440SportSatellite
Well-Known Member
Well, this past week I finally did it. I bought the car I've been dreaming of since I was in high school and got to drive a buddys beat up 383 '69 Roadrunner a few times, that pretty much sealed my love for mopar cars. It's not a roadrunner or a GTX like I've dreamed about, but I think it's just as good. I guess I'll go ahead and give you all the whole back story since this is supposed to be my introduction thread.
I actually had the chance to buy that '69 Roadrunner back in 1997 for $500, with a junkyard 440 that he'd just dropped into it. Unfortunately I was just out of high school and $500 was a lot of money for me back then...heck it's still kind of a lot, but at least I have more than that in the bank now. So I've been kicking myself over not getting that car ever since.
In 2001 I bought a Dodge Dakota R/T just because I loved the fact they had brought back the R/T name, and you could do some fun stuff with the 360 RWD platform they had. It was a nice truck, I did the heads and cam, true dual exhaust, 4.56 gears and all kinds of fun stuff to it. Had lots of fun at the drag strip the few times I made it out there. Unfortunately I had to sell it for financial reasons back in 2009.
The last couple of years I got into a habit of going on the local craigslist and just searching for anything that said mopar in the ad, several months back I found this Sport Satellite...man it was nice, but I could never afford that. Then I watched him continue to drop the price over time. Finally last week I decided to go check it out, and that was it.
It needs some little things, but overall is in awesome shape. Originally a 318 car, the last owner had a 440 built and dropped in along with a rebuilt 727 3-speed auto. The only part of the drivetrain he didn't replace is the rear end. Just figured out it's a 8.25 without any kind of sure grip today. Think that's the first major thing I'm going to have to take care of. Don't know whether to just upgrade the 8.25 with sure grip and 3.55 gears, or swap out to 8.75 or Dana 60. Of course, that all requires money I don't have right now, since I just demolished my savings on this thing. Gotta plan for the future though. Hopefully I can get some good advice here.
So I'll stop typing now and post the all important pics.
I actually had the chance to buy that '69 Roadrunner back in 1997 for $500, with a junkyard 440 that he'd just dropped into it. Unfortunately I was just out of high school and $500 was a lot of money for me back then...heck it's still kind of a lot, but at least I have more than that in the bank now. So I've been kicking myself over not getting that car ever since.
In 2001 I bought a Dodge Dakota R/T just because I loved the fact they had brought back the R/T name, and you could do some fun stuff with the 360 RWD platform they had. It was a nice truck, I did the heads and cam, true dual exhaust, 4.56 gears and all kinds of fun stuff to it. Had lots of fun at the drag strip the few times I made it out there. Unfortunately I had to sell it for financial reasons back in 2009.
The last couple of years I got into a habit of going on the local craigslist and just searching for anything that said mopar in the ad, several months back I found this Sport Satellite...man it was nice, but I could never afford that. Then I watched him continue to drop the price over time. Finally last week I decided to go check it out, and that was it.
It needs some little things, but overall is in awesome shape. Originally a 318 car, the last owner had a 440 built and dropped in along with a rebuilt 727 3-speed auto. The only part of the drivetrain he didn't replace is the rear end. Just figured out it's a 8.25 without any kind of sure grip today. Think that's the first major thing I'm going to have to take care of. Don't know whether to just upgrade the 8.25 with sure grip and 3.55 gears, or swap out to 8.75 or Dana 60. Of course, that all requires money I don't have right now, since I just demolished my savings on this thing. Gotta plan for the future though. Hopefully I can get some good advice here.
So I'll stop typing now and post the all important pics.
