Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

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Revision as of 18:17, 11 August 2012

Welcome to the MoparWiki
Example of a MoparWiki
Our Mission
The MoparWiki has the goal of ultimately being the single best source for All Things Mopar. Makes, models, people, platforms, components, racing -- anything Mopar. This is to be accomplished by the collaboration with anyone wishing to improve a MoparWiki with facts or editing for style.


About MoparWiki
The engine that runs the MoparWiki is the same engine used for the very popular Wikipedia. It allows for anyone to start an appropriate article, and for others to collaborate on the improvement of it. We try to follow a uniform format for consistency. You can get to a MoparWiki of a specific topic by typing the topic in the search box to the left -- or clicking on a link in another MoparWiki. There are links for a random page, recently updated, or help. Please take a few moments to read further -- and to browse around. We hope you will assist us with collaborating on existing MoparWikis, from adding appropriate facts (and your reference source) or cleaning up the text and styling.


Well Seasoned MoparWikis
Plymouth
Dodge
Lil Red Express
Magnum
Volare
Walter P. Chrysler
Richard Petty
Charger
Challenger
Don Garlits
Diamante
B body
MoparWikis Well on the Way
Javelin
Mirada
GTX
Diplomat
Belvedere
Dick Landy
Warlock
Polara
Nostalgia Super Stock
Aspen
Yellow Jacket
Chrysler Norseman
MoparWikis Needing Serious Help
‎Demon
Durango
Dave Duell
Honcho
Rampage
Matador
Omni
‎Lancer
Cordoba
Ronnie Sox
National Hot Rod Association
Lil Red Wagon


Featured MoparWiki 1
Diamante
Diamante in its Current Restored Glory

Background

Mopar Action Magazine calls the Diamante Show Car the "Most Valuable Mopar on the Planet" in their August 2012 (Volume 19 Number 5) issue. Most of the information in this Wiki was gleaned from that magazine article. It began life as a Dodge Challenger, the first Hemi E-Body ever built. It was the most highly optioned Challenger ever built, and originally a triple black 4-speed convertible.

Diamante in its Current Restored Glory

History

On the first day of production of the Mopar E-Body, the most highly optioned Hemi was painted black, given the VIN of JS27ROB100022, and then pulled of the line to become a show car. It was a 4.10 Dana car with power windows and adding to its firsts -- it was the first production Mopar with a Shaker Hood. However, it wasn't originally built as the Diamante.

The Challenger was sent to Syntex, Inc. in Dearborn where it was made into a mildly customized 2-seater and painted orange. It was given the name Yellow Jacket. Its purpose was to test the possibility of producing a car to compete with the Chevrolet Corvette. It borrowed heavily from the earlier concept car Duster1, which was a Targa style 2-seater built on a 383 Plymouth Road Runner.

Weeks after its show car debut, the Yellow Jacket's candied orange paint started showing it's defects, and the silver basecoat was showing through in many areas. Since the car was so similar looking to the 70 Challenger now in showrooms and on the streets all over the US, and it being less than overwhelming on the show circuit -- the Chrysler Corporation opted to not repaint the car, but to instead use it to create a new show car called the "Diamante", which stands for diamond in Spanish.

Syntex, Inc. also performed this conversion using wider front fenders, a sloping hood replacing the shaker, and a pointed nose that was a throwback to the 1969 Dodge Daytona and 1970 Plymouth Superbird. The low hood and pointed nose required shortening the radiator; and the wider fenders required converting the power brakes to manual. The paint was white that shimmered, rumored to be because of crushed diamonds mixed in it. In reality the paint was a heavy Pearl White that Chrysler first called Jewel White, but later renamed Quasar Pearl White. The car was finishe just in time for the 1971 Detroit Auto Show.

The car was popular with the show circuit through 1974, when it acquired a bad scratch in the paint during transporting. The was sent George Busti of Creative Customs in Detroit for a repaint. Problem was that George was not given the specific instructions to repaint white, and as he hated white, he repainted it a Candied Tangerine Orange. When the car was sent back, Dodge freaked out as there is no such thing as a Orange Diamond. As this was the last year for the E-Body, Dodge just put the car (showing 600 miles on the odometer) in storage.

A few years later Chrysler is on the verge of bankruptcy, and the storage company wanted their money for the cars they were storing. Chrysler told them to go ahead and sell the cars -- and the Diamante was auctioned off. The first buyer was a collector Leo Gephardt. He soon flipped it to another collector at auction, and that buyer sold it to famous Dream Car collector Joe Bortz for $75,000. Bortz showed it for a couple of years and that's when it appears to have had the misinformation passed along that that car had been shown 71-74 as an orange car. It appears that Bortz never researched the car or look at the VIN to realize what a valuable car he had, and since it didn't really fit in with his collection of 50s Finned Dream Cars, he sold it to Steve Juliano -- who still owns the car today.

Juliano did research the car's history, and verified it by looking at the layers of paint under the wiper trim to fine white, then orange, then black. The car had the white layer of paint matched and has since been restored to its original White Diamond beauty.

The interior as both the Yellow Jacket and the Diamante was always been stock with the exception of a fiberglass Toneau cover surrounding the seat backs of the front seats. The 4-gang power window switch operates the two front windows, the rear Targa window, and the rear wing.


 More
Featured MoparWiki 2
Jeep
WWII Jeeps

History

World War I started the age of mechanization of the US Army. The Army bought many vehicles from many vendors to move men and materials from location to location. By the middle 1930’s the Army realized the logistical nightmare causing maintenance and supply issues caused by having so many vendors and vehicle types. The desire to standardize on a smaller group of vehicles led to the search for smaller, faster easier to maintain vehicle.

The army tested several vehicle concepts over the years, including a vehicle dubbed the “Belly-Flopper”. The “Belly-Flopper” was designed much like a cross between a kid’s sled and a go-cart. The driver and a passenger lay on their stomachs to drive the vehicle, unseen by the enemy. The specifications for 70 units of a test vehicle were sent out on July 7, 1940, called for:

  1. A driving front axle with 2-speed transfer case including provisions for disengaging the front axle drive.
  2. A body of rectangular design with a folding windshield and 3 bucket seats.
  3. Increased engine power (presumably in respect to the Belly-Flopper prototype).
  4. Means for towing.
  5. 30-caliber machine gun mount.
  6. Blackout lighting.
  7. Oil-bath air cleaner.
  8. Hydraulic brakes.
  9. Full floating axles.
  10. Wheelbase of 80".
  11. Maximum height of 40".
  12. Maximum weight of 1275 lbs.
  13. Approach and departure angles of 45 and 40 degrees, respectively.
  14. Must reach 50 mph on hard surface.
  15. Special bracing for a pintle hook setup.
  16. No aluminum to be used for cylinder head.
  17. At least 4 cylinders.
  18. 8 of the 70 vehicles had to be four-wheel-steer.

Only three companies, of 135 invited to bid, responded to the contest, Ford Motor Company, Willys-Overland (pronounced Willis-Overland), and American Bantam Car Company and of these, the Bantam Car Company was the most aggressive. They had their blueprints of their vehicle into Washington in 5 days. Bantam delivered a prototype by the September 23, 1940 deadline. With war breaking out in Europe, both Ford and Willys were allowed to submit vehicles for testing. Both of these competitors were also given access to the Bantam plans, explaining the look-alike similarities of the three prototypes. The Army ordered a total of 1500 of each vehicle for further testing and early 1941 saw these vehicles entered into Army inventory. Willys and Ford received the contracts to actually build the vehicles based on Bantam’s designs, as Bantam didn’t have suitable manufacturing facilities. Bantam did get the contract to build the trailers need for the vehicles. Both the Willys and Ford parts were interchangeable.

The name Jeep is said to derive from several sources. Some say the name came from the GP (General Purpose) designation, others say it came from the cartoon character “Eugene, the Magical Jeep” from the Popeye cartoons. Eugene had the ability to go anywhere (by magic of course), as did the Willys vehicle.

The Jeep became the vehicle of choice for the Army and it was said that the little vehicle could move faster than a tank and go places that tanks couldn’t go. The Jeep (both the Willys MB and Ford GPW) proved to be a reliable, well made vehicle, impressing soldiers who both drove and maintained the vehicles. It was said at the time that Jeep won the war.


Post War

After the War, as soldier were returning home, many wanted a Jeep of their own. Willys, seeing a demand for the Jeep trademarked the name, for its line of vehicles based on the venerable vehicle.

The Jeep CJ-2A (Civilian Jeep 2A) was introduced in late 1945, and was mechanically identical to the MB that was produced for the Army, but with a few differences, such as chrome trim and larger headlamps. The fuel tank intake was on the left side panel, and the spare tire was moved to the rear tailgate. The rear panel also became a flip down tailgate. The first year saw only 1,824 units made, but the end of production in 1949 produced a total of nearly 137,000 units.

 More


Collaborate & Edit
Collaborate
To collaborate is for many people to work together to create a finished product. It is not necessary for any one person to complete and entire MoparWiki on his own, nor is it necessary for a MoparWiki to be completed in one sitting. It works best when people improve the MoparWiki one section of the wiki at a time.


Edit
Editing for grammar and style is just as important as giving the facts and stating references. People who know nothing of Mopars can still help us out if they have a better command of the English language than many of those who are improving the MoparWikis. If you stumble across a MoparWiki with typos, misspellings, and grammatically incorrect -- please help out with a quick edit to correct.
Navigate
Subtitle
Newbies
Your User Page
The best place to get some quick experience with getting comfortable formatting MoparWikis is going to be your User Page. Each registered member has his own User Page. Example of a User Page. If you are logged in, you will see the link to your User Page at the most left link in the NavBar at the top of the page. The link will be your user ID. If you have not registered, you can do so at MoparStyle Forums.


The Sandboxes
The very best place to collaborate on a MoparWiki is going to be one of the three Sandboxes. In the sandbox you can perfect your formatting and style without the risk of damage to the Live Code. Copy and Paste the code from the actual MoparWiki and modify it to your liking. Once you are sure you have it correct, then Copy and Paste back to the appropriate MoparWiki.
SysOp & Editors Needed
SysOp
We are looking for a volunteer with Administrator and programmer experience to help out with the the administration of the MoparWiki web site.


Editing Supervisors
We have an immediate need for a expert Wordsmith to spend a couple of hours a week reviewing pages for corrections, reference citations, and reversing any vandalism.


Contact BK
If you are interested in and qualified for any of these positions, contact BK through the forum's Private Messaging.