It was my first car when i turned 16. This is how it looked when I bought it, and put some money into body work. It was in very poor shape when i got it but a friend of my dads who owns a custom shop got it looking nice, and it actually won some car show awards, mostly due to how clean and how rare it is..
this picture was taken in 1995 or 1996.



I started driving right after i turned 16, and i was into stereo nonsense and showing the car. But about 6 months after getting my license, i was at a drag strip/show event in ohio, and my dad told me to tech in and make a pass. the stock 140hp 318 ran an amazing 18.72. yeah, thats right...18.72. it had about 170,000 miles on the stock drivetrain, but we came across a cheap junkyard 340 from a cuda. what a find, huh? well, as you can see from this next picture (circa 1997) there was some body work involved to help the 340 breate, and i loved the black hood. when we first got the 340 in, it ran mid 14s. my dad and i always said that if it ran 14s, we would be happy, but it came so easily with ALL junkyard parts, we kept at it. new gears (3.91), new transmission (well, both junkyard pieces) and with those parts the car got into the high 13s.



the stock low performance heads were beginning to show their peak abailities, so we bought a slightly less-cheap head setup, new cam, roller top end...we added some nice light wheels, lightened up the interior, and got a bit less gawdy hood, and 4.10s...and the old girl got into the very low 13s. late in the season, while chasing that 12 second slip at norwalk, i ran a 13.000, and on the next run the transmission went away. so it would be until the following season before i got into the 12s, but it did so...here is a picture from around 2002 (youll notice a jump in time as i was paying my way through college)


(look at the old girl trying to carry that left front wheel! )

2005 brought about some more lightweight goodies such as the fiberglass trunklid and aluminum rear bumper...some other items like a new carb, a freshened up convertor,and some 4.56 gears, the 3700lb track weight mirada went a best of 12.68, at around 105mph.



then we are to the most present picture. this was from 2006ish...and it was mostly trim work in the off season, and some more tuning...along with some seat time, the sled got into the 12.40s, but still was running lean on the front cylinders, and we found a leak in the intake manifold gasket, and the next night it went its best, 12.39 @ 107.86with a short time of 1.653. sadly, i didnt get a slip for that run, but i did get the 12.40s slips...so i generally state my best as being 12.43...still, for a car that tips the scales right around 3700lbs, running on 87 octane, im pretty please. thats right, it runs on 87 octane, when the motor went together in 1996, i couldnt afford good pistons, so we bought the cheapest pistons that i could find, and those same pistons are still in the car. the bottom end saw something like 25,000 street miles and over 1100 runs before spinning a bearing and wiping out the crank in april of 2007.

here is a picture of the car in 2006, the day that she ran her best time...


and a picture taken at the track on the day that i tore up the bottom end this year...it still ran a 12.9-something coasting across the finish line at somewhere around 50mph...i had a 1.79 short time on that run and a 8.0 8thmile, although my 8th trap was low, so it was already failing at that point...but the car has made every run of its life with 87 octane in it.



there is a new bottom end kit in storage right now, but other projects have gotten in the way...mostly my 1972 dodge demon 340, which has a thread of its own!!

 

Specs: 1983 Dodge Mirada
Engine:
1969 Plymouth 340
Stock crank and rods, 30 over low compression pistons (9:1)
1988 360 heads, heavily ported, 1.88/1.60 valves
Mopar 528 purple shaft
1.6 roller rockers
Edelbrock AirGap intake manifold
Barry Grant 750dp (lawsuit carb)
Flowtech 1 5/8 headers
3" custom exhaust
flowmaster 40s
Moroso KoolKan
MSD 6A ignition
leanburn full advance distributor
holley high volume electric fuel pump
Moroso electric water pump
twin electric fans

Transmission:
Chrysler 727
Manual Valve Body
hurst Quarter Stick
4000 stall

Rearend, brakes, suspension:
Chrysler 8.75 diff
richmond 4.56 gears, spooled
Rear Drum Brakes (stock)
Front Disc Brakes (stock)
60/40 front shocks
front sway bar removed
7 leaf rear springs
differential snubber
Hoosier Quick Time Pro 26x11.5x15
Drag skinnies up front

Interior Modifications:
a-body seats
rear seat delete
carpeting and padding removed
trunk lining and contents removed
5" Drag'on tachometer
(The car still has working power windows)

Exterior modifications:
Light weight aluminum front fascia supports
Fiberglass hood with hemi super stock scoop (functional, with cold air box)
Fiberglass trunk lid

Track weight of 3691, fully streetable.

 

a nice clean, current shot


and a little burnout video that my wife made from a handful of still photos..

 

if you folks want to see some hot bracket racing action..here is a very grainy video from a few years ago...the actual race begins around 1.01, but the video is 1.19 long...there was a bit of a staging battle.. this was a points race, in a later round. the guy in the max wedge car was the reigning class champ, and is a hell of a racer...and i knocked him out, on my home track...

http://theautomotiveauthority.blogsp...ge-mirada.html

interestingly, after racing with this guy in the points series for years, after this run he accused me of cheating...claiming that i was running an illegal two-step, which was most certainly not the case. i tree'd him and HARD...

 

That is one heck of a cheap build! I wish that I could have finds like that around here.

 

i paid 500 dollars for the car...

 

I hate you.

 

only us MoPaR people can make any MoPaR look sweet and run like that , boy thats an awsome Mirada and now it makes me want to go out and get one --- now im drooling 78 hehehe

 

nice burnout

 

when i was 17 or 18...i was at a car show in ohio, we had trailer the mirada into ohio for a mopar event, and took it off the trailer with open headers to drive into the car show. while there, a guy was bugging me about selling him the mirada, which i declined. then he started bugging me about trading him. he had all kinds of information on a mid 80s mustang that ran something like low 11s. it was all gutted out, and was not easy on the eyes. it was obvious that little had been done to make it look as nice as it ran..

still, i wasnt interested...then he comes over with pictures of a black mirada CMX...it was also pretty rough, but was a daily driver..he wanted to trade me a stock, rough CMX and a beat up 11 second fox body for my mirada...looking back, im glad that i didnt go for it...

 

we are all glad you didnt sell/trade either, other wise this might be a whole different mopar forums sell is a fighten word in my book hahaha

 

i also run a huge mustang site..fate deals odd hands...

 

Mustangs, the horses right ? like saddles and cowboys stuff.

 

Site? You must mean ranch. I can see how you can get those two words mixed up. LOL

 

Good looking car, lots of history with it now too

 

LMAO...

 

actually, i own an appendix quarter horse as well...

 

Is that like a fast back....?

 

haha - can't tell you guy how many times me and my dad have said something similar... right after that phrase usually comes the ceremonial sacrifice of a paycheck or 10

 

You own quater of a horse?

 

we had to make payments, but we own the whole horse now...

 

LOL