Updated 10/04/23 11:00
A 1969 Dodge Cornet R/T with a
440 Magnum (7.210 liters for you youngn's, 61.0237 Cubes in one cubic liter )
with Ram Air and an automatic transmission.
  I alwasy referred it to it as th "R/T"

    So, in the summer of 1969 I went out looking for a four-door hard top family car. The Dodge dealer I went to did not have one, so the salesman suggested I take a walk and look around. What I saw. was a lot of four speed muscle cars that they were getting over sticker for. I saw four blue Dodge R/T 's with white tops sitting in a row. Ther were three four speeds and one automatic. I noticed as I that the automatic had an extra line at the bottom of the build sheet. Something about some kind of "Power-Pak". When I came back in the salesman asked me if I had seen anything. I said all I see are four speeds and I d        o not like sifting. He replied, we do have one automatic, would that interest you, we can make a good deal on it. So, in my mind I figured they had 25% markup. So, I took that and another $100 off and told him what I would pay, and he said no. So, I started walking away. He said just a minute, let me talk to my manager. Now I knew this was not going to happen, so I started walking out. He came back out and said that he needed $50 more, and we have a deal. Woops. Now I was trying to get out of this deal, so I said I wanted the fancy rims that some of the four speeds had. To my surprise, He immediately said deal. Now I was afraid this was going to happen. Then he checked my credit, he said he needed a down payment. I was out of there. Told him I did not have any. He asked If I had money on me. Told him all I had was a $20 dollar bill. He said, “Done, we will get you a small loan for the rest. They did. Suddenly, I did not have a family car. But a 1969 Dodge Cornet R/T with a 440 Magnum (7.210 liters for you young’s, 61.0237 cubes in one cubic liter) with Ram Air and an automatic. A 1969 Dodge Cornet R/T.

    When I picked the car up the mechanic said do not go over 100 for the first 100 miles. It has always been my policy for all the new cars I bought to hit over 100 in the first 100 miles. I took delivery of "THE CAR". So, I came out of the dealership and went up the ramp to Hwy 10. Hit the gas and she burned a little rubber. As I came off the entrance ramp, the guy a quarter mile down the road must have heard me and looked up in his mirror, then made a right turn on the freeway into the right-hand lane and I as I passed him. He looked angry as I flew past him. But the speedometer only said 75. So, I continued to hold her down, but the needle stayed at 75. So, I backed her down and the needle finally dropped. The needle was sticking at the top dead center at 75 mph. Early models had a horizontal speedometer. A quick trip back to the dealer and a minor adjustment with a wire cutter fixed that by cutting off the top of the needle. The next time I came off the ramp I understood why he had given me such a dirty look as I passed him. The second time at about the same place I was doing 130 mph' at about 3/4 throttle. The rest is history. I did a lot of crazy things with this car some of which scare me today. One time some guy was doing 50 in the outside lane of a freeway. The inside lane had cars in it. So, I made a left turn into the medium and passed him. I did that once more with the R/T a year later.

The "r?T"