Sixteen year old with a new car payment. Ordered new arrived in late June, '66 Valiant. Folks wouldn't allow a V8 so got a 225 slant six with 3-speed. Put a floor shift and Anson mags second week of ownership. Later that fall I bought the drivetrain out of a totaled '65 Barracuda Formula S including the exhaust, it had one big exhaust tip that sounded great. Folks were out of town so my buddy and I swapped it in over a week-end. Later the old man heard it run, "What the hell did you do to your car?" "I put glasspack on it".
Traded that Valiant in fall of '69 for this Charger, 383, 4-speed. Morphed into a Day 2 car over time, Skyjackers, headers and five-spokes.
1963 Dart AWB. Rear axle moved forward 12", front straight axle 5", 440, 4-speed, Dana 60. Driving this was a combination exhilaration and being terrified. It would spin through first but pull the front wheels in second.
MoPars in Somerset on 5/25/24. Low turnout due to the weather, a few pics I grabbed. View attachment 6075223
I love the old Dodge swept sides ..... AMC really missed the boat on downsizing in that time period. During the 70's in the gas crisis, everyone was down sizing for economy. I want to say the Hornet, Gremlin, Pacer .... these were smaller mid sized cars, but they were built like Mack trucks. ..... They could run forever, gas mileage was terrible. .... nobody wanted them.
The Jalopy Journal
