August 2006 www.cowtownmopars.com The President s Desk The Starting Line Newsletter for Cowtown Mopars Performance Team HEY COWTOWN MOPAR MEMBERS! When mid 90s is the result of a cold front you know you are in Texas in the summer! As promised at the July meeting we gave away some $. Alan Vaust won the first $50 prize, congratulations Alan. We will give some $ away at the August meeting also. Mike Miller will be conducting the meeting in my absence. I will be out of town for a few days, so please show your support for Mike. There were several visitors at the July meeting as well as old members. It was good to see all of them. Everyone in attendance got to meet David and Pam Ussery. David has retired from the military with 38 or 39 years of service. Thanks again David for your service to our Country. Our August cruise night takes us back to Spring Creek BBQ, but this time we are going to Keller. Hope to see you at the Keller Spring Creek, 6:00pm, August 12th. I have never been there and I'm looking forward to it. Thanks to Bill for opening up his shop for last months cruise night. It was a very relaxing time with good food and good company. On the drive over to Bill's it was the first time I can ever remember turning down the a/c on an old car in the summer. That 67 coronet blows snow! Really we had ice forming on the vents. COOL HUH, NO COLD! On Labor Day weekend the Dallas Mopar Club will be having their annual car show. Cowtown Mopars has shown great support over the years. I hope to see many of you there again this year. Be sure and find me and I will have a club shirt for you. As many of you have heard we are already working on some of the details for next years annual car show. Our focus will be on charity, raising money for the favorite charity of Ronnie Sox. I will let Mike and Kelly present the details as they now stand. The both of them along with Ken Castleman have been in contact with Diane Sox and Buddy Martin. Great job guys! More details will follow as they are worked out. See ya soon! Beep!Beep! Mark Buchanan Cowtown Mopars President
From the Vice President Page 2 Where did July go? Not a whole lot going on. One thing I was glad to see was a good turnout for our cruise night and at the club meeting! It was good to see some familiar faces that had not been around in a while. When you get to the activities directors article, you will learn about some exciting things that are taking place for our next car show. Just remember when you read about it that not only is the club buying a car to raffle off, but Huffines CJD is also furnishing a car to raffle off! We have a lot more happening than this at the show but much of it is still in the works and some is not set in stone yet so within the next month or two keep your eyes and ears open... we may have some announcements that will blow you away! Makes ya just want to skip thru and read Kellys article now don't it? August is another one of those months without a lot of club activities going on. But trust me... you don't want to miss the cruise nights and meetings. At the last meeting some lucky member walked home $50.00 richer just for being there! Who knows what will happen at the August meeting! Mike Miller, Owner M.P.A.R. http://www.millerperformance.net All Club members in good standing will be offered a discount by www.rockauto.com beginning this month let them Know you re part of CMPT!!!! TEXAS MUSCLE CAR CLUB CHALLENGE SCHEDULE SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!! Sept 10th, Abilene, TX Oct 1st, Red Line, TX Oct 15th, Ennis, TX Oct 29th, Kennedale, TX I need pictures from local events, car shows, and places you go with your Mopars! Please email them to me for use in the newsletter! Thanks, Steve
From The Staging Lanes Since we haven t been racing I don t have much to write about. However it will be time to crank them up again real soon. Our first fall race takes place the weekend after the Southwest Mini Nats or to be more exact the 10 th of Sept. Lets show up in force and remember its an away race so the first round gets you and the club 4 points. Bryan Carpenter, Race Team Coordinator CMPT Club Meetings CMPT Board of Directors CMPT holds its monthly club meetings on the 3rd Sunday of each month at 5:00pm. Meetings are currently held at: BILLY BOB S TEXAS 2520 Rodeo Plaza Fort Worth, Texas August 20th, 2006 @ Billy Bob s Texas September 17th, 2006 @ Billy Bob s Texas 2006 President: Mark Buchanan 972-617-2068 bbuchanan8@juno.com Vice President: Mike Miller 817-656-3218 greybeard360@yahoo.com Secretary: Ken Angyal 817-465-4344 KVJA54@aol.com Treasurer: Dan Robinson 817-428-8858 derob@charter.net Membership: Ken Key 817-577-9505 kandlkeye@ev1.net Activities: Kelly Hilla 469-222-4120 kelly.hilla@huffines.net Newsletter: Steve Wiggin 817-714-3783 wigginfam@sbcglobal.net Webmaster: Mike Miller 817-656-3218 greybeard360@yahoo.com Race Team Coordinator: Bryan Carpenter dartgt66@peoplepc.com Show tteam Coordinator: Dave Mandato CMPT Club Information Cruise Night NEW PLACE / At The Normal Time August 12th, Saturday @ 6:00 pm @ Spring Creek BBQ Hwy 377, Keller, er, TX CHECK OUR WEBSITE!!!!! COWTOWN MOPARS PERFORMANCE TEAM is a Mopar enthusiast organization, with its own elected officers & operating treasury. Membership is open to ALL Mopar enthusiasts and owners. You do NOT need to own a Mopar to join or participate. We are based in the Fort Worth area of North Central Texas, U.S.A. Currently, we have members from all around the area, even reaching into AUSTRALIA! Our Club Address is: COWTOWN MOPARS PERFORMANCE TEAM P.O.Box 162413 Fort Worth, Texas 76161-2413 http://www.cowtownmopars.org
Page 4 Well, here we are again. It s been a very busy month and we are getting a lot of things done. It s been great to see sooo many members and friends attend the cruise night at Bill Boone s place. Thank you Bill and family for providing such a great place to get together. One of the many things we spoke about at Bill s is the CMPT Round-Up in the spring. We will be doing a special tribute to Ronnie Sox and a contribution to his favorite charity via his wife Diane Sox who will also be in attendance to receive the donation. The club has purchased a 1/18 scale model of the famous 67 Sox & Martin Plymouth GTX. We will raffle this very rare car with all the proceeds going to Diane for Ronnie s Charity foundation. All the board members and especially Ken Castleman, have worked very hard on getting this to happen. Thank you all! We also have been working on setting a date for the Cooks Children s Car Show. We won t be able to have as many cars there as I had thought but this will still be a great time for the kids. I will announce the date as soon as we agree on one. In the fall I m sure as it is way too hot right now. The weekend of September 8th, 9th, &10 th is really going to be a busy one. We have some members attending the Monster Mopar Weekend, and some going to the TMCCC Race in Abilene on the 10 th, and then some that will be going to the Texas Motor Speedway Laps for Charity on the 9 th. Wherever you end up I hope we all do well and have a safe weekend. One more thing, for those of you who have not renewed your membership this will be the last news letter you will receive. Happy Motoring to all! Kelly T. Hilla CMPT Activities The Acivities Dude Got The Minutes??? The July 16th general membership meeting held at Billy Bob's Texas in Ft. Worth was called to order by President Mark Buchannan at 5:25 pm. Visitors, guests and "long time no see " returning members were recognized. President Buchannan discussed member health issues, then reviewed the great time at Bill Boon's Texas Trailer Man Cruise Night. Activities Director Kelly Hilla introduced a possible club function involving the Cook Children's Hospital car display. Contact Kelly for details. Kelly and Vice President/webmaster Mike Miller discussed our annual April Car Show with a Sox and Martin / St. Judes Charity theme. More details will follow. Our August Cruise Night will be at Spring Creek BBQ on Hwy 377 in Keller. Please refer to the website for any updates. Comments were accepted by the membership on current meeting location, times, dates. Member Richard West spoke to the membership for the Lake Worth Car Show to be held approx. Labor Day weekend. Also, at Texas Motor Speedway on September 9th laps for charity will be held. Member Allen Vasut addressed the membership on the new Dodge Challenger to be introduced in 2008. Member Morris Counts spoke to the members on the Dodge Charger meet held in Jefferson City, Missouri The 50/50 pot was won by Shawn Blaylock and the new bonus cash raffle was won by Allan Vasut. After cars for sale, parts for sale and wanted was over, President Buchannan adjourned the meeting at 6:35 pm. Ken Angyal, CMPT Secretary
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Car of the Month August 2006 Rick Mariano s 1965 Dodge Dart GT An individual s attachment to their hot rod is easily understood by those of us who own them, and just about impossible to explain to those who live outside the culture of the classic American muscle car. In the case of this months feature car, the attachment is not held strictly by its owner, but a whole club. For those of us lucky enough to have crossed paths with Tommy Craig, we only have great memories of help, advice, and encouragement. While I may be the one whose name is now on the title, to me and others it will always be simply Tommy s Dart The car is a 1965 Dodge Dart GT hardtop, originally equipped with a 273 V8, 833 4speed and an 8 ¾. When I took possession of it the car had been in Tommy and Janice s garage in the state of semi retirement while Tommy concentrated on his Dart Sport race car (now capably owned and operated by Kim Humphrey) Although now equipped with a very potent 340, the rest of the car was beginning to show the signs of being almost forty years old. The internals of the rear end had been looted for other, more immediate racing needs. A call to Moser and an explanation that the axles were twisted at the splines and that I wanted a big bolt pattern without changing the narrow rear brakes (tire clearance). and proved immediately that the Moser folks know their Mopars. A complete set of axles arrived in less than a week for about the same price as a OEM set of A-body axles. Fortunately Tommy had rebuilt a spare posi unit, and it was installed with a fresh 3.91 ring and pinion from Precision Gear. I removed and carefully stored all the chrome and trim for later cleaning and polishing. The grill and candy canes were in perfect shape, and the tail lights were in excellent condition. Then things started to take a bad turn. I went to remove the vinyl top and almost the entire roof skin came with it. I literally had a full sized sunroof. The rear quarter panels were rusted through and dirt mud and grime had collected in various hard to reach places and had done their damage. Thank goodness for Eddie Stephens who owns HAWS Paint and Body in Fort Worth. Not only was he my neighbor, but a racer to boot. He also owns one of the nicest restored 68 Camaros around. (okay, but he understands these things). Lucky for me a trip to Barkley s in Decatur netted a derelict Dart for the necessary sheet metal. Eddie tended to the body himself and shot the original yellow, although viewing the car at night, under the lights, makes me think he slipped in a little gold pearl. I m pleased he did! The interior had brand new carpet, but the seats and door panels had succumbed to use, age, and the sun. Enter Bob Fuller and Fuller s Upholstery. Bob took modern, durable fabrics and did a masterful job of keeping the same sixties look on the inside. Bob and his crew handled the new headliner also. With all that completed, I handled the reassembly while also cleaning and polishing out the classic Cragar S/S mags that were on the car. I replaced gaskets, rebuilt the carb, new plugs, redid some electrical, installed a set of Flowmasters, and had the bumpers redone. The motor has remained basically untouched, but bring the revs up to around 3000 and nail the throttle, and it pulls as hard as anything I ve ever been in, big or small block. It also has a way cool set of Hedman fenderwells, a cable drive distributor and tach, a classic row of SW gauges, no radio (couldn t hear it anyway) and a Hurst shifter with T-handle. I don t take it out as often as I like, but when I do it gets plenty of looks, few challenges, and some knowing nods from some fellow classic muscle car owners. My favorite encounter was from right out of American Graffiti : Coming home from a short run to the parts store, two youngsters in some Japanese roller skate pulled up and let go with an anemic rap out of their fart can. I responded by stirring the trans into first gear, bringing up the revs and then dropping the hammer and the clutch for about thirty feet. I backed up, looked over with my best evil eye, and nodded forward. They responded by raising their hands and saying, no way mister, that car is possessed. Well sort of.. maybe more like blessed. Right, Tommy?
Activities August 2006 Aug 12th CRUISE NIGHT / Saturday @ 6:oopm at Spring Creek BBQ, 660 S. Main (Hwy. 377), Keller, TX. 817-741-2100 Aug 20th CMPT Meeting, Sunday @5pm @ Billy Bob s Texas Sept 2006 Sept 2nd-3rd Dallas Mopar Southwest Mini Nats Central Park, Garland, Texas Return visit by Galen Govier For info call: Jerry Reed at 972-271-6189 Sept 9th Laps for Charity @ TMS, Ft Worth, TX (see message board) Sept 10th TMCCC @ Abilene, TX The CMPT Online Store is Here!!! Shop & Support The Club At http://www.cafepress.com/cowtownmopars/ For Sale & Wanted Wanted 71 or 72 RoadRunner call Mark Buchanan 972 617 2068 or e-mail bbuchanan8@juno.com Dodge Charger Owners for the Charger Registry (FREE) Join for $25 and get a newsletter, parts list, car list, event list. Morris Counts 817-545-7783 or 817-980-9411 See you at the next Charger Event. CMPT Cars of the Year 2006 Please submit a brief description and pictures in jpeg format or a good 4 x 6 printed format to: Steve Wiggin c/o CMPT P.O. BOX 162413 Ft. Worth, Texas 76161
AUGUST IN TEXAS - THE HEAT S ON! August August 12th 6:00pm (Regular Time) SATURDAY CRUISE NIGHT @ Spring Creek BBQ 660 S.Main St. S (Hwy 377) Keller, TX August August 20th CMPT Meeting @ Billy Bobs September September 2nd & 3rd Dallas Mopars Mini-Nats, Garland, TX September 10th TMCCC, Abilene, TX We re the Car Club for Mopar Drag Racing, Food, Cruising, Fun, & Friends In 2006! Cowtown Mopars Performance Team P.O. Box 162413 Fort Worth, Texas 76161-2413 Place Postage Here Rush to: AUGUST 2006