Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Mopar Week Day Five, Six-Pack!
Carburators are cool. Three carburetors must be really cool then right? Of course. In the hay day of the muscle car era nothing beat the awesome power of the 440 Six-pack, Named for it's massive 440 cubic inches of displacement and awesome 3x2 barrel carb set-up. Bolted between the clean lines of a Challenger R/T these engines are true show pieces for the period.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Mopar Week Day Four, Bring a Trailer.
I love classic race cars therefore I love classic race car haulers. The guys over at Bring a Trailer put the spotlight on this Mopar a few months back. Owning this 1970 Dodge D300 would be a dream, let alone the Lola sitting on the back. 
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Mopar Week Day Three, Plymouth.
This is one of my favorite retro-mod builds Steve Strope's '72 Plymouth GTX-R.
In my earlier youth I owned a 72 Plymouth Satellite with plans to create a GTX-R like car. Unfortunately a 15 year olds plans are rarely solidified. Sad. I miss wrenching on the old beast.
Hot Rod Magazine article here.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Mopar Week Day Two, Beep Beep I'm a Jeep.
Welcome to day two of all things Mopar. Yesterday I kicked things off with a somewhat depressing look at the now dead Dodge Viper. Today I wish to dive into Chrysler's Jeep devision.
The plucky little Jeep started out service in World War II after American Bantam won the government design contest for a new general purpose 4-wheel drive vehicle. Because Bantam did not have a suitable engine and was unable to meet the huge supply orders Ford and Willy's-Overland where awarded the production contracts. GI's returning after the war needed cheap, reliable vehicles and many, already familiar with jeeps kept using them at home. Some of the most interesting civilianized Jeeps are found in the Philippines. Known as "Jeepneys," these brightly colored and heavily modified leftover military Jeeps have been repurposed for public transportation.
Following the war Willy's continued to sell CJs or Civilian Jeeps until Kaiser Motors bought the brand in 1953, American Motors purchased the money losing Jeep brand from Kaiser in 1970. Finally after French automaker renault failed to save AMC from failure Chrysler became owner of the mark in 1987.
4th of July or Mopar Week Day One
This past friday Dodge halted the production of its iconic Viper. The Viper is just another model lost in the Chrysler/Fiat merger that will be sorely missed. And what is a better day than the Fourth of July to honor a bankrupt American car company that is now part of an Italian small car conspiracy. After 20 years of production and a few model changes the viper still maintained a beautiful V10 roar and Nordschleife killing lap times. In memory of the Viper and every other Dodge/Chrystler/Jeep/Plymouth this week is officially Mopar week here at What Your Dad Drove. 
I really wish the final Viper wasn't so damn ugly.
Rather than ghastly copper on gold, I was always fond of the "Ketchup and Mustard" color scheme found on some earlier RT/10 and GTS models. I had one in this color only it was a a 1:64 scale hot wheels car, I found it much better than a Jeep Wrangler (another Mopar icon) for running away from a T-Rex a la Jurassic Park. When my Dad decided to paint his bad-ass Datsun 240Z he painted it Viper blue, when we went to the dealer that my dad worked at to got get the car we took a peak at some of the new Vipers for sale, I don't think a bigger impression has ever been made on a 3 year old.
Granted your dad probably didn't drive a Dodge Viper. But he would have.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)