Morning all, it's been a little bit. Well I finally pulled the pin and just bought a new-to-me 2022 Durango GT Plus AWD on Tuesday. It's the first time I've had a car note in 16 years. I've wanted one ever since they redesigned them, and this one ticked off all the right boxes- GT, white, no sunroof, leather. I'm getting old now so I'm looking more for comfort in daily driver rather than speed... Nothing new to report on the Challenger, until about a week and a half ago it's just been too hot to do much outside. Still have the new power brake booster sitting on the bench waiting to go in...

In other news, we're coming off one of the hottest summers of my life, almost 3 straight months of heat indexes in the 105-115 range. My yard was so heat stressed I went from mid July through the end of August without mowing it. And thanks to hurricane Francine we just shattered a rainfall record from last Thursday thru Sunday, 8". That's almost three times the total normal rainfall for September.

My doc prescribed Wegovy for me to try and lose some weight, so far so good, I've lost almost 30 pounds since the first of July. Stuff is way yonder expensive since I'm in the Medicare donut hole but I'm feeling better, my bp is down too so win-win. Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

Good ... Comes a time when you need a little comfort.... Good Looking Ride.... Hope it serves you well... Hope it cools off for yalls soon.... Also Glad to hear your feeling better and loosing weight... I need to get to work on that myself..... Good to see you jumped in here for an update.... Stay Hydrated and keep us posted if you love the new ride after you have been in it for awhile???? Cheers Brother...

 

Very nice car, congratulations !

 

wow i love your car , congratulations

 

I like his Hot Rod Better..... But thats just me..... lol

 

*Post fire update* I'm making headway on the '36 after its roman candle imitation last fall. Repaired all of the burnt wiring, put on a distributor cap and plug wires since a couple of them were charred. Cleaned up all of the soot from the firewall and engine and got a good start on polishing all the shiny bits. Man that Goof Off is a miracle! I went ahead and did an oil change and cooling system flush while I was at it. Gave it a desperately needed bath today (sunny and mid 70's!), and now I have to try and polish out the chafe marks where the car cover blew around in the wind while it was outside. I need to take a little timing out of it, rattles like crazy with just a tap of throttle. Still just grateful as hell it didn't burn to the ground when the fuel line broke. Cruising starts back at the time change so except for the scars on the firewall, it'll be ready to roll...

 

Thanks y'all, I'm loving the Durango so far!

 

That thing is beautiful. Love that blue.

 

Hey MOPAROD, I am working on a 35 Plymouth with a 318 engine. I got it as a basket kit. The steering was a messed up job with some real tight bends in it. Making the steering "kinky" feeling. Could you post a couple of pics of the steering shaft routing from firewall to the rack and pinion.
Thanks

 

Good To hear you got it all fixed up and are ready for some summer fun.... Love that Hot Rod !!!!! Cheers

 

Hey, I can't get a very good pic since it's so tight. Plus I don't have R&P on mine, just an old school chuck. Maybe the pic will help tho, I do have a couple of support bearings on the shaft to keep it from flopping around.

 

MOPAROD
Thanks for the pic. I think I'm going to raise my motor up a little. That will mean I have to open the firewall up a little. The steering shaft on mine goes around the manifold instead of under it.
Thanks

 

You need to start a thread on your ride.... Love to see the progress...

 

Bob, It would be a slow boring blog. It seems I only get to work on it an hour or two a week. Too many other irons in the fire. It does give me incentive to go to swap meets to look for parts for it. I got it for a retirement project but when I get ready to work on it, another project gets in the way.

 

Had our official first Bartlett Cruise-In of the year here yesterday and couldn't have had better weather- upper 70's and clear sunny skies. Got the '36 out, I'm waiting on some consistent weather to begin repainting the firewall. Spent this past week buffing and waxing it and I reset the timing after pulling the distributor to replace the vac advance, she's running better than before now, that 360 pulls like a mule team! Down side, we lost about half of our spot due to a new Chipotle about to start construction. The organizers of the cruise are scouting out new locations but we're gonna stay put as long as we can.

I also was able to get back onto the Challenger today, baby steps but I got the new carpet cut out for the shifter and console brackets. Also started cleaning 55 years of crud off the original seat belts. The drivers retractor doesn't work, gonna try and fix it before I cut the carpet out for them, just in case. I'm going to spend Sunday changing out the brake booster, then the interior can finally go back in.

 

Good to hear your staying busy !!!! Hot Rod Looks great !! Also Looks like yalls had a great turn out? Thats always a good thing..
Hope the painting all goes well.... Keep us posted....

Side note: Our youngest daughter that live not to far from yalls "Millington" said it was a real nice day. She was a little tired of the wind and wet weather... lol

Cheers..

 

That's cool, yeah Millington's about 20 minutes north, they have a small but fairly Mopar heavy cruise in Millington at El Toro Taco, I'm sure she knows where that is. Is she military? And yeah, the weather got rowdy here last week!

We average around 150-ish cars at our Bartlett cruise during the mild months, drops to around 75-100 in the heat of summer.

 

LOL... Cool , I'll have to ask her....
No She has retired out as of 2 years ago..... I think they just closed escrow on a Home they wanted over in Atoka ??? They are going to stay there until the kids get sent off to college and then they will head down to Georgia for a final home.. Funny how we all get spread out.... All my people are from Mississippi, Memphis Tenn, West Memphis Arkansas....
I sure would love to move back, But we got to many irons in the fire here keeping up planted for now..
Love all the car stuff and drag racing they do out that way. Our So-Cal car culture is good here all year round, but all the dragstrip stuff is drying up...

Chat with you later... Happy St. Patrick's Day.... Cheers

 

Mornin' Bob, while the car scene is pretty strong- there are cars & coffee events every weekend somewhere around town- the racing scene here is drying up too, Memphis International Raceway closed a couple of years ago and Byhalia dragstrip closed I think last year. The closest we have now is either Jackson TN or Holly Springs, MS. Sad, with all of the performance history we have around here - RHS, Comp Cams, Lunati, Hypertech, TCI, JVX, and even Edelbrock has moved their HQ to Olive Branch MS, yet nobody seems to want to invest in reopening MIR. Besides all the companies, Herb McCandless, Ray Godman, Preston Davis, Clay Millican and dirt racers Hooker Hood and Bobby Davis Jr, are all from the Memphis area. I may be wrong but I think Larry Reyes, who once drove the Bo-Weevil for Sir Ray still lives here too.
That's cool about your daughter, I have some friend that live in Atoka, just across the county line from Millington in Tipton Co. Just a guess about her being military; Millington's population is probably 75% either active or retired military because of the Navy base.
I've got MS roots too, from around Grenada across to roughly Clarksdale and all points north. We still have our family reunion in Sardis. Small world, huh?
Ken

 

Ken...LOL.... Small world is rite....
The Wife Unit and I were in Illinois once and someone across the Airport terminal Yelled Hey Bob!!!! My wife looked at me and rolled her eyes and said... Dam it Bob, We cant go anywhere that someone doesn't know you.... I just laughed and said... I'll make you famous !!!!

 

Little update, the repairs to the '36 after the engine fire have been perfect, it actually seems to run a little better than before! The timing was just a skosh advanced before, and while the 360 pulled like a mule team, it would occasionally knock some when I'd shut it off hot. Not anymore, runs like a stripe a$$ed ape now. Now that it looks like the cold weather is finally behind us, I'm going to start blocking down the firewall to respray where the paint got scorched and blistered, then she'll finally be back to normal.

Been making slow progress on the Challenger too, started getting the interior back in and I'm anxious to get back behind the wheel again after more than a year. I still need to replace the headliner, I've done it a couple of times before in a '68 Charger and a '69 Road Runner, but I'm a heap older now, spending time on my knees in the Challenger has shown me that. Sometimes it's just easier to write somebody else a check and be done with it.

I attached a few pics from the Cars & Coffee this past weekend. Excuse the couple of Chevys...

 

Awesome !!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
I like most all cars… It is Cars and Coffee anyhow… Love the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro with the Cowl Hood with the sculls and Flames… Nice work!!
good to hear the Challenge is coming along… And man I feel ya on the feeling the olderness!!!

Keep chipping at it.. Come out swinging everyday!!!

looking beautiful my friend!!!

Mopars to Da Front!!!