April 1st is my 37th anniversary...

[patrick66]

...of ownership of my '66 Coronet 500! Yup! April 1, 1980 is the day I bought my car. I was stationed at a remote Alaska site, and was talking with my brother-in-law on the phone one day. I asked him to keep an eye out for a mid-'60s Mopar or Pontiac for me, so I'd have wheels when I went back to the Lower 48. He had just come across the Coronet on the way to work, and it was for sale. The owner, who lived but a couple of blocks from the Chrysler-Plymouth dealer my brother-in-law worked, was the original owner and had bought the car at the long-defunct Skyline Dodge in Denver. Big-block, auto, tach, nice colors...heck yeah! So my brother-in-law registered the car in his name and drove it regularly until I got back. The first year, yeah, it was in his name, but it was my car. I got home, tagged and titled it in my name, and drove it to my next duty station in Tacoma, Washington. By way of Los Angeles and Lake Tahoe! That was quite the road trip!

The Coronet was my daily driver until 1985, when I bought a new Dodge D150 shortbed truck, and the Coronet was resigned to becoming an occasional driver from that point. It's been on the cover of Car Craft (Oct 1985), a small blurb in Chrysler Power about that same time, plus was featured in a 2010 film called Heaven's Rain, filmed in Oklahoma. I have been in every state West of the Mississippi in it, plus three Canadian provinces. And Tijuana.

There is a lot I want to do to it now, especially since I've only put about 1700 miles on it since 2001. It's getting driven a bunch this Summer, I tell ya! And there is a Cars-n-Coffee event on April 1st, a Saturday, so you can bet it'll be out for that!

With that, I look forward to spending 50 years behind the wheel of my Coronet. What will April 1, 2030 bring, eh???

 

[GetX'd]

The most important question - are you still sleeping together.....?

 

[patrick66]

The most important question - are you still sleeping together.....?

We've actually slept together at a few car swap meets and camping trips. LOL! But these days, she's had a thing going with her garage mate, the Imperial.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

April 1st, huh? Is this your idea of a joke?

 

[patrick66]

Nope. Real date.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Nope. Real date.

Just

Nice '66 and happy anniversary.

Mine's August 6th, 44 years for me and my '69.

 

[patrick66]

Just

Nice '66 and happy anniversary.

Mine's August 6th, 44 years for me and my '69.

Well, yesterday I was all ready to go to the local Coffee and Cars with the Coronet. Earlier in the week, I had replaced both power steering lines and installed a '66 383 unsilenced air breather I purchased from a member here, and then had it powder-coated. All ready to roll, right? Nope. My brand-new (last May) fuel pump went tits-up on me! So, since the Imperial's dash is still apart and the car is still drivable, I really didn't want to drive it until I have the dash all back together. So, off I went with the son's '76 Buick Skylark. Shame, too, because Saturday saw the most Mopars by far, than I've ever seen attend this function!

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

That's a shame you couldn't take your car. But it could have been worse.

I think maybe the fuel pump is going south on one of my Coronets too. Either that or the pushrod is getting wore down. Fuel pressure is lower than normal.

 

[patrick66]

My Coronet has been getting me down lately. Seems like things just cascade on that car when it comes to things not working right. I couldn't find a proper formed ps return hose for this car anywhere in the US. So, I'm using a 5/8" rubber fuel line for that now. Should hold up, I'd think!

So, I called a good friend and fellow Mopar club member last week. He has a 'glass Willys coupe that runs a 600-horse 440, and his wife has a killer '72 'Cuda with a very strong 500+hp 440 in it. I asked him if he'd do some work on the Coronet to get it running like it hasn't ran in fifteen or more years, he said "sure, bring it by!"...Since I've been having both fuel and ignition problems that have been driving me nuts, I said "fix what you need to fix!" Sometimes, working on a car is a real PITA anymore. I used to be very enthusiastic about it; but these days, things hurt. Should be seeing the carb rebuilt with a new electric choke on it; new electronic box and ignition harness; plugs and wires (those have been on the car since 1988!), new fuel pump, and then tuned to perfection! Stepping away from it and letting one of the best Mopar tuners in Oklahoma have at it makes me a happy camper! And he was pleased that I asked him to do his thing on the car! Should be ready by next Sunday...can't wait to drive it again! Been since last June since I had the car out for a show. Or anything else!

Last year, my Imperial convertible saw 2,500 miles+ added to the odometer from May through November. The Coronet saw just 92 miles in all of last year! Gotta drive my baby again! I'd like to alternate weekends between the two.

 

[GetX'd]

I'm coming up on my 47th anniversary with my 68 GTX this November. I'm thinking about renewing our vows. And yes we still sleep together ....

 

[patrick66]

Well, the time and money spent at my friend's shop with the Coronet is turning out to be a great thing for me and the car! Steve called me this evening and gave me the verdict on what has been up with the '66...

First, the fuel pump was indeed bad, and I had brought out a new pump with the car. Car started but still ran rough.

Plugs and wires were next. Remember, the old ones had been on there since 1988. Do you remember Super Shops? Yeah, that long ago! Car ran better, but had issues on acceleration, pinged like hell, along with a slight miss and a bog off idle. Check the timing...holy crap! The advance was WAY off, as you can imagine! At full advance, it was at 55*!!! That is a good way to burn holes in pistons! The vacuum advance was dicked up, so he timed it, and plugged the vacuum port; so at full advance, it's more like 36*. Lots better all around!

The plan was to install an electric choke conversion on the 20-year old Carter AVS, but the carb has its own problems, and a general lack of parts availability for that particular carb. The electric choke kit sold these days is for a Edlebrock Performer carb. No parts source would say that the conversion kit would actually fit the early carb. A buddy of Steve has an Eddy 750 with the electric choke kit, both new in the boxes and never used, for less than half of that carb and choke from a speed shop like Jegs. Hmmm, tough choice there...NOT! He's going to install the new carb tomorrow. Last thing is the MP electronic ignition problem. Occasionally, the car would cut out and just die. Turn the key and it would start right back up...80% of the time! The problem was one of the wires off the box had an internal break, which was discovered with an ohmmeter. Steve has an unused, new ignition harness, ready to go on the car!

So, as of this Saturday, the car will be ready to drive home! I'm very pumped at this! I've put so few miles on that over the past two decades. Been tempted many times to just say "screw it!" and throw a "For Sale" sign on the car. I'm so glad I've managed to battle that temptation! I'll have a nice 35-mile drive home with the car on Saturday. Tme to get it home, detail it up nice, and enjoy the **** out of it this Summer!!!

 

[patrick66]

Holy crap, does this car run great, or what! No leaks, pings, misses, hesitation, stumble, or fuel starvation! Starts at the first turn of the key. Drives right & shifts right. It hasn't run this good in two decades! My wife said I had a grin from ear to ear! I still do, actually. I stopped and washed a year of shop dust off it on the way home. Started out with a full tank on the way home, drove 30 miles and checked the fuel mileage...just under two gallons and 15.6 mpg! That with 3.23 gears and an automatic. Pretty decent!

I can't tell you how discouraged I have been by this car in the past. Now that another set of hands has taken care of the Coronets' problems, it's running like it's supposed to! I'm going to spend this week detailing and waxing it, then hit one of the local shows on Saturday. Happy days!

 

[patrick66]

After a weekend of 80 mph straight-line winds and nearly seven inches of rain, today was a wonderfully mild day in the high '70s...so, what else to do after work but take the Coronet out for a spin! The car sat for a week, so I wanted to see if it would start right up again like it did when I picked it up a week ago...and it did! I love the sound of this car! The mufflers are Walker Turbo-style mufflers that have been on it since 1992, and they sound magnificent still! I hate the sound of Magnaflows and such, as they make any car sound like a damn new Mustang! The car settled right to idle and sounded soooo good! I took the Coronet out for a five-mile run around the block, enough to warm it up sufficiently and have fun in the process. Didn't wash it yet. I'll wait a day to do that. It got plenty dirty from the downpour we had last week that we got caught out in!

 

[patrick66]

Took the car out for a nice drive this morning. We were looking to go to a particular car show, but found out it's next Saturday! Had a nice 50-mile run, nonetheless. Today is shop-cleaning time! Pulled the vehicles out, started sweeping, and filling the trash bins up with a season full of crapand trash. Here's my four outside together.