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Most Casual/Accidental Incident That Led to Mopar Purchase?

Dibbons

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I was taking a country two-lane back road on the way to visit a relative in state prison. Found a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda Formula "S" (not running) on the side of the road with a "for sale" sign. Turned around and made the deal. If we hadn't had a "black sheep" in the family, never would have found it. Then (first two photos) Now (last two photos).

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Ten years ago, I contacted my friend Bob Miller, who had sold me his '68 GTX back in 1983. We caught up on 20 years of stuff, then a year later I got a call from him asking if I'd be okay with him giving my contact information to the guy who currently owned our old car. I said sure, and two years later, he decided to sell it, and Baby Blue was back in my garage, 22 years after I'd sold her.

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Well I was on a road trip across America in 1997 - fly to Miami, buy and old cheap car (1982 Cadillac Fleetwood, just about driving under it's own power), drive to California and then turn around and drive back across to New York, sell the car and fly back overseas. I'd worked and saved for this trip for a few years.

On the first leg to California I was snowed in at a cheap motel in El Paso. Vanishing Point was on the TV (the re-make with Viggo Mortenson). Decided there and then to try to buy a Challenger and forfeit the return leg. I was actually a Ford fan at that time and wanted a Mustang like in Bullitt. One snowstorm, a movie, and a Mopar guy is made for life.

Ended up buying a '69 Barracuda in San Diego and after a tour of Vegas, Sacramento, San Francisco and LA in the Barracuda it got shipped back to London and I flew home from LA.

Cost me a fortune in new flights, shipping costs, taxes etc. I was 23 and had no idea. Best decision I ever made, though I still want to do the drive from West to East and see all the states I missed.
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I was riding with a friend and we were looking for cars In yards. We were visiting while looking and we drove by a cross street and I proclaimed, “turn around there is a 68 Sport Satellite back on that street!”

He thought I was pulling his leg and didn’t want to go back. I somehow got him to do it and he couldn’t believe his eyes it was right there and he bought it for a good deal.

68 Sport Satellite is his favorite mopar.
 
In 2012 I was farming in Ontario. We went to Myrtle Beach for a week in March. My ex-wife could sit on the beach all day long but I couldn't. One day I went to a car collection/museum. It turned out to be 75% Mopar muscle cars. I'd had it in the back of my mind for years that some day I wanted to get a muscle car again and I'd always liked the Cudas. That visit fired up the passion but it wasn't the right time. A week after we got home I put a post on a farm forum looking for a muscle car, perhaps a 70 or 71 Cuda. I had no intention of really buying, I was just looking around. A dairy farmer from Wisconsin wondered if I'd be interested in his black 74 Challenger. He posted pictures and I fell in love with it. A few weeks later I went out there and picked it up.

Three years later we were in Florida and had a flat tire on the van. Went to a garage to get it fixed and parked beside the shop was a 12 Challenger R/T that belonged to a guy from NY. It was black with red R/T stripe. I loved it and had a picture taken of me standing beside it. A year later I was watching TV and for some reason I searched Challenger for sale on Auto trader. I never searched anything on my phone at that time so I have no idea why I did that night. What comes up but a 12 Challenger R/T, black with red stripe. Well, you guessed it, I ended up with two black Challengers.
 
1995 we were moose hunting an hour and a half north of me. Tiny native community. Sitting in a back yard was a b body. I bought it on the spot for $400.
Turned out to be a 70 Coronet, still have it, nearly done building it.
When I returned to pick it up we were poking around. Flattened by a bulldozer was a complete, black 68 Charger 500. I wish I would have got it, as well. Just for any parts. Wish I had got the fender Tag, what if?
 
My spouse called from work and said there was Charger in the parking lot vandalized with two flat tires and the front and rear windows smashed out. I had her put a note on the windshield to call me. Next day, I loaded up two tires and some safety glasses (to protect from flying glass) ..... and drove it home...... for $150.
 
Back in the '70s I was working in the industrial area of Seattle. One day I stopped by one of the few auto parts/machine shops in the area just as it was getting dark to buy an oil filter or something for my Chevy, (at the time I had never owned a Mopar, mostly Chevelles with 4spds). After I got the part I went over to the machine shop side to ask a question of the machinist. We talked about something performance related for a bit and he asked me if I was interested in a hot car. I said sure I like hot rods. He tossed me a set of keys and said go try the car outside the door. It was a Belvedere with an auto.

It was raining like usual in Seattle, but not much traffic and there were wide open streets in the industrial area. I was doing about 30 and when it looked clear I got on it and the tires broke loose. I backed off it and tried it more gradually and they broke loose again. I pulled over under a street light to check the tires expecting bald tires, but the tires were brand new with blue still on the whitewalls.

I went back to shop and he quoted me price far less than what I had paid for the Chevelles I had. I gave him the cash I had in pocket, like $40, for a deposit. The next day I went to the bank during lunch and got the rest of the money. After work I had one my coworkers drive me to the store, paid, and took the car and the signed title. The car had the driver's door pretty pushed in and misc dents, but no rust back then. I found the biggest problem with the car was when it was cold, say below 40 degs in Seattle, the headlights wouldn't work until the car was warmed up. The good was that it was an original 426 car and it ran well and never broke anything except the 8 3/4 rear a couple times when I had slicks on it. The car is long gone, but I still have the engine, just tore it down a couple weeks ago after it sitting for 40 years, picked up the crank from shop after having it turned just yesterday.
 
This is actually a cut & paste from my build thread....

I guess I'll start by explaining how I got the car...
A buddy was building a 70 GTX & had been looking for parts, knowing that I happened to stop by a local machine shop where a young guy (18) who owned a 70 Charger was working... I was actually there checking on a 440 but I briefly talked with the kid & asked if he knew of any parts cars or such... He didn't have any leads for that but he told me he knew of a project that someone with serious resto skills needed to have a look at... A friend of a friends neighbor has an old Mopar convertible thats rusting away & his wife wants it gone.... Okay, I'm game... That night when he got off work I met him & we went & had a look...

Sitting in a back yard with the top down is this 68 Coronet R/T Convertible... At first I figure someone just slapped badges on it, hell it has 69 side scoops & Vega buckets... It's not real... Accept the VIN is WS27L8G.... It is real.... So I start looking it over, he tells me how he'd bought it new from Fremont Dodge in the fall of 67 after coming home from Vietnam.... He street raced & took it out to Baylands.... It was "The Fastest Car in the Bay Area"... Well I'm sure he believed it... What I believe is the guys with seriously fast cars weren't gonna line up against him cause the guy was a little crazy.. He blew up the 727 doing a neutral drop at around 4500 RPM's, he bolted in a Dana 60 & a Hemi 4 spd... Didn't have a tranny mount so he chained the tranny down...

Anyway it must have had some kind of power, it had the typical crack at the front of the drivers quarter just behind the door jamb, the main leaf on the passenger side leaf spring was bent down 90 degrees....

Anyway it was pretty neglected but the real deal.. So what do you want for it? I didn't know what to expect... Well his wife wants it gone so how's $75.... Uhhh Okay!! He wants to keep the 4 speed, he wants a few other things that aren't real important but whatever...

So we get him everything he wants & I arrange to get it towed the next day...

Wait! There's something I forgot to mention... This all happened on September 10th 2001...
So the next morning we have the biggest terrorist attack on the USA ever... I call him up & tell him it would probably be best we postpone this for a few days... He responds no, that won't work... His wife has made it very clear she wants it gone & if I don't come & get it he'll call a wrecking yard....... So I called my buddy & we jumped in his tow truck....

When I got the car back to my shop I started cleaning it up to evaluate what I had & that's when I discovered the Scheduled Production Date.... 911... Yup ... 34 years to the day... Kinda weird... Anyway I kept after cleaning it up & told myself I'll just make it a little less ugly, maybe swap a few parts to make it more correct & throw it up on Ebay....

Well I'm still waiting on Ebay...:rofl:


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When I returned to pick it up we were poking around. Flattened by a bulldozer was a complete, black 68 Charger 500. I wish I would have got it, as well. Just for any parts. Wish I had got the fender Tag, what if?
Being flattened by a dozer must have taken a year off its life. :poke: :D
 
Back in the 70s it was a common sight to see these stripped to the bone in scrap yards. 80s they started to dwindle in yards , 90s not often at all. More 4 doors than anything. Now. 2020. None to be found.
 
20+ years ago was looking for a paint job for the Camaro I had. A “shop” near my work had some old cars sitting about so went in and talked to the guy there. One man shop. Made a deal for the Camaro. Spotted this sitting there. After 20 years of bugging him to sell it he finally called.
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In 85 I found a 71 340 Cuda for sale in the Houston paper for 3500 but imo, it was a bit too high and he wouldn't negotiate so I walked but kept the ad. It did have a rebuilt engine and it did run good. One day in mid 86 I was cleaning out the center drawer of my desk and ran across the ad that I had clipped and decided to call just to see. Yep, the phone number was still good and he still had it complete with the shag carpeting that was in it a year earlier but this time it had a rebuilt transmission in it....and the price was now 2500. Didn't even haggle with that and kept that car for around 16-17 years and regret ever selling it.

But, used to drive it to work a lot and in 88 a co-worker said he saw a Belvedere like the one I had at school (66) on the corner of the road he lived on and it was a 2dr (he was a classmate). The location of the car wasn't all that far from the plant so I hauled butt at lunch time thinking since it was just like my old high school car but a 2 dr instead, it was a sedan and something I always wanted as a teen. And it was a sedan and bought it for 1150 and got the factory AC working within a week and had a good time with it for 10 years before tearing it apart for a rebuild with a big block. Still have it....and it's still apart.
 
I was driving down a 2 lane road out by my Parents house. Saw a 70' Road Runner sitting in a field next to a building. I stopped and asked the gentleman if he was interested in getting rid of it. He said, "you want that p.o.s, hook a chain to it and drag it out of here with your truck. I was by myself, so I had to go home and get my trailer. This was about 4 years ago. Best part, it was free....
 
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I was driving thru Livermore back in about 1979-ish
I was working 1st in Hayward
& Concord (where I lived for 27 years) for Union Ice Delivery
while going to school/college
I was home on break, Easter IIRC so back to the Ice Plant
I saw a clean 69 RR 383 4 speed piss-yellow,
Cragers S/S raised white letter Polyglass tires etc.
no dents, extremely clean carpet & black buckets seat
on the lot of an ol' time 'Used Car' place, lil' hole in the wall place

I spun the Ice Truck around, jumped out too look at it
the owner of the lot, in a seersucker suit, came out said;
How you doing son ?
I said;
Pretty damn good, how about you, I'd like to inquire about the RR
or something along those lines
he said;
he got it in on a trade for a Power Wagon
didn't know much about it & he didn't even have a price on it yet
make me an offer
me being the guy I am,
I suspect it's just the old used car salesman ploy

I looked in the car the odometer had 67k on it
opened the hood, had a set of Cast M/T valve covers
& OE N96 style air cleaner
TM6 (?) Edelbrock/shaved down an 1" (didn't know that till later)
& a 750 Holley Dbl Pumper
with Doug Thorley headers, nice dual exhaust all the way out the back

I asked;
Can I fire it up & test drive it ?

he sat down pushed in the clutch & fired right up
he said;
have at it son

I said;
I won't be long I'm still working but had to stop

I drove out of the lot, could notice
a lil' more lope, bump ditty bump, to the cam than normal
still really muffled thou
gave her a lil' gas & dumped the clutch, barked 1st, 2nd & 3rd
went around the block sort of, drove back into the lot

I asked how much sir ?;
he said $2500

I had bought cars way cheaper around that time
I had just bought my 71 Cj5 for $1500 mint condition
I had bought my 68 Charger R/T for $350 in 1974, for comparison
But;
I wanted a different car to drive while I was home for school

I countered with $2000
he said;
It's your son

I told him;
I'll be back before you close tonight

one of the best cars I ever owned

Budnicks 69 RR 440 str-6bbl #1.JPG


I know I paid more than I should have but something came over me
I had that car for near 20 years after that, was my daily driver
except for when I was going to work I was a Union Carpenter
very shortly after finishing school, before I went to work for
PG&E in SF, engineers aid
that car was a blast to drive in SF & the commute

when I went to work on the car some weeks/months later
pulled the M/T valve covers
it had
Harlen Sharpe Roller rockers, Titanium retainers good springs etc.
I said to myself someone did some work to these heads
come to find out they were fully ported 906's
with Titanium Valves too
I thought to my self
I didn't way overpay afterall
had an old 3 bolt Racer Brown 292*/509" hydr. cam,
hardened pushrod/cup ball
a Cloyes dbl roller too
later when I pulled the heads it had
0.010 over Speed Pro 11:1 dome pistons
aftermarket rod bolts & the rods were converted to full floating
with bronze bushings
that lil' 383 would run with my Charger's built 440 'all day long'

loved that car
 
I moved back home to Rochester after living in Grand Rapids Michigan for about a year after I finished College.
After woking for a local A&E firm for about a year I wanted to buy a classic car.
Spotting an ad in the local "Swap Sheet" for a 68 Charger for $3,500 I called and asked a few questions about it.
It sounded promising big block car automatic with a console, perfect.
Saturday afternoon I called again and got some directions to a store where he said to call again for the detailed instructions from there.
I stopped with my now wife and called, "Sorry I just sold the car".
Crap that means it was likely a good deal.

Oh well.
Since we were on the west side probably 20 miles from the City I decided to just wander east and find my way back.
We hadn't driven far when my wife spotted a car in a driveway "hey that's an old car over there".
Sure is that's a 66 Charger. I stopped and the guy had just put it out for sale a couple hours earlier.
I looked it over called him that evening and he agreed to my offer.
It was pretty much entirely original except the power steering belt was off.
It had body work and paint 10 years earlier and he had never registered it.
It was the first car I ever bought as my 77 was given to me by my folks (after I smashed the front end into a tree).


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October 1989
 
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My dad just bought a new 1970 Charger 500 the year before, I was 7 years old and we were driving my older sister to college when he saw a 70 Charger R/T at a gas station with a “For Sale” sign on it. After we dropped my sister off we stopped on the way back to see it. I remember the guy saying he was getting divorced and didnt want her to get it, we took it for a test drive and I remember the guy telling my dad to get on it a little so my dad did and he was sold he bought it for $2000.00 . I still have that Hemi Charger and I went back to that gas station to see if I could get info on the original owner but it didn’t work out. My dad was a Mopar guy , 2 Chargers a 68 Sport Fury ,70 Challenger R/T and a 1963 Sport Fury that he brought me home from the hospital in. He spread them among my siblings and I after he passed,I got the Hemi Charger.. I am blessed!
 
My dad just bought a new 1970 Charger 500 the year before, I was 7 years old and we were driving my older sister to college when he saw a 70 Charger R/T at a gas station with a “For Sale” sign on it. After we dropped my sister off we stopped on the way back to see it. I remember the guy saying he was getting divorced and didnt want her to get it, we took it for a test drive and I remember the guy telling my dad to get on it a little so my dad did and he was sold he bought it for $2000.00 . I still have that Hemi Charger and I went back to that gas station to see if I could get info on the original owner but it didn’t work out. My dad was a Mopar guy , 2 Chargers a 68 Sport Fury ,70 Challenger R/T and a 1963 Sport Fury that he brought me home from the hospital in. He spread them among my siblings and I after he passed,I got the Hemi Charger.. I am blessed!
I was brought home in a 51 Plymouth Crapbrook. Same year I was born but never wanted one LOL! Yes, you are blessed! The next car was a 56 Plymouth Belvedere Sports Coupe and that was the first car I had ever driven at the ripe old age of 8 or 9 and have always kept my eye open for one but so far, no luck.
 
I was at a cruise night with my Charger convertible, and this guy starts checking out the car,he says to me I am not a big fan of convertibles, and I have a convertible Challenger that my uncle gave me. I want to get rid of it. The first person to give me 3 grand for it can take it. I gave him a hundred dollars and said that's my deposit, write down the address and I will pick it up tomorrow night. I went and got it the next night, and it was a nice car,easily worth ten grand at the time. I paid him and put it on the trailer. He had a Mopar Collectors Guide on the table when I paid him for the car, so he could have looked them up to see what the market was! I also scored a 69 AMX 390 4 speed car complete except the engine on the local Craigslist for $700.00 . I called the guy after seeing the car in the auto parts section, and he said that he couldn't show the car until the next day, and that he would call me at 9AM the next morning. I told my wife, oh well I guess I lost that one,he won't call me back, because his phone will be ringing off the hook. I couldn't believe it when he called me back at 9 AM sharp. I went and bought the car and got the paperwork and told him that I would be back with the trailer at 4PM. When I got there the guy wanted to renegotiate the deal because his phone rang all day and he was offered 5 times more than I bought the car for. So I said, buddy I already have the paperwork, so either I am putting the car on the trailer or the cops will. He wasn't happy, but I left with the car! I told him that if you can list a car for sale on the internet then you can do a search to see what it's worth. I gave him his full asking price.
 
I was at a show at a Dodge dealership with my Dart racecar in 1980. A guy comes up to a group of us talking and says he has an old Dodge for sale. Everyone in the group blew him off, as he walked away I walked with him and asked a few questions. Said it was a convertible dodge he bought new and needed it moved as he was moving. I grabbed my trailer and drove the 10 miles to his house. The car was a loaded 70 Coronet 500, with a N code 383. Paid his $150. asking price and put it on my trailer. Guys at the show couldn’t believe I bought the car when I got back there.
 
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