Anyone want to discuss This??

[65Coronet7165]

Just wondering why you bought your car; especially if it's a C Body. Are you a Mopar person from childhood or more recent convert? How did you acquire your car? Was it a gift or did you just find the car and have to buy it. Did you do a lot of repairs or restoration?

For some reason I've always been a car but I became a Mopar guy when I was 5 years old and my grandfather bought a 57 Plymouth Plaza. It was a 2 door sedan with Powerflite automatic and the flat head six. Suddenly I fell for the uforward look, they became my favorite car My grandfather followed that with a 61 Belvedere coupe. I thought that was beautifull, 318, Torqueflite, and power steering. I'll continue with my stories after I read a few of yours.

 

[Big_John]

I've been a car guy since I was a little kid. I think it really started with a '34 Ford model car when I was 7 if you really want to pin it down. I became infatuated with both the big cars and the models... Later getting into slot racing and that stuff.

I started liking Chryslers because that's what my dad drove. He had a '57 Windsor that I remember him buying in 1958 (one of my first memories actually). From there he went through a few other cars, a '63 Newport and a '63 Dart. He upscaled to a new '68 300 and that was the car I learned to drive in.

There were other cars around the house too. Being the baby of the family (12 year gap between the next youngest brother) I got to see my brothers drag home all sorts of cars. My oldest brother had a '57 Ford Sunliner (retractable hardtop) and the next oldest had a '58 Impala. Next brother down had a '56 Ford. I had my Murray pedal car!! (still have it)

I wish I had pictures of these cars, but film and cameras weren't cheap and pictures were reserved for special occasions.

 

[bronze turbine]

My dad bought a '68 New Yorker in about 1971. I really loved that car. Took many family vacations in it. Started driving it to high school in the early '80s and then to college. Passed it on to my brother when my grandmother bought me a 1980 Dodge Mirada. He drove it quite a bit also until he hit a curb with the front wheel and bent something in the suspension. He then parked it in my dad's metal building about 1995 and it still sits there. Unfortunately the building was damp and rust got the better of it, and it's now mostly disassembled. But, because of that car my brother and I now own FIVE '68 Chryslers.

 

[57fury440]

In late 1956 my older brother bought a new 1957 Belvedere hardtop. It had the 301 with a four barrel and duals. I was 10 at the time. I thought it was the coolest car. When I turned 16, I got the car that is in my avatar (which I still have).

 

[MetalManiacAZ]

I was always a car guy since the beginning. I was exposed to MTV at a very young age and was obsessed with the 33 Ford in all of the ZZ Top videos. My dad was a Ford guy so he totally approved.

I got weird around 12 years old and started gravatating towards Mopars. I was obsessed with them and built every scale model I could find just dreaming of owning a Super Bee or a Challenger R/T. When I bought my first car, the reality of my funds hit me and I fell in love with the much more affordable C Bodies. I bought my 1965 Sport Fury at 16 and now own my two dream cars: 66 300 coupe and a 68 Imperial Crown Coupe. Both are works in progress but that's why we're all here, right?

 

[65Coronet7165]

Well to continue my story a bit, my dad got his first new car a 65 Coronet 500 when I we as 12 years old. My whole family just fell in love with it the first time we sat inside it. There was. No turning back after that. That car was great. It out lasted 3 other cars my father bought subsequently. Most reliable and durable car we ever had. My brother and I both learned how to drive on it.
My first car was a 65 Plymouth Fury III. I owned it for 3 years while in college. It probably was a great car when new but when I had it it was pretty clapped out. 383 two barrel Torqueflite auto. It used a LOT of oil and got kind of lousy mileage 13mpg. While in college I turned into an environmental freak and I couldn't justify driving a big boat like that just for myself. When I graduated I bought a new 74Opel Manta. I was heavily influenced by Road and Track as well as friends that drove sports cars. I'll continue later, story continues.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Oh my story has been told here, basically born a Mopar guy but was into everything growing up. The idea of my Grandfathers Barracuda was very appealing and he knew it and in 1985 I got it. From that point of it was Mopar or No Car for me. Initially I wasn't into C-Bodies and it was the idea of restoring a CHP car that got me into them. When I discovered having a full restored and marked CHP wasn't for me I was in love with the C-Body and felt a 69/70 convertible would do the trick. I find the 500 and sell the CHP car and the story continues.

1973 Barracuda 1984-2000
1967 Barracuda Fastback 1985-current
1994 Plymouth Neon 1995-1997
1997 Dodge Neon 1997-1999
1999 Sebring JXi 1999-2004
1967 Valiant 4-door 2004-2011
1967 Valiant 2-door 2006-2009
1969 Polara 2009-2016
1969 Polara (CHP) 2010-2020
1970 Dodge D200 2011-2016
1969 Polara 500 2020-current
1967 Barracuda Convertible 2022-Current


Alan

 

[65Coronet7165]

Ok, Alan. Making a list is the easiest way to present my Molars. During the 70,s and 80's the malise era for American cars set in so I owned foreign cars as my primary cars. I was pretty down on any Mopar newer than 1968....they started getting to plasticy and were no longer much fun to drive.
BUT my heart pined for another 68 or older Mopar..... seems my life's not complete without one. Sooo I took some auto shop classes and started looking. In 1982 I bought a 68 Fury III, 318, Torqueflite ps and pb.
Here's my short list:
68 Fury III (82 to 89)
67 Chrysler 300 convertible (2005 to present)
So I've owned 3 C bodies. Each time I really wanted a B body but the only ones I could find were rust buckets, converted to race cars or too expensive for me. I really don't regret it because the C bodies are really nicer cars... just a little too large to be perfect.

Oh my story has been told here, basically born a Mopar guy but was into everything growing up. The idea of my Grandfathers Barracuda was very appealing and he knew it and in 1985 I got it. From that point of it was Mopar or No Car for me. Initially I wasn't into C-Bodies and it was the idea of restoring a CHP car that got me into them. When I discovered having a full restored and marked CHP wasn't for me I was in love with the C-Body and felt a 69/70 convertible would do the trick. I find the 500 and sell the CHP car and the story continues.

1973 Barracuda 1984-2000
1967 Barracuda Fastback 1985-current
1994 Plymouth Neon 1995-1997
1997 Dodge Neon 1997-1999
1999 Sebring JXi 1999-2004
1967 Valiant 4-door 2004-2011
1967 Valiant 2-door 2006-2009
1969 Polara 2009-2016
1969 Polara (CHP) 2010-2020
1970 Dodge D200 2011-2016
1969 Polara 500 2020-current
1967 Barracuda Convertible 2022-Current


Alan

 

[Davea Lux]

I ran Mopars both on the street and the track because they would stay in one piece under hard use conditions. Nothing worse than having to sweep up Ford or Chevy parts and getting royally embarrassed having to do so after a major detonation.

Dave

 

[mrfury68]

My dad bought a '68 Fury III sedan as a 3 year old used car in '71, I was 9 years old. I can remember going with him to the neighborhood Chrysler Plymouth dealer, it's the one in my avatar, and I just loved everything about that Fury. It was burgundy (RR1) with black top & interior. Very elegant looking with a 318 and a/c. I used to sit behind the wheel and pretend I was driving around the neighborhood. Sadly the harsh winters and the road salt rusted it out in 1977 and it was sold for parts. I was crushed as I had hoped to get my driver's license in that car. 5 years later I found my Fury for sale in the newspaper and it had just moved north from North Carolina virtually rust free. This fall I will have owned it 41 years. Most of my friends were Mopar guys and 2 of them loved C-bodies too, owning Newports, New Yorkers, Monacos & a '68 Chrysler 300 convertible. It has been great not having to dream about driving a '68 Fury, just get behind the wheel and go.

 

[Justin Plant]

I'm 45, been into cars since I could walk. Growing up watching Knight Rider, Dukes, A-team. Movies like Mad Max, Gone is Sixty seconds, Blues Brothers. Just fanned the flames. My first car, 1981 Citation X-ll. Bought it when i was 14 for 400 bucks. My second when I turned 15. Third when I was turned 16 and so on. So far I've bought, sold, totaled, traded, restored, 35 cars. Mostly GM, several imports. My 75 Royal is my first Mopar. I searched for a 74 Monaco, I wanted to build a Blumo. Couldn't find one. So, I bought the best, closest thing I could. After driving my car nearly 1000 miles to get it home through three states, I fell in Love with it. My mother did too, I visited her with it the week I bought it. She really liked it. I use the past tense because I lost her a year ago to cancer. Apparently 60 years of Marlboro Reds isn't good for you. I bought the car 10 days before she was diagnosed. She told me "I don't know what it is, but I really like the looks of that car", well I'm keeping it. When I'm not selling exhaust parts to most of the Muffler shops in three states, I'm keeping my small fleet ( 5 cars )moving, along with about ten others for folks. I drive and enjoy my Dodge. I built my dream car 1970 El Camino. 7 years ago it was completed, took 12 years to build it. I've put more miles on my Dodge in a year and a half of ownership. I'm far from done. I still have dreams of owning a 57 Chevy, 59 Cadillac, 65 Galaxie, 78 Trans Am the list goes on.
Current Fleet
1970 El Camino
1975 Royal Monaco
1994 Impala SS
1999 Camry (my DD)
2015 Kia Soul (my wife's DD)
Thanks for reading....

 

[300L]

So, here comes mine, a little different to other storys that I read here. 'Cause my parents had nothing to do with cars, only my mother has a drivers license but never owned a car. We lived in a small town were both worked and buses and train took them everywhere they want.
Now comes the twist for me, as we lived at the main street and I always sat at the window and watched the cars go by. My parents told me later that I could identify every make and typ of car before I went to school.
In my teenage years I build a lot of scale model planes, ships, trucks and of course US cars. For inspiration on custom and paint them I bought magazines (the only way back then in Germany, long befor WWW).
In one of those magazines was a story about Gene Winfield's "Golden Sunrise" '58 Chrysler Gene Winfield's Comeback - Custom Car Chronicle. That was the point were I felt in love with Mopar! And it explains my love to c-bodies with white interieur, thought.

But these cars were out of reach for me at this time. After I had my drivers licese, I bought several Audi 80+100 and VW Rabbit GTIs. As my own family grew, the best car seemed to be a van. Then I had the opportunity to by my first Chrysler, a Voyager with 3.3 Liter V6. The next Chrysler was a Stratus Limited Convertible 2.5 Liter. The next step, in my eyes, should be a modern Challenger R/T but at that time my money was not enough for that. Unfortunately, I thought at this point but at my internet surch for a Mopar in my budget, I found my Chrysler 300L and it was love at first sight. The best I've ever done! Since then I've had so many great experiences and I've met a lot of fantastic people because of the old car (here in Germany and also on this board here!!!)

I bought the Chrysler 300L in 2012 and one Mopar is still not enough!
In 2019 I had the opportunity to by the '71 Sport Fury from Carsten @fc7_plumcrazy and so my little Mopar family is growing ;)

We'll see what the future brings to our hobby...

 

[rkrochen]

I have always had a fascination with cars. As a young kid I would tinker with my dads cars and anything else I could. He was a diehard Chrysler fan and the first one I remember is his 57 Plymouth. His next Chrysler product was a 66 Fury II and this was the car that got me very interested in things. It was also the car I learnt how to drive on. That’s why when I saw my 66Sport Fury I grabbed it (it’s even the same colour).
Since then I have owned a number of Chrysler products myself and have always enjoyed them including a 71 Charger, 73 Newport, 76 Dodge dart, 2011 Dodge Ram and some other ones.
When I got out of school I took auto mechanics and obtained my red seal rating. Worked at some GM and Chrysler dealers then ran my own shop for awhile. I can tell you that my personal favourite to work on was a Chrysler product. This was followed by GM and then lastly came ford. Chrysler made their products easy to work on. Ford was the worst because they always over complicated things.
To this day I am a Chrysler fan and always will be. Especially when it comes to the classics.

 

[1970FuryConv]

I was into cars from as early as I can remember. I was always a GM man and I owned a 1967 Pontiac GTO with a 455 four speed stick that I built. I bought several cars from GM in the 1980s. They were all junk. That cured me of GM and I started looking at other manufacturers. I liked Chrysler styling and turned to them for family vehicles. In 1994, I saw a 1969 Dodge Monaco four-door hardtop in a neighbor's backyard when I lived in New Jersey. That was the moment that I fell in love with Chrysler C – body cars. I had to have it and negotiated selling price of $1. It took me 4 years to restore it. I then drove it through 2006. During the same time I had a 1973 Chrysler New Yorker four-door hardtop as my daily driver. Sadly the 73 NY was pretty rusted. Otherwise I wish I still had it. It had the nylon brocade interior which was just wonderful in hot weather. The fleet:
1969 Monaco four-door hardtop, 440/727. Given away. Unfortunately, later sold for parts
1973 New Yorker four-door hardtop, 440/727, sold due to heavy rust.
1973 New Yorker four-door sedan, 440/727, parts car, junked carcass
1973 Monaco coupe, 400/727. Sold. Later went overseas
1970 Sport Fury, 29 – body, 440 – 727, severe rust, parts car, later junked remnants
1970 Fury III convertible, 440/727 from the parts car above after rebuild. Still in my fleet. Engine build thread along with many others are on FCBO.
1972 Fury III coupe, 360/727. Gold and no vinyl top. 32 page thread is on the site. Sold to FCBO member in Pennsylvania
1973 Monaco coupe, 360/727. Sold locally
1971 Fury GT, 440/727, Still in my fleet, restoration ongoing, my resto thread is in the restoration forum of FCBO.

 

[Big_John]

In one of those magazines was a story about Gene Winfield's "Golden Sunrise" '58 Chrysler

I can't let a mention of Gene Winfield go without commenting. I saw him last year at the Syracuse Nationals and this guy is still going strong at 95 years old!

One of my favorite customizers of all time.

 

[MONC440]

Me, I'm a 4th generation Mopar guy, well technically I guess I should say Chrysler corp guy because they weren't Mopars until the 60's and my family has been driving them as preferred brand before that. BTW the reason I know of all these cars in our family history is because I grew up on a family run farm and all the generations lived on the farm. We had a pretty big grave yard of cars. My buddies in HS used to say the farm was were all the old Chryslers came to die. I would tell them no my family just can't get rid of anything. lol

Great Grandparents - 48 Dodge Business Coup, 46 Dodge Sedan 4 door. 55 Plymouth convertible, 65 New Yorker, 70 New Yorker
Grandparents - 58 Imperial, 62 Imperial, 65 Imperial, 68 Imperial Convertible, 72 Imperial, 78 Diplomat, 85 Chrysler Laser Turbo, even had a couple Dodge Colts in there someplace. Trucks - 58 Dodge, 65 Dodge, 70 Dodge camper special, 76 Dodge
Parents - 55 Plymouth Convertible (first car handed down from grandma) 65 Sport Fury (driver and weekend drag car), 63 Sport Fury, 66 Barracuda, 65 New Yorker, 70 Imperial, dad also built many early ford hotrods powered by everything from a 392 Hemi, small blocks and big blocks all Mopar, one with a flat head ford and one small block chevy (he always referred to that one as the belly button engine because everyone had one) 85 LA baron Convertible, 78 Daytona (not a Cordoba) honestly I can't remember all of them. Always had Dodge trucks from the early 70 up until I think the last one was a 2004.
Me - 70 340 Dart Swinger (first car), 72 Dart Sport, 63 Fury, 70 Challenger, 70 Satellite (RR clone) 72 Swinger (Drag car), 78 Diplomat, 86 Laser, 89 Labaron Convertible, many others not worth mentioning (think Dodge Neon lol) 85 Ramcharger, 75 W250, 85 D150, 96 2500 V10 and finally my 70 Sport Fury. Always been Mopar Or No Car, that is until I started working for Toyota, so now my dailies are company vehicles.

So needless to say the first cars I ever worked on were Mopar. Actually the first time I ever remember helping my dad (other than changing tires) was swapping an alternator on the old farm truck. He had me do all the work and talked me thru it, think I was about 10. First (car) engine I ever rebuilt was the 270 poly out of the old 55 Plymouth and I was 12.

Below is my dad sitting on his 65 Sport Fury and you can see one of my grandparents Chryslers in the background.

 

[cbarge]

Been car crazy since I was two,according to my mom.
This is me and my mum back in 1988 at a car show displaying all my 1-24 scale models that I built.
I still have the trophy from that show to this day.
I started building models at about 8 years old.
I like all makes but gravitated to Mopar around 10 years old.
There is something about getting pressed ino the seat from the torque and the sound of a 68 300 my Aunt's with the 440 TNT that has left a lifetime impression.
Nowadays I play with full scale mopars!

 

[xxcarguy]

I have always been a car guy.
Have my favorites in every brand.
Growing up my father always had Mopar and we went to the dealerships every year (when they used to soap the windows) and look at the new cars.
My uncle Mac raced a 65 a990 car in the late 60’s then built his jet car.
I got my first 68 Fury III convert in 1994. Restored it to all stock except changed the paint from HH1 beige to SS1 yellow. White top. Drove that car for the next 5 years and 88,000 miles.
Started to need another restoration so I sold it and by the end of that night I new I made a mistake.
In 2023 I bought my Hawaiian Blue 1968 Fury.
Love everything about it.
I like the way it floats over bumps on the highway.

 

[65Port]

Always loved cars since I was a kid. I grew up in mostly a GM family and saw what my parents went through with repairs and what not. When I became driving age, I followed suit and purchased a used Pontiac that was a good car more or less. Every GM after that however, ate me alive in repairs. It was then I turned to Mopar in the early 90s with the purchase of an 87 Diplomat with the 318. Great car, never left me stranded and drove great near 100k miles later when I sold it.

Fast forward 15 years, the wife and I are looking for a classic to enjoy. We originally wanted an Imperial but could not find the right one. We came across this poor Newport on CL. The guy who owned it was storing it at his friend's condo who was moving out. It was a little rough but reasonable at the 1700 asking price. We agreed on 1200 and I would be back in a few days with a flatbed. When I got there, it was pushed out to the street as the condo association had given him the ultimatum to remove it or they would. According to him, "I was gonna junk it if you hadn't come."

We bought it and the journey began. She needed plenty of work inside and out. Over the winter, everything was gone through and the car put on the road again in April of 2010. Body was done in 2012. There is still stuff to do but that is part of the fun. It has been as reliable as any car I have owned and has given us great memories.

 

[wagonman]

Dad bought a 70 Charger 500 FC7 383 Mag auto black top and guts brand new. I was hooked, 1st for me 65 Coronet more door /6 stick on column around 75. Next when i moved to Cali in 79 65 Fury 111 more door 383 2bbl with plastic seat covers, great car. Assorted beater Mopar trucks /6 A bodies lots of rusty stuff all Mopar. Restored Dads Charger after he passed in 88 got it done around 93. Lost it in a divorce, that really hurt. Now a 93 1st gen 2wd Cummins with about 165K Great truck. 68 Roadrunner got it as a roller and it is done with usual stuff to replace as it is a driver and driven long and hard. 73 Duster 470 AT 391s Street terror, fast and loud and fun. And a Lonely 67 Chevelle wagon I got in Texas in 80, cool car. Original 4speed with AC and a trailer tow package, had the air shocke with the steel lines that were junk so I ripped them out like a dumbass. Now a snotty 355 TKO and a 12 bolt 373s. Got more *** than a toilet seat in it. LOL Oh and a 73 VW Thing I got from my Brother, gee thanks Bro. Whats next???