Kitten Tales

[Xcudame]

When you own a car for most of your life and it's a daily driver as well, you become emotionally attached. I bought my 70 Challenger in the fall of 1987. Nothing remarkable eye catching except the Top Banana paint and 14 rallye wheels. Someone had removed the white vinyl top and spray painted it black. She had 86,000 miles on the odometer. I remember everyone hating the color of her paint. "Yellow cars are ugly" was repeated constantly. But no matter what people thought, or what the weather was like outside, her 383 2bbl aways started up and purred like a kitten. So that instantly that became her name, Kitten.

The very first modification I had done was a dual exhaust put on her at the local muffler shop. You could feel the difference in horsepower immediately. Kitten and I made the five days a week journey from my parents house to college. It was mostly a highway cruise about twenty miles one way. And believe it or not, she got about 19 miles per gallon.

I've posted a few of Kitten's tales already. If you enjoyed this one, I'll continue to post more. Kitten has got 250,841 miles on her now, so I have lots of adventures and memories throughout the years. I'll include all the upgrades I've made to her and try my best to be honest and forthright with the tales. And I'll try to keep the stories in order. Keep in mind, Kitten has only left me stranded on the side of the road four times and my wife stranded once in the grocery store parking lot. But those are tales to come.

 

[moparlee]

When you own a car for most of your life and it's a daily driver as well, you become emotionally attached. I bought my 70 Challenger in the fall of 1987. Nothing remarkable eye catching except the Top Banana paint and 14 rallye wheels. Someone had removed the white vinyl top and spray painted it black. She had 86,000 miles on the odometer. I remember everyone hating the color of her paint. "Yellow cars are ugly" was repeated constantly. But no matter what people thought, or what the weather was like outside, her 383 2bbl aways started up and purred like a kitten. So that instantly that became her name, Kitten.

The very first modification I had done was a dual exhaust put on her at the local muffler shop. You could feel the difference in horsepower immediately. Kitten and I made the five days a week journey from my parents house to college. It was mostly a highway cruise about twenty miles one way. And believe it or not, she got about 19 miles per gallon.

I've posted a few of Kitten's tales already. If you enjoyed this one, I'll continue to post more. Kitten has got 250,841 miles on her now, so I have lots of adventures and memories throughout the years. I'll include all the upgrades I've made to her and try my best to be honest and forthright with the tales. And I'll try to keep the stories in order. Keep in mind, Kitten has only left me stranded on the side of the road four times and my wife stranded once in the grocery store parking lot. But those are tales to come.

View attachment 115517

I'd vote for more stories. Dry Arizona sure does help in keeping a solid car, unlike here in salty Michigan.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

19 MPG should be easy to get . why not keep a good reliable car !

 

[DetMatt1]

Absolutely! Who wouldn’t want to hear more???

 

[Xcudame]

Unfortunately, Kitten came from the extreme Northcoast of California, so the sea salt air and fog wasn't the best environment. She has her fair share of rust. Also, as the tales unfold, you'll realize with she seldom got better than 19 mpg, because like me father, I have a lead foot!

The next thing I remember with Kitten after getting dual exhaust, was her brake master cylinder going out. And for all of you who have been there, this is nothing more frightening when your buzzing along 70 mph and you go the brake and the pedal goes to the floor!! Quick thinking, I began pumping the brake pedal like crazy trying to slow down! I was able to slow down eventually after blowing through the only stop sigh I can remember running at and made it to my parents house which was still my home too.
New master cylinder installed and bled while out in the street, but I still needed to bleed all four wheels. Mom was gracious enough to move their 68 Imperial out of the concrete driveway so I didn't have work in the gravel. She had gone back into the house by the time I was moving my Challenger to the drive way. Step on the brake pedal, too much air in the lines! Wham! My front bumper hit the passenger side "ax" on the Imperial! Mom heard the impact and came running out, "What did you do to my car?"
I got out of Kitten to assessed the damage. Imperial was absolutely fine! But my front bumper, almost dead center, had a 1/2" dimple made but the Imperial " ax" bumper! Mom was laughing her butt off! I didn't think it was funny at the time, but sure did later on. Those Imperials really were tough!!

 

[Righty Tighty]

I'm looking forward to seeing Kitten in person!

I share your sentiment on becoming attached to our vehicles. The longer we have them and the more we drive them, the more adventures we experience. Like the dimple on Kitten's bumper, we can walk around the car and be reminded of years of smiles and tears just by seeing scratches, dents, and dings. It's a beautiful thing.

Sure, it would be nice to have a showroom car, but you just don't earn the same bond as you do with a daily driver. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Cuda Hunter]

Cool ride! Cool stories.
Looks like kitten is missing one of her v5x's on the front.
I'm in for the stories!

 

[Xcudame]

As some of you may have guessed, not only is Kitten a 2-bbl 383 from the factory, but she also came out with 2.76 gears! Being a lead foot, with a 2-bbl and tall gears, gas mileage suffered from what I could have gotten driving more sanely.
On the freeways, it was so easy to buzz along 75-80mph! And this was when the national speed limit was 55mph!
I remember one sunny day I was cruising South bound on a flat stretch of highway going about 110mph! My brother had a Dodge Polara station wagon at that time and he was traveling North bound between 100 and 120mph! "Hey, I think that gray flash was my brother!" I shouted to my passenger (can't remember who it was). Talk about a quick flash of a 200mph plus difference in speed!
Later talking to my brother, we both agreed all we saw were flashes of each other! Some of the dumb things we did back then. Dad always said God looks after kids and fools! My brother and I were covered from above that day!

 

[Xcudame]

Another fun story, although at first, I didn't think it was so funny. I grew up in a very rural community with no close intestate freeway near buy. My sister had moved to Manteca, California and I decided to visit. The path to her place would take me on some twisty highways and then Interstate 5. Everything was going well. Kitten was doing great as this was the first of many long 500 mile plus trips I'd take her on. Finally made it to I-5 and as I got onto the freeway I noticed a thump, thump, thump that I had never heard before. What could it be, I thought? Dang! I bet I got a knot on one of my tires! I found a rather clean spot on the side of the freeway and pulled off and parked the car. I got out and felt all four tires. Nothing! I got back in and moved the car a few feet and got back out and felt the areas that where touching the road. Still nothing! WTH!! Keep in mind this is way before cell phones! So it didn't appear to be a knot in one of the tires. I got back in the car and once again headed down the interstate. Thump thump thump thump thump!! Grr! What could it be? I then came to an underpass where a road went beneath the interstate. Thump thump and then nothing but normal road noise I was used to! Once over the underpass, thump thump thump thump!!
Yes, that was my first experience with a concrete freeway! The overpass was the usual paved asphalt and smooth with no seams! No car issues, just a weird freeway with seams every so often than made the wheels thump when they crossed over them!! Man was I relieved!

 

[Righty Tighty]

I wonder how many people did the same thing when the concrete freeways were coming into existence.....I'm sure you're not the only one.

 

[Xcudame]

I've been racking my brain to get the correct sequence of advents. I believe this is the next thing to happen.

I had a vibration at 60+ mph and I changed out the u-joints which cured that problem. I was driving to Klamath Falls college (OIT) on Highway 140 from Medford when the drive shaft came loose. I quickly shifted to neutral and pulled off the highway. Luckily the driveshaft mostly banged up the floorboard and my new turbo mufflers. First tow truck and stranded on the roadside. I was able to wire the drive shaft to the exhaust while waiting for the tow truck. But thinking back on it, I probably caused the problem because I didn't get one of the u-joint clips on properly and it must have worked itself loose.

Once I got Kitten towed to the college parking lot, I pulled the floor jack and jack stands out of the trunk. I jacked the rear end up and put the jack stands under the axle housing and crawled under to see what the damage was. Drive shaft dented, two bearing caps missing, one of the bolts was broke off in the yoke. So a new drive shaft and yoke needed.

Medford Oregon had both the yoke and a drive line shop. A phone call home and a great mom visited me at college and took me to Medford and back for the parts. To this day, I still have the "green" drive shaft in the Challenger. Not sure why they painted it green, but it fit and worked. The 2.76 gears are gone (replaced with 3.23 suregrip) but that's another story.

 

[Righty Tighty]

I, too, have learned the hard way that U-joint clips are there for a reason!

 

[Xcudame]

Thought I might have lost this during the move. This picture is for you, Cuda Hunter as you noticed it was missing.

 

[Challenger RTA]

Yeah! I shafted myself once too. 74 Dart beater 318 changed the rear end. I think it was only a 7 1/4". 6 Months or more later 30 miles from home going up steep grade and a 2' shoulder. Dash started vibrate 2-3" up and down. crawled to wider shoulder couple 100'. As soon as I stopped drive shaft dropped. Turned the wheel into the guard rail block the other front wheel with the spare. Got the death jack out and up enough to get under and put back together. Curled legs up to keep off the road. Found the caps and needle bearings. ALL of them. Unreal! I crawled it home and petted that kitten all the way home. What dumb luck.

 

[Xcudame]

I agree with you, Challenger RTA, regarding the death jack! Those things are dangerous!

 

[Cuda Hunter]

Thought I might have lost this during the move.

She must be asking for it back.
Glad you found it, those aren't easy to come by.

 

[Xcudame]

Snow chains (you folks who live in the snow will know I'm no winter driver):

Going the college in Klamath Falls introduced me to driving in snow and snow chains. I had fueled up in Medford and was heading over the mountains into Klamath Falls (again on Highway 140). Smooth sailing until I got to the top and it started snowing pretty hard and getting dark out. Snow chains were still in the trunk.

Maybe I could get down before it got to bad. Snow was sticking to the road pretty good and there where snow banks on either side of the road from the snow ploughs. I slowed down to about 25 mph because Dad always said, "Don't drive any faster than you want to go into the ditch or snow banks!"

Going down the hill in snow and no chains. And even just idling, I'm slowly gaining speed! Lots of snow on the road now. Crap! Can't tap the brakes, you'll spin! If you down shift, you'll probably spin as well! 30 mph! Faster than I wanted to go!! Got to do something! Down shift into low so hopefully you can still steer. Grabbing the push button and quickly dropping the lever into Low. Swish! Bam! Thud! I spin into the right side snowbank.

Well, at least there was no traffic! Everyone with sense wasn't driving this mountain now!I put the transmission in Park and I zip up my jacket (unzipped because Mopars seem to have the hottest damn heaters!) and hopped out of the car with keys in hand. Popped open the trunk, grabbed out the floor jack and chains! Luckily I had practiced installing the chains at my parents house, so wasn't completely ignorant on how to install them. Got the chains on, lowered the jack and as I was putting the jack back into the trunk, along comes a snow plough out the hill. Where were you ten minutes ago, I thought.

Driver leans out and asks, "Need any help? I can tow you out for 40 bucks!"

"Nope, I'm fine!" I yelled back. I jumped into the driver's seat, fired up Kitten and shifted into Reverse. Gave a little gas and Kitten backed out of the snow bank. Put her in Drive, and I was once again on my way with the snow plough driver watching in disbelief! Once I got out of the snow and dry pavement, I stopped, unhooked the chains, got back in and drove a few feet off of them, and then got out again and put them back in the trunk. Much easier getting them off than putting them on!

I'm sure a lot of you have lots of snow stories, but this was my first experience driving in it. Certainly made studded snow tires sound better and better! Especially after the next saga!

 

[moparlee]

Snow chains (you folks who live in the snow will know I'm no winter driver):

Going the college in Klamath Falls introduced me to driving in snow and snow chains. I had fueled up in Medford and was heading over the mountains into Klamath Falls (again on Highway 140). Smooth sailing until I got to the top and it started snowing pretty hard and getting dark out. Snow chains were still in the trunk.

Maybe I could get down before it got to bad. Snow was sticking to the road pretty good and there where snow banks on either side of the road from the snow ploughs. I slowed down to about 25 mph because Dad always said, "Don't drive any faster than you want to go into the ditch or snow banks!"

Going down the hill in snow and no chains. And even just idling, I'm slowly gaining speed! Lots of snow on the road now. Crap! Can't tap the brakes, you'll spin! If you down shift, you'll probably spin as well! 30 mph! Faster than I wanted to go!! Got to do something! Down shift into low so hopefully you can still steer. Grabbing the push button and quickly dropping the lever into Low. Swish! Bam! Thud! I spin into the right side snowbank.

Well, at least there was no traffic! Everyone with sense wasn't driving this mountain now!I put the transmission in Park and I zip up my jacket (unzipped because Mopars seem to have the hottest damn heaters!) and hopped out of the car with keys in hand. Popped open the trunk, grabbed out the floor jack and chains! Luckily I had practiced installing the chains at my parents house, so wasn't completely ignorant on how to install them. Got the chains on, lowered the jack and as I was putting the jack back into the trunk, along comes a snow plough out the hill. Where were you ten minutes ago, I thought.

Driver leans out and asks, "Need any help? I can tow you out for 40 bucks!"

"Nope, I'm fine!" I yelled back. I jumped into the driver's seat, fired up Kitten and shifted into Reverse. Gave a little gas and Kitten backed out of the snow bank. Put her in Drive, and I was once again on my way with the snow plough driver watching in disbelief! Once I got out of the snow and dry pavement, I stopped, unhooked the chains, got back in and drove a few feet off of them, and then got out again and put them back in the trunk. Much easier getting them off than putting them on!

I'm sure a lot of you have lots of snow stories, but this was my first experience driving in it. Certainly made studded snow tires sound better and better! Especially after the next saga!

Great story. And when you put those chains on make sure that they are tight fitting around the tires. Otherwise a lot of clanky clank banging sound.

 

[Challenger RTA]

You don't miss what you never had. You just deal with it. I think this is the Schuykill Expressway, Philadelphia, PA 1967. Stationed there been there done that. A bunch of nut cases that can't drive in the snow. It might snow there once a year.

 

[Juan Veldez]

View attachment 118815
You don't miss what you never had. You just deal with it. I think this is the Schuykill Expressway, Philadelphia, PA 1967. Stationed there been there done that. A bunch of nut cases that can't drive in the snow. It might snow there once a year.

That's pronounced Sure Kill Expressway by locals. Been there, done that too.