(Words and Photos by Kaleb Kelly)

Some people try to stay unbiased when it comes to the big 3 from Detroit. “I love them all,” they say. No matter what they say, everybody has a slight bias towards one. Whether it has been born from childhood experiences, the ease to build, abundant parts, styling, engineering, etc., there is always one that has something special in your heart. There are probably 5 main groups that you’ll find at car shows. The most abundant will be the Chevy guys, after that is the Ford guys, the Mopar guys, the off-brand GM guys, and the rat rod guys who don’t care what it is as long as it is running. I try to stay objective and not be too biased, but I admit I’m a sucker for Mopar. This has mostly been born from my first classic car love being my dad’s 1972 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus. It was a clean red, half-vinyl top, 318 V8, automatic car from the factory. When we got it, the former owner thought it had the 318 in it still. Turns out, it had a 340 small block date coded for 1971. Eventually he built a 550-hp N/A 440 and swapped it into the car. It’s long gone now, but we still have that 340 waiting around for my Scamp.
The reason I tell you this is that I found out about a show this weekend that made me get just a bit excited. That was the Southwest Mopar Mini Nationals in Garland, TX. It was hosted by the Dallas Mopar Club and had a great turnout. I ran around the show sweating like crazy in the Texas heat, but had a great time. I actually met a few people from east Texas and Louisiana who told us that we should try to come out to the Louisiana Mopar Nationals in Shreveport this next March. I think that will be a show that I will not be able to miss. Sure it’s a four and a half hour drive in a 41 year-old car, but that’s nothing compared to the Power Tour!
My favorite car of the show was probably a 1968 Dart 270 with a 318 small block! It was one of the cleanest 4-doors I’ve seen in a long time. It even won the A-body Modified class even though it had some serious competition! I drove my dad’s 1971 ‘Cuda, and he drove his 2013 Challenger SRT8 Drop Top Customs convertible. My dad is actually selling his Challenger at Mecum in Dallas on September 6th! If you know anyone interested, it is lot S152 selling around 1:30 on Saturday. Here are some of the pictures I took at the show.

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