Photo from the day I sold the car in December 2000

 

I found this car at a used car lot on Rand Rd. It was on its way to the junkyard, and I actually had to call up the junk yard that bought it to see if they would sell it to me. They said $500, I said OK, and that was that. Actually, I broke the law and bought this car a few days before I turned 18. The owner of the lot said I was "close enough" and put the title in my name anyway.

It had been sitting for some time, tires were flat, the car lot lost the keys. I pulled the lock cylinder out of the passenger door and took it to a locksmith to have keys cut. I then returened with an air compressor to pump up the tires, a gallon of gas for the tank, and a set of jumper cables. I pumped up the tires, dumped the gas in, and hooked up the cables. The car started and I was able to drive it home!

I cut my teeth learning how to work on cars by messing around with this car. It blew a head gasket not long after I got it. I also replaced the shocks/struts, put new tires on it, and reworked the brakes. Then it got a TII conversion and a new clutch. When fluid leaked on the clutch, I converted it to automatic using a trans out of an '88 Horizon and equipped it with a manual valve body and trans cooler. Through all this I tried to race the car, but it always acted up at the track. Best time was 17.2 seconds with no boost at all. It did get me hooked on turbo Dodges, however, and I've lusted over them ever since.

I sold this car to Keith Dale in Dec. 2000. He started to do some rust repairs on the floors, but found a nicer body to work with and ended up selling the car to Paul Fosen. Paul had it for a few years, but it just sat and rusted until I talked him into selling it back to me. 5 years later, I picked it up for the same price I sold it for 5 years earlier. The title was still in my name even!

I'm thinking that it is too rusty to save though. The mint seats and door panels are going to go into the Black SC, along with a few other parts. Mainly the suspension, as I had just put new KYB GR2 shocks/struts on the car before I sold it. The Black SC has blown shocks, and the struts seem to be on the way out also, So I'm just going to swap them over. I'll pull the rest of the suspension goodies off this car so they can be sandblasted and repainted, then they'll end up on the black car as well.

On it's way back home again in May 2005.

 

Intercooled TI, 87 GLHS electronics	A413 automatic
'88 TBI Roller cam	Mopar Manual Valve body
KYB GR-2's	Mopar Trans-cooler
MM-Racing exhaust	MM-Racing manual boost controller
Sold to Keith Dale, Dec. 2000	Bought back from Paul Fosen in May 2005