{"id":32052,"date":"2019-12-13T11:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T16:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=32052"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:51","slug":"mopar-crypt-keeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/showcase\/2019\/12\/mopar-crypt-keeper.html","title":{"rendered":"Mopar®<\/sub> Crypt Keeper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Don\u2019t ever refer to Mo-Par City as\na \u201cjunkyard\u201d – I did that one time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its owner, Larry Pontnack – in his\ntrademark loud, growling voice and scowling face – corrected me in a hurry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a restoration yard, got\nit?!?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pontnack takes offense to anyone\nwho refers to Mo-Par City as a junkyard. Like the barking guard dog roaming\nbetween the long rows of twisted and decayed hulks of sheet metal that once\nruled Main Street, Larry\u2019s words were a stern warning that made me stop in my\ntracks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGot it, Larry, no problem, sorry.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mopar<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Larry\u2019s right. Many folks may look\nat Mo-Par City<\/a> as another junkyard\ntucked away in the rolling fields of Illinois farm country, but they\u2019re wrong.\nThese old Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> muscle cars from the past six decades might come here to die\nand rust back into the earth, but until there\u2019s nothing left but rusty powder to\nbe swept up with a broom, there\u2019s valuable parts clinging on the skeletal\nremains of Challengers, \u2018Cudas, Chargers, Darts and many more. Make no\nmistake, the vintage Mopar hobby is still alive and well and hitting on all\neight as there\u2019s still a need for rare used parts. If you\u2019re in the middle of a\nrestoration and can\u2019t find a certain item that was discontinued decades ago, chances\nare Mo-Par City in Oregon, Illinois,\nwill have it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out how Larry ended up\nowning one of the biggest Mopar-only \u201crestoration\u201d yards in the country, we\nhave to go back to the 1960s when he was a young drag racer competing all over\nthe Midwest in the now defunct UDRA (United Drag Racers Association) circuit.\nHis first Mopar vehicle was a 1963 Dodge Polara with a 426 Max Wedge that terrorized\ndrag strips throughout Illinois. From there, Larry got even more serious about\ngoing fast and procured a 1967 \u201cWO\u201d Dodge HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> Coronet and then later, one of\nthe original, factory-built, Super Stock HEMI Darts. Larry even had some fast\nstreet machines that doubled as \u201ctow vehicles\u201d for his racecars. This included\na 1964 426 Max Wedge Dodge 330 with a factory aluminum front end. Imagine the\nvehicle you tow with being almost as fast as your racecar! Larry may not have ever\nhad the full factory support of Sox & Martin or Dick Landy, like other Pro\ndrivers back in the day, but he worked just as hard in winning races and going\nfast. In 1970, Larry teamed up with another Mopar drag racer, Larry Griffith.\nGriffith had some factory backing when he ran Super Stock and Pro Stock for\nDodge back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and Pontnack drove Griffith\u2019s\nsecond car. Later in the 1970s, Pontnack was behind the wheel of his 1965 A990\nHEMI Plymouth Belvedere when he won the 1978 AHRA World Series Bracket\nNationals at Byron Dragway. Pontnack went fast and consistent for many reasons,\nincluding the fact he\u2019d attended numerous Mopar racing clinics and spoke to many\nof the Chrysler race engineers back in the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Larry<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the 1970s, I used to go to the Mopar\nDirection Connection Drag Seminars in Highland Park and Centerline, Michigan,\u201d\nsaid Larry. \u201cTom Hoover, the Godfather of 426 HEMI, would teach us a lot things,\nbut he always said, \u2018There\u2019s such thing as dumb questions,\u2019 we all learned so\nmuch from that man,\u201d reminisced Pontnack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help fund his racing, Larry saw\nthe need to start selling new and used Mopar parts and founded Mo-Par City in 1974. He was building many\nprojects for customers and needed to keep fresh parts on hand. These customer\nvehicles included racecars and fast street machines that terrorized the\ncompetition both on the street and at the drags. Larry began scouring salvage\nyards all over the country looking for old Mopar vehicles. \u201cI started going to other\nsalvage yards in which the owners had either passed away and\/or were going out\nof business and began dragging these cars out of the mud and weeds,\u201d said\nPontnack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"old<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the decades, Mo-Par City has grown to 14 acres that include seven permanent buildings totaling over 25,000 square feet. Within their walls are Carter and Holley carburetors, along with tons of intake manifolds, air cleaners, cylinder heads, engine blocks, exhaust manifolds, transmissions, rear differentials, sheet metal, chrome trim and just about anything a restorer of a vintage Dodge, Plymouth or Chrysler would ever need. Some of the rare oddities in this collection include a 1962 Dart 413 Max Wedge and a 1963 Plymouth two-door post police car that had a 383 in it at one time. There\u2019s also numerous Road Runners and Super Bees that each have a story to tell. Helping Larry keep track of his massive inventory of vintage Chrysler parts and everchanging cars is Mike Miller. At 43 years of age, Mike\u2019s comparatively young in a hobby that\u2019s geared toward baby boomers north of their 59th<\/sup> birthday. Mike\u2019s hard work and Mopar knowledge is a huge asset to Pontnack. Miller has no problem climbing over, under or even sideways in the middle of winter unbolting a part off a rusted hulk for a customer. Mike\u2019s also an avid Mopar gearhead and knows where everything is in Mo-Par City\u2019s massive yard and sheds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"car<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike some salvage yards that have\nparts for Ford and GM vehicles, we only handle parts for old Mopars,\u201d exclaimed\nPontnack. \u201cWe don\u2019t mess with that \u2018junk\u2019 and stay focused on helping customers\nwith old Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth vehicles. Like Lee Iacocca said, \u2018We\ndon\u2019t want to be the biggest, just the best,\u2019 and with over 780 vehicles\nspanning decades, it really gets your attention when you walk in this place. Over\nthe last four decades, Mo-Par City has helped numerous Mopar enthusiasts\nrestoring muscle cars with hard-to-find parts and technical assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Larry<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pontnack\u2019s vast knowledge of all\nthings Mopar has set many first-timers and even veterans of the hobby on the\nright path when it comes to restoration and even high-performance engines.\nAlong with the yard filled with old Mopars and the buildings stacked with\nvintage parts, Mo-Par City had another side of the business known as the MPC\nEngine Shop. Here, second-generation Mopar racer Michael Pontnack carries on\nthe family tradition of building Mopar small blocks, big blocks and HEMI\nengines for street and race enthusiasts. There\u2019s a complete machine shop and most\nof the work is done in-house. Despite being in his 70s, Larry\u2019s always on hand\nto make sure both sides of the business are running like a fine-tuned 440\nMagnum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"row<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Larry is getting up there in years, so he\u2019s also contemplating turning the reigns of his mighty empire over to someone else to keep the Mo-Par City legacy humming along. It\u2019s a daunting task to say the least with many challenges. With Larry\u2019s son focused on the engine building side, he needs to find the right owner to keep these rare and unique parts and vehicles available to enthusiasts. With some luck, there might be a young gearhead out there looking to preserve what Larry began over 40 years ago and be the next-generation Mopar Crypt Keeper. Here\u2019s just a small sample of the treasures found at Mo-Par City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n