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Factory Mopars - From a kids perspective

Tempest 455

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As promised in my introductory thread, here are some neat cars/stories from when I was a kid.

My Dad worked at Chrysler from 1966-1972 (probably the best years, performance wise) and then we moved in 1972. Strangely enough, my Dad had a different view on cars as my brothers and I. He was a scientist/engineer by education and worked in Mgt at Chrysler. To him cars were "products" to be manufactured/marketed and point A-B transportation. Even so, his situation rubbed off on me for many years to come. Because of his position on cars, he really did not care what he drove. As such, he would bring home the order forms and let the family pick them. He got at least 2 cars per year of his choice and my brothers were teenagers at the time.

We lived on an island in the middle of the Detroit river and most everyone that lived there worked for the big 3. So Mgt cars were considered "marketing" and free advertising. I remember many Mopar's in the neighborhood but also a lot of Mustangs. Back to my brothers and the order forms. My Dad did not care what he drove and my Mom probably did not care much either. He would give the forms to my brothers in Jr. High and High School and let them pick. Well they often picked stuff that looked cool, RT cars, wild colors, Super Track Pack options, HEMI, 440-6 etc. I was young and many stories had been relayed by them but I do remember a few specific events when my Dad would not like a particular car. Once he came home and complained about the HEMI Super Bee because it was "loud" and got terrible gas mileage. Who knows what it had for a gear but I bet they checked off a performance axle ratio. Funny part, my Mom drove that thing to the store and he drove a wagon to work.

My Mom used to love to tell stories of pulling out of the supermarket onto a highway in the HEMI Super Bee. She had white hair at an early age (40's) and probably looked older in the car. She said she would pull out in front of a bunch of cars onto the highway and they would all mover to the other lane. She would nail it and watch them all pull back over into the right lane behind her. She used to do this with me all the time in our 460 Lincoln also.

Memorable cars: '69 HEMI Super Bee, yellow, automatic. A Sublime Green '70 RT Challenger 440-6. (I have my picture as a kid next to that car). A '66 Sport Fury Convertible (I'm seated on the trunk in that one). Multiple wagons. A '69 Coronet RT. He also had multiple 440 Chargers, Road Runner, Cuda, Duster, a 1970 Simca (Jepoardy question) and the wildest, he got to take home one of the prototype turbine cars for the weekend. I asked him about that one about 10 years ago and he did actually think that was a cool car from an engineering standpoint.

Because of all this, I was able to name every car on the road when I was 3 years old. My parents used to play games w/ people and have them quiz me on what kind of car they had when I was little kid. I would rattle off what mfg it was, motor, options etc. Was a fun game as a kid. Moving forward brothers had Mopar's which fostered my love for cars even after he quit Chrysler and we moved. Once I got into high school I got a Dart and then after that moved on to Pontiac's which I love to this day as well.

Fast forward 30 years. I always have been looking for something like I remember from when I was a kid. My Dad got old, he moved in with my family at my house for a while and then went into a nursing home. He may have not really cared about cars but he is the reason I got into them. He was also hands down the most intelligent human being I have ever met and I learned just about everything from him. Unfortunately, age got to him and he died recently. After his passing, I decided I would would get a Mopar, something similar to what I remember as a kid.

The car I just found is the same color combination as the most memorable car from when I was a kid.
 

inri

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What an awesome story! How bout some pics of those cars if you can...
 

Tempest 455

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Most of the pics we had as a family from that time frame are in the form of slides but I do have some old photos. Let me see what I can scan and post up.
 

pinkpanthr

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So was the RR in your intro the one from Glasgow I saw on Craigslist?
 

Tempest 455

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Here are some old photos I found and pulled out. Took pics w/ my phone, cropped and re-sized. I will dig into the slides this winter (will be a long project) and see what I can find. Here was the street we lived on. You can see some other cars in the background. I'm the little one. The hippie is my brother in the early 70's w/ his '71 Cuda, 340 auto.

Will add more as I find them.

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Tempest 455

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Found a few more. That's my Mom, my brother and I in the '69 Sport Fury. Looks like maybe a '69 Cornet in the drive in front of it. Correction, the Simca was a '69. My Dad a few of the wagons. Another one of my brother's '71 Cuda and my Mom.

Scary pic of the early 70's w/ my brothers, their cars and my bike. Notice my brother put some white shag carpet in the rear package tray area and fog lights. God the 70's was ugly!

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Tempest 455

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While digging I found these pics of my buddy in high school who had (still does) a '72 Rallye Charger. 440, HEMI 4spd and Dana.

He bought it black, painted in yellow, modified it some more and then restored the car in the mid 90's the original Gold color.

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Basketcase

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great story! Sorry about your Dad.
Great pics, if only you could get some of those cars back!
 

69383RR

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Nice pics , its amazing how skinny everyone was back in those days ,not like today :cartman:
 
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inri

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Great pics! You guys sure washed your cars alot back in the day lol
 
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