What causes us to gravitate towards a certain line of cars, or a certain style? Immediate influences (family mostly, or something in your day-to-day routine that catches your eye) and indirect influences, like the cars you see in magazines. I’ve had many people over the years ask why, if I’m “anything goes”, as I claim to be, I gravitate towards Chrysler products. The answer is simple: both the immediate and indirect influences got me to look at Chrysler products. The magazines taught me which cars were “good” (this would’ve been the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, when the restored musclecar situation was at a fever pitch) and my family taught me why they were good with the versions you all tend to expect me to like…I’ve told the story of the unfortunate mid-1970s Coronet-shaped two-door that was beaten like a rented mule with red hair and the obscene amount of abuse that the “War Car” took before it finally stopped moving, thanks to a snapped tie rod after the front of the car met the stump of a Douglas fir. If you think my original “ultimate goal” car was a 1975 Dodge, though, you’re wrong. I had two cars in eyesight: the 1974 Plymouth ‘Cuda that a neighbor owned and a Sassy Grass Green 1971 Plymouth GTX 440-6 car that was featured in one of the resto-mags in the mid-1990s.

Why the GTX? The differences between it and the Road Runner boiled down to decorations, it seemed. Both are B-body Mopars, both shared the same body, same engines, could have the same wild colors, same wheels…the only difference is how the cars were set up. The Road Runner was still supposed to be the street brawler, while the GTX was supposed to be the full-option form of the Plymouth house. What appealed to me was that there was no cartoon bird, minimal stripes, and it still came out swinging as hard as anything Chrysler put out back in the day. I’d lose my mind if I ever had a car like a GTX, but my bank account does have say in my day-to-day activities.

That being said, don’t watch this video just for the car. Watch it for another reason: the owner’s auto shop teacher, a seasoned man with knowledge that needs to be bottled and saved, is the man who goes on a ride with Leno in this car. The conversation is worth more than the GTX ever will be.