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How many years have you owned a performance/classic vehicle ?

A performance car, 13 years. Performance trucks, since 76. I bought cars for my wife and kids, I always had trucks until I bought the Satellite. Always had a hot rod truck.
 
I bought my '75 Tradesman Brand New, and still have it, running & driving. It'll be 50yrs coming up soon !!!
 
In 1991 I bought a 1968 GTX for $1100. I've been addicted ever since, especially the Plymouths.
I have owned 4 1968 Mid-Size 5 examples: GTX, Satellite, Belvedere, and Road Runner which I still have from 1993 when I sold the GTX. I guess I'm destined to purchase a 1968 Sport Satellite someday?
 
I have this Charger going on 8 yrs. now. It's been registered and driven from May '19. This will be my only " classic car". I always wanted to restore a mopar but didn't have either the money, the right car, or opportunity until this dropped into my lap in 2016.
I have previously owned a '64 dart, a different '70 charger and a '74 duster but they were all in their respective time zones.
 
my first one was way back.... at the ripe old age of 14 i had a 70 SS 454/4speed malibu. (yes i crashed it)
in the 80's i worked in a junk yard in chochella ca. had a deal with the boss. he would sell me cars that came in for 100 bucks more than he paid for it.
had like 50 cars. mostly mopar's. .I have always had one just not always the same one. I did keep my dads 73 petty blue 400/4speed road runner the longest. 19years.
now i have 8 cars (mopar's and AMC's) that are 50+ years old. the mopars have always been wanted and the AMC's are now coming into there own as far as folks wanting them in there collection's.
 
A performance car, 13 years. Performance trucks, since 76. I bought cars for my wife and kids, I always had trucks until I bought the Satellite. Always had a hot rod truck.
Had a few 'performance' pickups with one being a 3/4 ton with a mild 400 in it and 3.55 gears. Back in the early/mid 80's, running mid 15's wasn't too bad but was kinda quick for a 3/4 ton pickup lol. Surprised more than a few with it with how hard it ran especially on the top end. Had some guy mess with me one night coming home from the drag strip and well, he had regrets doing that. He messed with me two times and I ignored that but the 3rd time was the charm. Ran that ahole off the road and ran off the road with him but knew that area. Never saw him again after that. I'm sure he thought I was crazy but since I knew the area, I knew how far I could take him but pretty sure he didn't know that lol. I don't take too kindly to anyone messing with me like he did.....
my first one was way back.... at the ripe old age of 14 i had a 70 SS 454/4speed malibu. (yes i crashed it)
in the 80's i worked in a junk yard in chochella ca. had a deal with the boss. he would sell me cars that came in for 100 bucks more than he paid for it.
had like 50 cars. mostly mopar's. .I have always had one just not always the same one. I did keep my dads 73 petty blue 400/4speed road runner the longest. 19years.
now i have 8 cars (mopar's and AMC's) that are 50+ years old. the mopars have always been wanted and the AMC's are now coming into there own as far as folks wanting them in there collection's.
Oh man....thought about working in a wrecking yard but was making too much money in the new home construction business....started in that at 14 when dad took me to work with him because I got into too much trouble during the previous summer lol. By the time I was 18 he turned me loose doing sub-contract work for him. Was making top wages for way fewer hours but there were days where the hours were a bit long. Still miss the smell of fresh lumber! Last job dad and I worked together was building my shop. I was 33 and he was 63 and can understand why he didn't like getting up on the top of the frame these days lol.
 
That‘s Where I’m from - St Anthony. That car destroyed all comers on Central, Lake St, Hiway 88, Hoover St and wherever else I ran into friendly competition - or pricks too for that matter. Those were the days. I did a ground up 7/8 yrs ago. I had all the work done up there except the bumper chroming and leather interior which i did out here in the LA area. The house in the pic is not mine - it's Murlowski's on Silver Lake - just after restoration was complete. If your BIL knows the current owner and is from St A he probably knows me too. Big family in the Village. My sister still lives in the family home there. Because of the lifestyle out here and how much freeways rule your life and plenty more - having the car out here was more of a pain than an enjoyment. The friend i sold it to had wanted that car ever since i bought it in 71. I never even tried to sell it on the open market. It was more about what i thought he could afford - not about the money. I could have made bank but wasn't trying to. No regrets it was time. The muscle car scene is much more alive up there than here where it was born. Its a shadow of its former self - and there's this weird cultural thing where different brand owners won't give the time of day to another brand owner. That really turned me off. No one knows how to work on these cars unless they own one. And lastly at $6/7 a gallon for diluted piss 91* and the mileage that six pack got ..... You can do the arithmetic and mental math and - after 48 yrs and see maybe it was time.

Tell your BIL hello from Kevin West.

Ronnie Haglund says hello. Apparently we may have met back in the day, Ron says we looked at your GTX when you still lived in St Anthony. He eventually bought the GTX that I now own from another St Anthony resident just a couple blocks from where he lived on Old 8 and Maple Lane.

Small world…
 
I'm 67, I've had a go fast car since I was 16. Had a few go fast boats also. I've always loved the smell of gas!
 
Started with a 65 Coronet 440 in 73 with a blown up 318 for $25. Bought my first Road Runner in 75. 68 383, 4 speed for $500. 69 RR in 80, 383 auto for $500. Nothing but Mopars ever since except 3 Furd pickups.
 
since i was 16 in 1971 , a 1966 plymouth sat commando 383 4spd 3.23 ls with redline tires . and always had one or more , i still have several hp mopar cars from the 60's even a 70 challenger rt . so 52 years of mopars .
 
Ronnie Haglund says hello. Apparently we may have met back in the day, Ron says we looked at your GTX when you still lived in St Anthony. He eventually bought the GTX that I now own from another St Anthony resident just a couple blocks from where he lived on Old 8 and Maple Lane.

Small world…
That's great. I have a remembrance of Ronnie Haglund. If memory serves me right i think he was a couple of years younger than I and more my younger brother Jimmy's age (2 years difference) and maybe his circle. This I'm not 100% on but i think he ran into the current owner Paul A at a car show in NE a couple of years back and recognized the car as being mine for all those decades. Paul keeps telling me he's been trying to shed that "hey isn't that Kevin West's car" thing and having his own identity with the car. I think that's gotten pretty old w/him pretty fast. Another reason he's never joined FBBO. He lurks here instead of joining. For what I "gave" him the X for he should have no complaints.

You know for quite a few years after i ended up taking my final corporate transfer here a lot of guys were calling my mom's home and asking how they could get a hold of me. They would want to know if i still owned the car and then would call asking to buy it. Some guys were just little squirts that used to see it parked up at the softball fields off Silver Lake by the High School when i played ball up there for many years. All those years later they remembered the car and me and wanted to buy it. It was never for sale, but it was kind of fun hearing the remembrances of those days from guys. I always come back up to Mpls twice a year and the single most asked question I've always gotten - "Do you still own that GTX?". Well for a while longer at least I'll be remembered for something.

Yes it sure can be a small world.
 
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Paul keeps telling me he's been trying to shed that "hey isn't that Kevin West's car" thing and having his own identity with the car. I think that's gotten pretty old w/him pretty fast.

He might as well get used to it. To people that remember it from way back then, it will always be "your car".

Here's Ronnie at the Street Machine Nationals, we were doing a lap of the fairgrounds when I pulled over and told him to swap places. He got to drive the GTX for the first time since I bought it from him in 1982, he said it made his summer...

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He might as well get used to it. To people that remember it from way back then, it will always be "your car".

Here's Ronnie at the Street Machine Nationals, we were doing a lap of the fairgrounds when I pulled over and told him to swap places. He got to drive the GTX for the first time since I bought it from him in 1980, he said it made his summer...

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Its been too long - I just don't recognize him today - just as likely he wouldn't recognize me. We've all aged a bit. Pretty cool thing to have him drive your X for a bit. Im sure that was a joy for him and a little wistful too.

Speaking of the Street Machine Nationals Paul took first place in whatever class he was in. I've tried to post a couple of pics - one of the X at the car show where I think Ronnie may have seen him and i also have a couple of the car at the Street Machines show. For some reasons I'm unable to post pics. Ive been off the site for quite awhile because my wife caught her second time around diagnosis of cancer at the beginning of the year - almost exactly 5 years from the first time. It's been that kind of year. Thank God for Cedars Sinai - maybe the top hospital in the country for executing a stem cell transplant for her type of cancer. It's been rough but she's doing pretty well at this point. We hope it keeps up this way. Stem cell transplants are no joke.

I'm looking at the insert you have on your posts. Looks like your X is a 69. Black? The old school caps on the wheels. Post it up. I'd like to see a good shot of it. Still like to see a post but now I've paid closer attention and your posts and see you have many of the bigger details also on your posts and avatar. I'm not blind - Just stupid.....

BTW - Did you remind Ronnie there's no smoking in any classic muscle car - least of all in a vintage X......

I'll try again in a new post.
 
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Its been too long - I just don't recognize him today - just as likely he wouldn't recognize me. We've all aged a bit. Pretty cool thing to have him drive your X for a bit. Im sure that was a joy for him and a little wistful too.

Speaking of the Street Machine Nationals Paul took first place in whatever class he was in. I've tried to post a couple of pics - one of the X at the car show where I think Ronnie may have seen him and i also have a couple of the car at the Street Machines show. For some reasons I'm unable to post pics. Ive been off the site for quite awhile because my wife caught her second time around diagnosis of cancer at the beginning of the year - almost exactly 5 years from the first time. It's been that kind of year. Thank God for Cedars Sinai - maybe the top hospital in the country for executing a stem cell transplant for her type of cancer. It's been rough but she's doing pretty well at this point. We hope it keeps up this way. Stem cell transplants are no joke.

I'm looking at the insert you have on your posts. Looks like your X is a 69. Black? The old school caps on the wheels. Post it up. I'd like to see a good shot of it. Still like to see a post but now I've paid closer attention and your posts and see you have many of the bigger details also on your posts and avatar. I'm not blind - Just stupid.....

BTW - Did you remind Ronnie there's no smoking in any classic muscle car - least of all in a vintage X......

I'll try again in a new post.
Thoughts and prayers for you and your wife sir!
 
I bought a 383 Sport Fury in 1968 which was surprisingly strong and took down a fair number of so-called musclecars. My Dad knew a Dodge representative up the street who drove some pretty cool Chargers and such. He asked him to drive it when I bought it to see if he thought it was OK. He told my Dad it was the strongest 383 he had driven. After that I had a 70 GTO, 4 speed and basically I was never without at least one high performance car - although some may want to subtract the 3 years I had a wild hair and ordered a new 85 Corvette. But even it had a bunch of torque and could move out. But got bored with it after 3 years and sold it and bought another 1966 427 Corvette in its place.

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I bought this car in December 1978 just in time for the worst winter in recorded history for northeast Illinois. Fortunately it fouled up the plugs a few weeks after I bought it and wouldn't start, and my dad recommended parking it until weather improved so we could dig into it and figure out why. That ended up being March or April after the pile of snow it became buried under melted. :lol:
Sort of a silly choice for a 16 year old then, and it probably doesn't make sense I hung onto it my whole life and spent a fortune ground up restoring it decades later resulting in a garage queen I rarely take out, but it did inspire me in becoming a lifelong Mopar fanatic with multiple vintage Mopar cars purchased over the course of my life (currently have 4 vintage Mopars and 2 late model Mopar drivers).

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17 years old in 1979, this was my car and still is!
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