Rare classic cars are easy to find if you know where to look. For Richard Rawlings of the Gas Monkey Garage YouTube channel, his first rare classic project car for 2023 was just a phone call away. Mopars5150, a Mopar restoration business, recently lost its lease on a property in Atlanta with a bounty of rare Mopars.
According to their website, they named their business ‘Mopar5150′ because the founder, Troy, likes Mopars, but in California Police code’ 5150.’ Ironically, the professional outfit that rescues and restores Mopars won’t be able to save all their classics this time, given their lease expired.“Well, it’s kind of overdue, so we need to move back to Texas and California. What we were doing here needs to be over. So, we are fine with it. We had one hundred and ten cars, and now we are at down about sixty-ish,” Troy revealed. As a result, they are putting their valuable classics up for sale, and Rawlings wasn’t going to pass up on such an offer.
A ton of classics for sale in the warehouseThe Mopars5150 Atlanta property is a vast warehouse filled with rescued classics inside and outside. For classic car enthusiasts, the big sale is a treasure trove of rare finds, and Rawlings was looking to pick up on some of that action.
It was missing a drivetrain, and according to the team, someone did away with it while they were away. And it’s currently sitting on stilts. Stock the ’71 Dodge Demon came with a naturally aspirated 5.6-liter 340 cubic-inch V8 engine good for 275 hp (279 ps) and 340 lb-ft (461 Nm) of torque. It harnessed all that power to the rear wheels through a 4-speed manual transmission.
A 1970 Dodge Charger 446 Pack is the gem of the warehouseThere was also a 1970 Dodge Coronet RT U-code 440 automatic numbers matching car (work in progress). According to Troy of Mopars5150, they sourced it out of Ohio in a desolate condition.They also had a Chevy Camaro that was getting some restoration love. Rawlings doesn’t think some of these cars are salvageable, but the folks at Mopar5150 turn these ‘carcasses of classic cars’ into drivable units.
The property’s cleanest and perhaps most desirable unit is an alligator-top 1970 Dodge Charger 446 Pack, a four-speed SE classic. Since it’s a special edition, it had a leather interior straight from the factory, a six-way seat, and a 410 Dana.
The next partition had what the team described as the rarest classic in their fleet—an EV2 Hemi Orange 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Super Track Pack with an Air Grabber.
The rare ‘Mod Top’ Mopars are not for sale
“This is an amazing car, and actually, all the original body panels on this, we just repaired it. They didn’t make many of these cars at all. Maybe a couple hundred,” Troy said, introducing their rare ’70 Road Runner.Only three Mopars are not for sale, and they are all ‘Mod Tops.’ One of them was neatly arranged in a pile next to a wall, ready for restoration.
To remind you, the ‘Mod Tops’ are incredibly rare classics developed by Dodge and Plymouth between 1969 and 1970. Produced to be popular with the ladies, these rare gems featured three floral vinyl designs on the vehicle’s top and interior trim.Rawlings’ pick on the lot was a big block Dodge Coronet 500, aka the ‘Rum Runner.’ He got it for $7,000. Due to its fabulous patina and cool murals on the exterior, he’ll be keeping it ‘as is’ in one of his restaurants as an art piece.
Mopars still have a global following
“We search every day, and we look for these cars, and the ones that really get us going are the ones that they only made two, three, four, five or like the mod tops. They made seventeen Cudas. And three of them are here,” Troy confessed about the spirit behind their passion for restoring Mopars.
The team believes there’s still a lot of love for Mopars globally, especially for regions that didn’t experience them during their production runs. Troy believes the passion for these cars will extend beyond 30 years.There are still a lot of rare Mopars on their property. Rawlings just took one. If you want to own a rare Mopar from the team as your new year’s project, we recommend checking out the video below for more information.
