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September 07, 2016
Our other Mopars
I have owned many Mopars in the past, including a 1965 Polara 4dr with a 383, a 1966 Polara 4dr with a 383, a 1972 D100 2wd long-bed pickup with a 318, and a 1964 Plymouth Barracuda with a 273. My very first car was the '65 Polara mentioned above. I enjoyed that car and it was tough enough to survive my learning many of my first automotive maintenance lessons on it. Since then, I have preferred and promoted classic MoPars of every stripe everywhere I've gone.
With my first car and in the early days of my Charger, I held a fairly uniform appreciation of all American-made muscle-car era automobiles. I found that many of the GM and blue-oval devotees received my praise of their vehicles but had nothing but uninformed condemnation for my own cars. I found this to be true even when their cars could not beat mine in a race. Later on, I met other Mopar owners and found many of them had had the same experiences. It is with these people that I have enjoyed the camaraderie and pride of owning Mopar vehicles over the years.
This may be the only picture I still have of my first car. My trusty 1965 Dodge Polara police car. I was almost 16 in this picture. This is the car that started my love for all things Mopar!
On this page I will feature Mopars currently in our family's fleet.
This is my wife's 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger. It has a new 360 CID engine and it runs like a top. We love this car, my wife especially. We bought it in the summer of 2006 from its original owner, a sweet little lady (really) who had kept every scrap of paperwork pertaining to the car all the way back to her original dealership purchase receipt, and who had taken the car in every six months for a checkup or whenever it needed it, whichever was oftener. Other than the new 360, a paint job and new vinyl top in 2004, this car is completely original, and it's virtually immaculate inside and out. The original 318 was great, but after 35 years of service it finally needed to be replaced or rebuilt. This car gets a great deal of well-deserved attention wherever we go in it.
In 2004, I started looking for an economical-to-drive cool-looking older Mopar for regular transportation. I am quite sure we scored a good deal on this 1969 Dodge Dart Western Special. The car is very solid, and needs only a few cosmetic finishing touches. Even in its current unrestored state, this clean, original car still gets us a lot of compliments. Powered by what I believe to be its original 225 CID slant-six, backed up by a 3-speed manual column-shifted transmission, it does very well on gas and doesn't embarrass me going up our local hills. When I restore this car for my daughter, I hope to redo the exterior of the car in its original Q5 Bright Turquoise Metallic paint, with a new vinyl top, and maybe a black tail stripe, and probably install a small block and auto transmission, or maybe I'll just leave it stock. It is still cool, and there aren't too many of these still sporting their original drive train these days.
The famous "leaning tower of power" The "Charger 225"
The interior is in great shape and is original!
The story of my 1963 D100 probably warrants its own webpage. My buddy and I completely changed the nature and purpose of this vehicle. It started out as a D100 SWB 6-cyl 4spd with manual steering, 2wd, and manual drum brakes all the way around. Over the course of 18 months, we transformed it into what you see in these pictures: a 383 2bbl, 727 auto and an MP205 divorced transfer case Dana 44 front end and 8 3/4 rear from a '74 Power wagon with 3:55 gears were initially used. Since these pictures were taken I have updated both front and rear axles. I beefed up my truck with a Dana 44 front end from an '86 W350 with Warn manual hubs, a Dana 60 rear end (also from the '86 W350) with 4:10 gears all the way around. The steering column with the automatic shifter and floor pan are from a 1969 D200. The brake booster and master cylinder assembly are also from the'86 W350. The front and rear bumpers are custom-made by my friend and myself.
The workhorse of the bunch is my '97 Dodge Ram 2500 with the awesome 5.9l Cummins. I REALLY love this truck!
In 2003, I was able to acquire this complete, running, driving 1967 Plymouth Satellite 2dr HT. It has a 318 4bbl which runs quite well. The interior has bucket seats and an automatic console shift. My son (who was seven years old at the time) is the owner of this car. It had long been my plan when my Charger was done for the two of us to begin restoration of his Satellite together.
You can see some of the major restoration progress we made on my son's '67 Satellite before he headed off for college at his Satellite restoration page here Tolley's 1967 Satellite Restoration Blog
The paperwork that came with the car indicates that this 318 should be the original engine and was overhauled a number of years ago, which could explain why it runs so well. The engine has an after-market aluminum 4bbl intake and an Edelbrock (Carter AFB) carburetor. I have a 1971 440 4bbl engine that has been reserved for my son's future power needs. Unless he continues with his plan to put a HEMI in it one day!
Here's a picture from 2007 with my son leaning against his Satellite, he is 6'4" tall now so he's changed even more than his car has!
My son is a grown man now and sought out something cool, tough, and practical for his work and daily driver use. He scored with the 1993 Dodge W250 Cummins equipped Power Wagon. It came with a utlity bed which he sold and promptly replaced with a good long bed we had at home. It has a 4" lift and 285/75R16 tires on American Racing spoke wheels. The paint is military surplus desert sand. Everything works perfectly. This thing is an awesome beast!
For nearly 20 years my barber and I had an arrangement. I worked on his '76 Power wagon whenever needed and he would cut my family's hair. Well a couple years ago he lost a battle with cancer. His widow insisted that the truck come to live with me. When my daughter wanted something cool to drive to school her first choice was the Barber's old '76 Power Wagon. We cleaned it up, did a tune up and a little maintenance together, (she got her own Craftsman tools for Christmas) and then I painted it like as my son's '93 Power Wagon using the same military surplus paint. I updated the wheels with some American Racing 16 x 6.5" units with 265/75R16's. Came out pretty cool looking and my daughter certainly loved driving the truck she calls "beast".
Posted in Family Helpers | RESTORATION