Hello Forward Look mailing list:
Well, its been a while now and I guess its time I finally introduced myself.
I've been reading the Forward Look correspondence for the last 9 months and
found the information to be interesting and of great value, as well as "Mopar-
aly" uplifting. My name is Charles Grant and I live in "Sunny" Central
Florida.... Sorry you guys up North in the current Blizzard, but somebody (a
Native Floridian) has got to live down here to serve and support all the "snow
birds" you know!
Personally, I've been a long standing MOPAR (aholic) since the early
fifties.... actually, I think since I was able to say "car". I have remained
so all these years even during the early sixties when of course as you all
remember, after the beautiful cars Chrysler made during the mid to late
fifties, we (the Chrysler family loyalists) had to traverse a particularly
awkward time of wonderfully engineered cars that only hard-core "purists"
found attractive. Following my family's first Mopars including a '39 Plymouth
Coupe, '53 Cranbrook coupe, and a '55 Savoy 2-dr, my father purchased a new
'58 Fury 350-w/2-4bbls in Tampa, Florida. In 1963 when I was 14, we pulled
the engine and gave it the "traditional" high-performance rebuild of the
day..... Bored it .060., ported, milled and polished the heads, a state-of-
the art "3/4 Race" re-ground cam from Crower, and chromed the valve covers and
breathers. All that Buckskin Beige, Gold, Chrome, and black detail under the
hood was truly a beautiful sight! It made "them Chevy boys" drool! I grew up
in; took my driver's test in; and WORSHIPPED the very ground that car rolled
on. Through those early years, my family had a tradition of not selling a
"good" car when it got older.... we just added a wing onto the barn and stuck
it in there. Soooooo, with all that history out of the way, I am currently in
the process of building / restoring (or preparing to restore) the following:
- '58 Fury, 350 with 2-4bbls. (solid, but needs total restoration)
- '58 Plaza "Silver Special" street cruiser w/ 331 Fire-Power hemi
(originally bought as a parts car for the '58, but too nice to chop up. Its
close but needs trim/interior/paint)
Non Forward Look Mopars (but Kissin' Cousins)
- '53 Dodge Pickup / Tow vehicle with 330" Desoto Hemi/Volare front
suspension (currently under "heavy-hemi" construction)
- '64 Plymouth Sport Fury w/426 Street Wedge (The only one bought recently,
now finished except for a few exterior trim pieces that need replacing)
- '65 Sport Fury w/383 4-bbl. (needs interior and a few trim pieces)
I'm "Forward Looking" to a long-standing relationship with a bunch of
obviously "enlightened" and interesting people that share a common vision.
Hope to see a number of you at Carlisle in July, and a special Thank You to
Dave Stragand for making all this "camaraderie" possible. My hat's off to
YOU! Again, thanks for all the hard work associated with maintaining this
list.
But that's enough already! Please accept my apology for this run-on
introduction, but I can't help myself when I get to "reminiscing"..... like
the time we blew that brand new '63 389" Grand Prix convertible off the road
with the '58 Fury up near Brunswick, Georgia... or that dust-eating '58 Chevy
with 348 & 3-Deuces..... STOP, STOP!
Charles Grant
Reliatec@xxxxxxx
'58 Fury
'58 Plaza Silver Special
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