Our July 2012 Mopar 10 of the month honors go to a relatively new member Michael, 405mopar10. Despite being one of the new M10 Registry members, Michael has a great pedigree and penchant for capitalizing on his surroundings with some great photo shoots of his Blue Striped, Six Speed, Mopar 10 #405 US.
Michael was stationed to Ft. Lewis, Washington after serving 5 deployments to the Middle East, most recently a 2009-2010 campaign. When the orders came in to report to Ft. Lewis, Michael picked up a copy of Muscle Machines Magazine that profiled the Mopar 10. Michael recalled, "The article said if you see one take a picture because you may not see one again."
As fate would have it, Michael was passing by Tacoma Dodge and saw a Mopar 10...he had to check it out. M10 #405, Hurst Pistol Grip perched in the console to navigate the six forward gears...it was just what he had envisioned. The Mopar 10 quickly shifted from a quick "see it in person and grab a photo" to a constant pulse in the back of his mind...
If you recall from the intro, I mentioned Michael had a pedigree. This stems from 1969...That fall (November if you must know) his father picked up a 1970 Plymouth GTX. This wasn't just a high end muscle car for his dad to play with...this was THE family car. Michael recollects driving home with his dad..and his first deer tarped in the back seat of the GTX! This was the family's only car for many years and gave Michael plenty of memories and that aforementioned reverence for the Pistol Grip shifter.
As the years passed, so did the car...but only to Michael to drive during his high school years. As you might expect, he thoroughly enjoyed this and developed even more of a bond with the car...There is no immediate happy ending, or tragic loss here...Michael's dad kept the car...and still has it to this day.
Now with that background in mind, picture yourself as a salesman at Tacoma Dodge...you've got a guy in all the time who you know loves the car and would be a perfect fit for it. There have not been any test drives as the dealership was one that understood what the car was and went above and beyond to keep the mileage low for the eventual purchaser. It had 4 miles on the odometer when someone made a bold move.
Instead of the usual small talk a sales rep offered to let Michael drive the car...He did...The rest is history.
Trading in his truck, Michael sercured ownership of his Blue Striped 6-Speed, Hurst Pistol Grip Shifter M10 #405 on January 31st, 2011. This came with a catch though. He didn't have a corolla to beat around in...there was no Neon to fall back on, and now decade old Ramcharger to brave the winter months...The M10, just like his father's GTX, became his only car.
This is something Michael both loves and hates. On the bright side he gets to drive it all the time...on the down side he is putting on a few more miles than he would like. And one more thing, being a military guy, a Marine to be exact, you can expect him to be on the right side of the law...Prior to owning the Mopar 10 Michael had 2 tickets his entire life...1989 and 1990. Since taking ownership of #405 he has been pulled over 4 times and ticketed twice for speeding! He admits that this is largely just due to the smooth ride and power on demand you find with the Mopar 10.
Overall, Michael feels the factory nailed it...He does concede, like any good M10 Owner should, the 392 would have been right at home under the hood, but aside from that he wouldn't change a thing and doesn't plan to. His M10 is stock and he plans to keep it that way.
Bone stock and daily driven, the M10 is still a force to be reckoned with. Despite being extremely busy, Michael has taken home 2 Awards in 2 outings. Mopar Magic in Bremerton, WA landed him 2nd Place in 2008 and Newer Mopar and another high profile show, Bluz Cruz in Portland, Oregon saw him take home top honors in the 2000+ Class.
If you have been on the forum, you have likely seen all of the pics Michael takes of his daily driven M10. He seems to have a scenic or iconic location around every bend up in the northwest. He has contributed greatly to the site in his short time here and the pics give all of us desktop worthy backgrounds.
For the foreseeable future, Michael will continue to drive the Mopar 10 daily, just like his dad and the 70 GTX. It may not be ideal from the collector stand point, but on the flip side Michael is in a one man car show every day, turns heads where ever he goes, and is among the few of us that drive the cars regularly that will be responsible for the tall tales of tomorrow regarding this very special car.
Despite the magazine article back in 2010 telling him he'd be lucky to see one, Michael gets to not only see, but drive a Mopar 10 every day and share the dead-on styling cues with the rest of the pacific northwest on a daily basis...The folks in Washington state and Oregon should count themselves lucky to get to see an M10 this often. And just like his father, Michael plans to keep this Pistol Grip car for years to come...
Congratulations to Michael, 405mopar10 and his ride Mopar 10 #405 for taking home our July 2012 M10 of the Month Honors!
LSM Online Magazine:
http://www.lonestarmopars.com/news/inde ... ture-story
TexasStroker
