Shattering Car Hobby Stereotypes!

9 months ago Gallery Owners + Clubs

Savannah Gruver is not your typical Mopar_® enthusiast and the classic Dodge Brand vehicle she drives is not on any collector’s “must have” list of cool or iconic vehicles they must own. Her 1962 Custom 880 is just as unique as Savannah and screams personality. The 31-year-old from Pennsylvania has been in the car hobby her whole life due in part to being exposed to her father’s fleet of rare and restored E-bodies that included a Plum Crazy 1971 Challenger R/T powered by a 440 Six Pack with a Hurst Pistol Grip-equipped four-speed transmission. “My dad owned the Challenger R/T for about 17 years and sold it when I was about five years old, but the stories he told of that car, and the many others he had over the years, had an impact on me. My true love and appreciation for the brand amped up when I was able to drive. In high school, I owned a 2004 Jeep_® Grand Cherokee Laredo, but my absolute love for performance began in 2006 when the first generation of modern Chargers came out. My mom ended up getting a 2007 SXT, it was a beautiful car painted in Deep Inferno Red.” Soon more modern Dodge muscle machines were parked on the driveway of the Gruver family home, which included a 2010 Challenger R/T Classic. But Savannah loved the vintage cars, even one that Dodge built decades before she was even born. This was probably from going to many cars shows with her parents when she was an impressionable young girl.

After a string of daily drivers, Savannah was ready to sink her teeth into some well-seasoned, old-school, vintage sheet metal. “In 2011, I really wanted to buy my own classic and originally was looking for an Impala, Bel Air, etc., but after missing out on a few deals, I moved on. My uncle sent my mom a couple of pictures of this four-door ’70 Plymouth Satellite that was decaying in a junkyard, and I fell in love at first sight! My dad’s mentality was ‘four doors are parts cars,’ he was just that kind of guy,” laughed Savannah. “So, he wasn’t thrilled that I wanted to go look at it. When we first laid eyes on it, it had flat tires, was in red primer, and we didn’t know if it ran or not. I knew it was all there and I knew I wanted it! I loved the car so much we put $100 down on it and I came back in a week or so.” Like many projects, the Plymouth needed some TLC, but it turned out to be a great father-daughter project from the beginning. After working on the car for almost a year, which included engine work, new wheels and tires, Savannah took home 1st Place in Young Guns at the 2012 Carlisle Chrysler Nationals and from that point, she was hooked on the culture and became one with the massive Dodge//Mopar community of passionate like-minded enthusiasts.

With the advent of social media, many car enthusiasts began networking with other gearheads looking for tech advice, parts or just words of encouragement for their ongoing projects and Savannah used their tools. “In 2012, I traded in the Jeep and 2009 Charger SXT and another Charger. I modded the V6 pretty significantly and added the R/T styled front and rear spoilers, Carbon Fiber hood, aftermarket wheels, and a true dual exhaust system with Flowmaster Super 10 mufflers. I thought it was the coolest thing ever for a V6. I started to post a lot about both of my cars on Facebook pages and started to make a lot of great friends in the Mopar community, most I still have to this day,” noted Savannah, but it was in the Dodge Charger Facebook Group she met her boyfriend, Matt Gasdaska. “We met in person for the first time in 2015 at the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals and we’ve been together ever since. He has a 1974 Dart Sport with a stroker small-block, and we love going to shows and just hanging out!”

After trading in her V6 Charger for an R/T HEMI^® model, Savannah lost interest in modern muscle rather quickly. “I never did any modifications besides exhaust in the three years I owned it and the bigger car payment and paying more money for gas had taken some of the fun away from it,” noted Savannah. “I had also lost interest in my 1970 Satellite around the same time. By this time, despite my father painting it Vitamin C Orange and doing some interior work, it was a nice decent driver-quality car but still had issues with it running properly though, and was in and out of the mechanics. From 2014 to 2019, I was only driving the Satellite a couple of times a year and I didn’t ever think I would ever sell it, even with its issues, I absolutely loved the car, and it was a build I did with my father, so it was special. In 2019, I ended up getting my 3rd modern Dodge Charger, though, and even more on the backburner the Satellite went. Since I was very bored not having a modern car to mess around with, Matt had talked me into checking out a 2012 SRT8 Super Bee with only 23,000 miles. I truly was not a fan of yellow until I saw this car and it was love at first sight. As I started to enjoy the Super Bee more, I started thinking about selling the Satellite. I talked to my father about it, and he wasn’t too happy, but we decided what I was going to do. It sold in less than a month and I cried. When you are that attached to a car from a teenager to nearly 30, it’s like a little piece of your soul goes with it. I really was distraught and wondered if I made the right decision for a couple of weeks after,” said Savannah.

Undaunted and filled with seller’s remorse, Savannah began to look for an older Mopar project while on Facebook Marketplace and stumbled upon a unique 1962 Dodge Custom 880 sedan. “I was a Mopar person my whole life and I had no clue what this car was! Matt vaguely knew of them but had never seen one in person before. It was this all-black car with red tinted windows, red wheels and ‘WORTHLESS DREAM’ down both sides covering all four doors. It also had modern seats and a modern sunroof, which I wasn’t too thrilled with but could overlook because of how cool the car was overall. I think I messaged the owner to ask a few questions about it and tell him how cool I thought it was, but that was all. I was determined not to get another classic car since I had just sold one,” noted Savannah. She tried to forget about the Custom 880 and focus on getting a pickup truck or SUV. For the next few months, she checked online used car listings but couldn’t get the Custom 88 out of her head. “Something about it just drew me to it, and I couldn’t let it go. I actually ended up doing research, learning the history of the Dodge 880s and how they became to be. When I was Google searching for photos, I found a still from a YouTube video that featured a car that looked awfully familiar. It has the same patina on the front fender and trunk and guess what, it was the same car. The video was from two years prior, and the car was completely stock and untouched. I messaged the seller and we talked a bit about it, he had bought it from the original family, the original owner was a WWI veteran and he had owned it 8 years before he sold it to the guy that currently had it up for sale. He showed me other pictures of it from his Instagram, and that’s when I started to think about messaging the guy about it again. I knew my next Mopar was going to be the opposite of the ‘muscle car’ era that the ’70 Plymouth Satellite was a part of, and the 880 ticked many boxes that I had already been attracted to, so it was so hard to just let it go. I messaged the owner of the 880 again on Facebook in December of ’19 and he told me I was the only person who had shown any real interest in it. We made a date to check it out in person the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s, and if you asked Matt, he would tell you by the look on my face when I first saw it that he knew it was coming home with us. And it did,” exclaimed Savannah.

So, a deal was made, and Savannah bought a running, driving 1962 Dodge Custom 880 with no significant rust for $2,500. With technical and moral support from Mopar legend Herb McCandless, whom Savannah and Matt had met at the Carlisle Chrysler National, they struck up a friendship. “When I spoke to Herb McCandless Sr. after buying the car to tell him about it, he told me what a great deal it was. He’s owned so many cars from that era and is so helpful as my Custom 880 is wildly different than the 1970s-era muscle cars. The McCandless family in general has been amazing and Herb McCandless Jr. has helped with some issues I’ve had,” commented Savannah. After getting the Custom 880 back to her home, the first thing Savannah did was take off the big door decals that really took away from the bodyline of the car. “It was a harder process than I thought it would’ve been. It took me two days; I used a heat gun and eucalyptus oil to remove it all.”

After removing the obnoxious name the prior owner had put on the car, Savannah and Matt clear-coated the front fenders and trunk and added rust protection. “I liked the original patina on the Custom 880 and wanted to protect it. The car only has just over 79,000 original miles! The previous owner made the hood scoop and cut holes in the hood and just looked bad on the car. Matt threw out ideas about different scoops that different drag cars had back in the day. (He is a Pro Stock and Super Stock fan and has definitely got me super into it over the years as well.) So I hand-lettered the ‘361 Cu. In.’ and ‘ZOOM-O’ on the side as we were inspired by Ron Mancini’s 1968 Super Stock HEMI Dart. To make the hood scoop even more over the top, we painted it gold as it followed the theme throughout the car such as the gold tach cup and gold rear package tray. After that, we upgraded to a 600-CFM Holley four-barrel carb and vintage Offenhauser aluminum intake manifold Matt found on eBay, we began to make mods to the exhaust for better breathing and more power. Since the exhaust was practically falling off when I bought it, we originally re-did the system with Glass Pack mufflers, but I didn’t like the sound of them. We went another direction and bought Jones Full Boar Racing Mufflers and the deeper tone sounds so much better! I also dumped the exhaust right before the rear axle. Just before Carlisle this year, I put a six-blade fan on in place of the factory four-blade unit and installed an electric fan on the front of the radiator to help cool it in traffic,” said Savannah.

To further enhance the look exterior look of her unique Custom 880, Savannah found vintage Keystones mags for only $75.00 at the Spring Carlisle Car Show/Swap Meet and they had the right look for the car. She ended up giving them a good clean and repainted the black pockets on the spokes. “With trying to carry the race car/drag car inspired theme throughout the car, I switched up the wheels and currently there are ET slotted mags on the front, which were actually originally on the ’70 Plymouth Satellite when I bought it. It’s cool to have things carry over, just like the license plate! It is a vanity plate that was originally on the ’70, as well, 1HOT4DR. It definitely fits the 880’s attitude, too, it’s fantastic that it worked out that way,” smiled Savannah.

In the last four years, Savannah and Matt have had a blast in their 1962 Dodge Custom 880, going to car shows or just exploring the two-lane country roads in Pennsylvania. Like many of us who own vintage cars that seem to be an ongoing project, Savannah has plans to improve her beloved Dodge and make subtle changes. “For the future of the car, I already have plans to try to do some kind of a painted lace roof by myself as I am not shy about trying to do new things. I’ve also found a parts car, so I have original seats that I’m going to have redone and put back in the car. My dream would be to make it a straight axle gasser or something crazy as you don’t see many four-doors done up like that,” laughed Savannah. Whatever direction she decides to go, this 1962 Dodge Custom 880 is in the good hands of a passionate individual who truly loves and appreciates the hobby. As Savannah puts it, “I think some days Matt and I both take for granted the people we’ve been able to meet and the experiences we’ve been able to have because of our love for Mopar. It’s been absolutely wonderful, and I can’t wait to see where the future goes from here.” Well said, Savannah!