Trying to get out of the funk of my Sister passing I'm going through some old pics she has stashed away.
Loving looking into the past and knowing there are many here whose first car was a mopar let's see what you have.
If your first car was not mopar don't despair, post up your first mopar.
Do add a little history.
Here's mine: at age 15 I bought an ex cop car at a municipal aucton, burnt valves, bullet holes, broken torsion bar and slipping trans.
Armed with a chilton manual, borrowed motor stand, and a strong limb of a walnut tree in our front yard I yanked the engine abd began a summers worth of learning.Dad was not a car guy so I read, and picked the brain (and borrowed tools) from a neighbor that owned a repair shop a short bike ride toward town.
He mechanic helped me pick out parts, cam, lifters springs,pistons, bearings, rings, distributor, some afb tricks a "hot coil" breathes some life into that tired 383. Never dynoed, I sure had fun beating a lot of my school buddies small block mustangs and camaro's. First race wiith a "big boy" was a guy with a hopped up gto. I thought I'd fall down as my legs were shaking so bad as I collected $50 bucks from him,
Car served me well through hs, and part way through college until a deer and cut slope strike shifted the front unibody. With everything mechanical yet good I swapped it into an I6 powered 53 ford p.u. and sold her off for a more economical Austin Healey I despised and into a Maverick to finish schooling. Promptly back into Mopars with a 72 340 Challenger. And, the beat goes on....
Nor Cal guys might notice the very Stroppini -like motor stand.

Cool Story and very sorry about your sister

MikeR

And yes my very first car was a Mopar. ordered in the spring of '69 a '69 Road Runner.

Here's my RR and that's my older sister back in '69, had it for over 10 years.

I never had a car until I got a job after graduating HS. My dad wasn't going to help me get a car with the rotten grades I was getting.
After graduating and getting a job, he did however let me drive his '65 Rambler 4-door until I could save up enough for my first car.
I remember that 6-cyl Rambler used an oil filtering system that used a roll of toilet paper.
I saved every penny I could for 6 months and found a nice used 340 '71 'cuda with about 10K on it.
I don't have any early pics of the car but here's one from around '74. I sold it to my younger brother and I still miss it.

Went from a 76 charger SE to a 75 Cordoba to a 79 ramcharger

My first car was a 1969 Road Runner, 383, 4 speed, bench seat! I bought it in 1977 for $700......I wish I still had it!

Same color combo as this with aluminum slot mags and a slant 6. Torsion bars cranked down first thing to give it some rake.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/affordable-fun-1971-dodge-dart-swinger

The 1st car I drove was not a Mopar, and the 1st car I bought was not a Mopar, but all of them since have been. I learned my lesson early. I have a pic of that 1st non-Mopar I bought, but nothing after that until several years later.
From about the time I was 20 on, my wife and I had 3 Mopars, a pretty nice one for her, a beater for me to get to and from work, and a hot rod toy that got broken a lot. 45 years worth of always having at least 3 Mopar drivers means we had a lot of them., but very few pictures of anything other then the toys.

A little adjustment for you.

[69 GTS Dart 383 Auto.

This car was worked over from day one.
My Cousin's friend bought it new and drove it hard and wrecked it a few times.
It got bought out of a junkyard with a blown engine. A 69 Superbee was sitting next to it that had been hit in the back by a train.
Superbee engine went in the Dart.
My Brother bought it from the guy that saved it.
I bought it from my Brother.
My first Car!
I had the car for about 3 years. I blew up the 383 and stuffed a 440 from a wrecked 68 GTX.
I sold the car when I went to college
All this was in the late 70's
Car has been lost to time.

While not the picture of my first car, as I seem to not have it on this computer, this ad shows the high-end version of the '67 Coronet station wagon that was my first car. It was originally purchased new by my maternal grandpa, and I remember it was originally white with rubber floor mats and black seats. By the time I got it, the right front fender had been replaced with a maroon fender from another Coronet or Charger, and the rest of the car was baby blue, with some kind of material covering the black seats.

I do have some black and white picture that my father took of it after a friend TP'd it, but I can't lay my hands on those, either.

My first car was a '69 Dart Swinger 340 4-speed car. No pics, wish I still had it...

Found another.
This had to be '76 in the fall. I wrecked the Belvedere finishing up a summer gig fighting forest fires (had them back then too). I was back at College with the AH and the new to me maverick. There was no way I planned on buying a set of henway (or whatever they are called) wrenches.
Also in pic was my late sister, and cat named Tersch an all black manx.
Going through the memory filled boxes I keep coming across items that I wonder how she came into possession. Several were things I figured I lost to time. makes me smile though.
p.s. check out the butt-cuts, bell bottoms and earth shoes..

First off, sorry about the OP's sister; my condolences.
Well, the 1st car I drove was Mom & Dad's '57 Sport Suburban, which Dad had ordered new.
I think I was about 12 and Dad figured I'd better learn to drive (since he had at 12), so out in the desert, I got my 1st taste.
It was earmarked for me at 18, but was not to be, as it got wrecked in a head-on to the right front in 1967.
That's where I was sitting, no seatbelt, still have the scar from the A-pillar...so in a way, it lives on...
Mom got a '60 Valiant, stick, and I drove it so often people thought it was mine
But my actual 1st car was a '64 Corvair Monza, 4-speed; neat little car, used to beat up on a buddy's 356 in the SoCal canyons.
1st Mopar of my very own was a '69 Dart WSS, 318, T7 with black VT & interior; a sweetheart of a car. About 1972, or maybe '73.
I removed the "Western" lettering, painted the grille like a GTS, and heck yeah, dropped the nose a bit.
Saw the car maybe 30 years ago in Big Bear, CA, still apparently going strong and not beat up, thankfully.

It was 1978, I was 16 and it was only $450. The 1970 GTX had only 1 option, the Air grabber. The car was already rusted (Michigan) and well worn. Looking back I am surprised that I was not involved in any major accidents for it was over powered, under braked and was in the possession of an unskilled driver. It tossed a rod out of the side of the block due to me missing a shift and its final task was coasting into a parking lot and then on to the junk yard. I immediately bought another MOPAR (for I was hooked) and repeated the process.

There are no pictures of my first car, a 1966 Plymouth Satellite with a 318 poly, maroon with black bench interior. Traded a quarter pound of Mexican weed for it, worth about $45 in 1975. It only lasted a few months before it wouldn't pass Indiana inspection, so the windows got broke out and the car was raced in street stock at Henry's Speedway in Boswell, Indiana, only made it about half the race...

1st car was a 60 VW Bug , 2nd car : 64 Dodge Dart 273, pushbutton automatic that was around 1970 now its 2022 and I have a 68 Dart I have owned for 40 years come August.... First brand new car was an 83 Plymouth Turismo 2.2 5 speed... picture taken in the driveway of my then girlfriend... now wife of 35 years parents house

My first Mopar was a '68 Valiant that I bought from the New York Telephone Company in Buffalo. It was a 2-door V100 with a Slant Six and automatic....no other options. The phone company policy was to paint any vehicle they sold to disguise its origin. My car ended-up school-bus yellow (NOT what I picked with the fleet manager!). I paid $150.00 for the car including the paint job in 1974 and wish I still had it.

Bought my first car in 1976. A 1969 Charger R/T.

My 69 Dart GT convertible, bought it in January of 1985 when I was 18. Transplanted 69 340/727/8.75 and disc brakes. I still have it, it’s a little rough around the edges but so am I.

SRT, really very sorry to hear about your sister passing - it's real rough to lose a sibling. I lost my oldest brother on 12/20/18 - brother Dave. I think about him EVERY day.

As far as old photos & old stories - I love them. Here was my first car - summer of 1976. $1300.00 for an F8 green 70 340 4-speed Cuda, 44,000 miles, PS, PDB, rallye gauges, elastomerics F&R, 3:55 Sure-Grip. WHAT A SWEET CAR! That was also the summer I started dating my future & current wife. OMG do I have many great memories of this car & times spent cruising & racing. I sold it the summer of 1979 - I have no idea if it still exists. This photo was the day I got it home - my Dad snapped the photo. A few days earlier I found out about the car & my Dad came to check it out after me, my other brother & a buddy were looking it over. My Dad was never a fan of anything Mopar, but he told me after meeting the original owner & taking a ride in it, driving it, & checking it out: "Eric - if you are set on getting a Cuda, THIS is the car to get!" I'll never forget this Dad............

Sorry for the loss of your sister.

My first car was a 65 Dart GT, 273 auto. I worked all summer for my Uncle in 1977 to pay for it, still have the body.

Here’s a pic of my ‘70 Sport Satellite I bought at 15 years old for $500 in 1990. The summer I was 16 I helped my grandpa in his collision body shop get it ready to paint as you see it here. Fun car, had it 2 years.

A '65 Sport Fury with the 426 wedge I bought at a sheriff's auction sale. Had it about 10 years and sold it. Rebuilt it and replaced the stock heads with a pair of 906's. What a turd. Wasn't until years later that I realized that going with the big chamber heads really dropped the compression ratio.....

My first "real" car was a '67 Fury convertible with a 383, Really cool car and it ran great. Didn't have it long, Dad drove it and he mashed the gas at a intersection and it absolutely blew the tires off. He decided it was a bit too much for a new driver and sold it. It was replaced with a Triumph TR-4, which has to be the first time a TR-4 was purchased because it was perceived to be "safer":
My first new car was an orange Omni O24 Sport.

In my Senior year of High School (1976-1977) I bought a 1969 Dodge Super Bee 383 4-speed from another kid at school for $700. It had a faded original silver paint job and red bench-seat interior. And so it began...

Years ago, I could've bought a 69 Sport Satellite, 383 4bbl, 3.55's, auto, bucket seats and console, mod top for $400. It was pretty much a Road Runner without the bling. Yes, I'm an idiot!

I probably don't need to bring up the 69-1/2 A12 Road Runner Coupe and the '70 V-Code Super Track Pack, sublime 4-speed Road Runner that I DID buy for a total of $3000 then? Couple years later, sold them both....for $3000. That is an idiot!

My cop belvedere was a 4 door road-runner. Imagine it later first with a pair of lucas square 8's in the gaping grille opening with black painted 1/4" mesh screen behind, later found grille and taillights from a rr with the horizontal divider that mad it look a lot less cop.
The square 8's were great lights for when street racing on our back country roads.
p.s. Thanks guys, this is great hearing stories and seeing pics of old iron memories.
p.p.s. The mechanic that worked in the neighbors shop owned a ws23j8g car that I never considered racing and lusted for all my young life.
he knew a lot of tricks and taught me how to reduce friction and improve oil flow with careful honing, burnishing, polishing, porting, spring testing, tuning and a host of checks and re checks.
It was a lot for me as a kid and may have played into my hobby and career choices.

Fisrt car I had with a license Was a '70 440 6pk Cuda... paid $1000 for it in 1981. Sold it in '83 with a 318 in it and put the 440 in a 67 HT Formulas S BB, 4spd car.

After I bought my 1st car, the Buick from he!!, I bought a 72 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus, 318, 904, 8 1.4 with 3:23 open rear end. It was 3 years old at the time and I was just 18, it had 75,000 miles on it already. At the time I was working at a gas station, and in my car shopping I was deciding between the Plymouth, and a 71 Torino with a 351,C, auto. The mileage was about the same as the Plymouth. I was going to be making payments for 3 years, so what I figured was going to be the miles on either car by the end of the payment was a critical decision, both would likely be over 100,000 miles. At the gas station, I saw more Chrysler products with over 10,000 miles then all the other brands combined. both cars were in about the same condition, so I bought the Plymouth based on the mileage at the end of the payments alone. I will report right now that the Plymouth went past 133,000 miles and 7 years before I sold it. That guy drove it 2 more years.

About that time, I was dating my future wife. She was driving a 68 Sport Satellite with a 383, 727 8 3/4 with (I found out later), a 3:91 Sure Grip. The old Plymouth was pretty rough, I'd already done a valve job on it, and was patching up the body. We were planning our wedding that we were going to have to pay for ourselves. An opportunity came up for me to pull a motor (poly 318) out of a wrecked 65 Dodge coronet 4 door and put it into a 66 Plymouth Belvedere for the tidy sum of $150, plus I got to keep the motor out of the Plymouth (a 273 4bbl that had freeze plugs leak and was over heated and lost the ring seal). The differences in the size of the torque converter hubs caused that process to change. What we ended up doing was I put freeze plugs, rings, bearings, and gaskets into the 273 (he bought me a ring expander, ring compressor, and a cylinder hone in addition to the $150). Then he let me put the motor back into the Coronet and get it running again. I patched up the Coronet and made it a drivable car (it actually drove very well, most of the damage was limited to the left rear quarter panel and taillight area).
I put the Coronet up for sale. My future wife was driving my Plymouth, and I was driving hers. Some guy stopped by the gas station where I had the Coronet for sale to look at it. He had cash, but was more interested in the 68 then the 65. He offered a pretty good price. I called my future wife and pitched the plan. The 68 paid for our wedding and a honeymoon! She drove the 72, I drove the 65. A few months later I came by a deal on a great Dodge pickup I really did need.

About 5 years later, that 68 we sold to pay for our wedding came back, but it was destined to be a dirt track hobby car. We got 2 seasons out of the 68 before it was destroyed in a crash. Gene

Nowhere near the first car...had a Camaro, a few G-body Cutlasses, and a couple of aero-back Chevy full-sizes, among others. But this is the first Mopar, a 1978 LeBaron coupe.

Fun fact: I owned this car when I first signed up for Moparts back in the day. I was in high school.

Dammit, I hate getting old.

1983, the first car that I bought - that my grandparents did not previously own . . .

Here is mine the day I brought it home, 68 road runner. It took me 4 months of paper route money to buy it, $800.00 in 1986. Second picture is what it looks like today.

I love this thread.

Unfortunately, I did not have anything this cool for years later.

Here's a very optimistic view of my first car...

Love it.....Mustang 2+2 hatchback mine was a 77 my second car. First was a 74 Mercury Montego MX with a 400-2V. Bought the Mustang in 1980 with 2.3L/4cylinder to save on gas. Third car was a 69 Roadrunner 383 auto. Been hooked on the Mopars ever since.

Don`t have any pics but my first car at age 16 was a 66 Dodge Coronet 500 with a 361. It had about 100 lbs of body filler in it. LOL

1973 Dart Sport, 318 2bbl, auto, console, buckets, fold down rear seat, sunroof.

Looks like a majority of you had a cooler first car than me. Sorry, no pics, time frame would have been around '83. Very first car was a '68 4dr Dart 270. Parents helped buy it, was bought off a friend of theirs. Car didn't look too bad, drove it less than 4 months due to engine issues (slant 6 indestructible? HA!) , electrical issues. What ultimately caused me to lose my interest was realizing literally EVERY panel on the car had bondo on it, A LOT of bondo.

After the Dart fiasco, my parents were like, "lets see you do better" , ended up buying a '73 Satellite Sebring. Satellite was as rusty as the Dart was full of bondo, BUT it ran/drove with very minor issues, and was a fun ride for about 9 months.

After the Satellite, ended up buying a '77 Gran Fury ex-NY State Police car (bought off person who bought car at auction). THIS is the car I wish I had back.

So, in the span of 3 yrs, I went from a wheezing slanty, to a 'cop spec' 440, all for about $1K invested.

*sigh*

I actually had a '70 Barracuda I picked up for cheap before I bought the Satellite. For how bad the Barracuda was, by today's standards, it wasn't bad, and would have been an easy fix today. Back then, was before reproductions parts had really started for these cars and MIG welders weren't readily available. It was just a plain slanty powered Barracuda that had had a VERY hard 14 yrs of use. While it lot drove, it was no where near being a daily driver, which is what I needed and why I jumped to the Satellite. I sold off the Barracuda to someone who dropped in a small block and promptly wrecked it.

First sorry about your sister... With my health issues, I will probably go before either of my brothers.
I have never had a mopar for a daily except my first car.. I paid $1100.00 for this 73 satellite sebring. As my old school buddies used to say "I orbited around the earth in it" LOL. This was 1980, I had it until September of 83 when I bought a new ford ranger truck. One of my neighbors had a 73 road runner that was the same color he was selling so we swapped hoods.. The guy that bought it was another neighbor that begged be for the hood.. He never got it. I sold it to a gal I had dated that now lives in Vermint and is a mopar freak,
Kevin

Sorry for your loss.

All ten (to date) of my cars have been Mopars. The first was this one: '67 Fury III 4-dr HT, 383, 36k miles when I bought it in October 1979. I had it until June 1983.
The only color pics I have of it are Polaroids, and the scan I have is a .bmp file, so here's a black-and-white shot instead.. I bought another one in 2006. Less rust (CA car vs. MD car) and much worse paint. That photo is from last October.

First car was a 1964 Mercury Comet. 170 six, 3 on the tree, biggest piece of junk on the planet. Broke down EVERY week I owned it. Sold it when I found my first Mopar, 1969 Dodge Polara 4 door with a 383 2bbl. It would fry one rear tire all the way thru first gear. It NEVER broke down on me and I ran the crap out of it. People always thought it was an unmarked police car because I put little 383 decals on the front fenders and they thought that was the car number. Funny thing was, I only paid $300 for the Polara from a dealership, kept it for about a year, was driving past a different dealership and noticed a 1969 Charger R/T in their used car lot so I whipped around and was checking out the Charger when the salesman came up to me saying it was $1300 for the Charger. I asked if they took trades and showed him the Polara, he test drove it and said they'd give me $1000 for trade in. I jumped on it. That was 1975 and they were trying to get rid of any muscle cars they had. Sold the Charger in 1981, within 6 months it was wrapped around a tree, driver lived Charger didn't.

Well, my first MoPar wasn't a Magnum, surprise? It was a 57 Dodge Royal, gold and white, 325 torqueflite, and power seats of all things.

But a Magnum, a triple black '78, was my first new car.

My first car--circa about 1984 or 85-- was a 1970 Challenger that I bought for $800. It was an original FC7 car and it ended-up wearing doors and a scoop hood from a yellow '73 Rallye, along with multiple primered areas in both gray and brown. Yes, it looked EXACTLY as bad as you are thinking it did!

My brother and I both drove it that way for about a year when my mom decided she wanted to do something nice for me and had Maaco paint it $99.00 orange as a surprise. All the body work wasn't done yet, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that she should have waited on the paint.

Thanks mom! You've been gone three years now, and I sure wish you were still around so that I could thank you again for all the things you did for me.

Sorry for the loss of your sister. I know she'll always be there in your memories.

She will!
Got a little story. I was 16 and taking my sister to work in my belvedere after I got it back together. It was raining hard. We lived on a ridge and the road down the hill was paved and onto a dirt segment where we would do brodies on dirt bikes, go cart and now, older, our cars. She egged me on, and I bllipped the throttle pretty good. I immediately learned not to do that with the locker and fatties on wet hard pack. Onto the grassy shoulder I went. There was no way to get it back on the hard pack. Trying repeatedly the rear end rotated more and more toward the ditch. It was a short super wet walk back to the house and dad was not happy even though he had rain gear on as he drove the car and I pushed it back onto the road.
The best, my sister got to work on time and only my pride was a little shriveled as dad chucked at me as I walked in still dripping wet..

Sorry to learn about the loss of your sister - I lost a brother to Covid-19 in October 2021 - take time to remember the good times and cherish the family love - it will help with your transition.

My first car was a 1959 Plymouth Savoy 4 door- black exterior, black and gray cloth interior, flat head straight 6 with 3 on the tree - I purchased it a week after I graduated HS in 1969 - for $175. Drove it daily for about 12 months, sold it for $200 with a rebuilt engine and radiator, new clutch and new brakes,battery, exhaust and tires. It was a great first car and it was all I could afford at that time. The person I sold the car to - used it daily for at least 5 years - I saw the car often in my area.

I saved up every penny during the Savoy ownership - and in January 1970 I factory ordered a 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 - B7 Jamaica Blue Metallic exterior, B5 interior, 727, 3.55 Sure Grip, GoodYear Polyglas Raised White Letter tires, bench with center arm rest, AM thumb wheel, Heavy duty cooling and upgraded battery with Deluxe interior. Loved the car - but had to sell to fund last two years of college - wish I kept it but at that time, it was finish my degree or keep the car - Put 42K on the car in three (3) years - great performer with no major repairs - I installed day 2 American Racing Equipment T70-R wheels with H60 - 15 in the rear, Delco Air shocks, Accel distributor, re-jetted the Carter AVS... it was a budget muscle car and performed well. $2800 out the door ...

CarCraft magazine in May 1970 did a Budget Muscle Car test comparison of 4 cars - the 1970 Mustang Mach 1 351 Cleveland, the 1970 Nova SS 350, the Dodge Dart Swinger 340 and the Plymouth Duster 340. The Duster 340 was the least expensive of the 4 cars, and was the winner in the 1/4 mile test = by a sizable margin. Cheapest and fastest - worked for me - and the factory warranty was 5 years / 50,000 miles for the drive train ... Plymouth Makes It!

wow, srt this is a great thread.. sad to hear about your sis..

The first Mopar I drove was a '66 Dart 270 convertible with a 225/6 in it, but it wasn't really mine - my Dad bought it for all us 4 kids to share, but we loved it.

This is why I love Satellites..

My first very own Mopar was this '67 Satellite convertible, 318/2bbl.. I loved the style of the 66/67 B-bodies since I first saw a '67 GTX in Burlington, MA at the age of 12. My family loves convertibles. I bought this Satellite the moment I saw it in the spring of 1989, parked with a 'For Sale' sign at Hoffman's Car Wash on Route 9 in Latham, NY for $1,700. I had just graduated college. Daily drove this beast for 5-6 years after college, loved it, so many adventures and my friends were more upset than I was when I sold it to a buyer in Chicago, came all the way to NY to buy it.

Anyway - if this uploads correctly, this picture was taken by my then girlfriend Trude, a Norwegian babe. I'd taken her out for a day trip in the mountains hiking and picnicking. When we got back, the car wouldn't start, and I'm messing with the plugwires and finally found the points were so worn so old the 318 wouldn't fire up, so I narrowed the gap and it fired up. She was super cool about everything.
I hadn't yet learned to be pro-active about maintenance, the 318 was so reliable..

Sorry for your loss.
70 V code 4 speed super trac. Was already upgraded for drag racing to 13-1 .030. over MT aluminum rod .020 under crank,590 crane solid lifter direct performance mechanical 6 pack when I bought it with 18,000 miles for $800 in 1974. Still had the clear plastic seat covers on the white seats. Came with all factory parts that were removed. Only real mistake was they mounted a Dixco tack on top of dash. A lot of power for a street car especially for a 17 year old in the 70's. Lol

Nice to see that many here started off in various mopars. I appreciate the thoughts and time each of you have taken to share stories.
I'm doing pretty good keeping busy as trustee, traveled twice to her home a 5 hour drive, paying debts and getting important items cleaned out. Soon to be sold off. With no kids and an unhelpful sibling the weight kept me focused. Wife has been great and our daughter re-scheduled clients and her husband helped on one trip, to help at sisters house.
Reading another thread I realize that all that's going on has distracted me from the news, the conflict and the loss of our 8 yr old ranch dog under suspicious circumstances (end of January) I was already super busy nursing my wife who had a covid put-off hip replacement surgery a week into this year. Needless to say it's been a chore keeping everything moving forward on our little ranch. It's mowing season and time to get the veggie patch prepped. I got the orchard pruned before everything went off track.
Been a challenge though know I can get a bunch done by pacing myself and am thankful to have the help. Things are moving along and now, it's pretty much paperwork, inventory and taking time to reflect.
Thanks again for the kind thoughts and for sharing!! .

1977 Aspen R/T, 360 ci automatic

First and foremost of course, so very sorry about your sister srt and I hope this thread helps put a smile on your face and some peace in your heart.

My first was a '67 D100 poly 318, 3-on-the-tree, short utiline bed. Must've been 4.10 gears because wow it would've yanked a house off foundation and revs were screaming at 60mph. But I was 17 and in love.

1962 Savoy Max Wedge that was raced for 1 year and then turned into a tow car with a 361-4. The 3 speed manual just did not cut it against the pushbutton automatics in the 1/4 mile.

Glad to hear you are busy. It's amazing what you can fit into a day, week or months when there is no choice but to get it done. I was executor of an uncle's estate, 3 hours away back in 2010. Took a long time, but learned a ton about how to manage my own affairs, insurances, will, trusts, taxes, etc.
- Art