Well my ol man drove lot's of car's besides many Gms, Fords and Chryslers he had a Volvo and a Studebaker. The coolest of which was the Stude. It was an original and extremely rare 1963 Studebaker Avanti with the R-2 engine. (Supercharged 289ci v-8 Packard engine) I was little when he sold it and don't really remember it though he has pics of me standing on the driver seat holding the steering wheel. Precursor of things to come? No wonder I am a speed junkie. The coolest car he had that I do remember was probably the '64 New Yorker hardtop. Metallic beige, 340 hp 413 bbl, pushbutton trans, coffin shaped tail lights. Man that car was almost too cool for words. I thought it would be my first car but he sold it when I was 14 and the car was 15. I begged him not to. Oh well, I did end up with his ol 72 New Yorker Brougham with a 440 in it as my second car.(my first was a 67 Charger that I never really drove) Where I grew up and old as I am, I have no choice but to be a big V-8 rwd muscle car guy. This is the truth. It was Flint Mi. Late 70's I was a teen starting to notice cars. I unknowingly, lived in musclecar mecca. 7 houses down north was a built red 69 AMX, 3 houses north was an orange 70 Super Bee, next door to the south was a red 69 Super Bee, directly behind me was a 68 GTX, 4 houses to the north of that was a fast 440 4speed 68 Road Runner. 1/4mile south of that was a 409 SS Impala, 3 houses to the east of that was one fast green 400 ci 69 firebird, a mile to the south was my cousins uncle who had a 68 427 Vette 435 hp tri power. I was already on musclercar hormone overload when I went to auto mechanics at a vocational school across town where there was a kid who drove a 1970 455 stage 1 GSX Buick, another one drove a 1970 454 ss Chevelle, another one drove a 70 454 ss El Camino, another one drove a small block 72 Charger, another one drove a 72? 302 Mercury Maverick Grabber and another kid drove a 427 4speed 69 Nova. My dads little brother had a 60's 289 mustang, a 67 Pontiac lemans Sprint 6 (awesome) and an even more awesome 390 hp 428ci 69 Pontiac GP SJ. Before I left for the military at 19, my best friend had just bought a mint 71 455 HO GTO. I spent my last summer cruising and street racing with him in the Goat in 1984. Those were the days! We street raced down on the boulevard right next to the Buick factory. That was when the big v-8's were becoming old and the Buick engineers were experimenting with the Regals with the v-6 turbos. Occasionally, some engineers would sneak a test mule out of the factory and come down to where we were racing and kick some butt.
So in summary; I have respect for all makes though I will talk trash about all but Mopar. For me, it's Mopar or no car. I specifically prefer the big blocks to the small blocks and rwd to fwd. I have owned a Ford and 2 GMs but about 10 Mopars. Almost as many fwds as rwds. I loved my rwd 72 New Yorker, I loved my 89 4wd Dakota, I loved my 83 fwd 2.2 Charger. I loved my 95 Neon SOHC 5 speed, my 96 4wd Jeep GC and I love my SRT-4. The SRT-4 is the coolest car I have owned and my fav so far, but when I get my 440 built and put into my 70 Dodge D100 stepside, that will probably be my favorite. I will not buy foreign and I do not really get into their whole fast and furious scene. I am just too old school for that though I have nothing against small turbo engines and newer technology. Hell, I've even thought about turboing my 440. Turbo lag? What turbo lag? Ha Ha.

 

Yeah I gotta say I love my mopars a lot more then anything else...

 

I'm a Moparian, come from a family of Moparians.

Current Stable Tagged
38 Plymouth Coupe (318/904)
52 Dodge M-37 stock
75 Dodge D500 2 ton Truck
04 Cummins Ram 2500 4dr
04 SRT-4 in my sig
05 Chrysler Touring SEMA car (until it is sold)

Untagged
39 Dodge Pickup
66 Barracuda
75 PowerWagon (snow plow)
84 Rampage
80 Road Runner


Scattered bits and pieces of a lot more

 

As much as I absolutely love my SRT-4, I was never a fan of Dodges, previously. I was a die-hard import fan, having owned at least 10 foreign cars from japanese to german, and never expected to be blown away by a car the way I have been by the SRT.4. That being said, I don't think there is an automotive manufacturer in existance that has come as far as DCX in the past 5 or so years. I think the merging with Daimler was the start of something very, very good. They have been on a path to improvement and have caught up with the automotive world, and surpassed some in a very short timeframe, and I find that very impressive.

The difference between a Dodge dealership 10 years ago, and one today is huge. Even the salespeople are more knowledgable(some are at least) with the platinum program that Daimler instated. They have gone from k-car(bleech[:'(]) to import beater which I didn't even think was possible. Kudos to Dodge for realizing that it had been lost and needed re-inventing.

I am still a fan of German overengineering, and enjoy the driving experience of Italians, and feel the Japanese have amazing technology, but must now concur that Dodge has finally added American engineering, affordability, and quality to my list. I didn't think it was possible 2 years ago.

 

AMEN!!!

 

Your right on about the dealerships having changed. I have always stopped in to the local one every now and again to see what they have and they use to be complete a**holes and didn't even want to work with you on anything, it was their way or the highway. Now they are fairly nice and receptive instead.