Robert Bart
Active Member
Hi,
My name is Robert. I live in Cooper City, Florida which is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. I'm 57 and started working on mopars when I was 13 (1977). One of my friends had a 1970 cuda with a 318, 727 and headers. We thought we were bad @$$!!!! I slowly learned from the local hot-rodders on how to work on mopars and other brands. Long story short, I grabbed a gas at age 15 as a station attendant job at a local Exxon Station and the owner started letting me work the weekends in the shop. I did oil changes, installed and balanced tires and of course scrubbed the concrete garage and pump areas. I was in heaven for $3.25 an hour!
Ok, I turned 16 and bought my 1st mopar, a 1970 Dodge Charger SE 383 727, leather buckets, A/C, power everything for $1,000.00. It was bone stock but that's when I learned that a nice running 383 could easily stay up with a bone stock big block Chevelle. Moving on...My 2nd car which I bought while I was still 16 was a 1970 Plymouth Sport Satellite painted in 1972 Corvette blue. I had seen the car around quite often and the owner had a reputation of blowing the doors off other cars. Very built 383 4 speed with a Dana 60 4:10. I paid $2500.00 for it with a nice grant from my grand parents both rest their souls. I couldn't drive stick so it sat for 4 weeks and all I could do was start her up. One morning while going to school (Nova) for those who know South Florida), my Charger died. My pregnant neighbor was kind enough to drive me around the parking lot for 10 minutes and showed me the basics. It took me 2 hours to drive to my school which was 30 minutes away Charger time. Within two weeks, I had it down pat. That car scared me. It was much faster. I took it to Moroso Speed Way in Palm Beach on several occasions and worked my way down from 15 seconds to just under 13. I was truly clueless. Ok, one night after my friends and I spent all day installing a blow proof bell housing and using a chain to tie the motor down (kept breaking motor mounts), some drunk ran into the back of me during spring break of 1983. He destroyed my car. I cried. I owned a few other mopars over the years but then life set in. I grew up, became a cop at age 22 in 1987 and then finally bought a 1973 factory bone stock 55,000 miles 340 4 speed A/C car for $11,000.00 in 2009 on ebay since every other mopar was well over my budget. I blew the clutch in the first three months, yanked the motor and tranny and bought another 340 ($1000!) and gave it to a local friend who had a shop and built race cars. He agreed to let me pay as I could and I gave him everything except the original motor including the matching 4 speed. I spent well over $18,000 over the years and in 2020, he closed up shop and stole all of my gear. I am working with him now on fixing this. In the meantime, it was cheaper to sell the Duster and buy another car. I now own a 2 dr 1966 Plymouth Satellite, 440 4 speed (It originally came with a 383 Commando but thats long gone) The body is perfect, no rust, straight lines, awesome paint but needs some work. I am going to ask for some advice on how to proceed with the few issues I have encountered but that will come next as this long War and Peace intro has ran its course. Glad to be here.
Thanks
Robert
My name is Robert. I live in Cooper City, Florida which is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. I'm 57 and started working on mopars when I was 13 (1977). One of my friends had a 1970 cuda with a 318, 727 and headers. We thought we were bad @$$!!!! I slowly learned from the local hot-rodders on how to work on mopars and other brands. Long story short, I grabbed a gas at age 15 as a station attendant job at a local Exxon Station and the owner started letting me work the weekends in the shop. I did oil changes, installed and balanced tires and of course scrubbed the concrete garage and pump areas. I was in heaven for $3.25 an hour!
Ok, I turned 16 and bought my 1st mopar, a 1970 Dodge Charger SE 383 727, leather buckets, A/C, power everything for $1,000.00. It was bone stock but that's when I learned that a nice running 383 could easily stay up with a bone stock big block Chevelle. Moving on...My 2nd car which I bought while I was still 16 was a 1970 Plymouth Sport Satellite painted in 1972 Corvette blue. I had seen the car around quite often and the owner had a reputation of blowing the doors off other cars. Very built 383 4 speed with a Dana 60 4:10. I paid $2500.00 for it with a nice grant from my grand parents both rest their souls. I couldn't drive stick so it sat for 4 weeks and all I could do was start her up. One morning while going to school (Nova) for those who know South Florida), my Charger died. My pregnant neighbor was kind enough to drive me around the parking lot for 10 minutes and showed me the basics. It took me 2 hours to drive to my school which was 30 minutes away Charger time. Within two weeks, I had it down pat. That car scared me. It was much faster. I took it to Moroso Speed Way in Palm Beach on several occasions and worked my way down from 15 seconds to just under 13. I was truly clueless. Ok, one night after my friends and I spent all day installing a blow proof bell housing and using a chain to tie the motor down (kept breaking motor mounts), some drunk ran into the back of me during spring break of 1983. He destroyed my car. I cried. I owned a few other mopars over the years but then life set in. I grew up, became a cop at age 22 in 1987 and then finally bought a 1973 factory bone stock 55,000 miles 340 4 speed A/C car for $11,000.00 in 2009 on ebay since every other mopar was well over my budget. I blew the clutch in the first three months, yanked the motor and tranny and bought another 340 ($1000!) and gave it to a local friend who had a shop and built race cars. He agreed to let me pay as I could and I gave him everything except the original motor including the matching 4 speed. I spent well over $18,000 over the years and in 2020, he closed up shop and stole all of my gear. I am working with him now on fixing this. In the meantime, it was cheaper to sell the Duster and buy another car. I now own a 2 dr 1966 Plymouth Satellite, 440 4 speed (It originally came with a 383 Commando but thats long gone) The body is perfect, no rust, straight lines, awesome paint but needs some work. I am going to ask for some advice on how to proceed with the few issues I have encountered but that will come next as this long War and Peace intro has ran its course. Glad to be here.
Thanks
Robert
