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regret that one Mopar you passed on?

1980: Superbird, 440, not running, Petty blue. Otherwise, nice overall condition. $4,250. I didn't have a place to safely store it at that time.
 
Funny how the vaunted wing cars did not move well from dealers & now they are high high dollar cult cars. Still, i'd rather a 69 Hemi Charger 500. I think Ava Gardener would have rather arrived in one of those.
 
Speaking of winged cars, I worked in a
Chevron station from 1973 to 1975 in a little town called "Chualar" population 300, in the salad bowl of California (Salinas Valley). Besides the CHP 440 Dodge Polaras filling up with gas there, we had a lot customers of Mexican descent who worked picking the vegetables in the surrounding fields. One day circa 1974, there were THREE Superbirds filling up at the same time. Being about five years old already, the noses were kinda coming undone, etc. The drivers/owners were all these field workers who liked to put on shiny chrome wheels and hang dice from the rear view mirror. One for sure was Tor Red, and I believe the other two were Lemon Twist Yellow and Limelight Green. Anyway, the point of the story is the Mexican field workers were evidently attracted to these cars, while the general public seemed to care less. And besides, they were affordable.
 
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For a long time i had wrongly assumed the noses & wings were glass, which im not a big fan of glass. When i learned that the noses were individually hand fabricated steel & the wings billet aluminum, my appreciation for the cars grew. I'l take handmade over stamped out anyday.
 
In early '80s I had a '70 GTX. It had the engine and trans from an '69 A-12 RR in it, so no pistol grip shifter - it had the '69 RR shifter. There was another '70 GTX on the outskirts of town just sitting in this guy's front yard. It was InViolet purple with white stripes. When you came around a corner at night, the stripes lit up like airport landing lights. It was starting to rot but was all complete. I tried to get the guy to sell me the pistol grip shifter for my car, but he would only sell the whole car - he wanted $1,000. That was nuts at that time. The last time I saw it, the GTX emblem on one of the quarters was laying on the ground after letting go.
 
Dibbons said:
Speaking of winged cars, I worked in a
Chevron station from 1973 to 1975 in a little town called "Chualar" population 300, in the salad bowl of California (Salinas Valley). Besides the CHP 440 Dodge Polaras filling up with gas there, we had a lot customers of Mexican descent who worked picking the vegetables in the surrounding fields. One day circa 1974, there were THREE Superbirds filling up at the same time. Being about five years old already, the noses were kinda coming undone, etc. The drivers/owners were all these field workers who liked to put on shiny chrome wheels and hang dice from the rear view mirror. One for sure was Tor Red, and I believe the other two were Lemon Twist Yellow and Limelight Green. Anyway, the point of the story is the Mexican field workers were evidently attracted to these cars, while the general public seemed to care less. And besides, they were affordable.
Click to expand...

Most of these ended up at Bill J.s place in Gilroy at his cherry farm not far from there. He had 17 winged cars at one time.
 
You guys are great, so I don't feel so bad.
#2) 1975. I had a 75' gold wing lemon bike, I hated it. In Phoenix at the time, and a Guy offered me a pristine Copper/White 68 383 Charger and a nice CB750 Honda F 1976 model. trade EVEN UP!
I made the mistake of asking my brother his opinion. and being a gold wing lover that was a mistake! To this day I can see that copper Charger in my head, white top and Interior. I am pissed at him to this day about that. I was 21 and stupid, and I expected more from an older Brother!
It was my fault for listening to him. I didn't ever again!
 
There are several that I regret having sold. But this one is at the top of the list:

Resized 279.jpg 294.JPG
 
1988, saw a 440-6/auto Superbird, V-C orange with white bucket interior, perfect shape except for a cracked rear window and Rallye wheels replaced with police wheels. Price: $5,000. Had a check in my hand and took it back to the bank because I was being transferred to Bermuda and didn't want to pay $21/month to store the car for three years. :(
 
Bruzilla said:
1988, saw a 440-6/auto Superbird, V-C orange with white bucket interior, perfect shape except for a cracked rear window and Rallye wheels replaced with police wheels. Price: $5,000. Had a check in my hand and took it back to the bank because I was being transferred to Bermuda and didn't want to pay $21/month to store the car for three years. :(
Click to expand...
plymoth superbird, and a 1970 hemi barracuda, w/ 11,000 miles on it, on a used car lot, it was perfect!
 
I also remember a pristine 1971 Red/Black Hemi Cuda convertible that was sitting outside the gate at the 1988 Summer Carlisle swap meet with "$25,000 OBO" on the windshield, and my friend and I laughing and saying "Who the Hell would pay $25,000 for that!" :)
 
Most of mine were in 1987.

Super Bird- $2500 (kinda nice)
69 Charger R/T with sun roof $750 (rusty)
69 RR convertible $2500 (nice)
70 inviolet 383 4 speed shaker Cuda $2000 (nice but faded paint)
68 Hemi Dart $3000 (no engine but brand new suspension and steering)

1988

70 429 torino cobra $1500
67 Hemi Satellite $500 (no engine and dispute about ever being built)
70 Six Pack RR $750 ( missing six pack and needed quarter panel)
70 Challenger R/T SE 440 A/C PW car $750 (needed both quarters and rear frame rails)

1989

69 Hemi RR convertible $750 ( no Hemi, 1 of 10)
67 Hemi Satellite $1500 (same car with letter from Chrysler saying "we never built any")

1990

67 Hemi Satellite $3000 (same car with letter from Chrysler saying "we may have built 5")

More recently- 2010-ish

65 Satellite factory sponsored drag car 426 wedge "Mopar Power" $6500
 
way too many over the years to remember them all
a few that stick out
hemi orange aar 4 spd- 4k
lo23 hemi dart-5k
j5 70 gtx - 300
gy3 71 runner - 2k
72 tx9 grabber 4 spd gtx - 4k
triple black 69 charger 4 spd rt- 3500
70 b5 hemi 4 spd runner - 11k
70 b5 v code 4 spd runner - 5k
72 hemi orange rallye charger- 2k

i did buy a v2 a12 bee for 800
and a b7 69 bee for 1800 that i still have
so not all of them got away..
 
IMG_0174.JPG
I remember in the late 80s going to the mopar show in Centerline Mi and the RAPID TRANSIT SHOW 71 rr was there for sale for 15,000.
 
bought, built and sold so many.the one that got away happened some time in the 80's.bought a 70 cuda with no motor or trans.was white with ok body.$1200 back then.towed to my house and put in the driveway.guy saw it driving by and offered me $3000 cash.sold it and was happy till i decoded the vin years later.was a hemi car.
 
summer 1982....I was fresh out of high school ...dad comes home and asks if I'm doing anything...I said no(watching MTV..lol) so he says let me get changed I want to show you something. (he was a cop for OKC) so we go across town to the older side and he says theres a car I found today I want to see what you think. Well we pull up to this house and I don't see anything yet..walk a ways down the driveway and sitting beside the garage is a 1969 bright red charger 500...WITH a 4 speed AND hemi. I was in awe...lol. I find out its an actual hemi car...and it has only 18K miles AND it's for sale. I ask what he wants for it..he says 5000.00. Hell it might as well be 500000.00. I ask everyone I can think of..no one is going to loan me that...dads credit union won't loan that for an "old car". I was crushed. It sold a month later. Sorry for the length but it was a good memory of time spent with dad....
 
OK that's the best story yet. Back in the 60's it was $500 extra for the Hemi option(?), its like $5000 nowadays.
 
#3) really gets me, but my wife had the final say.
In 1975 my goofy sister lived in Milwaukee. She came to Omaha to visit, and was driving a 1971 Challenger Gran coupe Convertible, 383 two barrel, floor console, Lime green with white interior. She needed to sell it, was four months behind on her payments, and the balance due was $565.00!
So, my new wife of four months got in the car to test drive it, and as she took off the rim blow steering wheel horn stuck on. I could hear her wherever she was driving!
Mary eventually came back, and that 21 year old was so embarrassed by the whole deal that she told me if I bought that car, she would NEVER ride with me anywhere!
So, I didn't buy the car. Gotta love women!
 
1984- I was working two jobs, driving a delivery truck on my days off. Went past a place called Zoom Motors in Albany Oregon. They had Bronze '71 440 6 brl GTX and a yellow 440 column shift Superbird. Stopped to look at them on a Tuesday, they wanted $7500 for the Superbird. I had saved up money from working the second job and negotiated the 'Bird down to $6500. Gave them a $1000 check as a deposit and told them I would be back Saturday to pick it up with cash. My now ex-wife drove me back on Saturday and the bitch threw such a giant fit in the showroom yelling about the ugly yellow fu@&!ng car that the salesman actually handed me my deposit check back and apologized to me. 6 months later she was out and the Superbird was sold (I went back and checked).
 
Heck I have only been driving since 1989, but I remember a few.
The first was a 1970 Challenger Plum Crazy, 383, 4 speed. Body was nice, had a few bubbling issues but ran nice. The guy wanted $6k but I couldn't muster the cash.

The second was a 1970 Charger RT/SE, 440 auto in original yellow, beautiful body, ran great. He wanted $5k and I decided I was happy with my daily driver.
 
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