Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
...never quit.
My friend Kevin showed up at my house yesterday morning. This is the guy with the gorgeous '71 Charger R/T that was in Mopar Muscle a few years back.
He'd just come from the Mopar Nationals, by way of Minneapolis--yes, he went there then backtracked. On the dolly behind his '99 Ram Sport was a 1-of-265 1980 Aspen R/T, slant-six/3-speed stick/3.21 8.25" axle. The car is black with a red gut, and a pretty nice buy at $1200.
Funny thing, time. When I had my Nightwatch Blue '80 Aspen, slanty/4-speed, he ridiculed me about my F-body fetish. A few months back, he suddenly developed one of his own. He was really looking for a '76-'77 Super Pak car (the two worst years of F-car from a quality standpoint, for the record), and had found a '77 360-2v Super Pak R/T but the guy wouldn't give him a price and he got impatient. Of course, the '77 was an awfulmatic (they never built 360/4-speed F-bodies), and when the '80 popped up with a stick it was all over.
The former owner had sent him the title for the car, and it was registered and insured before he ever picked it up. So I cut out of work a little early yesterday, and we spent the afternoon cruising in the old girl. After a service stop at Stretch's workplace, we probably put 200 miles on it, just rolling past the sites from our youth. It was very cool to be out in an old manual-trans Mopar, even if it was a slant six Aspen in fairly poor tune. It ran great and we really enjoyed ourselves, even stopping by the local A&W for a root beer, hung off the window like the good old days. On his way out of town today, he stopped by Auto Value with her back on the tow dolly, headed back to Minnesota--this time to visit with his sister. After that, it's back to Atlanta.
His plans for the car involve an overdrive 4-speed behind a mildly-worked 400, backed up by an 8.75" axle, but to keep it looking totally stock without lifting the hood. I gave him a pair of quarter-window louvers from a similar-year F-bod, and he's already got a rear spoiler from the factory. It should be a cool ride when it's done.
So, why is it that I say some guys never quit? Well, his garage lays out like this at this point in time:
Oh, to have the time, money, and lunacy to take it to the level which Kevin has...
My friend Kevin showed up at my house yesterday morning. This is the guy with the gorgeous '71 Charger R/T that was in Mopar Muscle a few years back.
He'd just come from the Mopar Nationals, by way of Minneapolis--yes, he went there then backtracked. On the dolly behind his '99 Ram Sport was a 1-of-265 1980 Aspen R/T, slant-six/3-speed stick/3.21 8.25" axle. The car is black with a red gut, and a pretty nice buy at $1200.
Funny thing, time. When I had my Nightwatch Blue '80 Aspen, slanty/4-speed, he ridiculed me about my F-body fetish. A few months back, he suddenly developed one of his own. He was really looking for a '76-'77 Super Pak car (the two worst years of F-car from a quality standpoint, for the record), and had found a '77 360-2v Super Pak R/T but the guy wouldn't give him a price and he got impatient. Of course, the '77 was an awfulmatic (they never built 360/4-speed F-bodies), and when the '80 popped up with a stick it was all over.
The former owner had sent him the title for the car, and it was registered and insured before he ever picked it up. So I cut out of work a little early yesterday, and we spent the afternoon cruising in the old girl. After a service stop at Stretch's workplace, we probably put 200 miles on it, just rolling past the sites from our youth. It was very cool to be out in an old manual-trans Mopar, even if it was a slant six Aspen in fairly poor tune. It ran great and we really enjoyed ourselves, even stopping by the local A&W for a root beer, hung off the window like the good old days. On his way out of town today, he stopped by Auto Value with her back on the tow dolly, headed back to Minnesota--this time to visit with his sister. After that, it's back to Atlanta.
His plans for the car involve an overdrive 4-speed behind a mildly-worked 400, backed up by an 8.75" axle, but to keep it looking totally stock without lifting the hood. I gave him a pair of quarter-window louvers from a similar-year F-bod, and he's already got a rear spoiler from the factory. It should be a cool ride when it's done.
So, why is it that I say some guys never quit? Well, his garage lays out like this at this point in time:
- 1971 Dodge Charger, 440/4-speed, all original except the Keisler 5-gear he recently installed.
- 1971 Plymouth Duster Twister, 340/auto pirated from a '71 Demon, otherwise all original 318/console car, still awaiting restoration.
- 1978 Chrysler Cordoba 400HP/console auto, white with red leather gut.
- 1979 Chrysler 300, E58/727/3.21SG 9.25", factory sunroof car, currently sporting a '71 340, 727, and 3.23 Sure Grip from my '72 Chicken.
- 1980 Dodge Mirada, sub-15,000-mile Chrysler executive car, 318/console auto, optioned to death and back.
- 1980 Dodge Aspen R/T, already discussed.
- 1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z, probably the nicest one in existence. Full rotisserie restoration, 345-horse 350 in place of the original 305, sissymatic. If it wasn't NOS, new repro, or absolutely perfect used, it didn't end up on this car. I don't like this car, but he had one in high school and 3rd-gen Camaros have a spot in his heart. Arguably, it's nicer than the '71 R/T. Of course, the R/T was restored 13 years ago and has been driven--hard--as is this one.
- 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport Quad Cab, 318/auto. He got it new, and now has almost 200K miles on it. Fun subject, this truck, as it was a lease on which he had no intent of making the final purchase... but he did. Long story.
Oh, to have the time, money, and lunacy to take it to the level which Kevin has...
Old habits die hard.
