Service question

[ldabe]

Carl,
A little off the subject, but is that a 69' or 70' Dodge Charger in your member pic? (and do you have one)

Everytime I see you post, it brings back some teen age memories.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Yup... 69. Sitting in my garage in LA. Did the restoration more or less my self. Used to be my daily driver, but have not had the time to maintain it nor the stomach to pay $3 per gallon in LA for premium. Still love the car, just drive it to meetings where what you drive is more important than what you say (Any meeting in Los Angeles).

Carl

 

[ldabe]

Great car man!
A friend of mine use to have one when we were seniors in high school, many a moon ago.
I loved that car. It had great power plus it had a great ride too. Just an all around car.
We did some crazy stuff in that car (lots of good, and sometimes a little scary memories) but God was merciful.

Just for the heck of it Carl, what do those go for today...if you don't mind saying?

 

[woodlandfarms]

Well, Mopars went through the roof a couple of years ago. Dot Commers trying to relive their youth...

I was in a 70 Hemi Cuda Convertible 4 speed (one of five ever made numbers matching) baby ugly blue with dog dish caps go for 5.5 million. Yes, Dollars. I drove around in it (was driven, did not drive). While cool, it was not worth that kind of coin to me...

My car is worth 30 to 35K. It is not numbers matching, the colors are wrong, but it is desireable and in good shape.

A 440 engine, or a hemi, KA CHING, you are at 100K right away (if the car is numbers matching).

I probably have 40K in my car, all the mistakes I made trying to build my first car.. it should have cost me 20K...

Here is a commercial I did with it a few years ago.. Just something fun to do while killing time shooting a Hyundai commercial...

Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6

And the back story on the car.... Long winded and boring if I don't say so myself...

Carl's 1969 Dodge Charger

Carl

 

[MossRoad]

In high school I had a friend that had a 68 or 69 Charger. He built it out of two wrecks. It only had a 318, but man, was that a fun car just to sit in, let alone drive around in. He painted it orange with a black top. Lots of good memories... except for the vacuum operated windshield wipers.

 

[Barryh]

Well since were talking about old Mopars. Very nice looking Charger you have there. I loved these cars so much, I owned four Barracuda's in the 1970's. They were pretty much the same body style as the 70 Challengers. The same engine / trans as the Dodge Charger.

I owned 3 - 383 Magnums which were 383 blocks with 440 heads, and one 440. One was a black convertible. Three were pistol grip four speeds. If I'd have been smart enough to hang on to the convertible, it would be going for some serious money today. Most Cuda's in good shape are going for 6 digits. A friend and I rebuilt the engine on one. It was running in the 460 hp range.

I have one more muscle car left in me. I'm waiting for the new 2008 Dodge Challenger to come out this winter. It is going to be a very close replica of the old 70 challenger / Cuda body styles, with high tech improvements of course. Two semi hemi options one would be running 425 hp the other 525.

Will be a lot like Ford bringing back the 68 Mustang body styles, which was my very first car. I can't wait to see the Challenger running the roads again. The new Charger was a disappointment to me just my 2 cents of course. 4 doors and kind of bulky looking.

Here are a couple of old pictures, of one of my Cuda's which does not do it justice, very badly faded. Color was called plum crazy which was a very popular color back then a metallic purple. And of course some had the old vinyl tops. I also had one in the ugly baby blue colors Carl was talking about. I agree it was an ugly color.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Barry, that Plum Crazy e-body is worth 150 to 250K on the market right now. That convertible could easily clear 400K... I LOVE the E Bodies. And the new Challenger is really well designed. Hate the new charger. There is a spread in Car and Driver featuring my car and the new Charger. Really no comparison.

The really funny thing is that you can tell most of the people who own the new Charger no nothing about cars or its history. I am always asked by them what my car is.... Then they look at theres and look at mine... There smile goes away..

Carl

 

[ldabe]

Great stuff Carl!

Right now I have two Dodge's...2001 PT Cruiser (won it in a raffle) and a 1984 Ram Prospector D150 PU (use it to pull my pt-422 around).

I get a lot of looks when driving the Prospector, but I think blue book is about $2500.

Man, wait till I run into my high school friend who owned the 69' Charger and tell him what they are going for today!

Thanks again Carl, your car is a beauty.

 

[Barryh]

Barry, that Plum Crazy e-body is worth 150 to 250K on the market right now. That convertible could easily clear 400K... I LOVE the E Bodies. And the new Challenger is really well designed. Hate the new charger. There is a spread in Car and Driver featuring my car and the new Charger. Really no comparison.

The really funny thing is that you can tell most of the people who own the new Charger no nothing about cars or its history. I am always asked by them what my car is.... Then they look at theres and look at mine... There smile goes away..

Carl

Ya, I know I've seen the prices. I had always planned on keeping the convertible for that very reason. Never realized back then they would go for so much on the market today, or I may have had a little more incentive. The new Challenger is going to be a beaut. I plan to get one when I can swing it. I would really love to do what your doing and buy a classic. Being honest with myself I know I couldn't afford to restore it right, and do it justice. So I'll go with the 2008 challenger.

I know I'm telling my age when I talk about the 70's. Your right most people have no idea of Mopars history. I also owned some other Mopars which I won't bore anyone one else with. Here is my old 1958 party wagon if I remember the year right. I had a lot of fun in this old truck. It had the old flat head 6 and was bullet proof. One more of my Cuda, had a little rainbow thing going on in this one. So I always liked this picture.

I tell my son who is 20 about the old Mopars he doesn't have a clue. I had some friends back then that drove Road Runners, Super Bee's GTX's to many to list . One friend of mine had a nice, I think it was a 67 Charger. Not as nice looking as the 69's much boxer looking, still it was an exciting car to drive or ride in.

My all time favorite chase scene and Im sure would be yours is in the classic Bullitt, with Steve McQueen. Sweat running charger in that one. The other is Vanishing point, story line not as well done, but was nice watching the Challenger put through its paces.

 

[cqaigy2]

Nice picts!

I have to wonder if they "fixed" the starters in those things, at least the sound of them.