Coronet R/T in the Tractor Shed and a Chicken Crossing the Road

The original Hot Rod Magazine article. Hot Rod Magazine: Roddin' @ Random - Rescuing A Coronet R/T



My friend Dwight and his friend and I all met up one Saturday to do some Barn Find hunting. I knew of some stuff, they knew of some stuff. So we grabbed some lunch and headed out. We first went to my friend from Challenger on a Hot Tin Roof (not really) Blog. He was great and showed us around. The cats were getting so big. But we moved onto bigger and better things.



Dwight knew of a guy up east of Madison, WI that had a few Mopars in an old tractor shed that he was thinking about buying. So we high tailed it out there to see what exactly he had. It was definitely something unique. Reed was there to meet us and show us the cars. As we walked up a grass field, the first thing you see through the open tractor shed door is a early 70's Dodge truck. Very cool in it's own right, and then as you enter and look to your left you see a 50'd Teal Dodge truck hidden in there too. But what is next to the 50's truck is what we were there for.









A 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T and a 70 Plymouth Duster. Both cars major projects. The Coronet was a legit R/T. 440 car originally, now engine-less. But an automatic car. It was definitely a cool car, blue with a black bumble bee stripe and black vinyl top. It even had the dual scoop function “RamCharger” air induction. Unfortunately it had some bad rust in the back, needing rear frame rails, trunk pans and I believe tail panel. It was bad, but definitely worth saving.





















The Duster was just a plane jane 225 Slant Six car. From California, it was mostly rust free. The engine had been pulled out for a small block swap at some point, and never completed. So it was put into the tractor shed for a rainy day. And has sat ever since. Next to the Duster was a Falcon I believe, but I could not get close enough to document it.







We moved out of the tractor shed and into a normal shed that Reed had stashed some of his more unique Mopar parts. First thing I see is the cool Chrysler Outboard Tach. Never seen one of those before, probably won't see it again either! Also he had a extremely rare, never put into production Turbo setup for the 3.0 “Chrysler” V6. I've only found notes on a few of these existing. One that was never run is extremely rare!









After fully looking over the shed, Reed took us to his family land, where he had some other random Mopars stashed at. You had to be careful though, he had guard chickens and guard peacocks everywhere. And they were territorial.





As a 91-93 Dodge Truck fan, it was sad to see a near mint 93 Dodge Ram with a Cummins lying in the barn, dead from being rolled over. Out back they had a old Dodge Camper, a station wagon, a Mirada and a few RamChargers.



















The sad thing that I discovered was the engine and transmission that was upside down in the mud I had walked by ended up being a original 1972 340 and matching transmission. Thankfully Dwight was able to purchase that and save it... hopefully.







After that we took a tour of Reeds property, which was beautiful and said out good-byes. Dwight and his friend had to head home, and so did I. So we parted company. I of course took the scenic route and found a few more cars on my way home.





























Why did the Chicken cross the road? I don't know, but he did in front of me! Almost had drum sticks for dinner!