Just joined

I have just joined this group, a longtime Ford fanatic, though I have owned everything from AMC to Yamaha in my life. 

I currently own a 1997 Thunderbird LX with a 4.6, a 1990 Bronco Eddie Bauer 5.0, a 2002 Taurus wagon with the DOHC 3.0, a 1976 Pontiac Ventura, 2 owner car with 42k original miles, and a 75 Dodge Dart Sport 360.

I've owned about 140 cars, trucks and motorcycles over the last 45 years, including several Torinos, mostly 74 to 76 models.

I look forward to being part of this group.

We pulled the head off the MGB's 4 banger, (ok, he did while I watched and tried to make myself useful), as well as pulling the heads off the Mercury and sending them to the neighborhood machine shop. (Remember those?) 

The MGB was treated to a thorough soaking of diesel fuel, followed by a generous application of a wooden block, driven by a hammer on each piston head until the engine turned freely. The engine was then reassembled and actually ran pretty good, until he over revved it and bent a pushrod or two. That MGB was the first car that I actually "drove", backing it out of the garage one day, and right into the front bumper of the now repaired family car 1971 Mercury, at the ripe old age of 10. 

The MGB was sold off, much to my mother and older brother's dismay, and the Mercury was eventually traded for a new 1973 Dodge D100 pickup and slide-in camper.

Fast forward a couple years when at 15 I bought my first car, a 1967 Dodge Charger, 318 automatic with 4 bucket seats and a full length console, and plenty of bondo. I sold that car a few weeks before my 16th birthday and bought a 1968 Ford Fairlane 500 2 door formal roof with a 289 2V and C4. It looked a lot like this, except for the hood scoop.

7 1/4 differential the third or fourth time, a friend of my brother persuaded me to sell him the Dart, and I bought a 1978 GMC 1/2 ton, 350 4V automatic, and more rust. 

That truck took me across the country and back, during which time I found my next 1970 Dodge Dart, this one a Custom trim level, 2 door 318 2V with a 904 automatic transmission. That car was with me for over 20 years, after being fully restomodded with a mild .040 over 360 and 727 automatic transmission, full restoration and paint, upgraded interior to cloth high back buckets and console from the original vinyl bench seat/column shift configuration. It also featured a full 3 inch exhaust system, 3.23 geared 8 3/4 rear axle, manual front disc brakes, subframe connectors, Edelbrock Air Gap intake and 750 Performer carburetor, and upgraded factory Chrysler electronic ignition, plus cruise control. I drove that car daily from April until late October for many years, drag raced it regularly, (best time of 13.78 seconds @100mph on drag radials), and took it on the Hot Rod Power Tour in 2005, long hauling all the way to Kissimmee Florida.

The restoration of that 1970 Dart resulted in me purchasing 13 parts cars, as there were no reproduction parts available for that car until the early 2000s when 1/4 panel skins became available. In that time I also owned a 1974 Dart Sport 360, triple black car, sold to finance the completion of the 70 Dart, and a 1975 Dart Sport 360, also a triple black car, but too far gone to restore, it donated it's freshly built engine and transmission to the cause.

During this time, there were numerous other cars that came and went, but for today, that's all, I will pick this up again later.

Thanks for following along!

Randy