Car of the Month for April 2016 M body Stock submissions

ramenth

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Gonna mix it up a little bit by putting a fairly stock car in behind a modified.

Let's see the best of the stock M-body on the site.

This will be one week of open enrollment before we go into two weeks of voting.
 

89.Fifth

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Jack Meoff

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Well......I'll throw my hat into the ring.

My 1978 Plymouth Caravelle.
A little back story.......

Around March 2008 I was looking for a beater. A car that was cheap and I wouldn't have to care about. A neighbour told me that some old timer was selling this punched out old Plymouth for cheap not too far away.....so I went to have a look. He wasn't lying.....this car was rough. Really rough. Rotten wheel wells. Virtually missing rockers. Paint was garbage and that was just what I could see in the parking lot where it had been living for about a year and a half.

I met the old guy and asked if I could take it for a spin. It wasn't insured and didn't have a valid sticker so the best I could do was roll it around the lot. It needed a boost because the battery was done but even after sitting for that long the mighty slant fired up and I rolled it around. It drove. We agreed on $400. I went up to his apartment to get the ownership and fill out a bill of sale and as we were doing it he looked at me and said.... "The only reason I'm selling you this car is cause I know you'll look after it......right?" I assured him that I would while in the back of my head thinking if I get a year out of it I'm happy and then I'll scrap this heap.

I got a 10 day permit and came to drive it home the next day. That's when the fun began. Cracked brake rotor. Leaking brake lines and master cylinder. Leaking fuel lines. Water pump was nearly toast and a host of other things. I figured okay. I'll sink a couple of bucks into it and drive it. That old bugger must have put a spell on me because I just kept going. I got all the mechanicals back up to snuff and then decided to do a bullshit patch job on the body. I got a buddy to weld in metal to all the bad spots and then I was going to spray it with primer and call it a day.

Riiiight.......

I was working at a printing shop for a while and right next door was a shop owned by a guy who eventually became a great friend. He restored cars and trucks. He had just done a 57 Fargo Power Wagon that has won more gold awards than you can count. I thought it would be funny to show him the jalopy that I just picked up so I dropped by. He took a look at it and thought it was a pretty cool car and he says "you should fix this thing up". I explained that i didn't have any money to fix it up. He went quiet for a minute. Then looked at me and said "Be here at 8 am Saturday.....don't be late". I asked him why and he said "Just be here".

That man let me use his shop every weekend from May till September. He didn't really help. Just told me what to do if I got stuck. He let me use all his tools and anything I needed as long as I put everything back where it was supposed to go, didn't leave a mess and most importantly "Didn't piss him off".

I worked hard and that junk pile I was going to drive in to the ground and in the process I fell in love with it. The whole time I was working on it, it was my daily driver. Never failed me. Never left me stranded and I loved to drive it.

By September I had it ready for paint. I picked out a beautiful copper metal flake and had a guy at a local shop shoot it for $500. It was a hell of a journey but I learned a lot and did the work myself which gave me a lot of pride in my car.

She doesn't do daily duty anymore. Doesn't see rain or snow. She relaxes in a nice warm dry climate controlled garage in the off season. After all she's been through I'd say she's earned it. I've still got more work to do but considering she had one foot in the grave when I got her she ain't doing to shabby. On top of that this car is insanely rare. Just try to find another boat tail Caravelle and I've NEVER seen another one EVER with no vinyl on the roof.

My Caravelle.

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There's gotta be more M's on here
 

Darth-Car

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How far off stock can we be to still qualify for this contest? If you say stock to me, I'm a purest, and if it was not available on a build sheet for your year it does not count as stock.

In my mind there is:
-stock = As it came from the factory
-modified = some changes from stock
- radio from a different year Mopar
- after market steering wheel
- after market vent shades
- after market window tint
-custom = major changes from stock
- custom built engine
- after market wheels
- custom paint
- custom trim, lights, or grills
- high performance after market stereo

In my mind I can not enter Darth Car in this round since he has a radio from a 98 Durango, a Grant Steering Wheel, and fender mounted turn indicators from a 79 Aspen. Am I wrong?
 

wvdodgemirada

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Well it comes down to how many categories they are going to have. If it is just stock or modified then I would put you in the stock category, but hopefully ramenth can provide some clarity. There has to be more M-bodies on here, so come on in and show them off. :cool:
 

ramenth

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I would say minor upgrades are fine. Wheels, stereo's, add-ons. Nothing mind blowing and nothing that would change the performance characteristics to a large degree. A few upgrades to the suspension? Sure. An AlterK? No. A factory 318 two barrel with an aluminum 4 barrel intake. Sure. Dropping in a 360 or bigger? No. Body mods like Billy made? No. (Unless those are on a stock R/T or Road Runner.) A deviation on color? As long as it doesn't include radical body mods.
 

Jack Meoff

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I would say minor upgrades are fine. Wheels, stereo's, add-ons. Nothing mind blowing and nothing that would change the performance characteristics to a large degree. A few upgrades to the suspension? Sure. An AlterK? No. A factory 318 two barrel with an aluminum 4 barrel intake. Sure. Dropping in a 360 or bigger? No. Body mods like Billy made? No. (Unless those are on a stock R/T or Road Runner.) A deviation on color? As long as it doesn't include radical body mods.

Exactly my thoughts
 

rcmaniac791

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I'll throw in a bite:

So here's the story. January of 2013 my great-uncle passed away at 90 years old. He was an electrical engineer and a former cop, so I'm guessing he bought this thing because he originally drove a diplomat as a cop. He was the second owner, bought it in 2001. When I got the car, I found a sticker inside the trunk lid that had the names of the original owners on it. I don't recall who it was, but they immigrated to the US from Poland, and bought this thing brand new.

Anyway, my grandmother was in the will for my great-uncle, so the Chrysler was hers. I was getting my driver's license around the same time, so I asked her if I could have the car. She agreed, promising that it was in "excellent condition". Boy was that wrong!

Before I got it, the car was last registered in 2011, and had 51,000 miles on it. It could have been run since then, but not really sure. I know for a fact that from January to August 2013 it sat in a garage, untouched. I got the car shipped to me, and we threw a jumper-pack on it, and after at least a 6-month slumber, the trusty ol' 318 roared to life. Once it had warmed up, I started to notice the mouse-nests crammed all around the carb, so to make sure the thing didn't burn itself to the ground, we shut it off.

Where to start.........the tires were severely rotted, (as in the cords were coming out), shocks blown, steering blown, (my great-uncle slammed into a deer, blowing out the steering box) tune-up was way overdue, carb was gummy and about ready to fall off because of loose bolts, brakes shot, almost every hose leaking except fuel, muffler rotted off, etc.....etc....etc.

So over the last 3 years, I've been driving it to school, on road trips with the family, fixing things here and there as my budget allowed. But even though so many things were wrong, never once has it let me down. It's funny, because it only would break right as I pulled in the driveway after I came back home, never anywhere else.

This is my first car. It's what I learned to drive in, what I took to prom in High School, what I learned how to drive in snow with. So it certainly has sentimental value, and that's not even considering the family ties.

This year its sat more than usual because of College, and I didn't have a car my freshman year, but I'll be driving it a lot on road trips with friends in the near future. I love it so much. Super comfortable, reliable, simple, and has TONS of class.

By the way, I have so many more picture, but they are just not with me. I can upload more in a few days if you guys want to see them.

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Darth-Car

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Darth Car is a survivor out of Detroit, MI. I acquired him from a collector who had owned him for shows for the last 10 years. It was fitting that the car is black since the fellow is a funeral director. He owns several other classics, and was ready to turn Darth Car, because he had finally found his dream car, a Ford Falcon. To want a Falcon over an M body, I think the guy has been inhaling to much embalming fluid.

Darth Car suffered from the regular stiffness of being a car under glass, rather than a daily driver, and when I asked him to change his role to daily driver he protested, and spit up an engine, when the oil pump let go flying down the freeway.

So a new engine later, and a fresh carb rebuild, and he is a smooth running machine. I had the driver's seat base recovered, and replaced the stock steering wheel with a nice Grant wheel. I have even brought his sound into modern times by dropping in a Durango AM/FM/CD/cassette. In November he received a fresh set of pin stripes, and fender mounted turn signal indicators that were donated by an F body.
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Dr Lebaron

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Bought at auction June 1997, one owner Dallas TX car, 59,000 miles for $300, plus 10% buyers fee and tax, total $352.
Super 6 with air.
Photos are from last fall.
Type in 1979 Chrysler Lebaron 2dr on a search engine photos.
I come up often and I'm not the one posting the pics.
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efriedrich

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How in hell an I supposed to pick a favorite out of all these beautiful M's......
 
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ramenth

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How in hell an I supposed to pick a favorite out of all these beautiful M's......

Don't know. We've got a competition going, though!

Sunday I'll be consolidating everyone into a poll, so we have two more days of open enrollment.
 

Darth-Car

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So how do we bribe folks to stuff the ballot box on our behalf?:)
 

wvdodgemirada

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Wow, lots of great cars! Will make voting a close competition.
 

Mr C

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My 89 5th Ave...daily driver, so not as pretty as some others!

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