I posted earlier about how I got here. This one is about what I've gained from being here. I've been an outlier in my local car community for decades, in an area dominated by Ford and Chevy. I once tried to become mainstream by purchasing a '66 Corvette, figured out within a year that it wasn't going to work. My wife, who has no personal interest in old cars, and has endured my vice for nearly five decades, analyzed the situation well. She told me that I should not consider any options other than owning Plymouth GTXs. She is extremely liberal, and compared my situation to the TG community, saying not my preference, but you can't help being who you are. I bought GTX number four the next year.
So living in my small community in rural PA, how does a GTX guy connect with other like minded folks. I'm not a fan of social media, or most technology. So my spouse was shocked when she noticed me spending hours at a time on this site. It started to make sense to her after she met three of my fellow FBBO colleagues in person -
@eldubb440,
@Dennis H, and
@PlymCrazy. Real people, who shared my Mopar obsession, but were likeable, and not freaks (her words.)
I've posted numerous times how Julie Clark started me down this road in 1970 when she handed me the keys to the new GTX that now resides in my garage 54 years later. For anyone reading that narrative for the first time, she owned the Plymouth dealership in my home town, first as a spouse, and later as a sole proprietor after her husband passed. Years after she passed the torch to me, I wondered if I might someday do the same, initiating a new enthusiast.
When I saw our new member
@Bleep Bleep lived three hours away from me, I extended an offer to assist in an inspection when he finally reached to stage where he was prepared to purchase a B body. I was more than a bit surprised, when less than a month into the process, he reached out, asking if I would consider a trip to inspect a car considerably above the price point he had been exploring in earlier posts. I had mentioned earlier that I had gone up a notch when looking for similar cars, so I may have well been the enabler in this event.
My wife was a bit surprised that a guy I met on the internet a few weeks before was willing to front that kind of expense. Said he was either lucky or smart. After living through my seven GTXs, she's totally convinced I know how to evaluate them. Her only question, was whether I thought the car in question merited a trip to Florida, and when I said yes, she said it would be a great event, a veteran Mopar freak with a rookie.
I've always said that pictures don't do a great car justice, and make the lesser ones appear for better than they really are. With an original owner history of 38 years, and a salt free environment, I felt this one could be great, the only question not answered until I did the inspection was whether it had always been garaged. It turned out to be the best condition, unrestored B body with 100,000 plus miles I've ever picked apart, and I've owned two comparable cars. All I could find fault with was one small rust repair in a rocker panel, a minor flaw a previous owner had revealed during our new member's due diligence.
So thanks to FBBO, a great car just got united with an enthusiastic, conscientious caretaker on his first attempt out of the gate. This is the kind of stuff that makes this site a great place to be.
I learned later there are other great folks here too.
