Mopar Nats or Bust!

The story of getting the Shelby Charger to the 2005 Mopar EuroNationals, along with yet more FWD Mopars attending

The Shelby Dodge side of my life has been pretty busy since I wrote part 1 of 'Life on the Other Side' back in January, so I've split the full story over two articles … this time around I'll be covering my fun and games getting to the Mopar Euro-Nationals, the most essential car show in any Mopar owner's diary over here.

Proud to have SDAC shirt on while a photographer friend took some snaps!

The story of this starts back earlier in the year, when the Shelby Charger failed it's annual roadworthiness test - this is very stringent and even a brand new Shelby Charger would not pass it without some modifications!  The faults found included holes in the chassis rail, not enough braking effort from the e-brake, rust around the rocker box on the passenger side, and some brake lines had started to corrode.
This wasn't too big of a deal, but with other things going on I decided to leave it until I had time.  Fast forward on to the end of June, about a month before the Euro-Nats, and I decided to get started.  The chassis rail rust required a little help as the K-frame  had  to  be  moved,  and my little gasless welder isn't up to working on thick metal, but I managed to complete almost all the other work myself, including using a shake-can to paint the nose back to something like original.

I managed to get the Charger through the test for 2pm on the first day of the Euro-Nats, the 29th of July, and arrived 120 miles later at Santa Pod Raceway in the evening, just in time to take part in the cruise for the first time ever.  Unfortunately the HEP and O2 sensors and the engine decided that all the sudden activity was too much, and just as I pulled into the Pub carpark at the far end of the cruise, limp-mode kicked in and the engine overheated.  Once cooled down things were ok, and I ran for the rest of the weekend in limp mode without any other problems.

Many of my classic Mopar owning friends were enthusiastic over the Charger, and with their encouragement next year I plan on taking it down the track - if it doesn't blow up in the mean time!  During the rest of the weekend I just hung out and enjoyed the show, sleeping in the back of the Charger (very comfortable with the back of the back seat removed!). I managed to catch up with the owner of the Bronze '84 Daytona that previously appeared in Up Front, he's had the car for four years now and has managed to run it on parts from broken cars that have been found here.  It's also his daily driver, so he must be brave to race and rely on it with no real parts backup!  Under the hood it features a bone-stock T1 setup, the only major change being the use of an '87 A525 with equal length driveshafts.
Also on the Sunday a pristine LeBaron GTC convertible turned up.  This is a real stunner, in perfect condition with shiny factory TII, 16" wheels, leather and working A/C.  I had a pleasant chat with it's owner who had previously owned an '86 Charger amongst other Shelby Dodges - he was selling the LeBaron for about $7000, oh for a lottery win!

It's nice to know that I'm not the only SD fan in the country, but we're few and far between.  Perhaps in the future I'll be able to gather up enough owners to start a club … as for the next instalment?  I'll be introducing you to my new car - an '87 GLHS!

Other FWD Mopars at the Euro-Nats this year included this Stage 2 equipped SRT-4 belonging to an American serviceman who was running low 14s in full street trim, the stock gold Daytona again which still runs almost dead on 16.0 every time, and this condition A Euro-Spec LeBaron GTC 'vert.  Interestingly the side lights appear to be blanked out, but they have the US lenses just painted to match the bumper!