35 or is it 40 years in the Mopar hobby?

[dmoore]

45 but who's counting

 

[Hey-O]

I have owned many cars over the years, 95 percent of all my daily drivers have been new Mopars. I've built a few GM's and now at 65 I'm not interested in building anymore. I bought my 65 Coronet, my first ever bought finished and I'm ok with my mind not understanding why my body is no longer like it once was. It's called the circle of life and you can run, buy you can't hide........ I'll drive till I drop!!

 

[barbee6043]

I have owned many cars over the years, 95 percent of all my daily drivers have been new Mopars. I've built a few GM's and now at 65 I'm not interested in building anymore. I bought my 65 Coronet, my first ever bought finished and I'm ok with my mind not understanding why my body is no longer like it once was. It's called the circle of life and you can run, buy you can't hide........ I'll drive till I drop!!

I love the build, but it is so hard now.
I have bought a few done cars, but so many times I spend so much time coming back behind poor work.

 

[Cranky]

I have owned many cars over the years, 95 percent of all my daily drivers have been new Mopars. I've built a few GM's and now at 65 I'm not interested in building anymore. I bought my 65 Coronet, my first ever bought finished and I'm ok with my mind not understanding why my body is no longer like it once was. It's called the circle of life and you can run, buy you can't hide........ I'll drive till I drop!!

Heck, 95% of my daily drivers have been 'used' Mopars lol. My first new vehicle was a 81 Honda CB 750 Custom then next was a 92 Dakota V8. The wife got a new 2000 Durango but a new 1990 Dakota was bought for our store truck when we had a small furniture store. It also doubled as a 'family' car since we had a couple of youngsters at the time and so we got a club cab. It was a gutless wonder with that lame V6.

 

[Hey-O]

Heck, 95% of my daily drivers have been 'used' Mopars lol. My first new vehicle was a 81 Honda CB 750 Custom then next was a 92 Dakota V8. The wife got a new 2000 Durango but a new 1990 Dakota was bought for our store truck when we had a small furniture store. It also doubled as a 'family' car since we had a couple of youngsters at the time and so we got a club cab. It was a gutless wonder with that lame V6.

I've come to understand that money doesn't buy happiness, my life now is living proof of that. Bad **** happens to good people and money can't fix it all. My 2000 Dakota 4 door, 360, 4x4 was one of the best vehicles I have ever owned and I still miss it to this day. Cars have never filled the void in my heart, they're just a distraction, penis extension. You're a lucky man, I mean that, don't change, it fits you!!

 

[64BEL]

@barbee6043
We visited my grandparents on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights right outside Philly and coming home, on the Roosevelt Blvd, Mom normally drove while Dad was sacked out.

max - your story takes me back to the '60s when we would make the trip from Albany to Philly on Friday night to visit my Grandmother for the weekend. Both of my parents grew up in Philly. I still remember snoozing in the back seat of the staton wagon with the Philly street lights coming through the windows as we got closer. I know Roosevelt Blvd very well from back then.

As for my Mopar roots, I thought it all started in '81 when I was finishing up my senior year in high school. My Dad had mostly Fords and I cut my wrenching teeth on them as I came of age. I always wanted a '67 Mustang fastback until that fateful Sunday morning when my boss drove up to the gas station I worked at in this - which was for sale.

That GTX became my first car - and it's been all Mopar for me ever since (except for a '66 Ford wagon and '68 VW Bug I drove as winter beaters a couple of years). I later realized that my Mopar genes went back to my birth when I discovered that I came home from the hospital in this '59 Savoy that was our family car at the time.

Then there was our across the street neighbors who bought a brand new Charger in '68 that we rode around in. So, I was hooked early, I guess - even though I didn't realize it!

 

[Ron H]

My dad’s first car was a ’35 Plymouth and his next was a ’40 Ford coupe. Have a couple of photos of the Ford black Ford; both were long gone before I was born. One is a pic of him and my mother necking in it before they got married taken by a friend at a picnic party I gathered. He crashed the Ford one late night or early morning after too much boozing, lol. Anyway, roll the tape forward a few decades; my folks didn’t own mopars; but had some nice cars T-birds, GTO’s, among the many. Somehow I had a mopar gene being nuts about them from an early age. My uncles had late 50’s Dodges and DeSotos I remember well as a knee-high and my elder cousin bought a ’64 Polara 426 speed brand new. This was 4 months after he bought a ’64 SP that his dad took over when his son somehow talked him into co-signing for the Dodge.

My first car was a ’67 GTO vert and much as I loved it, was crazy about the Cuda and Challenger when they came out. So my first mopar was a ’70 Cuda vert 383/4sp I bought in late ’72 as I recollect. So this makes it ½ century. Didn’t keep it long; but had had several mopars later (daily drivers bought new or just a few years old). First car I restored with my talented dad was my mother’s ’72 Cutlass vert that had been passed around the family for years becoming a rust bucket. What a project it was; but turned out nice – BUT – the mopar itch never went away. Found a cherry ’63 CA Fury in ’95 and have had it since doing another resto on it. Last few years, age has caught up so no more resto’s for me. Well a few surgeries due to injuries over the years are creating some ills when I still think I’m younger than I am doing stuff I ahh…shouldn’t anymore. If I don’t drop over first, the ’63 will be it for me and sell it as nobody in the family has any interest in the car. Hopefully a few more summers to enjoy it yet. The days of thinking of all the things I’d ‘like’ to do someday…well reality sets in and it’s more like nope, that isn’t gonna happen. Spending more time now getting rid of stuff I know I won’t be using.

 

[Darter6]

I love the build, but it is so hard now.

I feel your pain.And now I'm in the same boat.
My Mopar journey started day 1 when the folks brought me home in a 53 Chrysler Windsor.Dad always had Chryslers.
Been a Mopar fan for 65 years.Talked to barbee about seats he did for his 64. I got those Smittybuilt low backs and now I can get in and out of the 63. THANKS !! My range of motion is long gone and building cars is now a chore more than fun. Don't get me wrong, I still love it,always worked by myself, just allot tougher and have to pace myself.I recently sold off 2 cars and about 80% of all my parts.Hated to do it but as you stated,don't want to leave it up to the wife to get rid of it if I go first.My girls have no interest so nobody to leave it too.
Trying to only have 1 car as a play toy as guys like us never really grow up.So now I have 1 and what do I do every day ? Look at finding another. So it goes...

 

[barbee6043]

^^^^ Glad I could help with the seat info! Darter6
Yes getting in ain't so hard, its the getting back out and back UP!
I have always loved the hunt for projects, the build, I hate the sell. It is somewhat emotional I guess.
We all love bargains, but I am always amazed at people. I always price my cars what I think is fair to me and the seller. I NEVER overpay for a project to begin with. I do 99% of my own work. I hate the BS of pricing a car at some silly price thinking maybe some idiot will pay it and therefore I never price mine to come down much.
I have also sold cars to guys with a sob BS story, just to see them get it home and then tell their buds how they screwed the seller SO bad. LOL
I'm in my twilight years. My wife is totally capable of selling off my cars that I might still have when I kick off. So I ave cars for sale for plenty fair $ and if they selll, fine and if not, thats fine also. I will enjoy the cars have to the best of my ability.
I still have my 64 Savoy project, if it sells OK but really I have always hoped to finish it and keep it till I die. I finished the body/paint late year and it turned out plenty good to suit me. It's a slant car and it will need a running big block. It won't need a fresh high $ rebuild, just a cruiser motor. I have the 4 speed, need a bell. I have the interior most done, needs carpet and door panels. I will make those probably. Maybe someone will come along and buy it and love it, meanwhile I will love it!!! Somedays I hope for the LATER!!!!

 

[Richard Cranium]

My first car was a 69 Charger back in 1976.

Same here, but I bought mine a year earlier.

 

[RSZ28]

Bought my first car in 63, a 1934 Dodge coupe with a rumble seat that was sitting in a field. Got it on the street, but sold it to help purchase new 65 Belvedere II big block four speed. Currently, finishing another 65 Belvedere II but auto.

 

[moparedtn]

Lol, just my way of expressing my screen name without typing it out. 440'

 

[moparedtn]

This hobby is filled with some great people and as you pass it on to who ever is next in line may they enjoy it as much as we all have. My hat is off to all of you in many different ways. I thank each of you for the support and kind words as we all continue forward.

That's the crux of it, right there - least to me it is.
Great people, great stories, great stewards of these cars who want only to pass them to the next ones one day.
I'm not going to hijack here, but suffice to say I'm another "lifer" Mopar guy (once I bought my first Super Bee back in the
early 80's, there's been nothing here except Mopars, with a lone 5.0 Mustang exception along the way).

 

[barbee6043]

smart old guy once said "If you love the work you do, then you will never work a day in your life."
If you enjoy restoring or building old cars, and IF you do so and can get your $$ back out when its time to sell, you have saved great old cars and it cost you nothing!! Free fun!!

 

[Davefinan]

smart old guy once said "If you love the work you do, then you will never work a day in your life."
If you enjoy restoring or building old cars, and IF you do so and can get your $$ back out when its time to sell, you have saved great old cars and it cost you nothing!! Free fun!!

 

[Davefinan]

That’s a good quote