Grab a cold one and take a minute to read

[moparchris]

So, everyone here has a car that started it all for you. I would love to hear about everyones story about "the car" that left the imprint that makes every one of us sick in the head for these four wheeled wonders. Here is my story, it has a cool twist in the end.

Ok, it was the summer of 1980 I think and my dad comes home to tell us that we have to leave our home, as I knew it at 7 years old anyways, and move to a new place. He had gotten a promotion at the post office, long time coming, the catch was we had to move. Now this was the worst news for me as I didnt want to make new friends, I liked the ones I had thanks. As it comes time for us to move I am informed that my dad had purchased a new ride for a new toy in celebration of his promotion. It was a yellow 1968 roadrunner. Never heard of it, I was already a car buff and was learning the ropes of all the different cars and had already latched onto the musclecar thing. Now my dad had already pumped me up with stories of his 68 GTS with a 383 (the worlds greatest motor in his opinion) with its 4 spd that he had ordered new from Glendale Dodge when he came back from Viet Nam. But I digress, so here I am trying to figure out what the hell a Roadrunner is and all I can picture is a 74ish Dart! Well the day come for our big move and after we get settled in we head over to Daves house, his new boss, and pull up to the curb to what had to been the center of all things Mopar (didnt know what that was...yet). I mean, he had 2 71 Hemi Cudas, an orange drop top 440 challenger, a green 69 charger 500 with a Hemi, Yellow 6 pack Superbird, 2 T/As one blue/one orange, his original owner 70 Roadrunner 383, 69 Superbee with a Hemi (which by the way was in Car Craft real street eliminator 2 and was the only auto in the place!), the lone Phord a 67 GT500 shelby with a 428 and 2 fours, and a lowly Sunfire yellow 68 Runner with Torquethrusts on it backed sideways in the approach to the driveway. My life forever changed. We piled into the runner and took here home. When we got home my dad and I went for a little cruise, and WOW I have never been sideways in a car before and this moster could do it on command in the first 2 gears. Every little noise from the whine in the gear box in the lower gears to tink it made when it was cooling down after a thorough pounding was stuck in my head forever. I think that car got more wax than a candle factory from me during the next five years. That car was religeously washed weekly and waxed monthly by me, lovingly. My parents didnt really understand the infatuation, I would bug my dad about changing the oil and hung on every move during the process. I saved every penny I earned from my paper route and odd jobs over the years knowing that the day would come and I wanted to be ready to buy it fair and square from my parents as they werent in the habit of giving things away. I even had to buy my own bikes and such over the years and did so frugally so as to not cut into the roadrunner fund. OK so I liked this thing, I think thats an understatement! Fast forward, I am 12 now and my dipsh*t brothers are of driving age. Well my parents were smart enough to not give them this rolling freight train of a car and decided to sell it. Heres my chance, so I approach them with caution and present to them the bank book revealing to them that I had saved enough money to pay their asking price of $2500. Well lets just say that my dad actually laughed outloud. The answer was NO! See I was a responsible kid and never got into trouble and worked hard so that I could stay under the radar and generally do whatever I wanted. Well the car went into the Autotrader and multiple people came to see the car. They would him and haw and low ball my dad and each time he would complain about it to my mom I would humbly offer him the $2500. Well some nice guy came along and bought it for his son (thanks dad) as a graduation gift. Hell of a guy. I remember that day as well very well. So well that I wrote the guys name, city he lived in and the license number down (like I didnt have that memorized). Anyways the cars gone, long gone just a memory and a dream to one day own a 68 runner. 2 years later I bought, unbeknownst to my parents, a 68 Dart which I still own to this day. When we dragged it home, thanks to my brother who was always there for me, my dad went through the roof. He took a look at it and I could see that he actually liked it and kinda wished he never sold his. Under the hood was a wounded 273, which pleased my old man and he allowed it only if I kept the 273 as the 273 never could be made fast. True to my word I made him eat his as the little 273 pushed that car into the 13s. Oh well, the 68 runner never left my though and I still dreamt of the day a 68 would come my way, our old 68 would be the best scenario. By now I am out of high school and free of my old man and his "you cant do that" attitude, life goes on and I get to work as a mechanic at the local gas station and a few years go by and a few Roadrunner go by but none fill the void and I find myself daydreaming of that sunfire yellow monster. The search begins. I still had the scratch piece of paper and I get one of my cop buddies, actually its the cop that wrote me many tickets in my Dart and its 3 inch flowmasters, to run the plate number and it comes up with an address and that its non-op status. So I did what any crazed maniac would do, I loaded up my good friend in my truck and we roadtrip 3 hours to go find the address and knock on the door only to find that the address is actually a p.o. box. Dead end, this goes on 2 more times. My dreams crushed and I gave up and realized that it hadnt been registered in ten years and I came to the realization that it probably had been wrecked and or parted out. Bummer, collosal bummer. This May I am at my bachelor party and one of my cop buddies, that I made when we moved to Orange County, asked about the Runner since he knew it well too. I said I think its dead and gone but I still have the info and I hadnt run the plates in 5 years or so. He calls me one night and asked for the plate number and he would run it. Well it came up currently registered! So I did a Zabba search of the guys name and city and got his address. I wait about 10 seconds before I found myself at his house. Worried, I kinda felt like a stalker and all but my intentions were innocent enough right? I pondered for awhile and decided that I would just go up and knock on his door. Knock knock, I wonder who will answer and will they be mad at me, well it was his dad and I remember his face even though it had been 24 years. I told him my story and asked if his son still had the runner. He said that his son gave it back to him when he lost his license after too many tickets. I asked if the car was there and could I see it? Well no, see it was at his other kids house stored in the garage. We talked for a few hours and laughed at what lengths I went to find him. Well all in all we became friends, and he was glad that I found him. We parted ways and exchanged numbers promising to get together soon to have a reunion of sorts. Yesterday I went to his house to help him work on his El Camino and see my long lost friend. I have to say that he took decent care of it, as soon as I turned the corner there it sat and immediately I knew I had found my long lost friend. I took a few minutes to check her out and say hello and remember all the good times that I was fortunate to have. We got to work on the Camino and got it running then it was off to the local Fuddruckers for a burger, it was the weekly cruise night. After a nice visit and few more calories for my spare tire we set to drive back to his house. He tosses me the keys and I politely tell him no thats okay even though I really want to go for a cruise under my heavy right foot. He insisted and told me that wasnt an option. Well I take up residence behind the wheel of the car that I had last driven 24 years ago. See my dad is an alcoholic and would sometimes, more like verytime, drink too much and then have no way home. At least he didnt drink and drive, soo that left me the 12 year old to drive the runner home. WooHoo thats when I learned to drive, well it escalated to me stealing it when my parents would leave on vacation to vegas. My old man also had a gambling problem, I bet you guys are getting a feeling of how much I like him, oh well they would go to vegas and I would exercise the runner on saturday nights for them! We had some good times, now back to it we drove towards the house and he asked me if I wanted cruise some more and who am I to tell him no? After about an hour of running it around the beautiful hills of South Orange County at dusk we get home. We say our good buys and I head home a very happy guy and feeling good that someone had taken care of my friend.


I know this has been a long rant and I am going to reward you with some pics. Now there is alot more to this story and if you guys want to hear it let me know and I will post it. Well enjoy the pics and this is how it all started for me.

 

[moparchris]

Some more pics

 

[moparchris]

.....And more

 

[Big John]

Great Story!!! :drive:

 

[ACME A12]

Good story Chris. I kept waiting for the part where you brought her back home...maybe someday... :cheers:

I'll share mine too when I get a little more time...

Ray

 

[69hemibeep]

Oh the stories behind some of these cars and the people are great I remember this time, oh never mind

 

[mcmopar]

Great story, Chris. Like Ray, I'll post my story a bit later, too. It involves 2 '69 road runners - one of which (my current one) I've owned twice!

 

[moparstuart]

AWESOME STORY . yes lets here more about your story . I hope you end up with the car someday

 

[mcmopar]

As promised - here is mine:

Way back in the summer of 1970 my dad was looking for a car. We lived in Ft. Wayne, IN, having moved there recently from Westerville, OH. Dad worked at Monroe Business Machines' Ft. Wayne office where he was a repair man. He fixed adding machines and other kinds of business machines.
Well, he was looking to get another car at the time so we went car shopping. I remember that we ended up at a place called Flaugh Motors, a small used car lot just west of downtown. When we stopped in I noticed 3 or 4 cars that caught my attention. There was a 1969 B5 Blue Metallic (I just knew it was blue at the time) Plymouth road runner; (383 automatic with a blue interior, bucket seats, console and floor mounted shifter), a 1969 Dodge Charger; (gold, black vinyl top, black interior, bench seat, column shift automatic, 383-2bbl), and a 1969 Plymouth road runner; (Q5 Turquoise, black interior with bucket seats, 383 4-bbl engine and 4-speed transmission). The blue road runner was also optioned with PS and PB if memory serves me, and the Charger was decked out with PS, PB and A/C. Mom liked it best and wanted that one. The Turquoise road runner had only the bucket seats and 4-speed; no PS, no PB and no A/C. It didn't even have fancy wheel covers like the blue road runner and Charger had. Nope, it had wheels painted body color and those funky dog dish hubcaps that said "Plymouth Division."
We took all 3 on test drives over the next day or 2 and Dad rung them out! By far the quickest of the 3 was the Turquoise 4-speed car. Mom didn't like it because of the heavy steering and 4-speed but wouldn't you know it, that's the one dad liked best! I remember we took it out for a test drive one evening and stopped to get some gas at a Lassus Bros. gas station just west of St. Joe Hospital (ever been there Jerry?). I remember the price listed on the sign: $0.33/gallon! Dad put in a dollar's worth(!) and we then proceeded to go on our little shakedown run. Dad got on it hard on one street and broke traction in all 4 gears - he told us kids; "shhh don't tell the man back at the car lot I did that!" Our lips were sealed! We wanted this car, too! What a car! I remember going to the bank with my dad to get the loan money for the car and then going down to pick it up. Mr. Flaugh had the car listed for $1800 but dad got it after some dickering for $1500! I still remember watching him drive that thing. I used to sit in the back seat right behind him and watch him bang through the gears, then when he hit 4th gear he would take his hand off the shifter and just cruise. I loved watching that shifter shake and move around. We used to beg rides from dad by asking to go to the downtown library (I was into military history and the library had the best selection of books). We'd go with him wherever he went if we could just to get a ride in the car - partly because he would get into street races sometimes. He never lost a street race. Life was grand for this 13 year old boy...
Fast forward to the spring/summer of 1974. The gas crunch was on and dad had bought a 1973 Honda Civic. He was a salesman and doing a lot of traveling throughout northern Indiana. The road runner was getting 10-14 mpg and the Civic around 30 mpg - you do the math. He bought the Civic new in 1973 and the road runner sat in the driveway storing newspapers that my younger brother was collecting to recycle. He tried to sell it a few times - for as low as $600 - but no one bit. Of course, I was there acting all sad and depressed, too. I wanted to do anything to keep him from selling that car. The dog was using it as his bed - he jumped up on the hood and dragged his chain across the top front part of it scratching it all up. It looked awful. I was driving a 1966 Dodge Polara; 383 4-bbl (dad disconnected the secondaries), console, auto with floor mounted shifter with red bucket seat interior. The car was a cream color and it looked pretty good with the simulated knockoff wheel hubcaps it was sporting. Well, one day mom came to me and said "don't tell your father I told you this but he's thinking of selling of the older cars (66 Valiant wagon and the Polara) and letting you drive the road runner." !!! I about jumped through the ceiling! I used to dream of one day driving that car and now it looked like a real possibility! When dad sat me down and told me I played it really cool but inside I was screaming for joy! He told me he'd pay the insurance (liability only) but I had to pay gas and maintenance. What a deal! Here I was, a 17 yr. old kid in the summer of 1974 getting ready to go back to high-school for my senior year, driving one of the meanest, baddest, coolest cars ever made! "Man - life doesn't get any better than this" I remember thinking. I painted the leading edge of the hood (where the dog scratched it up) and cleaned it all up inside. Then, on my 1st time solo behind the wheel of the road runner, I took it to get it inspected. What a rush! That 4 speed pattern was so tight! I accidentally stuck it in 3rd gear thinking it was 1st more than a few times until I got used to it. It passed inspection and I was good to go!
I drove that car until 1983. It was there for us when we got married in 1980 (got pics of it all decorated) and it towed a 6'X12' UHAUL trailer from Indiana to Florida when we moved down in 1981. Unfortunately, it could not withstand one enemy - rust. Being a daily driver northern car without undercoating it rotted away bit by bit after we got down here. I finally had to sell it off piece by piece; the engine was sold first (a 440 I had transplanted into it in 1977) and then the rest of it shortly thereafter. The guy that bought the body allowed me to take anything off it I wanted - he only wanted the interior and 4-speed transmission. I got the wheels, tires, power bulges, grille, headlight bezels, tail light asssemblies and "road runner" trim pieces. Now, here is where the story starts for my present bird.
Shortly before selling my beloved but now hopelessly rusty road runner I began searching for a replacement. I wanted another road runner. I looked for quite some time and was ready to give up and go buy something else - a muscle Mopar of some kind - when I got an AutoTrader and noticed a 1969 Plymouth road runner listed for sale for $1800. I immediately called about the car even though I only had $1400 to spend. We went and looked at it on a Friday night. It was Ivy Green with a saddle/tan interior, PS, PDB, A/C, 4-speed transmission (what luck!), Trak-Pak performance option (4-piston power disc brakes, heavy duty radiator with clutch fan, Street Hemi rated suspension [leaf springs, torsion bars and front sway bar] 3.55 Sure-Grip 8-3/4" rear end) and rear window defroster. It was wearing very funky cop car bumper guards (big tall suckers) up front, black wheels and baby moon hubcaps. The body needed work - a little rust in the lower quarters and the passenger door paint was peeling from some previous sloppy repair work. The owner's name was Ken Mickenberg and he was the original owner. He explained that he had ordered the car from a dealer in Queens, New York when he lived up there and brought the road runner down with him when he moved to Florida about 6 months after buying it. He said he really did not want to sell it but he had a 65-66 Mustang he was fixing up for his wife. I told him I could give him all the money I had and flashed the cash - $1400. He and his wife went off to the side to talk it over and finally came back and agreed to let me have it for the $1400. I gave them the cash and drove it home. It sat for a month outside my apartment until I could get the money to pay the taxes and fees for registration. What a nice car it was to drive. The power steering made a world of difference and the Hemi suspension made it seem like it was an a rail when you cornered - you could really throw that car around. The funny thing was my wife liked the old car better! She didn't much care for the power steering and the clutch felt different. She would drive the 1st one all day long but she would not drive this one. I always thought (and still do) that was kind of funny. She still won't drive this car to this day, either.
Over time I began to make a little more money and I started saving to get the body work and a paint job done. I finally got enough dough to do the job and had it painted around Nov-Dec of 1985. I had new carpet put in, too, but the guy messed it up and used a non-stock carpet which had finished seams. What happened was that he didn't line up the seams around the shifter hole correctly. It was really botched but I wasn't bold enough at the time to tell him to fix it so I paid the man and drove it home. I had the body shop apply the black hood stripes even though they did not originally come on the car. A friend of mine told me "you'll be sorry you didn't do it if that's what you really want." I thought about that and spent the extra $200 to get them done. To this day I‘m glad I took his advice.
I drove the car until 1988 when I had a fender-bender with it that destroyed the passenger front fender, valence, headlight bezel and grille and bent the bumper. Fortunately for me I had some of the replacement pieces so I found a fender from local guy, had the bumper redone and had it all fixed up. My wife and I were having some problems and the expense of getting the car fixed up did not help. The accident was my fault and I did not have full-coverage insurance at the time so I decided to sell the car and keep my wife. I had the car appraised at a place called Rader's Relics and it was valued at $5200 so I listed it for $5200 in the AutoTrader. The first Friday it ran I received a call from a very interested guy who badly wanted to see the car but he couldn't make it that night. I told him it was no problem to wait until the next day since no one else had called about it. He showed up the next day with a friend and he told me they were down here from Stratford, Connecticut on vacation. He had recently been awarded a settlement in a lawsuit and he was looking to buy a car. He had looked at a lot of junk that people thought were gold (sounds familiar doesn't it?). He took one look at the ‘runner and went ape! We drove it and started talking price. His buddy did the talking and asked me "would you take $4850 for it?" I could see they wanted the car and it was a lot of money back then so I said "yeah". I delivered it to them on a Monday night in Palm Bay, FL (over by Daytona) and went home with this gigantic empty feeling inside. No more road runner. I'd driven one for 14 years and been around one for 18. It hurt - bad. But I was able to get a more economical car and buy a replacement wedding band as a present for my wife's RN school graduation, (her original was taken in an armed car jacking a couple of years before.) She opened the ring case and burst into tears when she saw her engagement ring and wedding band together again. She told me "I never thought I'd see it again." Even though It's not the original wedding band she still wears it to this day...
In 1994 we started talking about how much fun it would be to have a "fun car" again. We were a lot more financially secure now and we had a little "mad money" to play with. We ended up with a 1971 Charger SE. I really wanted another road runner or even a '68-'69 Dart 340 but I couldn't find a decent one and the money was burning a hole in my pocket. Shortly after acquiring the Charger I somehow hooked up with a lady by the name of Michelle Morton. She owned a private investigation firm by the name of "An Eye For Detail." We got to talking about my old road runner and she said if I remembered the name of the guy I sold it to she could find him. I told her he had an unlisted phone number (I had already tried to find him) but she looked anyway and found a couple of listings by the name of Fiorella. I told her that Mike had told me that his dad worked at a car dealership up there in Stratford, CT. She somehow got info on one of the listings on a Fiorella that worked at a car dealership. She gave me the number and I called the man. I explained what I was trying to do and asked him if he knew Mike Fiorella. "Yes", was his reply, "he's my son". Yow! He gave me his home phone number and I immediately called it. Mike answered the phone and I introduced myself and asked him about the car.
"What's wrong with the car?", was his nervous reply, "nothing - I was just trying to track it down to see if I could buy it back", was my reply. He told me that he had sold it and he thought it had been sold again after that. We chatted for a little bit a and I hung up - deeply disappointed that I might never see the car again. I called Michelle and told her what had happened. She said if I could come up with the VIN she could track it down. I went home and began digging around for the appraisal Rader's Relics had done for me because I remembered that the appraiser had written the VIN on the appraisal sheet. I found it, called Michelle back, gave her the VIN and told her that it was last known to be in Stratford, Connecticut. She called back about a week later and said, "...this is strange. Didn't you say this Mike Fiorella told you he sold the car?", "Yes", I said. "Well, I've got information here that says it is still registered in his name in the state of Connecticut! Do you want me to send someone by his house and see if he still has it?" "No", I said. "If he wants it bad enough to lie to me about it he must really like the car. I know it has a good home." I figured he just did not want me calling and bugging him about selling the car back to me. (As it turns out, Mike was telling the truth. The car was in Chappaqua, NY at the time). So I drove the Charger for 6 years and enjoyed it very much. I met a lot of nice people as a result of owning that car and I miss it a little bit, I must admit. Still, in the back of my mind there was always this recurring thought, "yeah, it's a nice car, but it's just not a road runner..."
Fast forward to May 12, 2000. Jerry (moparmoose3) and I are on the road to Louisiana. I’ve got to check out this GTX I‘ve found. It was a major "cluster" if you know what I mean. In the mean time I've got a buddy who tells me he can track cars by VIN (he too is a cop). I've told him the story behind the road runner and his interest is piqued. He thinks he can find it for me. Once again I go hunting for the appraisal I'd had done so many years ago - only this time I can't find it. "I know it's in this drawer", I told myself but I don't see it. Now I'm getting desperate so I look in every drawer in the house. Nothing. So, I calm down, think about it and tell myself, "you left it in your lower right drawer in your dresser - it has to be there." This time I go into my room and in a calm and careful manner I go through every piece of paper in that drawer - and there it is! I was just going too fast the first time. This appraisal is like gold to me. I take it to my friend and write down the VIN for him and he tells me he'll get back to me. Sure
enough, about 3 days later he calls me up and says "Henderson, Nevada - I'll call you later with more details." Holy Cow! Henderson, Nevada?! How in the world...? A little later my buddy calls me back and tells me who owns it and where he lives. Now I've got something to work with! I have internet access now so it was time to run a search to see if this fellow had an internet account. I used 3 different search engines to try to locate this gentleman. Sure enough, I found a screen name matched to a name that had to be my guy. And guess what - he had an unlisted phone number! Man! How come this car winds up with everyone in the world with an unlisted phone number? Well, there is always email so I wrote an email message and sent it out - and heard nothing. For 4 days. So I went into AOL's Mail Central and unsent the mail and deleted it. This was May 16th or 17, 2000. I had found a 1970 road runner in Adel, GA that I wanted to go look at but in the mean time I thought, "you know, you really should try to reach that guy one more time". So I wrote a letter and stuck it in the mail and just for kicks I emailed a copy of the letter to the address I had tried to reach previously. Jerry and I hit the road on May 21 - but the 70 car was disappointing. We did get to ride in a 1967 4-speed Hemi GTX, though...
Tuesday May 24th; 6:30 AM. I'm checking my email when I'm jolted awake! A reply! Here is what it said:
"Hi John,
My son forwarded your letter to me. I was very surprised, to say the least. Had you not made reference to the car in the "subject" line I would not have opened the mail (The header of my email read: "Green '69 road runner with saddle tan interior). I brought the car out here last April and have been living here since. I am the 5th owner, having bought it from a guy named Scott in Chappaqua, NY. He bought it from Mike Fiorella (As it turns out, Mike sold it to the buddy who came down to Florida with him. He sold it to Scott). I tried to sell the car before leaving CT and as fate would have it, Mike (actually his buddy) called me when he saw the ad. We determined it was definitely the car he had owned but for some reason he decided not to buy it. I had no choice but to bring it with me. Scott had the motor rebuilt about 20,000 miles ago, and had the car repainted, keeping it the same color. As far as I can tell, the interior is in original condition. I, too, replaced the calipers. I had a nightmare of a time locating them. Unfortunately, one of them is pitted and keeps wearing out the piston seal, resulting in a slow leak. I bought them in CT from a car collector so I have little chance of getting it replaced. They were the only 2 calipers he had. The air conditioning components were removed and restored and have yet to be replaced. The summer heat here is intense so I need to get that done soon. I have the motor carbon cleaned regularly to remove the deposits caused by slow driving. I "get on it" whenever I can to blow it out, as well as for the thrill. I get a real kick out of blowing off today's so-called "muscle cars"! So far none of them have seen anything but my tailights. I replaced the 750 double pumper/ mechanical secondarys (it became pitted inside) with a Holley 650 double pumper/vacuum secondaries. My gas mileage improved by 30% and if the car is any slower, I can't tell. I love taking it to cruise nights. I have been here over a year and have yet to see another. I have had many offers, but so far nothing I was willing to sell it for. That's not to say I won't sell it. If you're seriously interested in buying the car I will be glad to send you some recent photos. Having once owned this car, I'm sure you would appreciate it for what it is - a true muscle car that deserves respect and care. Everything but the clock is in working order, but it does need some minor repairs. Let me know if you're interested."
He included his phone numbers and needless to say I called him that day and spoke with him. He told me some more about the car and I told him that, yes, I was very interested in getting it back. He sent another email message to me describing everything he had done to the car, everything it needed to have done to it and the price - get this - $8000! Oh, man! I sold the Charger for $8200 and had spent roughly $200 on a pair of road trips leaving me with - 8000!!!!! You know, the good Lord is really, really good to me! I immediately told him that I would pay his price if the car was as good as he was telling me. Well, I got the pictures he sent to me - and let me tell you something - it looked so sweet! It looked as good or better than the day I sold it and it was extremely nice when I sold it. According to the current owner (John), Scott - the man he bought it from - had the car repainted and had the engine rebuilt about 20,000 miles previous. It had a bigger cam in it and even had been converted to electronic ignition. I'm just amazed at how it all worked out. There was nothing seriously wrong with the car and according to the John it had been garage kept since the time he bought it.
I originally wrote this story for my car club's newsletter back in June of 2000. As I wrote this the check was arriving in Henderson, NV and the car transporter was due to arrive shortly thereafter. It came home on the truck (open transport) filthy so the 1st thing I did was wash it. That is the only time since I have owned it this 2nd time that it was washed with a hose.
It was truly been something I will never forget. To get my old road runner back after a 12 year absence was just indescribable. And in such good condition! I'll never let it go again, at least not by choice. I wrote; "I've already told my dad that it is coming back home and he thinks it's great, in fact, he got a big laugh out of it. I'm going to ask him to do me one favor - I'm going to ask him to drive it for me so I can sit right behind him in the back seat and watch that shifter shake while he drives it...just like old times when I was 13 years old........"

P.S. Sadly, I never did get my dad to drive it again before he passed away but when the car came back there were still items from his car (the 1st road runner) that I had put on this car that were still on it; the road wheels which he had bought in 1971 when he put new tires on it, and the grille assembly. When I got into the trunk there were tons of spare parts and paperwork and even the spare tire I had bought as part of a set of 5 back in 1977 before we moved from Ft. Wayne to Orlando. When I checked out the contents of the glove box I also found some small items that I had placed in there over 12 years prior! I had expected the engine compartment to be repainted since the car had been painted again in 1994 but when I popped the hood I saw some of the polishing compound on the firewall from the time I had the car painted in 1985. It was painted with multiple coats of F8 Ivy Green Metallic lacquer and the shop never cleaned up the engine bay after it was polished out.
I even got to show it to Ken Mickenberg, its original owner, shortly after I got it back in 2000. I knew how to get hold of him because in 1995 the engineering company I worked for at the time had hired him as a cadd drafter and when they brought him around to introduce to everyone we knew each other before we were introduced. He told me he wished he’d never sold the car to me and I knew just what he meant. So after I got it back I contacted him and he met me at one of our club’s cruise nights. He was happy to see the old bird again and we chatted for a short time before he had to go. There is a lot more to the story - I’ve only hit the highlights, but that’s the way it always is though, isn’t it?

 

[69hemibeep]

WOW. You guys have already heard mine :cheers:

 

[mcmopar]

post it anyway! And tell us how you scored that fine HEMI car!

 

[ACME A12]

post it anyway! And tell us how you scored that fine HEMI car!

X2!!! C'mon, Bob!

Not everyone has heard it - we have lots of new guys. Start writing...

:jester:

 

[ACME A12]

Okay - well, let's just say that I'm glad John's was lengthy too...

I would have great difficulty in pointing to any one car as the one that really got me started as a car junkie; I simply had too many early influences. My dad was a car guy, so there was always something around to enjoy. He seldom hung on to anything for any length of time, so there were a myriad of hot-rods & other toys in the driveway in my formative, preteen years. His old 413/pushbutton ‘63 Dodge that was painted up like “Candymatic” and the Corvair-powered Dune Buggy were a couple of my favorites… Our family (Mom’s) car from ’66 – ’69 was a Hi-Perf 390-powered Galaxy 500 XL – replete with a 4-speed. He was so worried that I wouldn’t share his passion for cars that he set about planting the seeds early; I was all of six years old when he shoved me into his English Ford daily workhorse and taught me how to drive a 4-speed… Years later when I wheeled my caged and tubbed Pro-Street Z-28 into his driveway for the first time he conceded that his earlier fears were unfounded and that I might even be a bit TOO car-crazy…

I can however point to the car that got me started and focused on MoPars, as well as actually working on cars and building them. My dad was always mostly a Ford guy. Well, more exactly, he was pretty much an ANYTHING BUT GM GUY (he got the Corvair-Buggy in a multi-car trade – it was summarily banished to the backyard – even though he enjoyed the hell out of driving it…). Fast forward a few years and as I was coming of driving age my dad was now stationed on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. For any that don’t know, this is not a large island and you could probably count ALL of the hot American cars on the whole damned island using just your ten fingers. So when we started looking for prospective toys for me, the trail went cold rather quickly. One day in December of ’77 my dad, my buddy George, and I were checking out the cars at the Lemon Lot (a parking facility on-base where the GI’s bought and sold cars) when we spotted a maroon-colored Duster. A check of the for sale sign and a quick once-over proved that it met my and my father’s criteria: 1) It had a V8 (mine), 2) It had a manual tranny (ours), and 3) It wasn’t a GM product (his). Turned out to be a 340-motivated 1970 version, but at this point I had no idea what that really meant… We went home and called the guy – no cell phones in 1977 – and he agreed to meet us later that afternoon. We three went back over there to take it for a test ride. We all hopped in and dad put the old Duster through its paces. He wasted no time planting the loud pedal and we left the lot sideways prompting George to utter quietly (no unwanted tip-offs to the parental figure, you know…) “Oh, we have got to have this…” Turns out the car had factory 3.91 gears and no shortage of get-up-and-go. Asking price was $1,100. Dad offered the guy a grand. He declined – said $1,050 was as low as he would go. $1,025 counter offer. No deal. Dad gave him our number and asked him to call when he wanted $1,025 for it. We left. On the way home my wheeler-dealer father told me not to worry – “He’ll call us.” Three days go by and no phone call. I was climbing the walls. Finally convinced my dad to cough up the extra $25 by offering to do extra chores on top of the ones that I had already promised to do to earn his part of the bankroll (I had a part time job stocking shelves at the commissary). He calls – the car is gone. He even got the $1,100 asking price. I was devastated.

The months passed and I ended up with a Toyota and the promise of something yet-to-come with a V8. But nothing ever turned up. Dad finally offered to give me his prized ’70 Maverick - which would require a V8 transplant as it was a 200 six with a three-on-the-tree. We clinched a deal with a local wrecking yard to score the 302 & 4-speed out of a wrecked ’68 Mustang. The morning that we were set to go pick-up the engine & tranny my father asked me over a cup of coffee if there was ANYTHING on the island that already had a V8 in it that I wanted to take a run at; I don’t know to this day if he just hated the thought of giving up his Maverick with the ice cold A/C or if he didn’t want to go through the drive-train swap, or what. But he asked, and I still had it bad for that little Duster… I knew right where the car was – not hard to keep tabs on any car on an island smaller than most of our counties… We headed over to the owner’s barracks and he was actually outside tinkering with it. He had driven it so seldom that the pulleys had rusted up and it screamed like a howler monkey when he fired it up. He was trying to wax the belts to get it to stop… Turns out he was not much of a car guy and had bought it on a whim. He has owned it about 10 months and now wanted something more docile to drive around the base…we traded him my mom’s Toyota station wagon and $300 cash on the spot. I have to give credit to my father for having the stones to pull off such a trade – as my mother was none too happy with either of us as we tried to explain the situation upon arriving home with my first MoPar… My dad was a smart guy and saw to it that mom ended up with a much better car shortly thereafter…

That was October of 1978. I shipped that car back to the states in June of 1980 when we finally returned home. I still have it. It still wears its Japanese inspection stickers and decals certifying that the headlights were converted over to drive on the left side of the road. It has gone through many iterations, including being one NASTY-A$$ street racer in the eighties. It is due to go through at least one more iteration as it has been sitting for years. I’ll get her back to her glory one day – after all, she is the one that started it all...

A footnote: The “George” referenced herein during the test drive is still stuck with me too today, which is why I mentioned him by name. He’s still one of my best buds and lives outside of Atlanta. We still see each other often. Mac met him at Carlisle. He too is a huge MoPar fan, and it all started with a certain little maroon 340 Duster for him also…

:jester:

 

[69hemibeep]

post it anyway! And tell us how you scored that fine HEMI car!

When I get a little time I'll post it

 

[Hoosier Bird]

I'll get back with you when I get more time.............and yes we want to hear the rest of Chris's story, and yes, Bob, I'm not sure if I've heard your story or not........

 

[ACME A12]

John:

Great story. Even though I knew most of it already from hanging out together that day in Orlando it was still a blast to read.

Glad you got to keep the girl and the car in the end; hope I'm as lucky as you were... :yesnod:

:jester:

 

[A12]

WOW. You guys have already heard mine :cheers:

Not all of us okay I'm ready for it


MikeR

 

[69hemibeep]

Here we go. My dad who passed away at 64 was a mopar guy, not performance but he loved the land yachts. Over the years I strayed away, my first non mopar was a 64 falcon sprint all tan great high school car, and before that a 62 Valiant that I forced a 392 hemi and auto into. It was a pile of junk but to a kid it was a car and fast! Next was a 66 Satelite red w/black vinal top black VIP interior console 4spd 383 beautiful car until I rear ended an oil truck and totaled it. I then put a 67 barracuda together with the drive train from my Satelite, very much warmed up wheel stander, 13.5:1 crane 312 duration cam 426 wedge heads 456 rear, enough of that one. I also purchased a 70 Barracuda 318 auto as a driver. I got loned out as a young telco installer to a little farm town for a month and needed a car to get around in while I was there and found a 69 GTO 4spd console that burned oil for 75 bucks. I gave that to my brother when I got home. Then one night at the lot that all us car guys would hang out at, rolls in a 69 runner. This car had 4 adults in it and had just whipped a 69 Z28 and a good running 55 chevy. Its was a beautiful f8 car with 383 emblems on the hood( yes I said beautiful f8). I was the only mopar guy there so we talked until everyone else had left, and he finally lifted the hood to expose the Hemi! Well we became friends and about a year later I traded both barracudas for the runner. As a side note my dad was raising hell about my hot rods and said son your married now with one on the way grow up. So I call him that Sunday and said dad Im bringing over my new sedan, he was elated until he saw it Well along came the gas crunch of 75 and I had to unload it as it was a daily driver and I got $2500. for it. My wife had a 72 Firebird and I bought a 72 Suzuki 750, so times were different. Over the years the wife and I both missed the runner and 18 years later along comes a new neighbor just two doors down with a Hemi runner. I quickly Ran down and welcomed him to the new hood and of course checked out the car. Sometime shortly after his arrival I hit him up for the car but it was a no go, so I told him to take good car of my future car. He then had trouble passing the smog test and not being much of a mechanic he screwed up the main carb by doing a prezel job to a metering rod, followed up by putting the distributor in 180 degrees off and burned up the starter. It set for 15 years. We had moved about a mile or so away but I would check in with him about the car and if he had enough of it every year or so, when one day he said you can have it, call me tomorrow and I will have an amount figured out. The next day I called and he hit me with a number so low, I had to ask if he was sure and he wouldnt take any more. Well I hadnt seen it in a few years but I went over with a cashiers check and closed the deal. He always had it in a garage but since I saw it last he had left the windows down and the air cleaner off hood up and had taken in about 30 cats that had free run of the car, it was nasty. Thats how I got it about 5 years ago!! As a side note he was the original owner of the car. I added a pic of how I got the car

 

[ACME A12]

Good job, Bob!

You left out one part though - how you got the name in your avatar... :haha:

My first drive with Ginger, just trying the name you know high maintenance and all although I liked Maryann more, was on the tires it had been sitting on for 15 years. You would have thought the wheel hadnt been invented yet.

:banana: :banana:


:jester:
ACME

 

[69hemibeep]

Good job, Bob!

You left out one part though - how you got the name in your avatar... :haha:

My first drive with Ginger, just trying the name you know high maintenance and all although I liked Maryann more, was on the tires it had been sitting on for 15 years. You would have thought the wheel hadnt been invented yet.

:banana: :banana:


:jester:
ACME

Did you save that :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: