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The Ultimate Experience It all started in 1970. My father bought a 1969 Dodge GT in Argentina. 4 Speed, 6 Cyl inline, and large fat Radial tires. After the first trip to the farm from Buenos Aires, (503 Km), I was hooked. Then, in mid 70's out came a cool movie with Steve McQueen, BULLIT, which I watched one rainy night, and found the Bad Guys' car strangely similar to the GT my father had bought. Also, this car looked similar to the Dodge GTX's that were driving around Buenos Aires. Needless to say, I remained curious as to the model, and some years later, with the 80's came The Dukes of Hazzard. That's IT, I said to myself, I, when I grow up, gonna have to get myself one of those, now identified as Dodge Charger. Then came University in California, then many years of hard work in IT, and finally I decided myself to find the coolest version I could possibly think of. Finally august 2000 came along, after living in Australia for 2.5 years driving a cool 540i (NOT like a pussy if I may add), I was on my way to Germany, to work for some cool dudes that needed some special real-time data/content distribution software for Unix, which is my specialty. And suddenly I saw the THING in the Auto Trader. The car was being sold by a restorer in New Jersey (Jim's Classic Muscle). So I flew over there with my wife, and I bought it.!!!!
Eventually, once I settled in in Berlin, I decided to bring the puppy over. It was an ok price, my 4x4 and the Charger together $1,200 in a container. Picked it up in Hamburg, and from that point on, I noticed what an impact this device was going to cause in this country. Registration of the car was a bitch, but finally got it done like after a year. It now brandishes a cool "can drive every day if I want" H (historic) licence plate. Registration, license plate and gov. tax is about is $200/year, and to my surprise, using the ADAC (automobile club), the insurance is about $150 /year. AWESOME ! (about $1000 less than my wife's 4x4) Needless to say, the gas makes up for the difference and a wadge more, but that's beside the point right ? I mean, you got about 10 people per kilometer trying to catch a ride in the car, and that includes all kinds of young attractive females (so the price of gas is easily forgotten). The most difficult issue I have had to face here in Berlin is PARKING. It's a complete bitch, example, I have to "reverse in through the entrance" of my parking lot, and then "drive forwards through that same entrance" (the exit ramp is too tight). And this gets me the occasional despise look from the idiots who live in the building, but not to worry. Although some asshole that parked once next to my car (and I never saw again) actually dented my front left fender corner, you will notice that in the pix. Of course the police likes to stop me, and so they did, several times. Only to complete their "check for drugs" in awe and applause. HAHHAHAHA After driving in the Autobahn several times, I felt rather silly, sitting at 4000 RPM at 80Mph. This car needed an "upgrade". So, I decided to get in touch with the mopar gang. I found 2 groups, one is the official Mopar Club of germany, and the other, an import shop full of crazy hyperactive mechanics that like party and dragracing. We decided to have a get together, me and the Mopar Club, in the south of Germany, (around Reutlingen). So, I had to either drive the beast 600 kilometers, or maybe put it on the train, as you can see here. Anyway, we had a cool party, and we went driving about like crazed road runners all over Hohenzollern mountain land. Click on making the ultimate 1969 charger to check out what modifications I decided to do to the car, and for the full process in pictures. |
