The thing about these cars is there are enough of them to go around. I like the Day Two look. Cragars,chrome valve cover (Direct Connection in mine) has a Coyote Duster air cleaner and a glass A12 hood.Even have a Sun Tach strapped to the column
Had a Pistol Grip in my last '69 road runner and '68 R/T.Also had a set of '70 bucket seats in it. It was someones discarded parts car I was rebuilding, and came across a killer deal on a set of newly recovered seats, plus I like the '70 seats better than the shredded bench that came with the car. . I don't like the Donk Wheels on a Musclecar,modern interiors or engines. So instead of picking a car apart I just walk by. I figure it's my car, my money, I'm gonna make me happy. Not like it's a survivor one of.... car.

I love them all BUT do mine my way.

Rambble... Whats wrong with HEMI ORANGE? Ive 5, maybe 6 hemi orange mopars, id have to go count.

Pet Peeves in no particular order:

Using the term " murdered out" to describe a black on black on black on black car.

Black everything on cars. A little can be OK, just not all of it.

The flat brim brigade with their monster energy decals and of course the murdered out car.

Sloppy or poorly done wiring. ( admittedly I am a wiring nut)

Anything to do with " fast and furious", including the over use of the term "NOS", referring to family every 5 seconds, the term "crew" and basically the fact that those movies have inspired a whole group of morons. Oh yeah, in every one of those movies they all look sweaty all the time. Take a dang shower and use deodorant once in a while!


Other than that I am a happy guy!

Gene, you really need to quit being a baby.

Just because someone is annoyed about a customization to a car does not mean its the end of the world. This thread was merely to see if others were bothered by the things that catch my eye at car shows. Did I ask if there were confrontations or if they made stinks about it? No, just personal pet peeves - thats all.

Ask me if I have ever said anything to anyone about their custom mods - not once! If I see my dream car, say a 69 Charger RT, original 4 speed car, and its as it left the factory with the exception of a pistol grip shifter, yeah, Im gonna think to myself ‘God, thats fugly’ Will I say anything though? Hell no, they have my dream car and they chose to display it that way. But just as they have the right modify it as they please, I have the right to think its stupid when they display it publicly at a car show. Hell, I even have the right to give them my opinion - I never would though (I do think that’s excessive).

Alot of people may think im stupid for chopping up my original A12 column shift Super Bee and making it a 4 speed, but guess what, f*ck em, its my car, I will do what I want to it.

When people ask about the 4 speed setup and D32 on the fender tag, I will tell them I converted it. When they ask why, I will say its because I wanted to - something you should have instilled in your son. It sucks he sold his 72 because people were too vocal and Im sorry for that, but cmon, calling people with opinions elitists is just silly. Did they actually tell your son NOT to do something?

Just because someone is annoyed about a modification does not mean they are an elitist - give me a break. Hell, I may be regarded as an idiot for chopping up my bee, and I may agree with that, but I tell you what, I sure as hell wont be putting a pistol grip shifter in it!! 😝

No one can tell you what to do. However, ANYONE can tell you what they think.

Sometimes the cars can't help it. That's how they came... 🤣 🤣

I rarely laugh out loud when reading something online but this stuff cracked me up!
Flat brim brigade? Oh, HELL yeah! I think the guys with the flat brim on their hats look dumb as sh*t. The guys with their ears tucked into their hats are even worse. Top it off with shorts that go to the knee with tube socks that reach mid knee cap. GREAT look, dude!
Also funny....calling your friends a "crew" or a "team" is also silly.
Sweaty all the time? That is classic comedy right there!

I can sympathize.
Sometimes is is fun to just get something running and have some fun with it. Correctness ? Pffft! No way, man! Chalk marks? Date codes? Matching humbers?
That is why I am building THIS car: ($5000 buy in...including a nice grille!)

It has the original 383....I'm waiting on the machine shop now.
It came with a bent front end, no brakes but otherwise really solid.
I'm going to get it running and drive it ratty for awhile. I want to be able to drive on pavement or gravel, park it without worrying about it, take the dogs to the lake in it....just have fun like we did when they were 10 year old cars.

Krylon black engine or trunk compartments.. I'd take tired original paint any day.

Scat pack stripes installed in the wrong spot, wrong angle, wrong color, etc.

Chopped up dashes for radios/CD players. A nice clean install is one thing, but serious butchery drives me nuts.

Dark window tint - looks icky and you can't see worth a damn at night.

Most cars have the wrong wheels, tires, and stance. All personal opinion, but that is one thing that I always find room for improvement on.

Black walls on mopar rallye wheels I can't get used to.

Fiberglass hoods that people install to see how it fits and then 5 years later it's still unpainted. Very common to see at the race track.

Not a fan of pinstripes on musclecars for some reason. Seems to be a thing here, but mopar guys don't do it that often

People who hang around their cars and tell you how rare it is and how much they could sell it for. I like talking to you about your car for a few minutes, but tell me an interesting story about what it took to find the car and how you went about getting it fixed up again.

1. "upgrading" a Mopar Leaf spring design to a triangulated 4 link of any design
2. "upgrading" Mopar TB's with coils for a more "modern design"
3. Calling a wing a spoiler, and not knowing the difference
4. Misunderstanding that tires stop the car, and brakes stop the wheels
5. "upgrading" with no empirical evidence, from 9/16" TR to 11/16" TR
6. "upgrading" with LCA gussets
7. using the as a last ditch explanation for any "upgrade", "it can't hurt"
8. Hub Caps
9. Using frame connectors AND torque boxes
10. Installing rear swaybar without testing with a proper front bar FIRST
11. Asserting one item is responsible for positive improvement seen, when multiple changes where made
12. Failing to understand on a performance vehicle, " EVERYTHING EFFECTS EVERYTHING ELSE"

Dave

Not sure if this was mentioned (no time to read 3 pages) but a bumblebee stripe on a pre-1968 Dodge or--even worse--on a Plymouth.

In my humble and entirely worthless opinion, it's overplayed. We had a small show (~100 cars) here a few years back. All mopars and a couple of my AMC's. I have an old photo somewhere where only five E-bodies showed up and they were ALL Hemi Orange. The funny thing was, I don't think a single one had been born Hemi orange. And yet at this small show in the middle of podunk BC, five orange e-bodies show up. My tastes tend toward the more unusual. REAL FM3 cars, FC7, FJ5 .... I like Hemi orange but it's just quite common. I guess familiarity breeds contempt?

I'm not a purist by any stretch. Hell, my buddy's '71 Polara 4dr HT with a 440 6-pack is one of my (thus far) favorite cars ever. But he's like me in a way where his car has an overall theme. The 440 installation looks 100% factory - even down to the fan clutch and the air cleaner. Manifolds, even. It has a Tuff steering wheel and an underdash 8-track player. NOTHING on the car seems out-of-place.

I don't give two fiddlers about batteries or tires when it comes to correctness. Anything perishable like that is off the table. It is cool to see reproduction batteries and polyglas tires though. I missed that generation so it really is neat to see these cars as they were. Sticking to their theme of OE correctness is fine.

CHEAP stuff gets on my nerves. $50,000 dollar car with 8-dollar, Canadian Tire floor mats. The corrugated wire loom stuff - worse if it's coloured.

I especially enjoy when people get creative and think outside the box. Create something nobody has done before, rather than buying cheap, mass produced crap off of WalMart's shelves.

Another buddy of mine created a 4-door cab 1972 Dodge Pickup and dropped the whole kaboodle on a modern Cummins frame. He made the box a dually and everything. It LOOKS like a 1972 diesel truck. He even painted it two-tone turquoise and white!! It looks amazing but it has all modern driveline and frame. THAT is super-cool.

I hope to one day get to that level of fabrication skills. One of my best accomplishments is the interior on my '75 Hornet. I've mixed and matched a lot of OE AMC parts, designed my own upholstery (yet still looks like vintage stuff) and love the result. I've had a few people at shows tell me they had one EXACTLY like it. I just smile and say "No, you didn't!"

I was watching a youtube video recently of some street drag racing. Video was grainy and from the early mid 1980s. Was a hilly mountainous area with a paved straight away. But what rang out was the car drivers and spectators were all in their teens and twenties. Chevelles Chargers N50s etc. When I go to a show or the drag strip now its disheartening the lack of guys under say 45 years old. Times change but it sure is a shame.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that car! It would be an honor to have that in the garage.

RamblerMan,you would have loved my nephews 401 Gremlin,ran high 10's always.

I have no problem with black at all !

Sometimes is is fun to just get something running and have some fun with it. Correctness ? Pffft! No way, man! Chalk marks? Date codes? Matching humbers?
That is why I am building THIS car: ($5000 buy in...including a nice grille!)




I'd love to find a second gen Charger for $5000 One thing that has always bugged me is the wrong terminology. People refer to their cars as restored. Did Ma Mopar put the bumble bee stripes, sublime paint and 17" billet wheels on your '66 Charger? Hmmm....

Surprise...I don't care what others think about my taste in wheels or anything else. Unlike some others, I'm not looking for approval.

and fork lifts.


poorly done and sloppy wiring [usually present together] gets my goat every time. even with a factory correct restoration.

i bought my 69 charger as a total way back in 1970. i sure wished i had the foresight to have taken pictures at the time. it was hit HARD in the rear, and the body shop i worked at back then specialized in totals.
this was my first major project, and being a nu-be [drag strip] at major work, i quickly learned i knew nothing.
anyway, the car is still with me today, and it is not stock, nor will i restore it.
over the last year i have modified it even more than i have over the years, yet it still retains the re-paint done in mid 1971. it now wears scratches and primer spots, but who cares ?
i will admit i was one who fell into the "black engine compartment" crowd. the reason that was done is because some dumazz [me ! ] covered the area with the zeibart-like undercoat stuff the shop was doing at the time.
that gooey stuff did, however, prevent rust. when the fresh engine goes in, i will now have the "pleasure" of removing that stuff so i can paint that area as it should be. there are other underhood mods i have done over the last year or so that some will wonder about, but too bad. i'm trying to do my best craftsmanship with these mods, and the main goal is to keep a clean, "simple" look. that is harder to do than some think. this car is nothing special, has led a hard life, and i'm trying my best to get it back out to enjoy it for a while before i croak.
it now wears steel wheels with dog dish caps, but i have a couple of different wheel ideas in mind. in the past, it has worn 5 spokes, cragars, slots, and mixed combos.

finally, i like looking at all types, as i usually can learn something from even the tiniest detail.
but observing modified rides lets my mind wander, and i try to think if i can combine ideas for an even better idea.