For the next seven days CC will become Curbside Chryslers, as we indulge our love for the company that has given us such automotive highs and lows. Yes, summer is a good time to ride the Mopar Rollercoaster, and we’re going to bring you a boatload of cars and articles, all dedicated to Number Three (and former Number Two). Most will be new, but a few others will be retrieved from the vaults and recycled. So let’s get started, turn the key and hear the “Hamtramck Hummingbird” reduction-gear Mopar starter do its thing(play video)…or, in Jim Cavanaugh’s words, “Na rayre neeer neeer neeer”.
Loved that geared starter in my Valiants they always start, I found a Dodge similar to the one I had it will be interesting to find what it was in the US and just how far mine had altered from stock.
I can still remember that noise from Dad’s 66 Valiant,I’m looking forward to this week Paul,thank you.
Honda starters have also sounded the same over the years. I have to wonder if it’s a sort of corporate policy or tradition.
Hondas and most cars today use gear reduction starters, but no one put in gears with as much whine as the first Chryslers.
Excellent! I guess this means I’d better get off my butt (or sit on it, as the case may be) and submit something.
Damn that Cavanaugh and his well-sung praise of that starter. You can get a perfectly good “mini” starter, made for ’90s Dodge pickups, that will fit old Mopar V8s, crank harder and draw much less. I’ve thought about it, believe me!
But nooooo, Jim says, “Do that and you might as well put an SBC in the thing,” so now I fear I’d feel guilty whenever I turned the key. Hummingbird…more like albatross! 🙂
If you put headers on your Imperial, you’ll have a good excuse to swap-in a mini starter without feeling guilty about it. Most C-body headers require the smaller starter. 🙂 It still has the whine, but higher-pitched and faster.
Waah, waah, waah! Shape up, you. Mopar owners don’t whine, just their starters. 🙂
Damn, but I love that sound. Of course, when the car was tuned properly, you never got past the “Narayre” before you got the “vroom”.
I replaced the starter on my 68 Newport (back in the mid 90s) and was horrified at how fast the thing spun. However, my car needed a little carb work that I never got to, and the starter would work quite a bit on hot starts, and eventually slowed down some.
That video made a wide smile creep across my face. In the ’70s, I could tell you a lot about about a car, eyes closed, just by how they sounded. Now, not so much. Can’t tell whether it’s me or the cars.
Yeah, you could always tell a Chrysler or Ford by the way its starter sounded. Some of us can ID a Pontiac, Buick, or Cadillac by its starting sound also.
I recently put a mini-starter from a newer 4.3 Blazer on a V6 Fiero & was very disappointed with its Japanese sounding “choi-o-keh-keh-keh-keh-keh” sound. I miss the “too-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh” of the old unit. Part of my old car enjoyment are the sounds these old machines make.
My father over the years had a ’66 300 (383), ’72 Fury (360), and three late 70’s-early 80’s Dodge vans (318/360). I loved hearing the characteristic whine of their respective starters.
That gold car is sweet. How cool to see one with its original wheelcovers — never seen that before. Like.
And now with video cool as Paul thats a sound I miss
See you Saturday……
Just for that, repost his New Yorker Brougham story!
Actually Monday, it’s for a whole week 🙂
LOL!
Mmmmmmmmmmmm 440 powered luxury cars… holding on to the Big Block as long as possible, the incomparable torque-flite…
Thanks. Just thanks. That sound may be part of Mopar history…but it’s also a soundtrack for some of the happiest times in life. Me in my Coronet, My best friend in his Challenger and the whole world ahead of us. Good times.
God , I remember my Mom’s Dart and Granddad’s Duster starting up now, we through a rod through the block of the Slant 6 doing seventy , and we drove it another seventy miles !
“Jim Cavanaugh’s words, “Na rayre neeer neeer neeer”.”
My dear Sir: As you didn’t include the copyright mark on that phrase, I believe you own Mr. JP a beer! I think Geozinger would agree with me…
Na rayre neeer neeer neeer©
©JP Cavanaugh
He did mention the source by name, so I’d give Paul a pass this time. 🙂
You folks may have to make the pilgrimage to Beer City USA! (Grand Rapids, MI)… Then we can talk about all kinds of strange and exotic things… Like A body Mopars and J body GM’s… LOL!
You never know, Geo. I just may show up sometime!
Power steering pumps also can have distinctive sounds. I’m thinking Ford especially..
The Ford power steering pump whine is one of the worst noises ever.
Hooray!
A small correction: it’s a “Highland Park hummingbird.” That species isn’t native to Hamtramck!
I will never forget the sound of that starter in my dad’s ’64 Dodge Dart GT, cranking up outside my bedroom window. It sounded like a pig in heat, how my brother and I hated that car during our teenage years. It just wasn’t a cool car, and we were very relieved when he traded it in three years later on a ’67 Mustang.
Is a ’67 Mustang really that cool? I mean, did it even have a SBC or Foose rims or anything?
Putting a SBC in any car (other than a Chevy) is un-cool
What a beautiful soundtrack that Roadrunner makes. They just don’t sound like this anymore.
Maybe just a little bit on the ’90 Imperial and the Sundance Duster?
-The Star Spangled Banner
-Mom’s voice
-Chrysler starters
Very much looking forward to Mopar week!
The hummingbird’s mating call was also immortalized in “Manic Mechanic” by ZZ Top.
“Have mercy, Miss Percy!!”
You want your race?
If you insist…
At that price I can’t resist!
That’s right… That’s right…
Hey throw a bone to those of us who love the K’s and EEK’s! I don’t know if you have any in the quiver, but it would be nice!
Oh… that starter. Bring me memories from dad’s mid 70’s Dart GTs.
As usual Mr Niedermeyer, very classy.