The Dart soon proved to us that the Fords, with their hopped-up engines were, well, slow. Maybe even sluggish. I will never forget the time when we were cruising one night. (Cruising, by the way for you younger dudes, used to be great; the cops were cool, the cars were unbelievable, and the burnouts were smoky.) Anyway, we were going pretty slowly when we passed a street we had been looking for. I said, "Hey, Tim! You passed it!" He immediately slapped the 727 in reverse and punched it. So we were still rolling forward as the tires were just torching in reverse, then we slowly started moving backward through a huge cloud of smoke. We then made our turn. I was speechless, and knew right then and there that my Comet was for sale.
Unfortunately, one day Tim and I got a day off from our wonderful job of construction sandblasting and thought we would do some drinking. We played foosball for a shot of bourbon for every point scored against you. It was then that we decided to get some friends together and go to a go-cart track and race. Well, we did have a sober driver but it does not matter if the guy is crazy. We got the freeway and started moving. I mean, REALLY moving. Normally, Tim never would have let someone drive his car like that, but at the time we were basically unconscious and it seemed fun. The last thing I remember is looking at the tachometer which was at 7000 RPM while the speedometer was doing that famous Mopar bounce thing. Well, we were cut off by a guy who probably did not realize how fast we were approaching. When he got over in the left lane we went right; at the same time, he realized his mistake and he went back to the right lane. Scott, the driver of the Dart whipped it left to barely miss the guy, but in doing so, the right side tires blew out and the Demon flipped on its top and we went sliding down the freeway upside down, passing cars! We finally came to a stop, and so did everyone else to see if we were OK. Except for some blood and bruises, we were all fine for the most part. The car, however, was wasted. I remember looking at it there, upside down, wheels still turning, and gasoline pouring out of the flip-top cap. Sometimes God does take the Demons away in order to save us.
Since then, Tim has bought a 1967 440 Belvedere, a 1975 Powerwagon, and a 1969 Dart. I have gone through a 1967 440 Coronet, another with a 413, a Scamp, a 6-cylinder Demon, a 1970 Swinger and a few others. I sold them all, but recently the bug got to me again and I bought a 1970 Dart Swinger with a 318 and 90k original miles. I think I'll drive it right side up!!!!