Mopar Nationals (warning; v8 content)

[Nik da Greek]

wellllll, I hope you\'re not all gonna think I\'ve gone over to the Dark Side what with having been to Yank V8 muscle shows two weekends running and all that.......

.....but I am going to part-ex my Rex against a Hemi \'cuda

No, of course not :o. I did go up to the Pod for the Euro Mopar Nationals this Sunday, though, which was a bloody top day out. It did, however involve a lot of big v8s, and since this is obviously a rotary forum and I know how strong feelings can get against the Yankee way of getting silly power I thought I dip a wee toe in the water before deluging everyone with hundreds of pics of heavy horses. So, I thought I\'d bung up a couple of taster pics and if people likeee then I\'l post some more for you.

You could of course always just not look if you\'re gonna get upset lol or just accept that any true petrolhead should lurrrve cool cars that run 9 second quarters in street trim no matter what engine\'s launching em at the horizon .....anyhooo;

There was plenty of this kinda thing; well \'ard


some of this kind of silly nonsense; well massssssive


even some of this stuff; organ donors


Old skool insanity


and new-world style


Rat-look charm


and even cheesy chips AND curry sauce


.....and of course a bit of Nik-style arty bo!!ocks






.....shout if you wanna go faster (or would just like to see some more :o)

[MrHanky]

Some cool looking stuff there. Love the arty b*%llocks as well
 
Mark

[Ada7]

The first one did it for me mate. Total crisis in the trouser department over that!
More more more more :D

Adam

[jinx]

Arty Bo**ocks and Rusty Pick-up - the well known beat combo - direct from Nashville? More of that rat style chevy please!

[Nik da Greek]

Your wish is my command, Andrew although to be fair I\'m not sure it was "rat-LOOK" so much as the genuine thing. You\'ll notice it\'s running drag slicks though Sounded absolutely evil but he had some problems with it so it never actually ran the strip sadly, if times went on noise it would have been in the nines easy :rollin



Got to get to bed for a four o\'clock start now so I\'ll bung some more pics and vids up tomorrow when I\'ve more time since there seems to be some interest

[Grant Monkhouse]

More dodge chargers please, preferably a 69 supercharged r/t. LOL. nothing better than 2 tonne cars running 12 second quarters.
 
I am goin to upset a few people here by saying that i would sell both my RX4 and 7 to have a dodge charger, my all time favourite car!! More noise, more engine, more fun!!!!:D:D:D

[Ada7]

Can i have your rx4 then please Grant

Adam

[Big Al]

We were not able to get away to anything last week-end due to work commitments. :mad:
Good to see photo\'s of this and Duxford, which both looked great... dammit !!
Brilliant pic\'s as ever Nik, thanks.

[DrDan]

Nik,
 
As I said over on the other thread, MORE please
 
DrDan.
 
PS Is it wrong to want a Corvette? Obviously just for epic power-sliding and doughnuting
 
:burnout

[Test Drives Unlimited]

Nice Photo\'s yet again from you Nik

[Grant Monkhouse]

Can i have your rx4 then please Grant

Adam

Haha, sure you can if you can get me the charger? I have seen R/T \'s going for 40,000! And they need loads of restoring! Value for money? Not really. Value for fun? DEFINATELY!

[frank20bcosmo]

Hi Nik,
 
I had a 440 Cuda 6 pack 4 speed manual in Tor Red or Hemi Orange as the Dodge Boys call it had to sell it about 4 years ago due to losing my job, I had about 5 yank cars at the time and had to sell them one at a time to keep the roof over my head,, life sucks some times but hey ho I have my memories and the pics to prove it
Mu Cuda was featured in American Car World magazine in July 05 and was the cover car and centre spread feature car.
 
I still love the yank scene but to get anything half decent you have to have a fat wallet as buying something that requires work would probably cost you more in the long run.
 
Anyway thanks for the memories,I used to go to the Mopar Nats and it was always a good weekend :Thumbs-up

[Nik da Greek]

Here we go then, by popular request :Giggle


Not teaching anyone to suck eggs, but in case you\'re wondering about what this "Mopar" thing we keep wittering on about, it is a contraction of MOtor PARts, and started as the official aftermarket for the Chrysler Group of car firms. In later years it came to be thought of more as the performance arm of the various marques covering the main three of Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler, but with various subsidiaries such as AMC, Imperial, DeSoto etc. The shows do suffer a certain amount of dirty Fords and suchlike to attend, but as with most of these things there\'s a healthy amount of rivalry between marque supporters.

Most of these cars, don\'t forget, are from a time more than forty years ago, tend to run to a couple of tons....and many can still run ten seconds or better! They came from a heady time before the petrol crisis killed the ponycar when if you had a thick enough wad in your wallet you could spec a car out of the showroom with full manufacturer warranty on every single part that put out comfortably over 400 bhp and some were genuine 200mph capable vehicles. Imagine wandering into a anything short of an like an AMG or Ferrari dealer and trying the same thing today So, anyway; enough background waffle, on with the pics

there may well be a lot of pics of these on here before I\'ve finished, but I make no apology....just one of the most "right" looking stock cars ever


This one was in the show and shine and whilst the engine coulda been more...well, more, the body was beautiful








The "baby" sister still rocks too. Anyone who\'s ever seen Vanishing Point must still hanker after one of these






This is one of the rarer cars you\'ll ever see, a genuine convertible Plymouth \'Cuda with the full fat engine, one of only around six left apparently




But even the feebler-engined version still looks superb and can hustle with the best

[Nik da Greek]

Oldsmobile 4-4-2 in hardtop


and \'vert flavours, and looking great in both, which I think is a rarity in most cars, they rarely look equally good as a ragtop or tintop. Olds 4-4-2s are a bit the forgotten muscle car, which is a shame cos they look fduking tuff (and were, too, had some absolutely ridiculous 400bhp-plus engine packages)


Stingrays always look good...


.....except possibly in this colour :p




...and this interloper was sufferd in the show and shine because it basically looks da fduking bomb




Thunderbird once owned by one of the Rolling Stones (forget which). Aslo forgot to take any pics of the outside, doh! :o








some iconic things from earlier times managed to sneak in, from the 50\'s rocket age when cars were expected to be flying soon


One of the many things I love about Yank tanks (besides the mad speed and power and noise) is the fact that every marque, model, and sometimes even performance package, had a logo and an identity. The cartoons and badges that stemmed from all these rival identities are a sort of heraldry in themselves






....even the entry level schoolkids muscle cars
[IMG]http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/Nik_da_Greek/Mopar%20Nationals%2001%2008%2010/DSCF8053.jpg[/IM

[Nik da Greek]

From a time just before Corvettes became caricatures of themselves, this one manages to look good and retain a fair bit of grunt, before they became overstyled underpowered bloated monstrosities


Chevy El Camino, a power pickup based on the Chevelle body and underpinnings. Even builders could join the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" ethic now Although the factory never offered a Weiland supercharger stuk through the bonnet


.....says it all, very loud and in yer face Dart






I love this insane Chevy truck. It\'s best is an eleven second quarter. It\'s MAD










Even a Chargers fuel filler is a thing of great beauty if you look at it right


one for any Clint fans who enjoyed Gran Torino, the owner of this one obviously did


Hemi \'Cuda in flight


One for Danny, I still think this li\'l rodent should feature somewhere on DM Motorsports letterhead