71 roadrunner was my first ride ,a freind down the block had one ,me and a freind would hang out with him we where 15 years old at the time ,early 1980s he was older than us by 5-6 years


good old days





we drive plymouths !

My Grandfather! He made me trade a Mercury Cougar for a '68 GTX when I was 16, best thing I could have ever done.

GTX kicked a lot of ass so I bought a '69 Roadrunner when I was 18.

Now I'm 43 and I have added a '72 340 Duster (Race Car) and a '71 Demon soon to be a serious street car (more kicking ass!)

We always had Mopars in the driveway as far as I can recall,save for 2 or 3 Chevy's along the way and a Ford Fairlane,but we always raced Mopars.The car I have now my Dad and I built and when he retired from racing,he put the car up for sale and had a lot of tire kickers.I was starting to put together a 69 Dart for stock eliminator and he offered me the Demon for a good price,in reality he pretty much gave it to me,so I sold the Dart and a few other cars,and got the Demon.

Always was a mopar guy. I didn't want to keep racing my street car (73 Challenger) so I started looking for a mopar body. This is all I could find for a decent price at the time I started looking. Seen a lot of s-10s at the track but not a dakota, so I built one.

My older brother, in the spring of 1969 bought a 1969 Hemi RR. 4-speed, 4.10 Dana, PS, PDB, Air grabber...

That car, started it all with me (and him, too) and Mopar!

Funny to think about now, but we went car shopping that day and he was originally looking for a 427 Vette. Three Chevy dealers later had nothing, and it was too late in the year to order a 69 with the 427. Test drove a Hugger Orange 69 'maro with a 375hp/396...4 speed it was impressive. THEN he test drove the RR, and it was a different league than that Chevy!

Would LOVE to know where that RR is today. He sold it as a roller in 1974 for $3,000 with about 36K on the clock.

One other little fun factoid: Before personalized plates, it had black and yellow CA plates that read YUF 426!! (Yes, we had a few acronyms for what "YUF" meant!

This is the Dart I bracket raced and drove on the street from 1975 until I rolled it in 1982. Ron

When I was a teenager my friend's older brothers car was a 70 Cuda 340, his friends was a 70 Camaro, after 4-5 engine changes on the Camaro and none on his, esp. going sideways in the Cuda, I was hooked.

-Daty

pure stupidity but i have 6 of them now.

here's another one of mine

Growing up in a family of Ford owners here in Australia, my only exposure to Mopar muscle was the locally produced hemi 6 Chargers. Then one day in the mid 80's, when I was 18, I bought a copy of Car Craft and they had an engineering cut away line drawing of a 63 Max Wedge Dodge in it. That drawing literally blew my mind. How could any car have such amazing design as the front end of the 63 Dodge, or that crossram intake, or those wild exhaust manifolds with factory cut outs? And 13 to 1 compression. And push button transmission. So, while the majority of cars that I have owned were Fords, I now have a 63 Dodge max wedge clone in my collection. It still blows my mind when a look at the design of that whole package.

My first car was a '65 Dart GT 273. I still have it but it's way on the backburner. I'm building a '67 Dart drag car to race with as I did not want to cut up the '65, it was my parents car originally bought from my great uncle. I also have an '89 Shelby CSX that I would really like to see clean and neat again. I love so many different Mopars and I'm the kind of guy that wants to save them all. I think these may be the only ones I will keep in the stable for as long as I can. When my Dad and Mom started dating (I don't like to call him my Step Dad, he has always been my Dad.) he had a Javelin with a 390 and sidepipes that I really thought was the baddest. It was in an accident. I don't know a whole ton about cars and I'm enjoying just being able to learn at my pace. So I guess in answer to the question, I race the '67 because I have always like the 67-69 body style and have always wanted a dedicated race car. The '65 has been in the family forever and I have always thought the CSX was bitchin' since I was in high school so I convinced my friend to sell it to me. Take care.

My friend took me 4 a ride in a 67 fastback cuda and that's it took

I developed an interest in Valiants when I was in my teens, an article about the 340 was in the April/May issue of Performance Street Car magazine which is no longer in print. This article put mopar onto my radar and I bought my first Valiant, a 66 VC Valiant sedan when I was 14. I've owned about 20 since, I wonder why sometimes, but it's been fun. I have had more fun helping friends with their projects and getting down the track, but am yet to finish something for myself. I have a 65 Valiant Station wagon now that should receive it's R5 powerplant next year. Should be fun to drive!

Dad had actually bought a 1969 dart for me before I can remember. It was a 318 4 speed b5 blue GT car with a 340 hood on it. Maybe it was a 340 car originally or just had the hood. Anyway, it was kind of rusty, and ended up getting flipped for a few bucks instead. Dad had a 1970 340 that he had since 1978 that he pulled out of a 1971 duster. It had a blown head gasket. He put a different 340 in it and sold that car.

So, that brings us to my early teens. We were set on building a car using this 340 dad had. We looked around a bit, my favorite a body, as was my dads, was a fast back barracuda. They were out of my price range at that age though. We happened to find a 1976 dodge aspen slant 6 car with 20 000 miles on the clock. We offered $800 for it, and someone else bought it for $1000. Turns out the buyer wanted the low mile powertrain for a resto he was doing. My parents bought the car for $200 for my 15th birthday and that's where it started.

It was a cream colored car with no options. True granny car. I always liked the paint scheme on the dusters using the flat black and the 340 wedge decal on the hood. My first job was at a decal shop. So, I drew up some stripes, and went down to Canadian Tire and bought some flat black cans of paint and some masking tape.

Here is a picture on the return road, picking up a timeslip and my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and yes, she is wearing a winter jacket. Gets cold up here at the end of the season haha.



The car ran a best of 12.32 @ 111mph with the 340.


A couple years later, I painted the car at my high school with another mopar buddy



Of course, the natural progression took place, it's caged now, and it's an R3/W2 small block now. Still my leaf spring street car! Always will be.


-Kenny

My Dad drove Aussie Valiants for years, probably for all the years I was at school and some. I got into Hotrodding with Chevs then drove an Aussie Holden V8 for quite a while but sold it 18 years ago to buy a '70 383 Barracuda. I rebuilt it keeping it quite stock but just love to drive it, race it & will probably keep it forever.



The next big Mopar influences for me were the Sox & Martin Pro Stock Cuda & the Motown Missile Cuda which have convinced me to update my Barracuda with a bunch of old period gear including a magnesium tunnel rammed, dual plug Hemi.

While searching for a 68-70 Charger or Roadrunner, I found this 67 Dart GT. It was rust free and had only 2 previous owners. It was being driven daily by a elderly gentleman. It still had the original bucket seats and console. The original 273 had been replaced by a 318. What really impressed me was that all the electrical items still worked. The fender turn signal indicators, the back up lights, and even the glove compartment and trunk light. That was 21 years ago, and it has been a slow but continual upgrade process. I don't regret paying the owner's $700.00 asking price.

One look at a set of Hemi valve covers. It was like the first time I saw a girl with just a bra on. HAD to see what was underneath. Been after both ever since.

I never chose ANY of my Mopars....THEY CHOSE ME!!

Me and Ol' blue in 1989 (it was ol' Yeller originally and was painted Darth Vader Black when I bought her in 1982.) Was a 'flip of the coin' junkyard candidate when I resuced it 'cause the guy blew the clutch and didn't have the coin to fix it.

We've been together ever since although a number of mistresses (mostly Mopars but also several other 'distractions') have come and mostly gone....and (unlike a biological mate) this girl never gets Jealous

Ronnie Sox need I say anything else...RIP BOSS

My Grandfather always drove New Yorkers,my grandmother had a 68 Dart GT, my uncles had 68 Formula S 340, 68 Coronet R/T,my aunt had a red 67 Coronet and my mom bought a blue 67 Coronet. Both uncles drag raced and took us boys with them so my cousin and I both have the SICKNESS!