To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History

The Lost 1983 Mustang & Mopar Restomod Nightmares

• Doug & Dave: Classic Car Experts, Motorsports Enthusiasts and Automotive Storytellers • Season 8 • Episode 6

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Welcome back to To All The Cars I've Loved Before! This week, Doug is sitting down with his friend and ultimate gearhead, Tony Funk. Over the years, Tony has owned over 35 different vehicles, and he brings some of the most unbelievable automotive stories we've ever heard into the garage.

In this episode, Tony shares the miraculous story of his rare 1983 Ford Mustang GT Turbo. After a hurricane brought a massive tree down on it, a frustrated Tony simply gave the crushed car away. In a wild twist of fate, the owner offered it back to him six years later. The craziest part? The title was still in Tony's name with his signature on it!

We also dive deep into Tony's latest headache: a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger tribute car. Originally a base-model slant-six , this 360-swapped project turned into an 8-week legal nightmare with the North Carolina DMV over mismatched hidden body stamps and some generic Home Depot rivets.

Don't miss Tony's favorite episode with Ethan's amazing WRX - https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/19011189

Whether you are hunting for your dream 1968 Charger RT or wondering how to navigate classic Mopar restorations, this episode is packed with hard-earned wrenches and wisdom.

In this episode, we cover:

  • First Car Heartbreak: The short-lived glory of a brown 1980 Dodge Mirada that was rear-ended and totaled at a red light.
  • The Escort Era: Surviving the Pennsylvania summer heat in an un-air-conditioned 1983 Ford Escort painted in infamous "porno red".
  • The Foxbody Miracle: Giving away a crushed '83 Mustang GT Turbo and getting it back six years later.
  • Mopar Title Nightmares: The extreme stress of titling a 1970 Dodge Dart tribute car and why you must always check for pentastar rivets.
  • ZZ Top Trivia: The history and the rival engine hiding under the hood of Billy Gibbons' famous 1933 Ford Coupe, the "Eliminator".

Sponsor Shoutout: Want to learn more about the cars we discussed today? This episode is sponsored by Car Curious! Their free audio player syncs annotations directly to our transcript, explaining every car, part, and term. Test drive it right now at carslove.com/listen.

Connect with Us: Got a great car story? Email us at stories@carsloved.com. Find all our content and social links here: linktr.ee/carsloved.

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Remember, every car tells a story. What’s yours? 


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Welcome To Car Stories In Reverse

Doug

Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, the only podcast that shares life lessons through the rear view mirror of your favorite cars. It's time to get a little grease under your nails, grab your favorite car themed t-shirt or hat, jump into our DeLorean time machine, and get it up to 88 miles per hour. You get back to that sense of pure freedom, windows down, music pegged, and your best friends piled in the back. Every car tells a story, whether it's a forgotten beater or the one that got away. We're diving into the personal history behind the metal. So let's get

Car Curious Sponsor And Web Player

Doug

into it. I am Doug and I am going solo without my wonderful co-host Dave today. And we want to thank today's sponsor, Car Curious. Car Curious, get at available at getCarCurious.com, is a free automotive podcast player with synced annotations. It explains every car, every part and automotive term in the transcript of our podcast and links them to the exact timestamp so you can jump straight to it to learn about that unique Porsche 993 or Chrysler ABody. And our podcast uses Car Curious Web Player. You can test drive it right here, carslove.com slash listen. And in addition to our show, they have 200 plus podcasts, 2,500 plus cars, and 340,000 moments explained. Best of all, it's free. So try Car Curious today, get CarCurious.com or again on our web player, carslove.com slash listen.

Reviews As The Best Support

Doug

And moving on to reviews, people like to ask me what is the best way to support the show. Honestly, just leaving a review is the best way and it's a big help, and we love to read them on the air. Here's a recent one we just got in from Barry W96. Barry says, I love how this show doesn't talk specs and is focused on the stories behind the machines. I look forward to every Torque Tuesday for new episodes. Well, thank you, Barry. We appreciate the kind words. And moving right on to our guest.

Meet Tony And ZZ Top Trivia

Doug

This is a great story. Sometimes you can work alongside someone for a while and not know that you share some of the same hobbies. This is exactly what happened with today's guest. He has been a car enthusiast since he was about five years old, and that passion has never let up. Over the years, he's owned 33 different vehicles, each with its own story. But there's one dream car that stayed on top of his list, a 1968 Dodge Charger RT. So whether it's classic metal, wrenching in the garage, or talking horsepower, he's always up for a good automotive conversation. And as for that 68 charger, he said he's gonna be chasing it for the rest of his life. So with that said, Tony Funk, welcome to the show. How are you?

Tony Funk

Hey Doug, thanks. I'm doing well. Yourself?

Doug

Doing great, man. Great to have you here. Second time we're talking today, earlier time on a work-related call. So this is much more fun. Indeed. Yeah. So tell us, Tony, before we jump into all your cars, and there, and there are many, 33 plus that you got me beat. How did you get into cars?

Tony Funk

Well, you know, growing up, my my mom's second husband worked in a body shop and he had a 69 Pontiac Firebird. You know, this is late, late 70s, early 80s. The thing back then was, you know, shackle them up and put some big wide tires on them. And, you know, every time you leave a red light, you just leave a couple black marks on the road. And that's just kind of it hooked me.

Doug

And the shackling them up at that's uh that's reference to the leaf springs, correct? Yeah, that right for our listeners. Leaf springs were very I think they probably still exist maybe on some very antiquated design vehicles, right? But they've been around for a long time just as a suspension component. So, Tony, I have to ask you before we get into cars and trivia, since you do like the podcast, or at least you say you do, so you could get on the show, which we're happy to have you. What what what was one or two of your favorite episodes?

Tony Funk

Well, I I enjoyed the WR WRX podcast because you know I also own a WRX. And you know, in preparation for tonight, I listened to a couple other episodes. The one we talked about a little bit earlier today, your entrepreneurial friend who created that, you know, Freedom Top storage or is in the process of creating them. And I listened to about half of another one, but I don't remember which one that was, to be honest with you. I think it was a Porsche one and the Corvette, perhaps.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

You know, I I I enjoyed those those two probably the most so far. And there's there's a lot to listen to.

Doug

I think you well, we have over 90 recorded, and I think 84 are out at the time of this recording. So that's a lot in in two years. So yeah, we're just gonna keep it going and we like to mix it up. So this will be fun. So we're gonna jump in. I have a trivia question, and you will probably know the answer. And for folks that want to see what Tony looks like, that'll be some tie-in to the story or the trivia question itself, but we'll hold the answer for later. So, Tony, in the early 1980s, ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons commissioned a chopped cherry red hot rod that would become a global culture cultural phenomenon. What is the name of this 1933 Ford and what surprisingly rival engine hides under its classic Ford hood? We'll we'll hold off, but it I'm sure you know the answer, but we'll hold off. And for everybody's listening, Tony and I are about the same age. We're both children in the 70s, but we remember the 80s really well. Oh yeah. Yeah. Best decade ever, in

First Cars And A Brutal Rear-End

Doug

my opinion. Speaking of 80s, what was your first car, Tony?

Tony Funk

So it just happens to be uh 1980 Dodge Marahda. Okay. Brown. I don't know what people were thinking in the 80s, but I owned two cars from the 80s and both of them were brown.

Doug

Yeah, brown, brown was a color. Porsche had a brown, everybody had a brown. Tell us about the Mara, and of course, Car Curious is gonna link all this stuff. And for people who haven't heard about the Maraud, you can read about it, of course, online, but you can read about it on our web player, carslove.com/slash listen. But with that, the Mara is an interesting car. Tell us, tell us all about it, Tony.

Tony Funk

So I was, you know, 16, you know, out looking for my first ride. And uh my grandfather helped me get the vehicle. Kind of one of those, I'll buy it and you pay me deals. Nice. You know, interior-wise, you know, cars back then, the headliners are notorious for sagging. So we we tore the interior apart, redid the headliner, you know, the package tray up where the rear speakers are, you know, fixed the interior up, did a whole lot of carburetor tuning, and uh got it running perfect. I was on my way home from work one night and I was sitting at a red light with my best friend, whose name happened to be Tony as well. Okay. Two Tonies. Yeah, look up in the rear view mirror, and I told him, I said, dude, I said you better hold on. And we got rear-ended by like a 78, 79 F-150 going probably about 50 miles an hour, and we were sitting at a red light. He they hit me so hard. I there's a brand new Chevy S10 in front of me, still had the temporary tags on it. I hit him so hard his spare tire came out from underneath his truck, and it was behind the guy that hit me. Wow. So needless to say, I only had that car for about three and a half, four months. Oh man. Yeah. So I never really truly got to experience or you know, play around or modify it or do any of those things that a young kid in the you know early 90s would, you know, do.

Doug

Yeah. Well, I'm sure it had a stereo in it though, right?

Tony Funk

I don't even think I got that far. Oh man. So I was never really into the uh kicking kicking stereos and music.

Doug

Okay, I got you. Yeah, it's funny how how that's changed so much just with the advent of like really amazing stereos coming from the factory that are also difficult to upgrade in in today's today's world. But to the the Maratha, that was a real drive V8. Was it uh stick shift automatic?

Tony Funk

No, it was an automatic. Okay.

Doug

And it's pretty uh it was.

Tony Funk

I look at it as like a a poor man's Chrysler Imperial or something along those lines.

Doug

Had velour seating, valore probably was was it red velore, dark red? No, it was like uh camel tan. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, those were the times. My dad always had Oldsmobiles, and they seemed to have that dark red velore very com very comfortable.

Tony Funk

My my grandfather was a huge Olds Delta 88 fan, and every single one of them had that same red interior. Yeah, it's it's funny.

Doug

And do do you remember the vinyl interiors? They would get so hot, like you could burn your like practically burning yourself getting into those cars. They were so bad. And then the metal seat belts, remember like the whole seat belt was metal. Just oh man.

Tony Funk

Yeah, I I I do have the 70 dart, which That's right. Well, we're gonna get to that. Vinyl seats and those very hot metal belt buckles.

Doug

Yeah, and and a black car as well, right? Even got it. So sorry to sorry about that car. Sounded like it was uh yeah, sounded pretty traumatic.

Tony Funk

The the important thing is, yo, and I wouldn't have said this back then, nobody was hurt, everybody walked away, and that's all that truly really matters. Cars can be replaced, people can't.

Doug

For sure. Thank goodness nobody got nobody was injured, and you're yourself included. So what replaced the Dodge?

The Escort Years And No AC

Tony Funk

I'm embarrassed to say this, but a 1983 Ford Escort, four-door burgundy red, porno red and tear, one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. And that term, Doug, is very no it's very common in the fox body Mustang world when it comes to that color red. Porno red. The foxbody enthusiasts will call it porno red.

Doug

Okay. All right. Well, that's gonna be synced up in the synced up with Get Car Curious, because that's a nature.

Tony Funk

I hope nobody goes and looks that up. I'd be afraid to see what comes up.

Doug

Yeah, that that's true. But yeah, it'll it'll figure it out. It's uh it's a fox body red. I gotta tell my uh Mustang buddy that one, see if he knows it. But so that car was maybe not one of your favorites, but for like those cars were like that. Was the best selling car in America for a while, I think, until the tourists came out, right?

Tony Funk

It it was if if nothing else, it was a it sure was a reliable car. I think I got that car in probably '88, and I drove it until 92. And I'm willing to bet I put 40, 50, maybe even 60,000 miles on that car.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

So and it it never let me set.

Doug

Okay, cool, cool. It was just uh just your basic roll-up window. Oh yeah, nothing power steering. No AC.

Tony Funk

Where were you living at the time? I was in Pennsylvania. Okay. So, you know, wintertime, not so bad. Summertime was almost unbearable some days, especially when humidity got really, really high.

Doug

For sure. Yeah, that's that's something people these days, kids, my kids' age, right? They're like, Cars didn't come with air conditioning? What? Or my my my son and I were joking. I said, I'm like, Ryland, do you think you know, people survived without air conditioning? He's like, I don't think I could I could have made it. Thank goodness I was born when I was born in 2011.

Tony Funk

Yeah, I remember telling one of my kids, I don't remember which one, they were obviously super young, and it's like, hey, roll the window. Dad, why why do you say roll the window down? Oh, because in the old days you had to crank the windows manually. There wasn't a button to push.

Doug

One of those things. Yeah. I don't even know if my daughter ever will ever rolls down her window at all. She just got the AC blast. But that's me these days. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you.

Chasing A Mustang Turbo Deal

Doug

So speaking of these days, and I actually before, I want to talk about one of your other Fords that you sent me a picture of, and there's there's a great story around it. T tell us about the the Mustang. 83 Mustang, right?

Tony Funk

My my wife would disagree that it's a great story. I think it's a good one. She would probably call it a nightmare, but so I want to say it was back in about 2003, 2004. I I was living down here in North Carolina, you know, the Office 17, I guess you could say. I'm not gonna say exactly where, but I was on my way home from work one day, and I see this Mustang that going down the highway in front of me, and I I seen on the side of the spoiler it said GT Turbo. And in the back of my mind, I'm like, they only made that car for two years. There ain't no way that's a real GT turbo. So, and I I mean at the time I had an 85 Mustang, an 86 Mustang, you know, both GTs. I had a 90 notchback. I probably had four Mustangs sitting in a two and a half car garage. Okay. And I I flagged this guy down and was like, hey, would you be interested in selling that car? He's like, Yeah, you give me four grand, you can have it. Well, this is 2003. Four grand was, you know, for me it was a lot of money. Yeah. I was like, Yeah, you know, I think I'm gonna pass, but I uh, you know, here's my number if you ever decide to get rid of it. And uh probably about I was saying six, eight months later, I picked up one of those, you know, auto trader, you know, newspaper type.

Doug

Yeah, they sell them at 7 Eleven.

Tony Funk

Yeah, exactly. So I picked one up and I I'm scrolling through there and I see this this ad it says 1984 Mustang Turbo. And I was like, there can't be too many of those around. And the one I looked at, the one the guy I I chased down, it was an 83. So I pick up the phone, I call the number, and as soon as the guy answered, I a voice you'll never forget. You know, it's kind of raspy. I knew it was him, same guy. Okay. And I asked him, I was like, hey, you know, we were running, I was running down the bypass about six months ago. You know, I was driving this, he I I flagged you down. He's like, Oh, I remember you. I said, Is your price firm? He was asking twenty two hundred dollars for it. So he'd come down a little bit. He he'd come down to Earth, yeah, on his price. And I was like, I'm gonna load my car trailer up. I will come give you cash for the car tomorrow. It's like all right. So I go pick the car up, I load it on the trailer, you know, gives me the title, I give him the cash, whatever. And I come down here and I get all the title work done. I get back to the house and I'm unloading the car. And luckily it was a tilt deck trailer. So, you know, tilt the deck, roll the car into the garage. I'm gonna go through it. I'm gonna change the oil. Um, you know, I don't know the history of the car, so I want to give it its best chance. Right. And I look on the I get the car off the trailer and I look on the deck of the trailer and I have a puddle of oil that is probably, I don't know, probably two and a half quarts of oil laying on the the wooden deck of the trailer. I was like, oh no, he got me. Well, after you know, a little bit of investigation, it was nothing more than a $7 oil pressure sending unit. Okay. So replaced that. Car run great for probably five, six years. I didn't drive it all the time. I just drove it when it was nice out. AC the whole nine yards. And it is, I want to say the Marty, I had a Marty report run on it, and there's like 83 T turbos that come with in that particular color. The car was a radio delete car, which is strange, but it also had AC, which is even stranger. Somebody orders AC, but they don't order a radio. So I I don't know what that person was thinking, but and you know, mind you, I got three at the time, probably one two had four other Mustangs sitting in the garage. So it wasn't really a priority. I don't want to drive this one all the time. It's extremely rare car, a little over 100,000 miles on it. And you know, fast forward a couple years, and you know, I put a new cam in it. I did a little bit of work to it. And my ex-wife and I were separated. I was selling my house down here in Carolina and I was moving back up into Virginia. And my now wife, the house she lived in, she didn't have a garage, but she had a huge backyard. I would say from the back of the house out to, you know, the back of the property was probably about a little over a third of an acre. So, I mean, pretty big yard. I set the car right in the middle of the yard. Ain't nothing gonna happen to the car sitting in the middle of the yard. Right. I'll be damned if a hurricane

Hurricane Damage And A Surprise Return

Tony Funk

didn't come through. And probably the oldest tree in the yard comes down in that hurricane, and the top limbs of that tree took out the roof, the windshield, the quarter panels on the car. I gave the car away. That was a regular on the forum, foureyedpride.com. You know, it's a enthusiast. You know, back when forums were the big thing, right? It was solely for the 79 to 86 foxbody platform Mustangs.

Doug

And and and what was the forum called again? Four-eyed pride. Okay.

Tony Funk

So 79 through 86, they had the four headlights across.

Doug

Yeah, yeah. I actually had a 79 briefly. Uh and you're reminding me of that. I forgot about it. I bought it for 400 and sold it for 1200. Nice. Yeah. It had the 2.8, the Euro and V6. So yeah.

Tony Funk

So I I go on Four Eyed Pride, told the story. It's like, you know, I I wouldn't be surprised if somebody would park the car out, but I'm done. It's like I got this, I got a an 86 Capri. I put a you know Caprete in. I put a Cobra IRS in the car. It was a roller, but it was solid, no rust. And this guy from North Carolina, he sent somebody and picked up both cars, handed the titles over. It's like I'm done. I'm I'm I'm done with this car. And then it was right after or right before COVID. I'd have to look back to see. I get a I get a message on Facebook Messenger from this young kid down, you know, south of Danville, Virginia. Like, you know, he's you know, really professional. He's like, Mr. Funk, did you used to own an 83 Mustang turbo car? I was like, I did. He says, Would you like to have it back? I was like, Well, this must be a sign that this car belongs to me. And my wife and I, we, you know, go rent a U-Haul trailer. We go pick the car up, and I'll be damned if the title's not still in my name. Never got retitled. Six six years after getting rid of it, the car comes back to me. Title's still in my name, my signature's still on the title. The guy I gave it to just never put it in his name. So I got it back and was like, all right, well, this is a sign. So I send it up to uh a shop in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I had it put on the frame machine, they straightened out the frame, the quarters, put a new roof skin on it, new windshield in it, and you know, it's it's multicolored, and now I need to find a hood for it. But I'm gonna, you know, I got a standalone EFI system for it because 83 Ford wiring is brittle and it just doesn't hold up. So the stock wiring harness is trash. I got, you know, we're gonna get there. Maybe come down and help me work on it.

Doug

I'd love to see it. I I'll help however I can. So for for our listeners, uh and you had told me this, but I want to make sure

Fox-Body Turbo Vs SVO Explained

Doug

I have it right. So it better come in from the horse's mouth. Oh, I just got it. I made a joke about the Mustang. I didn't even realize it. So there the four when did the 5.0 come out and were they making the turbo alongside the 5.0 at the same time? And then there's also something called the SBO, which was also a turbo. Can you talk through that for us?

Tony Funk

Okay. So the in the foxbody era, I've 1982 was the first year that the Mustang was that the pace car year? No, no, that was 79, but in 1982, I I think Ford's big slogan was the boss is back, but that that was when the Mustang come back in the Foxbody platform, that was in '82, and it's running through today, right? Is has not stopped since '82. In 1983, I don't know what Ford was thinking, but if based off of what I've learned about this particular car, and I did own an 84 SVO also. Okay. Very familiar with those. The ECU or the ECM and all of the wiring in this particular car in '83, it was standalone. So it wasn't connected into the main body harness. It's almost like it was an afterthought. The the ECM sits underneath the passenger side seat, whereas in '84 everything went into the kick panel on the passenger side. There's no provision for me to put that computer in the kick panel like the 84 and later cars. The the 83s were, you know, they were non-integral. I want to say it was like 135, 140 horsepower, a very lot to, you know, leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to horsepower, right? It wasn't a super fast car at all, but it was a light car. I want to say the car weighs probably 22, 2300 pounds fully dressed. Right. So and then in '84, the turbo was also in the lineup, but sitting next to it was the European style. Old SVO Mustang, which had the same drivetrain, with the exception of they bolted an intercooler onto it and quite a bit more horsepower than the standard GT Turbo.

Doug

Turbo was a two-year car, 83 and 84. Correct. Okay, got it.

Tony Funk

And I want to say, so in addition to in 84, there's also anniversary cars, both convertible and non-convertible. You know, they were the anniversary edition GT350s that got the Mustang GT turbo drivetrain, but they weren't turbo. I guess they were, I don't know. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't, but they they were the anniversary decals, you know, the Oxford white and you know, or whatever color was in the Maroon decals. Got it. Wow.

Doug

For somebody who's is it fair to say? I think it's fair to say you're an American car guy for the most part, minus the Subaru, probably. You know, I like them all. You like them all. Yeah.

Tony Funk

I don't like the trucks that are squatted, right? But another car on my short list is right there behind you, you know, that that little Volkswagen bug. Yeah. I would love to have a bug.

Doug

Yeah, man. I uh I had an opportunity to buy one. I want to say it was a 65 convertible. And I relied a lot on my dad back then, and he's just said, I don't know anything about Volkswagens. And of course, Volkswagen is the simplest car in the world, right? But what a neat car that would have been to have.

Tony Funk

Yeah, I I was looking at one before I bought this start. In fact, you know, when when we go out, when we spent all that time out in San Diego last year, I would get on Facebook Marketplace and see if there was anything within the vicinity of where we were. It's like, you know, I can buy something here and just ship it back.

Doug

Yeah.

Tony Funk

You didn't have any luck with that though, right? I I didn't find any time to go out and look at them. I I found quite a few. Yeah, we were we were pretty busy.

Doug

Yeah, we 19 hour days. But uh yeah, I love going to San Diego or just California because like I just randomly see uh, I don't know, 68 Mustang just on the you know, in a parking lot, right? Rust. Yeah, it's unfaded, but yeah, car that's that's the place to go. You could good thinking, man. Maybe next time. Gotta build in some time. So speaking speaking of cool cars and cars you just got, tell it tell us about your most recent acquisition.

Buying A 1970 Dart Tribute

Tony Funk

Oh, this this one was a headache, Doug. It's a beautiful car. So I mean, you know, as you kick the show off, you mentioned, you know, 68 Charger RT, right? That's that's since I was 17, 16, 17 years old. That's always the car I've been chasing. But a close runner up to the B-body platform old Mopars are the A bodies. My best friend growing up had a 70 as a burnt orange, it was a Dodge Dart swinger. And I I I remember telling him I was like 16, he was four years older than me. So you know had quite the little collection before I could even drive. And I told him, I was like, I want to buy this dart off of you when I start driving. He's like, Okay. You know, I would I was looking around for probably you know three, four months, and I'd I'd see 67s, 68, 69s, which 68 is ideal for me because they don't have the cowl vents, you don't have to worry about them rotting out, but you also don't have that lever to pull to get fresh air in through the cowl panel, you know, like the vent back on vent and the air will come through. I I went and looked at a six sixty-eight dart the day I made the deal on the one I purchased. And if somebody hadn't rolled the cut the quarter panels to roll the fenders that fit wider tires, I probably have a 68 dart and not a 70.

Doug

Got it.

Tony Funk

But you know, the and the the wheelhouse and the quarter panel were kind of not connected, and I wasn't I didn't want to buy a car that I have to send to a body shop. I want something that's pretty solid. A little bit of this, a little bit of that's one thing, but I I don't want to get into having to completely restore another car. So I found this 70. It's I'm gonna call it a swinger tribute car. Okay. Looking at it, you would think that, oh, it's a 340 dart, you know, it has the 340 engine and this, that, and everything else. But in reality, it the car started off as a like a baby blue bottom of the line, white vinyl top, bench seat, slant six, single barrel carburetor, dodge dart. Okay. Somebody throughout the course of time decided they were gonna do a uh swinger tribute car. They did a really good job. It's got, you know, they replaced the floors or at least a section of the floors where the shifter comes through. It's got a four-speed in it. They got a legit dash out of a, you know, the rally dash out of a 340 swinger car. They put the hood scoops on the hood, they put the little white bumblebee stripe in the back, the right rally wheels. Looking at the car, you would think well, they that is a you know, a legit dart swinger. It's not. So I I don't mind changing things, right? Right. 360, 40 over. It's got a mild cam in it, you know, three two-barrel carburetors sitting on top, which need to need to be tuned. A little bit of an oil leak coming out of the back of the intake manifold, but I th wrong shifter is in the car. I put a B-body console pistol grip in it that every time you go to put it in reverse, you're hitting the steering wheel. So I I I did fix that. I put an e-body pistol grip shifter into the car, rebuilt you know, all the mechanisms for the shifter. But you know, as I had told you, I bought that car in Virginia, and when you purchase an a car that old and you try to title it in North Carolina is required to do an inspection on the car. And you would think, being a car guy, that I would have had a little more common sense to validate things a little more thoroughly than I

VIN Rivets Trigger A Title Scare

Tony Funk

did. So the Vintag, remember I mentioned they put the the rally dash in the car? Right. Well, they pulled the Vin plate off of the original dash, which would have been one of the ones that, you know, just a needle that sweeps from the right side to the left side of the dash instead of like individual little round gauges. And when they reattach that VIN plate to the dashboard, they use just standard, you know, go to Home Depot, buy some aluminum, pop rivets, and they pop riveted that to the dash. So when the North Carolina troopers come out to do an inspection on the car to make sure that it wasn't stolen, they quickly realized that those aren't the right rivets holding that Vin plate to the dash.

Doug

And they these these guys are car guys, then, right? I mean, it's just part of their training that maybe they got hired because they like cars. And you you were telling me the original rivets are Penestar. They they are a five-sided rivet, they are pretty unique, and they knew right away.

Tony Funk

And you know, the the fender tag was there, the car's repainted, so the door tag's gone. Can't couldn't that could have validated the car. So he requested to find the hidden body stamp on the car. Well, let me tell you, I learned a whole lot about how Chrysler did things at the Windsor, Ontario plant in 1970.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

It's enough to make your head hurt. So the hidden body number, you know, it should start out with R for the Romeo plant, and then the sequence number. My car was 77632 off the assembly line out of that plant, and the Vin Tag is 1776 because that first character is all is never a zero. For the sequence number, it always starts with a one. So you look at it, you know, an old Chrysler like that, it's like, okay, so this means up to a hundred thousand cars. Well, the hidden number in the trunk was zero seven seven six three. Five of the six numbers match. The logic of it being car number, you know, seven seven six three two matches the trunk, but it doesn't match that one on the actual VIN plate. So, you know, North Carolina DMV's like, nope. I reached out to Galen. He is he Galen's tag service. He's a Mopar historian. I've tried reaching out to everybody that I could think of that knows how things were done in that era. And, you know, I got his contact info, and next thing I know, the North Carolina State Troopers called me and they said, We validated all of your stuff, your title's being released. Sweet. So it's eight weeks of stress. Do I have to return this car? Am I gonna fight to get my money back? Well, let me just tell you that I have a box on my desk and I have the correct rivets for that Vin plate. So at some point in time, you know, probably when I work on putting AC in the car, I am going to have those, I'm gonna have those replaced. That way nobody else has to deal with it.

Doug

Right. And and obviously unique to North Carolina, but are you aware of any other states that have similar level of introspection? Oh man, I hope not. Me too. That's reason enough for me not wanting to go down there because I had to I ri I fixed my dash and I had to remove the original rivets too. They, you know, it was a DeLorean, so hopefully it was just whatever rivet I used a Home Depot rivet, just like you said.

Tony Funk

Well, you know, I have learned that the way that a lot of these like restoration shops, they do that, they'll get in behind it with like a pair of dikes and they will squeeze that rivet out or they'll squeeze it together so it fits back out through the hole. And then when they're done, they take a they take a small punch and they stick it down through the rivet. They just, you know, they'll push those sides back out and they'll reuse the original rivets.

Doug

Yeah.

Tony Funk

Smart. I don't know. All I can say is to anybody out there that wants to buy an old Mopar, check your VIN plate, make sure the pentastar rivets are there and they're not like bright uh bright aluminum.

Doug

And that was common in all of those from that era.

Tony Funk

Oh, I think they're common up to this day. I think if I went out and looked at my T18 RAM, I think I would have the same five-sided rivets on on that VIN plate. Okay. Interesting.

Doug

Yeah. Well, Tony, you could maybe make a make a small fortune consulting on these type of things with this experience.

Tony Funk

Yeah, I'm not professional enough for anybody that want my expertise.

Current Garage And Cars That Got Away

Doug

Well, I I would refer you to anybody. How many cars do you own now? I probably five, maybe right now.

Tony Funk

Yeah, I I got I still got the 83 Mustang. I got this Dodge Dart, my wife's Tacoma, 2020 Tacoma, powered by three hamsters. Three, only three? And a ferret. It's pretty slow, huh? Yeah, it is. I got one of the the very last manual transmission Dodge trucks, 2018 Ram 3500.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

And you know, my daily beater, I got a 23 WRX.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

That I put some work into stage two, about 350 to the wheel.

Doug

Nice.

Tony Funk

Fun little car.

Doug

Yeah. Which do you have a favorite?

Tony Funk

I'm I'm a hermit, man. I I don't really go anywhere. So Okay. I I would say my favorite is my least favorite.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

We we take my wife's truck a lot of the places that we go. Gotcha.

Doug

Has maybe it has the best air conditioning. That it does. Okay. That'll do it. I am most am probably most reliable. But yeah, WRX popular. They still make them with stick shifts. So they're gonna remain popular with enthusiasts for a long time.

Tony Funk

They will. And probably the lat the newest car that I will ever own.

Doug

Yeah, it's a neat, neat car. And and very different. You know, polar opposite from the Dodge, right? It is. Yeah.

Tony Funk

It'll probably run circles around the Dodge though, too.

Doug

That too. That too, of course. Wow. Is it Dodge?

Tony Funk

Go ahead, sorry. I was gonna say I didn't buy the Dodge to go tear up the streets. No, no. Do your neighbors like it? I don't know my neighbors.

Doug

Oh, okay. That's good. I I'm joking because it's probably pretty loud, right?

Tony Funk

Well, the neighbors across the street have a four-wheeler that has no exhaust on it. So you can hear it from about a mile away. So I'm sure they can find it.

Doug

So yeah, you guys are mining mining your own business. That's the way to do it. You got it. Very cool. So of all these cars, and we always like to ask this ask this question if if if there's enough time, what's the one that got away? Well, we know you're you're still hunting for the 68, but what's the car you wish you could buy back? You gave us two answers. I I'd love to hear both of them. Which one would I like to buy back? Yeah. Since you already bought back the Mustang.

Tony Funk

So that that's a tough one because there's there's I know I think in the intake forum I said it was a 94 Mustang because it gave me freedom all over Southern California when I was stationed in 29 Palms.

Doug

Okay.

Tony Funk

But yo, it would be a toss-up between that and the 1960 Dodge pickup that I had at the same time. Okay. I I regret getting rid of that one, but I getting rid of the Mustang too. So yeah. Not that long ago. No, I PCS, so I couldn't take two with me, so I I sold it to another Marine. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. I've tried to buy it back, but he won't sell it. Yeah.

Doug

Well, you never know. Just it happens, right? You're you're living proof. Well, what is so we know the 68 chargers next on the list. If you see it, it could happen.

Tony Funk

I'm gonna need a job like yours, Doug, for me to even afford something like that.

Doug

Or or a bigger garage at least.

Tony Funk

Oh, I I'll put the tractor outside. I'll find a site for it. Okay. Yeah, the the the price tag on them is a little hefty. I don't know that I could ever justify spending a hundred thousand dollars on a vehicle. Wow, that's what they're going for. The one I want, yeah.

Doug

We're we're from the same time period, but I don't remember. What was the Dukes at Hazard charger? Was that a 70?

Tony Funk

69.

Doug

69. Okay. Gotcha. They destroyed a lot of cars, didn't they? And I think it's uh with Mopar folks, right? It's it's a little upsetting, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. Indeed. How many cars did they go through? Do you know? I don't even want to take a guess at that. It was a lot. That's all I know.

Tony Funk

So yeah, I think there's like eight seasons of that show, maybe. Yeah. Seven seasons.

Doug

For sure. But yeah, that was the show until Night Rider came out. So I think it was Night Rider, but I'm gonna go with Night Rider, but yeah, it works for me. It was a good transition. So with all that, we're gonna loop back to our trivia question.

Eliminator Answer And Closing Thoughts

Doug

And uh just to restate the question in the early 80s, Z top frontman Billy Gibbons, who Tony has a passing resemblance from. How long have you been growing that beard, Tony, by the way?

Tony Funk

I've had it for about oh 14 years. Wow. So but yeah, uh it'll it'll get to the point where I just cut some off. I never it's much longer than it is now.

Doug

No, it's it's it's definitely it's definitely it's you. So I I remember our colleague who also had a semi-long beard, not quite that long, said, Hey, we're Z Z Top. So speaking of Z Top, right? So they commissioned this, Billy Gibbons, this cherry red hot rod that became a global pop culture phenomenon. And it was a 1933 Ford Coupe, and it had an interesting engine, rival engine under the hood, not uncommon for those hot rods. So what if you know, what was the name of the car and what type of engine was on it in it?

Tony Funk

Well, I can tell you the name of the car was Eliminator. Correct. And if I had to guess, I would say it was probably at 350 small black Chevy. Correct again. I I didn't know that, but it was just a guess because that's what they did.

Doug

And uh yeah, that car was on the front of that was the picture on Z Z Top Eliminator album, correct? I believe so. And I believe it made it in several MTV videos, including Give Me All Your Loving, Sharp Dressed Men, and Legs. So, and I learned that today that original car is housed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. So definitely inspired a lot of people, I'm sure. That is a really neat car. And Z Z Top was known for their over-the-top hot rods. So I prefer Cadzilla myself. I was thinking about Cadzilla. That's the one that I remember. But we'll save that for another episode. And we'd love to have you back. But for now, as we gently steer the podcast into the off-ram, I want to thank you, Tony Funk. You're your good work friend, and I've gotten to know you just a little bit better this way for sharing the stories and your love for these eclectic cars. It was really a pleasure.

Tony Funk

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Doug

Yeah, no, glad to have you. And uh again, love to have you back as a co-host sometime or just to talk about some more of your cars. So anytime. Awesome. So you have just heard the high revving, low mileage, late model heard round the world authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. And if you or someone you know has a great car story about their first cars, please drop us a line via email, stories at carslove.com or via social media. The easiest way to find all of our info is via our link tree, L-I-N-K-T-O-CARSLO. And I want to leave you with this passing thought. Telling car stories is contagious. Just go ahead and ask your friends, family, neighbors, or the owner of the next cool cool car about their first car memory and watch their reaction. We guarantee they will smile and we will see you next time.

Head Shot

Doug

Co-host