92 percent of new Dodge Challenger owners said they’d buy another Mopar pony car if given the same opportunity again, putting the big Dodge at the top of the Consumer Reports owner satisfaction heap. Don’t believe me? Check out the full article at Consumer Reports

Walking back in the thick of cars, right in front of me is a 68 Chrysler 300 2-door. It was a beautiful car at one time. Blue with a black top I believe. That would have been one heck of a cruiser back then. I don’t know what kind of engine was in there, but could have been a 440.

Tons more after the jump!

Next to the 300 was a car that I couldn’t identify. The front end was covered in foliage and missing the grille. I could make out the silhouette of a late 60’s B-Body and that is about it. I found out though that it was/is a 69 Dodge Superbee, 383 4-speed car in B5 or B7 blue. I believe the dual scoop hood in the back of the grain truck probably came from this car. The car was in very sad shape, to bad. It was at one time a very beautiful Dodge.

href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemipwr70/4088862022/” title=”DSC00937 by trekie83, on Flickr”>

The back row of this field started with some innocent A-bodies. There started a nice petty blue Duster. I don’t know engine or such, but the car was originally a Petty white car, white stripe, and white vinyl top and interior. So it was a sharp car back when. It was sad to see her in such disrepair. (Another Roots Blower)

Next to the Petty Blue Duster was a 72 Duster, how do I know that it was a 72 Duster… Shad’s 73 Duster now has the tail lights and everything out of it! He cut the whole back of the car off. Along side the 72 Duster was a 65 Coronet that was in really nice shape… on the one side. The other side wasn’t as nice. But it looked like it could have wheels put on the old girl and driven out of there.

Along comes a unique Charger. It is a 66/67, which is a cool car, but on the side of the car there was some lettering on the side that says “Can I Get Down” or something like that. I don’t know if that was just some vintage flash nor was some sort of saying on the side of a drag car. The car didn’t look like a drag car, so I’ll just chock it up to someone having some fun!

The nicest/worst car to be back there was next. A real 70 Charger R/T, a 440 with an auto on the column, bench seat car! The car was Burnt Orange exterior with a black interior and a GATOR GRAIN TOP, along with A/C and a host of other accessories. It was an incredible car originally. Our host even said he wishes he hadn’t put the car down there. If someone really wanted to pull the car out and restore it, I’m sure they could.

A 69 Road Runner had taken up another spot next to the 70 Charger. A 383 car, I didn’t take a good look at the old girl. I was still in shock over the 70 Charger R/T. The Road Runner was in very rough shape, well beyond a normal restoration. The car looked to have been a sharp one at one time, a Bronze car with a black interior.

The last two cars in the row was a 65 Belvedere that was put together from two cars from the looks of it. And a 75 Road Runner ended the row. That was the one hell of a grouping of Mopars. From A-body to B-body with a C-body thrown in it was almost all there. Some of the coolest Mopars around, and they were sitting in a nice little row next to a stream bed.

Moving forward again, there was a really sharp 72 Monaco 4-door C-body Cruiser. I love those hideaway headlights on that model. One the one side of the Monaco was a 69 Dart GTS 340. A good friend of mine used to tell me about his brother’s 340 69 Dart GTS and how it was almost unbeatable. This one was dark green, with a black vinyl top and a black interior. I believe the hood was the one that was seen in Barn Three. There were too many leaves around to see if the engine was the original 340, but I hoped not, it had been uncovered to the elements for a very long time! On the other side of the Monaco was a 65 Satellite and the 70 Superbee along with the 68 300 completing the row.

Across from the GTS was a nice 70 Fury II 4-door. A nice cruiser for the day, it still looks like it could rumble to life and drive out of there! Behind the Fury were the remains of another B-body we all discovered. One that had been cut up long ago to save other cars.

That was the vast majority of cars that our host had sitting out there. On our way back to the truck there was just two move cars I hadn’t inspected very well on my first tour through. A 40’s I believe Dodge Business Coupe and an E-body Cuda. We actually found a seat with “original” wool seat covers that Shad needed for his Duster, but it was fitting that it would end the day with an E-body, since it was the vehicle we had seen the fewest of on the trip.

The E-body showed that it was in fact a ‘Cuda. The VIN was gone so I couldn’t read what it had originally, could have been a 340 car or 360 car I guess. But it was long past being saved. Here is another example of a car that gives its life to save others.

The group all chatted for a while about the car, people we know and what we are going to do next. So we hopped into the truck and headed back to the main house. We all talked there for quite a while, about the past and the future. I was the youngest in the group, and most bright eyed I think. I didn’t know where to start or stop talking. I was just talking and talking, trying to absorb so much information from such and incredible gentleman.

Sadly time did catch up with us and the expedition had to part company with our host, but not before we all gave Scott’s incredible Superbird a once over. Ironically his Bird has the wrong air cleaner, and our host said he probably had the right one and to look for it the next time we all came over!

We said our goodbyes and jumped (carefully) into the Superbird. As we pulled out of the driveway I went to the guys “Frak! Did that really just happen?!?!” Shad laughed and thought it was funny not telling us about what the guy had, and Scott just had this funny smile on his face the rest of the day.

As we headed back to town, we weren’t quite done with finding Cars in Barns….

THE LAST INSTALLMENT…. Daytona in the Barn: After the Barns… oh yeah there’s more.

Ryan’s Cars in Barns Adventure Pictures

The Chevy actually put up a pretty good fight in this week’s eBay Motors Showdown, but at the end of the day, the Viper wins for being more exclusive and more insane. Stay tuned for another eBay Motors Showdown next week!

Or, at least, one of ‘em. TA pointed out this 1969 Dodge Charger, alleged to be an actual, Warner Brothers-used General Lee, currently for sale on Hemmings.com for $110,000. Continue reading at Hemmings

When I went to SEMA for the first time, I was in charge of managing the photographer, and somehow he totally missed Mopar Alley. As you can imagine, this made Rob completely stoked. So when I have to cover any shows, I make sure to post some Mopar content as fast as I can. But I didn’t need any pressure to get a shot of this wicked Viper GTS R. Since you could eat off all the cars in the Convention Center, it’s kind of cool when you see one that’s dirty from being driven in anger. There were a bunch of other Vipers in the booth, including the new ACR, which just set a lap record at Laguna Seca. Hit the jump and check them out.

Ok, so you got $50k burning a hole in your pocket and want a 500 hp sports car. Well then how about a Viper? Or maybe a Z06 Vette? This 2006 Viper SRT-10 comes with a 505 cubic inch V-10 which produces 500 hp and 525 pound-feet of torque. This 2008 Corvette Z06 packs a 427 cubic inch LS7 V-8 which produces 505 hp and 470 pound-feet of torque. The Vette has a bunch of electronic nannies to help keep you out of the ditch. The Viper… not so much. Both examples are low mileage cars and appear to be in excelling condition. Which would you choose?

There was more than just the three barns? I didn’t know how that could be. I mean, I just had multiple heart attacks and was pretty light headed. Could I take more? Well of course I could, but it just kept getting crazier and crazier!

My friend Shad asked our host if we could walk down to the cars in the field. I was all set, I had the adrenaline pumping, my jacket off and I was ready to rock. But our host said to jump in the truck. So we obliged and jumped in the bed (well I sat on the tail gate, I’m not one for jumping). And he drove us down to the field.

At first you really don’t see anything other than the fields of corn and the stream bed with a bunch of trees. I’m a camping fan, and this looked like an incredible spot to camp, trees, and a nice bubbling brook. I could spend a summer there… and then we came upon the cars, and what a sight they were. 

Continue reading after the jump!

I could see groupings of cars and truck all down the area. All sorts of vehicles from 70’s Dodge Trucks to 72 Cuda (These 2 Barracudas were the “E-body Collection”). My eyes were growing bigger and bigger. Our host stopped the truck and we jumped off. And we all went our separate ways.

Always being the one to do things in order I started at the front of the row and made my way back into the larger and larger groupings.

But up front was a 72 Barracuda. Almost completely stripped, our host tried to move it recently and it began to buckle from the rust. So he put her back down and lets her die in peace.

Up front is the Dodge Trucks group. A really cool 70’s Dodge Crew Cab that I would LOVE for a part hauler and car hauler. Behind that was a few standard Dodge Trucks, one with a camper on it, another that was a tow truck. And a 50’s Dodge Truck.

 Making my way forward there was, guess what, a 65 Satellite. It was complete and while sitting in a hedge, the underneath I don’t think would be that good. But the real interesting car was next to the Satellite. It looked to be an early 60’s Chrysler 300 or New Yorker that had been sitting in the same spot for so long that a tree had actually grown up and around the engine! (Insert first roots style blower joke here). It had a beautiful tree that had grown out of the engine bay and was slowly reclaiming the remains of a Chrysler. Absolutely incredible.

 Making my way to the next row was some mid-60’s Mopar Muscle. A 66/67 Dodge Coronet Convertible and a 66/67 Dodge Charger was a nice matching pair. They both looked like they had seen better days and was past the point of restoring, but from the dead shall come many parts.

 Kitty corner from the B-body duo was a set of triplets, well A-bodies that is. A 74ish Dart Swinger, 67 Barracuda that had an incident with a light pole many years ago and around the 273 a tree had sprung up and taken residence. (Insert 2^nd Root Blower joke). Just next to the Barracuda was what I believe was a 70ish Dart. It had been hit in the front end at one time and I forgot to look inside or at the tail lights. Sitting next to the 70 Dart was a 74 Dodge Truck that was in a sharp orange color and looked to be in good shape.

The next row had a Chrysler C-Body 4-door and a early Dodge B-body 4-door. Both had been sitting there for a very long time, and that time had taken its toll on the old girls. They probably won’t move from their spots anytime soon, unless you cut down the trees in the engine bay. (Yet another roots style blower joke)

In the next row was a 69 Dodge Charger that had been left out there for parts on the other half dozen 69 Chargers he had lying around. It actually didn’t look to bad, looked better then some of the projects some of my friends have had! In the same row with the Charger was a 66/67 Dodge Coronet 4-door and a very interesting 65 Satellite that at one time had something rather large sticking out of the hood, and I don’t mean a tree either. (No roots style blower joke here). Our host didn’t know what was in there either, he got it that way.

Directly in front of the B-bodies and along the same line as the Chrysler C-body was another large C-body. A 73/74 (I think) Chrysler New Yorker 4-door. This thing is an air craft carrier. I think they floated it down the stream to get to where it sits now. That big old C-body must have been one hell of a cruiser at one time.

Moving my way forward there was another Charger, another 69 sitting on the outside of the row, along with a 40’s Dodge and another 66/67 Charger. The 69 wasn’t to bad either. It is still a good project car for someone who had the time. The car looked complete from stem to stern from the looks of it.

Just before a trailer was another B-body, a 66/67 Coronet again, this one was another Convertible. So sad to see such a cool car, especially a convertible laid up back here. But I’m sure there’s a reason it is there. In the trailer was some more car parts, some NOS, some not. But kept out of the bad weather and protected.

 Just after this trailer is when I met up with the group again, and entered the thick of the cars in the field.

 TO VIEW ALL THE PICTURES, CLICK BELOW.

Ryan’s Cars in Barns Pictures

BangShift member Stage1Scott tipped us to this amazing video of a Super Stock Hemi Dart running an 8.29, 160 mph record setting pass. The SS/AH cars are the most amazing Super Stocks, and this one is driven by Jim Daniels, a many time record setter and winner of the Hemi Classic events with hia Ray Barton 438ci SS motor. He’s a dentist!

Check this out, and watch the fiberglass hood scoop get bent out of shape at 160!

Our little expedition made our way outside of the second barn and were just hanging around. I thought that we had done the tour, gotten the t-shirt and were on the downhill of an adrenaline spike. There was still a few Mopars in the immediate area. So while our host and my friends were chatting I walked around a bit.

Walking around next to the third barn was a well picked over Plymouth Duster. It wasn’t anything special, but it was a old Mopar. So it deserved some attention. It was a green on green car from the looks of it. Has some parts left on it, sad to see it though just sitting there, watching over the fields. Continue reading after the jump.

Nearby was a 65 Satellite parts car. It has the V8 emblem, so it could be a small block or big block car. This car looked as though many of its parts would be used for one of the other half dozen 65 Satellites he has.

Walking back towards Barn Three was a really nice old 70’s Dodge Extended Cab pickup. The kind you would find on farms. It was in pretty decent shape. Sure there was rust, but nothing compared to the rust in my 93 RamCharger. I wouldn’t mind dragging that thing out of there and getting it going! Would be one nice parts hauler.

After looking at the truck, I turned around to find the third barn had a large open area that opened up to the truck that was also full of parts! Hood, bumpers, seats, fenders, almost anything was in this little nook. And that got the wheels running in my head, could there be MORE in this barn?

I walked over to where the group was chatting and asked if I could open the door to the third barn, he said sure. And we opened it up and I was in the back of the previous opening. I thought that was cool, then from the left side I see Shad and Scott pop their heads out of a hole in the wall, there was more!

Walking in through the other door, you could hardly walk there was so many WONDERFUL parts. In the rafters was grilles from Challengers and Chargers that I could see, and each stall was full of different things, some were full of seats, others of hoods.

In the middle of the walkway was what I think was an late 60’s A-body 4 piston disk brake setup still on the k-member. Also in the hall way was some doors and a trunk lid from a 68 Road Runner or Satellite. All the pieces, while dirty was in great condition. There was even some sort of original drag racing Mercury Comet GT? hood in there along with all the Mopar stuff.

Spending some time in there going through the different stalls, I was just in wonderment of what he all had. I thought I had seen some crazy collections before, but this was just insane!

I finally emerged from the third Barn to find my Scott just smirking from ear to ear, and Shad was just shaking his head back and fourth as I began ranting about what I had just seen, like a kid going to the candy store! They laughed and we all were chatting again, then our host dropped another bombshell…. wanna see the other 30 cars out back?!?!?!?!?!…. There was MORE!

Ryan’s Cars in Barns Pictures

www.carsinbarns.blogspot.com

All thanks to the interwebs! Full story at The Sun News