Kinda of a short story of a 76 Dodge Colt

[Cranky]

In early 86 I ended up in a divorce and needed a cheap car that got better than 10 mpg that my 3/4 ton pickup was getting so off I went to visit a dealership buddy of mine and found a 76 out on the used car side. My buddy was the manager of the fleet department and told me to tell the used car manager he had sent me over. With only 12000 miles on it, it caught my eye but it had been kept outside and it was sun baked. Paint and interior was good though but belts, door gaskets and hoses were...well, hosed. After I quit laughing when the used car manager told me 3500 and saying that Gary sent me over for a decent deal and not a rape job I ended up with it for around 1100 bucks. The only real down side to it was I had to drive the snot out of it just to keep up with the traffic going to work every morning.

Things got a bit excited when some guy started picking on it because his Vega was bigger and faster I guess. Seems like twice a week we ended too close to each other and ended up squaring off. Biggest problem was I didn't appreciate him messing with me tailgating and then passing really close and then cutting me off when he got back in front. Thing is, traffic wasn't all that bad and he didn't need to be doing this crap plus I was usually in the right hand lane too but he didn't seem to care. After about 2 weeks of this crap, I started driving my gas hog 3/4 ton 400 powered 79 Dodge pickup until we met again. Keep in mind this beater of a truck had a mild build on the 400 and even with the stock 3.55's and 29" tall tires, it would click off a 15.40. Not exactly a ball of fire but fairly respectable of 1986 and it had a really nice interior and the body was solid but had a few whiskey dents....not my dents of course.

Anyways, my intention was to make him aware of who I was and the fact I didn't care for him and his crap and it worked! One morning I saw him about 300 feet ahead of me so I slowly kept getting closer and closer and closer until it looked like my truck was about to crawl into that POS Vega's hatch! He hit the gas to try and drive off but that didn't do any good and I mirrored every move he made for about 2 miles and yelling at his dumb *** to hit the brakes because I wasn't gonna. Doing 75 in a 55 zone (hell, didn't know a Vega could go that fast!), he finally threw up in hands like he was saying "uncle" so I backed off and changed lanes. He slowed down too and that's when I pulled beside him so he could get a good look at who I was and he knew it at that moment.

From then on he never messed with me and my Colt again but I didn't keep it too long after that. Sold it a few months later to a guy at work that wanted it for his daughter to drive back and forth to school and I was happy to unload it on him. It was just too small and under powered to suit me plus my fuel mileage wasn't that good because of the way I was driving it and slow small cars do not get any respect on the road when you're running with a bunch of other red necks in a hurry to get to work.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Glad your passed that point that would be depressing as hell to drive a colt

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Back in the road rage days,I'll just say if they hit you from behind,,,,,or if you BACK into them with no witness they still ran into the back of you,,,,law says they are at fault

 

[Cranky]

Glad your passed that point that would be depressing as hell to drive a colt

Took about a week to know for sure that it was a car that I didn't really want. Even entertained hanging onto it and dropping in a small block but already had a couple of project cars sitting on the back burner and at the time, I didn't even know if I was going to be able to keep the house. Things worked out soon enough and got rid of it.....funny thing is, I still don't miss it!

 

[Cranky]

Back in the road rage days,I'll just say if they hit you from behind,,,,,or if you BACK into them with no witness they still ran into the back of you,,,,law says they are at fault

Yeah, I took a chance but I was betting he wouldn't hit his brakes because he knew I meant business

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

To put it another way,,,,,,if you were in front of him and you locked up your brakes to,,,say,,,,,avoid hitting a skunk in the road,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Mike67]

Ya I bet its kinda hard to be intimidating in a Colt...
Found one like this for $13 dollars...in case your feeling nostalgic....

 

[67 GTX]

Ya I bet its kinda hard to be intimidating in a Colt...
Found one like this for $13 dollars...in case your feeling nostalgic....

View attachment 404632

I would take that for $13!

 

[moparcrazy]

Here's My 74, Have a 340 for it, or a 451 Stroker, i also Have a 72 Colt.

 

[moparcrazy]

 

[BeatersRus]

that car brings back memories of the screaming chicken...
i used to drive a 4 door yellow something? to school and on lunch we would go down to the dirt track and do jumps.
that went well tilll the day robbie decided to get up on the roof and hang on.

me n ricky,his brother,look at each other and grin.
i floor it and swerve all over the track and head for this Big jump.
we can hear him screaming but thats just letting us know hes still hanging on right?

hit the jump the car goes straight up and robbie flys off the roof and then about 12 feet into the Huge mud puddle face first.
car comes down and Accordions itself,breaks the tie rod end.
4 doors are now no doors,they are fused together.
the whole back end of the car/roof has a wrinkle lmao.
we climb out and check robbie,whos for some reason very irate.
after we laugh for about 15 minutes,we head back to school,with me getting out at the corners and kicking the wheel straight,
and make it,for the win.
Memories are everything sometimes

 

[khryslerkid]

I use to service them at a Dodge dealer, '77-'78. I thought they weren't too bad of a car. Had to learn Japanese to work on them

 

[Mike67]

Weren't they Mitsu? Mom and dad got divorced in 77 and I remeber her buying a turd brown 73-74 pinto wagon ( we only had 1 family car & dads patrol car) which in hindsight was a pretty nice car on the inside but the older I got the more embarrassed I was....
I spent many a mile laying on the floor in the back on a quilt reading comics and playing games with my sister on road trips.. that car was like an oven though...I felt like an ant under a magnafying glass in the sun!

 

[Cranky]

To put it another way,,,,,,if you were in front of him and you locked up your brakes to,,,say,,,,,avoid hitting a skunk in the road,,,,,,,,,,

That thought crossed my mind too but what fun would that have been!?

Weren't they Mitsu? Mom and dad got divorced in 77 and I remeber her buying a turd brown 73-74 pinto wagon ( we only had 1 family car & dads patrol car) which in hindsight was a pretty nice car on the inside but the older I got the more embarrassed I was....
I spent many a mile laying on the floor in the back on a quilt reading comics and playing games with my sister on road trips.. that car was like an oven though...I felt like an ant under a magnafying glass in the sun!

Yup....Mitsubitchiepieceofshitty....but rather have one instead of that Pint-o-Napalm lol

 

[Budnicks]

Took about a week to know for sure that it was a car that I didn't really want. Even entertained hanging onto it and dropping in a small block but already had a couple of project cars sitting on the back burner and at the time, I didn't even know if I was going to be able to keep the house. Things worked out soon enough and got rid of it.....funny thing is, I still don't miss it!

a fellow member @funnykarman

killer ol' P/S-ers

My personal favorite

 

[67 GTX]

Did Sox and Martin actually run a colt?

 

[Cranky]

Did Sox and Martin actually run a colt?

Yes....

 

[BeepBeepRR]

My first car was a yellow colt.. I bought it for 200.00 so i could learn to drive a stick shift. My brother stole it from me while I was at work and took it out to the power lines and rolled it onto its side. I came home and asked him where my car was he told me in the power lines. I ride my dirt bike out there and find my car on its side.... I pay a wrecker 75.00 to tow it back to the house. I cant even remember what I did with that car. Other than I learned to drive a manual trans in that car. probably traded it for a motorcycle or some crap. I think mine was a 76.

 

[ZR9B]

I had the same car same color in about 85....the thing was a death trap...the front frame was so rotten that we had 2'' square tubing box welded up over and around the motor....I put a radiator from god knows what on it and pvc piped it in....when the alt went out the only place I could find one was an import place for $150 ....I went to the junk yard and found one that "looked like" it and rigged it up....I had a realistic stereo with Olsen electronics EQ amp at 300 watts and 4 6x9 speakers...Van Halen eruption would make your eyes water. When I got pulled over on 23 mile and I 94 the cop wrote 18 violations and had it impounded. I was working at the flying machine restaurant making a supply run and the boss was pissed!! Man I dont miss that!

 

[Darter6]

I had a 72 ^^ Like above.I was gonna put a 340 in it,so did the guy before me,, and the guy before him and...........