Re: Mopar Nats- The Early Days, Pics and Stories 1981-1984
[Re: MLR426]
#777696
09/08/10 04:24 PM
09/08/10 04:24 PM
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 765 SE Wisconsin, USA
RP's R/T's
super stock
|
super stock
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 765
SE Wisconsin, USA
|
What great memories. I think you need to start at the 1983 Nats before I became a regular attender. A few observations: 1. Everyone looks like they came off the set of 'Wedding Singer'. Hilarious. 2. I don't see all the trailers that carried the cars to the shows...they must have all been hidden. 3. People actually drove their cars to shows; rare cars at that. Some raced them, then drove home. 4. The hotels allowed everyone to stay at the same place. Now Hotels limit group sizes (it seems) so you miss the parking lot shows. 5. All criticisms aside: If the Mopar Nationals hadn't started when they did, when these cars were just old used cars sitting in garages, there would be far fewer of them around today. Does anyone have pictures from the Hemi Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky (?) in 1984 (I believe)?
|
|
|
Re: Mopar Nats- The Early Days, Pics and Stories 1981-1984
[Re: RP's R/T's]
#777697
09/08/10 09:50 PM
09/08/10 09:50 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 175 Cleveland, Ohio
71VBEE
member
|
member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 175
Cleveland, Ohio
|
I lived in Ann Arbor Mi in the 70's and 80's. I was in Highschool then. It was an absolute thrill when the Mopars were in town. I only have a few pics (hotel parking lots) from the early days but I hung out at the hotels and cruise sites at night watching awesome cars being enjoyed/abused/respected and admired. Even though muscle cars were a common site, the Mopars and most of all the Hemi cars that came to town were revered. Alot of N-50/15's went up in smoke on those weekends!
1971 Superbee 440-6 auto dana airgrabber The resto started: Nov 2004, now its 2024 and its 95% finished. I can't believe it is the same car I started with. 1964 Corvette coupe...always gets more attention than the Bee from the general public.
|
|
|
Re: Mopar Nats- The Early Days, Pics and Stories 1981-1984
[Re: RP's R/T's]
#777698
09/08/10 10:26 PM
09/08/10 10:26 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,624 Fort Worth, Texas
xs29j8
master
|
master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,624
Fort Worth, Texas
|
Quote:
What great memories. I think you need to start at the 1983 Nats before I became a regular attender. A few observations: 1. Everyone looks like they came off the set of 'Wedding Singer'. Hilarious. 2. I don't see all the trailers that carried the cars to the shows...they must have all been hidden. 3. People actually drove their cars to shows; rare cars at that. Some raced them, then drove home. 4. The hotels allowed everyone to stay at the same place. Now Hotels limit group sizes (it seems) so you miss the parking lot shows. 5. All criticisms aside: If the Mopar Nationals hadn't started when they did, when these cars were just old used cars sitting in garages, there would be far fewer of them around today.
Does anyone have pictures from the Hemi Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky (?) in 1984 (I believe)?
Other contributors have posted a fair amount of pics from the 1983 Mopar Nats... I did not make it to that one, so can't help. As for the 1986 NHOA National Meet in Lexington, Kentucky it was briefly mentioned and a few pictures posted near the bottom of page 5. The meet was held at Mountain Park Dragway & the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington in June of 1986. I have about 100 pictures from that meet, but some have gotten mixed in with some Mopar Nats pictures so I am trying to sort them out using the negatives. Also, at that show I was fairly well tied down working at the club tents, so I did not get a chance to wander too far taking pictures. So more shots around the tent, and distant shots instead of a lot of close in pictures. I will start posting what I have...
XS
|
|
|
Re: Mopar Nats- The Early Days, Pics and Stories 1981-1984
[Re: Dave Watt]
#777709
09/09/10 12:39 PM
09/09/10 12:39 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,624 Fort Worth, Texas
xs29j8
master
|
master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,624
Fort Worth, Texas
|
Quote:
There was a cutaway Hemi on display at Race Rock in Orlando but it was that creamy yellow color. Was it the same engine but got repainted?
Probably not, I believe there were 4-5 cut-aways that Chrysler had done and later donated to tech schools, etc. I believe that I have seen pictures of the creamy yellow one, and IIRC it was not quite as well done. Do you have any pics of it?
There are probably a few privately done cut-away engines as well... The one pictured was an old Chrysler unit, but was privately owned at the time.
|
|
|
Re: Mopar Nats- The Early Days, Pics and Stories 1981-1984
[Re: xs29j8]
#777710
09/09/10 07:25 PM
09/09/10 07:25 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,784 Ontario, Canada
mccannix
master
|
master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,784
Ontario, Canada
|
Not a great picture of it, but John Brown from Pa had this yellow one in the back of his truck and as in the storyline, for a buck you had a chance to own it. This was at a combined NHOA, Northeast Hemi Owners show in Syracuse, NY in 1990 that I drove to. The hemi had been kicked around a lot compared to the ones Steve J has and others I have seen plus it was missing a few pieces, but was a real cutaway Hemi done for Chrysler.
|
|
|
|
|