Tempest 455
Well-Known Member
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.
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.
