{"id":37753,"date":"2020-05-21T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=37753"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:47","slug":"the-club-connection-midwest-mopars-car-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2020\/05\/the-club-connection-midwest-mopars-car-club.html","title":{"rendered":"The Club Connection: Midwest Mopars Car Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every group needs a great leader. In biblical times, Moses led the\nexodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. A bit more recently (1985), Richard\nBurton brought together a few Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> enthusiasts for a small car show in the Dodge\nof Burnsville parking lot. Everyone had such a great time, the group decided to\nform a regional Mopar club. Burton soon got the nickname Moses by the\nmembership, not so much for his founding and leadership of the club as his\nphysical resemblance to the historical figure with his long white hair and\nbeard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Midwest Mopars currently has over 550 members between their core club\nbased in the Twin Cities region (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota) along\nwith their Sioux Falls and Duluth chapters. DodgeGarage spoke with Wade\nGirard, one of the club\u2019s directors, to learn more about them. He first\njoined in 2009 after purchasing a 1973 Dodge Charger he wanted to restore. \u201cMy\nmembership was really to gain access to this group of car experts to guide me\nin my restoration,\u201d Wade explained. \u201cBut I got way more than that. In\naddition to the best guidance, expertise and assistance you could ask for, I\ngained a lot of new friends that I now consider to be a second family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that the Charger wasn\u2019t Wade\u2019s first Mopar purchase,\nwhich, in fact, dates back to his high school years when he purchased a \u201971\nBarracuda convertible. \u201cThat is when I fell in love with Mopars. But then I\nfell in love with my wife, got married, had kids, and ended up selling the\nBarracuda to buy a Toyota, which was the worst decision of my life. I wish I\nnever sold that car.\u201d But more recently, the \u201971 was replaced with a \u201967, in\naddition to the Charger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we get to the club\u2019s weekly and monthly activities, let\u2019s talk\nabout Midwest Mopars in the Park. It is impressive to say the least that a club\ncomprised solely of volunteers is able to execute this massive undertaking. In\n2019, they had over 1,500 cars on display, 300 vendors and more than 20,000\nattendees, making it the largest all-Mopar vehicle show in the Midwest. In addition to\nnine boards of directors, a show committee of 20 people coordinates advertising,\nregistration, sponsorships, vendors, displays and all of the logistics that go\ninto this event. And when it comes to the show weekend, hundreds of club\nvolunteers are on site to assist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vehicles<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The profits from this event are used to fund the club\u2019s other\nactivities, but a significant portion is donated to various charities. \u201cWe are\na 501c3 nonprofit, which means any revenue we generate goes to support either\nclub activities or local charities,\u201d Wade explained. \u201cSome car shows are for-profit\nand put on by production companies, but not us. We really believe in giving\nback, which is why we donate anywhere from $10,000 – $20,000 to charities each\nyear.\u201d Past worthy causes have included multiple sclerosis, cancer research,\nfallen police officers, women\u2019s groups and children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vehicle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Midwest Mopar has a dedicated volunteer to plan the club\u2019s weekly and monthly outings and activities, and members are always encouraged to help contribute to and coordinate these. The summer months are spent either cruising around the Twin Cities or venturing out of the area to attend other Mopar shows in the region. Cooler months or rainy days might see some indoor activities such as touring a component shop, visiting a restoration shop or just getting together for a meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"group<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another highlight is the occasional trip to visit private collections\nof the club\u2019s members. One collection includes three buildings filled with a\nvariety of Mopar vehicles, and another features a collection of Superbirds along with\nsome other rare Mopar vehicles you\u2019d have to see to believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"plymouth<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Midwest Mopars Car\nClub, annual dues are only $20 for an individual or $25 for a family. Wade\nencourages everyone with any interest in Mopar vehicles to join their local club. \u201cNot\nonly does membership open you up to a wealth of knowledge, more importantly, it\nbuilds some dear friendships with people you would otherwise not have met.\u201d Of\ncourse, you don\u2019t have to be a member to make a road trip to the Midwest Mopars\nin the Park! Make sure you say hello to Moses if you see him in the crowd! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vehicle<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every group needs a great leader. In biblical times, Moses led the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. A bit more recently (1985), Richard Burton brought together a few Mopar\u00ae enthusiasts for a small car show in the Dodge of Burnsville parking lot. Everyone had such a great time, the group decided to form a regional Mopar club. Burton soon got the nickname Moses by the membership, not so much for his founding and leadership of the club as his physical resemblance to the historical figure with his long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":37770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2624],"tags":[2948,547,2949],"class_list":["post-37753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-owners-clubs","tag-dodge-classics","tag-mopar","tag-plymouth-classics"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/midwestmoparsfeature.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37753"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37796,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37753\/revisions\/37796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}