My first passion was Vette's when I was about 11 or so. I fell in love with them because of a corvette custom's magazine with a ton of Ecklers body kit vette's in it. Eventually I figured out I could never afford one but I was a car guy by then.

My brother who was 2 years older and wanted a 71 Hemi Cuda. When he was about to turn 15, and old enough to drive, we started looking for a car to share. We ran an ad in the local paper for 66 to 72 Charger/Challenger/etc. After dozens a bat crap crazy adventures in the sticks and bad sections of town we actually found a 73 Charger Rallye 400 Auto, less than 2 miles from us, in the same neighborhood as we lived. It didn't run because it needed a timing chain, but it had a complete 440HP in the trunk. We talked they guy down to 750 and gathered our money. $100 short, my dad said he would cover it, until we actually went to get the car, then he backed out. We went to tell the guy we couldn't get it and he said OK to $650 and kept the spare tire. My brother got to drive the car his junior and senior year and I rebuilt my first engine, that 440 in the trunk, in my living room over the winter when I was 13. Yes, Mom was very understanding, we even got tires for Christmas.

A year or so later it was obvious we could not share our car when I got my license, but I did take my drivers test in that Charger on my 15th birthday in 1981. So I went on the hunt, I ran the same ad and added to the list of even more crazy stories. I ended up buying a 70 Challenger Convertible that had been saved from a junkyard at some point, only 3 miles from my house. Nothing was original but the rear quarters and convertible stuff, frame damage and everything replaced, still needed replacing. I overpaid for it and it was only $225.00. I drove it home with no oil pressure and that was the only time I ever drove it. I bought a 73 340 4 speed Challenger for parts and decided to get it running since it only needed freeze plugs behind the flywheel. I fell in love with that 340 4 speed and never finished the convertible. Well actually I was working on the brakes of the convertible when a girl named Angie called and said she wanted to come over. SHE was the reason I never finished the convertible. LOL

In high school I had my 340 Challenger and several non dodge cars but I bought a 70 Road runner to put my 440 in. A well built 440 3.91 gears and 12" wide tires made for an insane ride. When it grabbed traction it was like getting hit in the head with a 2x4. I had a lot of fun in it but only for a few months. Eventually I seized the motor do to lack of oil under repeated hard acceleration. I learned the hard way if you build an engine, build the oiling system too. Looking back now, I realize the Good Lord was just keeping me alive. I sold the RR body and kept the drive train for my convertible. About 15 years ago while in a "I want a car to drive not race mood", I swapped the 440 out of the convertible and put a 5.9 magnum in it but haven't finished the wiring to drive it.

I got married after high school and my ex-wife killed the 73 Charger's engine in less than 2 weeks of marriage. She hit something, cracked the oil pan and drove it until it stopped running. But, while we were married we bought a 66 Charger, a 74 RR/GTX and a 70 Pink Barracuda coupe with only 55K on it. I ended up with all the cars in the divorce and eventually sold the 66 Charger. I regret it to this day, selling the car, not the divorce.

For awhile I had a 77 New Yorker that died in a fire but the engine lives on and about to be in my 74 Cuda.

With my second wife I bought a 74 Satellite for my boys and I to rebuild. It looked good, took second place at a car show, but I wanted to drive it so my boys and I drove it until parts got hard to get, so much so I bought a parts car, another 74 Satellite.

One of my son's went into Caprice's & Impala's and the other one bought (80's-90's) Daytona's and eventually a 1970 300 Convertible but their passion for cars died out and I ended up taking care of their cars.

I now have a 92 Stealth and an 84 C10 as daily drivers. In storage and in various states of running I still have my
73 Charger Rallye
73 Challenger Rallye
70 Challenger Convertible
70 FM3 Barracuda
74 Satellites (2 of them)
74 RR/GTX (440 RR with GTX hood emblems from factory)
74 Cuda
& a 92 Honda Civic hatchback/wagon
I also have my son's
84 Daytona
86 Turbo Daytona
9? Iroc Daytona
70 Chrysler 300 Convertible

The best part of my cars are the stories, driving them is a blast, but living with them is the true fun. Aside from racing them and the less wholesome stories. I remember bringing Christmas trees home strapped to the roof of the 73 Charger. I did the same with my boys and my 74 Satellite.
My dog would stand between the seats in my Satellite. That was his spot, standing between me and my wife, and that was the only car he could do that in.
My 6 year old son was riding on the hood of the New Yorker in the driveway at my mom's, a slow roll 20 feet max. The car backfired when I shut it off and caught fire. Nothing spectacular, I didn't even know it was on fire until we were walking in the door and I saw smoke under the hood, but to a 6 year old the story was it exploded throwing him from the hood as a fireball engulfed everything. LOL
That car was so big my boys literally used the back seat as a bouncy house.
My cars have personalities. My Charger would run like crap, like it was about to break down on dates, then run fine after I dropped the girl off at her house. My Challenger would only leak oil at one specific girlfriends house, so she made me park in the street. My Stealth will only breakdown on my wife and does often. It has hated her ever since she cracked the windshield one winter trying to get the ice off.

My plan was to fix them up but as I get older I think I will have to let some of them go. I am just going to wait until the economy starts to rebound before I sell.