My turn. My story starts out kind of like moparchris's story.
1975
I'm just 16 and passed my drivers test in Hibbing mn. No time to sit around and bask in the glory of that moment, we are moving, today. My mom takes me back home where the moving van has just pulled in, our ride is a 68 Fury wagon at the time. My dad has been promoted as an insurance salesman and is in the prime of his life and career. I too thought I was at the prime of my life at this time. Lets just say for the next several years I was a rebel (without a real cause), pissed off that I had to move from all my friends. A family of seven, I was blessed with four sisters, luckily I was the oldest or there would have been a lot of pics of me in dresses I'm sure. We landed in what they call West Central MN, a town called Willmar. I soon gave this place the name of Godforsaken Windswept Plain. My whole life before this was spent on the shores of Lake Superior and in the northern MN forest. Now my only plan is to somehow escape from this new place. I need a car.
Immediately I got a job as a dishwasher at the holiday inn motel chain in town, worked hard and saved up enough money for the downpayment and insurance on a car. At that time what I wanted was a 65 Chevy super sport or gto but what dad wanted was a safe car, who could blame him, he knew what trouble I could get into. Anyhow, ended up with a 65 Fury with a 318 Auto. It was starting to rust around the fender wells but other than that solid. My mechanical skills were minimal at the time, mostly focused on snowmobiles so far but I was eager to learn. The things I did to the Fury amounted to installing shag carpet and a kick butt 8 track and speaker system. It was a good first car and kept me out of trouble, mostly. I topped out the 120mph speedo one day with it and was scared out of my life but was amazed that it could do it. Next day the damn front passenger wheel bearing went out, seized right up. Guess it didn't take kindly to being spun that fast the day before. My love for mopars began with this car. Most mornings I'd meet this guy at an intersection on the way to school and he had a 66 Sport Fury with a 383 4 speed and he had cragers on it and it made my two tone white and rust car look like crap. I needed a new car. Six months later driving around I passed a car for sale on the side of the road that caught my eye, BIG TIME. I had watched the cartoons for years and that was the only real roadrunner that I knew until that day. All I knew was that I had to have this car. My dad kinda felt bad I think about making sure I had a safe car for my first car and since I was still alive to this point was as excited about this car as I was. Took it for a test drive, well dad did because it was a manual, damn, never driven one before. My dad and I were both smiling the whole time. He opened it up once for a couple seconds and I thought the front end came of the ground. Wow. Lift and float is a good description. The guy was asking 750.00 for it, Dad said 650.00 and we'll take it today. Dad drove it home. Dad matched up my old Fury with a lady that thought the shag carpet was great.
1976.
69 roadrunner. Vitamin C orange, well after washing and waxing I find out it was originally a b5 blue car peeking out in the nooks and crannies. The previous owner says its a 440 but shows 383 on the hood bumps, not original. It had headers and cherry bomb mufflers that ended at the back seat. 4 speed, black interior, aluminum slots with 50's series tires on all four corners. Looked like an orange Bigfoot without the lift. The guy had put air shocks on it at one point and punched the shocks thru the trunk floor. To remedy this he put a 4x4 in the trunk crossways to bolt the shocks to. This thing has been thru hell. No matter, I'm in love. Now I gotta learn how to use a clutch.
Luckily we lived close to some gravel roads where I could learn how to manipulate a clutch. Rather than kill the engine those 50's series tires would just spin on that gravel, I could drive it, yahoo! Did I mention the gas gauge didn't work, sh$t. My first drive into town forced to get gas, damn tires don't spin as easily on asphalt. Stalled it 3 times pulling into the Skelly station on Main Street. How embarrassing. Kept a journal in the glove box since that day on mileage so I knew when to fill up. Your mileage may vary as mine did. Got as low as 7mpg. And as high as 13mpg. My skills improved quickly and soon I had that beast tamed. The neighbors didn't like me too well as I banged thru the gears on the way out of the neighborhood.
So began my days as a bad ass Roadrunner driver. There was one other at high school, 69 black vinyl roof sublime green 383 auto. Beautiful car. Love that color as well. Never did get them side by side but raced quite a few camaros and mustangs in those days. Got into a bit of trouble one night after taking the boys out to the drive in movies. Heading home someone in the back seat said sounds pretty good but what can this thing really do? Hmmmmm, what did I do? Tromp on it. I hadn't unleashed the full power of this thing till that night but wow did it go. On a 4 lane highway out past the state hospital into the country we crested a hill and the speedo was over 110 but it was shaking so bad I could hardly look down to see it. All I heard from the passengers were a lot of expletives. The next thing I saw was a car parked off to the side with the marker lights on. Yep, mr smoky bear. Didn't want to hit the brakes being it was night and the lights would show so just let it rap, only other car around was a nice 55 chev that I passed coasting and rapping the exhaust. The cop got me at 63mph in a 55, but he said he knew I was going a lot faster , he had his window down and heard me from when I first got on it. There is a lot more to the story but got hauled in and had to have my dad come pick me up from the police station that night. Any time I went into town after that it seemed that I had an escort following me. Met my wife one hot summer day, picked her up and gave her a ride in the runner and been together ever since. We replaced the starter at least 3 times, put new smaller tires on the front, and had the ball joints replaced. The engine was getting tired and smoked pretty bad and one day threw a rod out the crank. Luckily I have an uncle in Two Harbors, MN that runs a salvage yard and he had a strong 383 from a roadrunner that was in a crash. Put that engine in by hooking a come along up to a tree in the yard. My best friend ended up getting a red 68 383 auto Roadrunner. We really got attention now parked side by side.
1977
Graduated from high school and decided it was time to grow up a bit and get a more reliable car that got better gas mileage, also one that the local law enforcement wasn't familiar with. Purchased a 74 Duster 340 auto. Nice car but nothing like the runner. Put a sign on the Roadrunner in the driveway and sold it to a kid who knew the car's reputation. Sold it to him for 850.00, only vehicle that I ever had that appreciated in value. Really wanted to hang onto it but had nowhere to keep it. The kid had his Dad drive it home since he didn't know how to drive a stick either. Heard a couple months later the Roadrunner caught fire and was sitting along side the road about 30 miles from town. Most likely it got crushed after that.
Time rolled on and went to college driving the Duster for another 7 years, replaced the engine in that once, again from my uncle's salvage yard. Drove the Duster to its grave literally in 1984 while going to the U of MN, barely got it to the scrapyard under its own propulsion. Got married had kids and did the minivan thing but knew there was something missing in my life. One spring I got to reminiscing about the old Roadrunner and thats what brought me to this website. Kids are now grown and in college. The slab that I poured for the boys to use as a basketball court will hopefully become the foundation for my dream garage and then the home of another 69 Roadrunner. Just gotta find a way to pay off all the college tuition bills.
1975
I'm just 16 and passed my drivers test in Hibbing mn. No time to sit around and bask in the glory of that moment, we are moving, today. My mom takes me back home where the moving van has just pulled in, our ride is a 68 Fury wagon at the time. My dad has been promoted as an insurance salesman and is in the prime of his life and career. I too thought I was at the prime of my life at this time. Lets just say for the next several years I was a rebel (without a real cause), pissed off that I had to move from all my friends. A family of seven, I was blessed with four sisters, luckily I was the oldest or there would have been a lot of pics of me in dresses I'm sure. We landed in what they call West Central MN, a town called Willmar. I soon gave this place the name of Godforsaken Windswept Plain. My whole life before this was spent on the shores of Lake Superior and in the northern MN forest. Now my only plan is to somehow escape from this new place. I need a car.
Immediately I got a job as a dishwasher at the holiday inn motel chain in town, worked hard and saved up enough money for the downpayment and insurance on a car. At that time what I wanted was a 65 Chevy super sport or gto but what dad wanted was a safe car, who could blame him, he knew what trouble I could get into. Anyhow, ended up with a 65 Fury with a 318 Auto. It was starting to rust around the fender wells but other than that solid. My mechanical skills were minimal at the time, mostly focused on snowmobiles so far but I was eager to learn. The things I did to the Fury amounted to installing shag carpet and a kick butt 8 track and speaker system. It was a good first car and kept me out of trouble, mostly. I topped out the 120mph speedo one day with it and was scared out of my life but was amazed that it could do it. Next day the damn front passenger wheel bearing went out, seized right up. Guess it didn't take kindly to being spun that fast the day before. My love for mopars began with this car. Most mornings I'd meet this guy at an intersection on the way to school and he had a 66 Sport Fury with a 383 4 speed and he had cragers on it and it made my two tone white and rust car look like crap. I needed a new car. Six months later driving around I passed a car for sale on the side of the road that caught my eye, BIG TIME. I had watched the cartoons for years and that was the only real roadrunner that I knew until that day. All I knew was that I had to have this car. My dad kinda felt bad I think about making sure I had a safe car for my first car and since I was still alive to this point was as excited about this car as I was. Took it for a test drive, well dad did because it was a manual, damn, never driven one before. My dad and I were both smiling the whole time. He opened it up once for a couple seconds and I thought the front end came of the ground. Wow. Lift and float is a good description. The guy was asking 750.00 for it, Dad said 650.00 and we'll take it today. Dad drove it home. Dad matched up my old Fury with a lady that thought the shag carpet was great.
1976.
69 roadrunner. Vitamin C orange, well after washing and waxing I find out it was originally a b5 blue car peeking out in the nooks and crannies. The previous owner says its a 440 but shows 383 on the hood bumps, not original. It had headers and cherry bomb mufflers that ended at the back seat. 4 speed, black interior, aluminum slots with 50's series tires on all four corners. Looked like an orange Bigfoot without the lift. The guy had put air shocks on it at one point and punched the shocks thru the trunk floor. To remedy this he put a 4x4 in the trunk crossways to bolt the shocks to. This thing has been thru hell. No matter, I'm in love. Now I gotta learn how to use a clutch.
Luckily we lived close to some gravel roads where I could learn how to manipulate a clutch. Rather than kill the engine those 50's series tires would just spin on that gravel, I could drive it, yahoo! Did I mention the gas gauge didn't work, sh$t. My first drive into town forced to get gas, damn tires don't spin as easily on asphalt. Stalled it 3 times pulling into the Skelly station on Main Street. How embarrassing. Kept a journal in the glove box since that day on mileage so I knew when to fill up. Your mileage may vary as mine did. Got as low as 7mpg. And as high as 13mpg. My skills improved quickly and soon I had that beast tamed. The neighbors didn't like me too well as I banged thru the gears on the way out of the neighborhood.
So began my days as a bad ass Roadrunner driver. There was one other at high school, 69 black vinyl roof sublime green 383 auto. Beautiful car. Love that color as well. Never did get them side by side but raced quite a few camaros and mustangs in those days. Got into a bit of trouble one night after taking the boys out to the drive in movies. Heading home someone in the back seat said sounds pretty good but what can this thing really do? Hmmmmm, what did I do? Tromp on it. I hadn't unleashed the full power of this thing till that night but wow did it go. On a 4 lane highway out past the state hospital into the country we crested a hill and the speedo was over 110 but it was shaking so bad I could hardly look down to see it. All I heard from the passengers were a lot of expletives. The next thing I saw was a car parked off to the side with the marker lights on. Yep, mr smoky bear. Didn't want to hit the brakes being it was night and the lights would show so just let it rap, only other car around was a nice 55 chev that I passed coasting and rapping the exhaust. The cop got me at 63mph in a 55, but he said he knew I was going a lot faster , he had his window down and heard me from when I first got on it. There is a lot more to the story but got hauled in and had to have my dad come pick me up from the police station that night. Any time I went into town after that it seemed that I had an escort following me. Met my wife one hot summer day, picked her up and gave her a ride in the runner and been together ever since. We replaced the starter at least 3 times, put new smaller tires on the front, and had the ball joints replaced. The engine was getting tired and smoked pretty bad and one day threw a rod out the crank. Luckily I have an uncle in Two Harbors, MN that runs a salvage yard and he had a strong 383 from a roadrunner that was in a crash. Put that engine in by hooking a come along up to a tree in the yard. My best friend ended up getting a red 68 383 auto Roadrunner. We really got attention now parked side by side.
1977
Graduated from high school and decided it was time to grow up a bit and get a more reliable car that got better gas mileage, also one that the local law enforcement wasn't familiar with. Purchased a 74 Duster 340 auto. Nice car but nothing like the runner. Put a sign on the Roadrunner in the driveway and sold it to a kid who knew the car's reputation. Sold it to him for 850.00, only vehicle that I ever had that appreciated in value. Really wanted to hang onto it but had nowhere to keep it. The kid had his Dad drive it home since he didn't know how to drive a stick either. Heard a couple months later the Roadrunner caught fire and was sitting along side the road about 30 miles from town. Most likely it got crushed after that.
Time rolled on and went to college driving the Duster for another 7 years, replaced the engine in that once, again from my uncle's salvage yard. Drove the Duster to its grave literally in 1984 while going to the U of MN, barely got it to the scrapyard under its own propulsion. Got married had kids and did the minivan thing but knew there was something missing in my life. One spring I got to reminiscing about the old Roadrunner and thats what brought me to this website. Kids are now grown and in college. The slab that I poured for the boys to use as a basketball court will hopefully become the foundation for my dream garage and then the home of another 69 Roadrunner. Just gotta find a way to pay off all the college tuition bills.
