toad490

Well it's midnight and I'm setting here suckin' on my fifth localy brewed Porter beer, 8.6% so if I ramble a bit you'll understand.

This story starts in 1973 when I was 20 and I bought my first Mopar a 68 Coronet R/T with a 440. Since then I've owned a 73 Fury, 72 Charger SE 400cid, 75 Ramcharger 440cid, 01 Dakota R/T and a 70 Cuda. (in order of buying)

Anyways in '74 times were tough so I headed north looking for work and ended up in Fort Nelson, BC. mile 300 on the Alaska Hyway. I went to work in the local sawmill, but was soon laidoff, so with a new family to support I went to work driving Taxi. Now at that time the hyway was gravel for 250 miles south and as far north as it went. This was one nasty road, rough, dusty, and twisty. Most of our fares were south of town to the local Rez and out to the oil rigs over brutal winter roads.

Now one of the things that really ticks me off is people saying that Mopars of that era had good power trains but the bodies didn't stand up. This is not true!!! My first day at the work with the cab company I noticed a Chevy van sitting in the weeds, I asked the deal was with it. He said if I wanted it I could have it. Now this thing was only 6 months old and had 40,000 miles on it when parked and was completly thrashed and would not pass inspection. I looked around at the cabs, and all of them were Mopars and a couple of years old, so I asked him what the deal was. He said they tried Chevy's first, the town actually had a Chev dealership at that time, not now by the way, and he said they got 40-50,000 miles out of them and they were finished. The suspensions, electrical and bodies simply fell apart. So they tried Fords and they were alittle better, 60-70,000 miles, then the same problems. Tired of buying new cars that lasted less than a year they started buying used police cars from southern towns, at that time all RCMP cars were Mopars. These cars already had 50,000 plus miles and he said they got another 60,000 plus miles out of them.

I drove for them off and on for two years and we only replaced a couple of cabs in that time, one of which I bought, the above mentioned 73 Fury with 120,000 on it. I left there in 75 and returned for a few months in 78 and they were still buying used Mopars for cabs.

So the next time somebody tells you Mopars had crappy bodies tell them what I do, they're full of sh_t.

rr69half6bbl

LOL, interesting story toad, I`m starting on beer 1, locally purchased, MGD. Cool story. I agree w/ you. mopars do hold up to the test. My begining w/ our ma mopar started at 14, I had been bitten by a great dane named "satan", no lie. real name. big black horse, actually. anyway, got me in the neck and behind the ear, in 1 bite. doc said 1/4 " more ,I wouldnt be here. got a pretty good settlement for it at that time. actually how do you put a price on a life. , or wearing scars that remind you of what happened every time you look in the mirror. A freind of dads had a 73 cuda 340 4spd for sale, triple black, nice car. so we went to look at it. ended up getting it and bringin it home. I had other cars to keep that 1 nice,awsome car. that started my love affair w/ mopars. ive had so many over the last 24 years , man, Ive lost count, but theyve always been mopars. and nothing else. Now Im starting my kids out, oldest son 12, just got him a 66 coronet, 440and dana, Looking at a 71 duster for my second, 11. well see. If they end up w/ something else down the road I guess I cant complain, at least I stated them in the right direction.

mr340

My first brush was a ride in this car 30 years ago. It is still owned by the same guy and it's an all original 32k mile car. This pic was taken 2 weeks ago, somewhere around i have a 30 year old pic of it too... I love that car!

theomahamoparguy

Agree 100% If you ever notice any film or video from the late 60's or 70's of say the streets of New York city, you'll notice that the cab companies used a ton of mopars. One good example is the old sitcom "The odd couple". Notice the cab that pulls up to the curb, it's a '69 Coronet. Then of course there was the movie "THe Blues Brothers"

deadkelly

i was 16 & bought a 245 hemi 6 centura .my first drive i hit 190klms & hit a small rise in the road & got all 4 wheels off the ground . that was it hooked for life . never lost a race in it , beat gm 253 , 308 , & chev 350's , ford 250 six's & 302 , 351 & other aussie 318's . mopars 4 me . & 1 wheel burnouts used to smokem . that was 16 years ago & now i got my 383 in the machine shop getting the works done . can't wait .