I am just curious as to how many people have made their first car a drag car. Did you regret it???

huh ?

I think all of us built our first so called drag cars,
most of us started with just bolt on parts for our
street car that we thought was a drag car... LOL
I dont think you going to find many if any on this
forum(racing only)that regret it

I'm still building mine.

It has been an expensive but fun lourney so far.

The only thing that that made me "almost" give up was getting screwed by my first engine builder.

It's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm doing it.





It may have been easier to buy a car for my attempt, but nothing is more satisfying than building what you can yourself.

I think he's asking how many people have taken the very first car they've ever owned and turned that into a race car.

How about a raceable streetcar

Well mine is getting closer to a race car all the time. But its my first car and I drove it in high school.

I need to scan some pics of it you guys would

It was black had SS cragars my brother and I bought some cal custom stripes at NationWise and put down the side. I even painted the Headers White.
Had Gabriel Hi Jackers on the back I had the windows down with my mullet blowing in the wind.

The mid 80's rocked

Oh and to answer your question I have a few regrets but most of them were lessons learned the hard way.

No regrets! Building it is half the fun. Now that I've built a few, freinds bring me there cars for heavy modifications (roll cages, back halfs, and welding in genarel) and working on someone elses is not as fun, it's work but I still like having a hand in there projects.

heck I think I have raced everything I have ever owned at some point even the dually

Not me, but I know someone who turned his first car into a race car.
He bought a new '73 340 Duster, it slowly evolved into a tube chassis race car, he still has it 36 years later and still has the original paint on it, and YES, he does regret cutting it up.

My first car was a 1969 Plymouth Fury II four door with a 318. I guess a tube chassis and a blown Hemi would have made it into a unique race car.

the first car i ever owned was a 69 chevelle 396 car..
it went 14.99-15.00's in the 1/4..
i spent 15k restoring it to as close to showroom as possible..(all my H/S friends had chevelles fwiw..
3 months into restoring the chevelle..
i purchased for $450 my 72 340 duster.
the car was not road worthy..so for fun..i got it running..and towed it to the strip..
friday and sat at Atco..was my life back in the 80's
first time out in the duster..it went 14.60's (memory ?)
this was faster than just about all my buddies with chevies (11)..except for maybe 2 guys..
I got a ton of flack for this..(bringing out a mopar)
so after cutting the exhaust a little after the manifolds..
a carb tune,spacer and torquer intake,
purple solid camshaft. better dist..
a new 4k converter,shift kit/trans overhaul.
the car came out with a 13.55..
this solidly put me way ahead of all of my buddies..except Alan's dark blue 455+ t-top trans-am ,with NO2..
and Joe Mertz 70 ls6 chevelle..
Niether of which would line up against me.
not that it matter'd

i still own the car today..in the garage..waiting finish of a resto..
and it eventually went as fast as 12.70's with not a whole lot more done then was mention'd above..
These cars have givin me great memories and a life time of stories
the memory of running that duster is why i built my current Duster race car..
I realised the 340 shouldnt be cut up for racing ..
some day ill get the car in the garage done.
its a fe5 340 auto (orderd car) with quite a bit of the goodies you look for in a 340 duster.

chepast

This car was my first "project vehicle". I acquired it in 1978 when I was 16. The Dart had only 18,000 miles on the odometer when I got it from my grandmother! The Dart went from completely stock to an 11 second runner in just a few years.
The engine was a 318 punched .030 over. It had 9:1 forged flattop pistons, 340 rods and crank and 340 heads with 2.02" valves. The transmission was a Torqueflight 904 with a reverse pattern manual valve body. I did all my own tranny work. The rear axle was a Mopar 8-3/4 with a 4:89 gears mounted on a Strange spool. My Best ET with this setup was 12.60 @ 108mph without nitrous oxide and 11.68 @ 114mph with a 100hp I.C.E. nitrous system.

In 1984 I moved to Arizona and ran the car at Firebird Raceway. Unfortunately after only three months in Arizona I threw a rod and couldn't afford to rebuild the motor. I sold the car a couple years later.

Fast forward 25 years or so...

I am now building another Dart for drag racing and hope to have it on the track by the end of the year.

My duster that I am building into a street/strip car was my first car.

In my opinion it really makes the project much cooler... I think car guys like us have a real attachment to cars and the longer we have them the more we care for them.

I took a rust free arrow straight duster, mini tubbed it, caged it and dont regret it a bit...

My Barracuda is my second car, I bought it from my best friend when he wanted to sell it to by a 68 AMX. I spent a lot of time helping him build the car when we were in high school, so I asked if I could by it from him...he had offers for more money than I could come up with, but he preferred to send it to a good home...so I got it, and he bought the 68 AMX.

The Cuda was my daily driver all the way through college. After college it became more race than street...each year it becomes a little more race and a little less street, but I will always keep it street legal. I like being able to drive my beast down the street and watch all the people stare and say dumb things like "nice Chevelle", or "sweet Mustang"...cracks me up!

I never did buy a complete one myself. Being of 33 year old. I have had and built my share of race cars.
-First was a 79 Camaro 400 SB with Double Hump Heads LOL
-84 Pontiac Trans Am with another 400 SB this one with AFR aluminum heads.
-70 Challenger Small block
-72 Cuda 340 car
-69 Dodge Charger 383 car
-70 Challenger 440 car
-73 Duster 318 engine, then a 440 engine
-69 Coronet 493 with Edelbrock heads
-01 SS Camaro LS1 with lots of add on's
-87 Dodge Dakota with 500 inch Indy head
-225 Hard Tail dragster
-65 Hemi Belvedere (under construction)

Also I built a few other cars/trucks that I never raced. 72 Original 400 Dodge Charger, 79 Ford Bronco 400 big block. 84 Dodge truck with warmed up 360.
I know Im forgetting a few..

My 1st car was a $50 1964 furd falcoon....I lucked into a deal on a boss 302 mrustang wreck and grabbed it from the insurance company for $300, swapped the drive train and had a blast at the strip (back in the late 60's when NED was still NHRA, in fact Shirley Shahan (spelling?) and her crew-chief husband were pitted next to me and noticed a miss in the coon and asked if I didn't mind them taking a look That car never ran so good

Sometimes I think it would be more fun to race a slower, less maintenance car and class, stay local and just have a blast...

My 15y/o and I drug the 83 ram out from behind the shed and started tearing into it today for his first street/strip ride...got to tell ya, it was far more fun than all the traveling and chasing points...

Rickster

i always wondered what your last name was fred.that explains alot.