 2000's , I had steve rebuild the 70 Hemi block I had found at a garage sale.  We installed a 70 K-frame, up-graded the torsion and sway bars, installed stainless brake lines and wleded a crack in the shock tower. Bill Dunn then sprayed a coat of B5 blue to the engine bay, We installed the engine and trans as a complete unit from the bottom just as they did in the factory. The car was now very road-worthy.

[moparstuart]

In august of 2002,  I met my wife sharon. We met online and soon were talking every night .  I always ended convesations talking about the bird.  One evening she said, "i am not jealous of the bird".   I told her that if she did not enjoy talking about the bird, she might not like the lifestyle. Needlessto say, she enjoys the bird very much. She enjoys going to the shows , but was not happy that the car was overlooked because of the low Bling-factor. It was her insistence on making it shine and stand out in the crowd.



     So in the fall of 2007 , I asked darren to start the repaint project .  As with most restorations, the scope kept getting larger and larger, but in the end, the carlooks fantastic. Another typical car story that ended up takingmore time that originally planned.  We were going to surprise everyone and debut the car in 2008 , but best made plans of mice and men. The hard part was not being able to drive the car for two years, but i will make up for that very fast .



     When it comes to superbirds and daytona's, most of the ford and chevy guys dont really understand what they are looking at when they see one.  Most of them just do not have a clue about there NASCAR history . I refer to my favorite  Don Rae saying, "Hamburger is a pretty good thing -- UNTIL you have a taste of prime rib. "     

[69bronzeT5]

Great story!!!

[Magnumcharger]

Stuart - you must  thank Superbirdtom for me!
I thoroughly enjoyed that story!

I like to live through other people's experiences!

[moparstuart]

Stuart - you must  thank Superbirdtom for me!
I thoroughly enjoyed that story!

I like to live through other people's experiences!

and the funny thing is  bob goes by superbirdbob ,  tom is a member here so he will see this and i hope to get bob to join us .
 

  also bob's website    
http://www.superbirdbob.com/




looks like he sells greasable door hinges to prevent droopy doors .


 

[472 R/T SE]

Bob's good people.

Here's a couple of before & after shots.  The car & Bob both look better now. 

[Magnumcharger]

Stuart - you must  thank Superbirdtom for me!
I thoroughly enjoyed that story!

I like to live through other people's experiences!

and the funny thing is  bob goes by superbirdbob ,  tom is a member here so he will see this and i hope to get bob to join us .
 

  also bob's website        http://www.superbirdbob.com/

Shit!...I meant Superbirdbob!!!   My brain must be fogging over!!  

[moparstuart]

  from bob's web site

[moparstuart]

Bob's good people.

Here's a couple of before & after shots.  The car & Bob both look better now. 

did bob get a make over too 

[tan top]

  good story !! makes for good reading ! thanks for posting this Stuart 

[hotrod98]

That's a great story. I hope Bob joins the site.
We need to get Tom to tell the story of his Black Ice Superbird.  After I agreed to buy the car, he started telling me some of the timeline. I thnk people would enjoy the story.
I wish I had a history with a Superbird so that I had an interesting story to tell.  I'm working on one now. 

[Alaskan_TA]

Bob's "Kropp Duster" several years ago - on I-5 headed for Spring Fling in Van Nuys.

The NW crowd are great guys to go on a roadtrip with. Bob let anyone that wanted to drive the car, he tossed me the keys at a gas stop & yelled "Your turn!"

I had just met him the day before, quite a guy.

[maxwellwedge]

The story of how I found my Mopars by Maxwellwedge


I started buying Mopars in the early 70's.....................Now I have to adopt Moparstuart.

Thank You.

[hemi68charger]

The story of how I found my Mopars by Maxwellwedge


I started buying Mopars in the early 70's.....................Now I have to adopt Moparstuart.

Thank You.

I'm sorry.......... 

[maxwellwedge]

All joking(?) aside. Good story!

[A383Wing]

My wife has driven Bob's 'Bird...I haven't...(yet).....we were one of the cars that traveled to Talladega in '99

Below is pic of wife's Daytona & Bob's 'Bird at the ocean.

[moparstuart]

The story of how I found my Mopars by Maxwellwedge


I started buying Mopars in the early 70's.....................Now I have to adopt Moparstuart.

Thank You.

I'm sorry.......... 

but troy you can be my big brother    , i can share ,you can be BD JR. 

[moparstuart]

My wife has driven Bob's 'Bird...I haven't...(yet).....we were one of the cars that traveled to Talladega in '99

Below is pic of wife's Daytona & Bob's 'Bird at the ocean.

i saw your car was a puzzle for sale on bobs site

[moparstuart]

   bob sent me more pictures ,  some early and some of the 07 resto mixed in

[moparstuart]