Wingfoot
Well-Known Member
WoW! I have been reading for B-Bodies only Forum all day. You guys are just like me! Oh, Man - How I love B-Bodies! I have been a MOPAR owner since I've been 18!
My dad died in a car wreck when I was 8 years old. My grandfather, my mother's father, had a hog farm in Iowa. He took my remaining family to the farm to help mom raise us kids and we kids raised hogs. Times were good then. My 2 brothers & I sold a number of hogs and, with mom's help, ordered a brand new 1969 GTX. In September, 1968, the 4 of us sat in the Lake Park, Iowa Lousher Motors owner's office to negotiate the GTX's price. When my brother asked for the 426 Hemi option price, the owner of Lousher's immediately looked into my mother's eyes and said, "If I put a Hemi in this car, these 3 boys will all be dead in less than 6 months. The Hemi is a powerful race motor. The 440 is plenty of motor for your boys."
We 3 sons couldn't convince mom to pony up the $700 we were short for the Hemi and we agreed to pay $3,000 for the new car with the 440 when it arrived. If only we knew what could have been as an investment; but in retrospect, that S.O.B. was probably right about us being dead in 6 months with the Hemi.............. just sayin.'
We took delivery on the GTX January 5, 1969 and mom paid for the taxes, tags and the first year of full coverage insurance for us boys. June, 1969, muscle car insurance skyrocketed and our insurance agent wanted more money for full coverage. We instantly dropped the full coverage portion to save money.
Oh, my! Did we have fun with that car! My brothers lost interest in the GTX by 1972 and I became the owner of the car. I got tired of shifting the 4 speed and in 1977 I sold the GTX to add enough money to complete a nice 8 day vacation to Hawaii for my wife & I. Two years later I was missing the car and found out the car I sold for $1,000 I couldn't buy for less than $6,000! I priced a decent Hemi Roadrunner during that time for $10,000! And me at that time unable to rub two nickels together.
Not my GTX, but just like it.
Over the years, I have always owned a MOPAR as my mainline wheels. A 1968 340 Formula S Barracuda Fastback, a 1973 340 Plymouth Duster, Dodge pickups, gutless Plymouth & Dodge 4 banger FWDs, Chrysler minivans and today a Dodge Journey.
It seems as though a day never passes that I don't think about my 1969 GTX. I've got the means now to own a 1969 B Body when the right one surfaces.
My real job is to mark the location of telephone lines, cable TV lines, gas lines, electric lines, intrastate fiber optic lines, sewer and water lines for those who request marks before they dig. My job is to train the new hires how to read the prints, how to hook up to the utilities and provide accurate marks.
I love all open-exhaust-headers, wide-open-throttle competition. I chase after the Nostalgia Gassers Racing Association drag racing events in the mid-west during racing season to watch the B-Bodies and the Hemi powered Willys compete and win against all the Tri-5 Chevys.
I work part-time with the Goodyear race tire distributors at select NHRA national drag racing events providing Goodyear drag tires to the competitors.
On a personal note, May 2016, I was diagnosed with stage 2 throat cancer. My decades of smoking caught up with me. I chose to follow a natural approach (cost me $1,147.00) rather than following conventional treatments (radiology & chemotherapy wanted $800,000 for starters). I have been cancer free for the last 19 months! My natural doctor cured me in 17 days and I felt fantastic every day! I will tell my story another day.
Anyway, I love your site and plan to post often!
My dad died in a car wreck when I was 8 years old. My grandfather, my mother's father, had a hog farm in Iowa. He took my remaining family to the farm to help mom raise us kids and we kids raised hogs. Times were good then. My 2 brothers & I sold a number of hogs and, with mom's help, ordered a brand new 1969 GTX. In September, 1968, the 4 of us sat in the Lake Park, Iowa Lousher Motors owner's office to negotiate the GTX's price. When my brother asked for the 426 Hemi option price, the owner of Lousher's immediately looked into my mother's eyes and said, "If I put a Hemi in this car, these 3 boys will all be dead in less than 6 months. The Hemi is a powerful race motor. The 440 is plenty of motor for your boys."
We 3 sons couldn't convince mom to pony up the $700 we were short for the Hemi and we agreed to pay $3,000 for the new car with the 440 when it arrived. If only we knew what could have been as an investment; but in retrospect, that S.O.B. was probably right about us being dead in 6 months with the Hemi.............. just sayin.'
We took delivery on the GTX January 5, 1969 and mom paid for the taxes, tags and the first year of full coverage insurance for us boys. June, 1969, muscle car insurance skyrocketed and our insurance agent wanted more money for full coverage. We instantly dropped the full coverage portion to save money.
Oh, my! Did we have fun with that car! My brothers lost interest in the GTX by 1972 and I became the owner of the car. I got tired of shifting the 4 speed and in 1977 I sold the GTX to add enough money to complete a nice 8 day vacation to Hawaii for my wife & I. Two years later I was missing the car and found out the car I sold for $1,000 I couldn't buy for less than $6,000! I priced a decent Hemi Roadrunner during that time for $10,000! And me at that time unable to rub two nickels together.
Not my GTX, but just like it.
Over the years, I have always owned a MOPAR as my mainline wheels. A 1968 340 Formula S Barracuda Fastback, a 1973 340 Plymouth Duster, Dodge pickups, gutless Plymouth & Dodge 4 banger FWDs, Chrysler minivans and today a Dodge Journey.
It seems as though a day never passes that I don't think about my 1969 GTX. I've got the means now to own a 1969 B Body when the right one surfaces.
My real job is to mark the location of telephone lines, cable TV lines, gas lines, electric lines, intrastate fiber optic lines, sewer and water lines for those who request marks before they dig. My job is to train the new hires how to read the prints, how to hook up to the utilities and provide accurate marks.
I love all open-exhaust-headers, wide-open-throttle competition. I chase after the Nostalgia Gassers Racing Association drag racing events in the mid-west during racing season to watch the B-Bodies and the Hemi powered Willys compete and win against all the Tri-5 Chevys.
I work part-time with the Goodyear race tire distributors at select NHRA national drag racing events providing Goodyear drag tires to the competitors.
On a personal note, May 2016, I was diagnosed with stage 2 throat cancer. My decades of smoking caught up with me. I chose to follow a natural approach (cost me $1,147.00) rather than following conventional treatments (radiology & chemotherapy wanted $800,000 for starters). I have been cancer free for the last 19 months! My natural doctor cured me in 17 days and I felt fantastic every day! I will tell my story another day.
Anyway, I love your site and plan to post often!
aboard!
