I got to Rockford to meet up with the Eric and Mark at Mark's home in Rockford. Where he showed us around his garage with the 70 Challenger R/T Convertible. He also had a 383 big block in the corner (everywhere we went, everyone had a big block sitting in the corner). We talked there for a bit, then went and picked up another of our friends with a Superbird. But we all jumped in my 09 Challenger, because it could fit us all!
We headed to our friends home. He had the garage door open, the big old Bird sitting in the garage. You don't see that very often. He welcomed us into his home and was showing us a bunch of pictures through the years he had, from R&R Salvage, to some crazy guy with 5 70 Chrysler 300H's and the extremely rare 85 Plymouth Cuda.
I had no real idea where we were going, so all 4 of us pile into the Challenger (yes we all fit, with room to spare...ish). And head towards our destination.
We made our way to the location, and I wasn't disappointed. There was more then just a Charger and a Super Bee sitting there... that I could see. A 68 Coronet 500 and a 66/67 Chevelle SS 396 along with an old truck, Diamond T I believe. That made me happy as is; it was going to get much better.
Mark and I went up to the door and knocked. Nothing, I started yelling if anyone was there. No one came. So we went back to the Challenger and chatted. We gave it one more try and a young woman and her daughter came out. Told us her family was inside and just to ring the bell again (I believe she was high as a kite)
Her family came out and oh boy... for a second I felt like running to the Challenger, jumping in through the window and high tailing it out of there. These people looked like they had come out of the Appalachian Mountains. Let’s call them the "Mountain Men". So these Mountain Men start talking to the four of us, and they were the nicest guys. They gave us free reign to walk around... oh boy was that trouble.
First thing we find is that there was TWO ROWS OF CARS... in front of the 70 Super Bee and 68 Coronet 500 was TWO CHALLENGERS. A 70 Challenger and a real 72 Challenger Rallye 340. Oh boy! Eric and I went all around these cars snapping pictures and such. Then we made our way to the Super Bee.... oh boy...
The 68 Coronet 500 is nothing special. Just plain jane basic, but the Bee.... the guy was BEE crazy!... And I mean crazy! The owner had painted little Bee's all over the car, each one different. Some with pot on the helmet, some with KKK cloaks, others with dead Road Runner in it's mouth and a ton of others.... This was just nuts. Eric and I couldn't believe it. We could only get one side and the back. But it was enough!
The Charger was another story, 70 Charger R/T, with a 69 R/T front sheet metal and a 70 Super Bee hood scoop welded on... not well though. It was a really interesting car. It wasn't in that bad of shape. It wasn't good, but very restorable.
The Chevelle, I'm not quite sure on the year. But it looked to be a Legit SS 396 car. Had a Hurst floor T-Shifter and an 80's style chain steering wheel. I didn't look at this one too closely.
We stayed and chatted with the "Mountain Men" for an hour or so. Then we were getting hungry and said goodbye to our new friends.
We headed... well I don't really know where we were. My "friends" said go left, go right... yadda yadda yadda and we drove past a really cool old Box Car in a guys yard, then wound up at a nice Bar and Grille in a nice little town.
We had a good lunch, and then proceeded to make our way to Machesney Park, where Nostalgia Lane Restorations is. We thought that there would be nobody there. That they would just show me where the place was. Thankfully one of their friends was there working on some projects, like the Demon SS and a few others. There was a whole bunch of original Mr. Norm's cars there. 69 440 M-Code Darts and Barracudas. GSS Demons and new 68 Dart GSS. Just incredible machines.
1 comment:
I've seen that Mini Moke before! Great photos :)
Post a Comment