Aerial view of Mopar City

Mo-Par City Is Closing Its Doors After 50 Years

By Steve "Scat Pack" Magnante  Heritage Gallery 5 min read
Dodge ClassicsMoparPlymouth Classics

Time Has Run Out for These Classic Mopar® Project Cars: Buy Them or They Go to the Crusher

Hurry! The clock is ticking. If you’re looking for a Mopar® project car to restore, you need to contact Larry Pontnack, owner of Mo-Par City in Oregon, Illinois. And do it soon, what isn’t sold within the next few months will be crushed. Larry tells us it will break his heart to scrap these vintage Mopar vehicles, but at nearly 80 years of age and with over 50 years of service to the Mopar restoration community, its time to retire.

Larry Pontnack standing outside of his Mopar business
Larry Pontnack isn’t happy about closing shop and hopes some enterprising individual(s) will rescue his life’s work from oblivion.

A few of us DodgeGarage contributors have visited Larry’s Mo-Par City over the years and are always in awe of the shear mass of Mopar inventory in one place. Back in 2013, I was hosting a Dodge Dart road trip when I stopped to check in with Larry and talk about his one-of-a-kind business. We chatted for hours before I had to get back on the road, but it was a visit I won’t soon forget. My fellow DodgeGarage contributor, David Hakim, stopped by back in 2019 while writing “Mopar Crypt Keeper” and got the lesson of a lifetime when referring to Larry’s business as a “junk yard”. He won’t make that mistake again.

Mo-Par City is a turn-key business with tons of valuable stock that could be taken over by a younger team and run profitably for decades to come. In fact, Larry began posting national advertisements stating this fact 10 years ago, but hasn’t yet found the right buyer. So if you’ve ever thought about starting a classic Mopar cars and parts business, forget about finding a suitable plot of land and scrounging the country side for parts cars. Larry has done all that for you.

Classic Mopar vehicles sitting in a field at Mopar City
The E-body section contains plenty of solid cores – including some R/Ts and ‘Cudas – that could be revived. Larry says most were purchased in the early 1980s when they were worth more in parts than as rusty or crashed used cars. Today, virtually anything is regarded as savable thanks to the healthy restoration parts industry.

Mo-Par City is located on a large plot of business-zoned land situated just 90 miles from Chicago. In addition to the hundreds of viable A-, B-, C- and E-body project cars, vans and trucks, the lot includes six storage buildings and workshops with over 30,000 feet of covered space that’s jam packed with thousands of loose Mopar parts, ranging from date-coded glass to vintage Clutch-Flite drag race transmissions, engines and N.O.S. parts in factory wrappers.

Classic Mopar vehicles sitting in a field at Mopar City
Likewise, the B-body section still contains plenty of solid cores like this shell of a 1969 440, 4-speed GTX. In many cases, matching-numbers engines, transmissions and rear axles are still present inside one of the storage buildings. There are also several C-bodies on site waiting for rescue.

If you’re not as ambitious as that, why not buy a core vehicle and start a restoration project? Larry is happy to negotiate attractive prices rather than watch the crusher get them. So that’s the story at Mo-Par City as another valuable hoard of classic Mopar metal faces oblivion.

Classic Mopar vehicles sitting in a field at Mopar City
The early B-body section appeals to Super Stock fans with plenty of two-door models and pillar-coupes. Lately, the scarcity of two-doors has led to the discovery that four-door models can be converted into two-doors with relative ease, making cars like the gold ’64 Plymouth four-door viable targets for Max Wedge clone projects.

With luck, Larry’s legacy will live on in the hands of new owners. In a darker scenario, the crusher will move in and eliminate everything. The time has come to act. If you’re in the market for a Mopar project – or see the value of taking control of this lucrative business – contact Larry Pontnack and work a deal.

  • rare Mopar parts on shelves at Mopar City
    Mo-Par City’s six parts storage buildings are organized like a library. Here, a variety of Mopar induction systems and carburetors are ready for sale. Larry says many loose parts came from cars in the yard and can help reunite them for buyers who value matching numbers and date codes.
  • classic engines and transmissions on a shelf at Mopar City
    In a building dedicated to driveline storage, these engines and transmissions await buyers. The unit on the upper shelf closest to camera is a rare Clutch-Flite. Based on a 727 TorqueFlite, Clutch-Flites replace the torque converter with a clutch and clutch pedal to allow high-rpm launches before the advent of high-stall-speed torque converters. Nostalgia drag racers treasure these units, which were built by outfits like Art Carr, B&M and C&O back in the 1965-1970 period.
  • Mopar shifters hanging up at Mopar City
    More transmission goodies hang from the rafters. Chrysler Corporation used a wide variety of shift levers depending on the front seat configuration and console option. Likewise, handle configurations ranged from faux wood grain balls to Pistol Grips. Larry has them all.
  • Parts laid out on a table at Mopar City
    In another room, this mass of stainless body and interior trim stands ready to upgrade flawed or missing original equipment. Much of this stuff is not available in reproduction form, and yes Larry and his team know exactly what applications they fit.
  • Inside of Mopar City
    The main building contains this sanitary retail space with wide counters and appealing decorations – all of which go with the sale. Larry says Mo-Par City is a turn-key business that will generate revenue for years to come.

CONTACT:
Mo-Par City – open M-F 9:00 to 5:00 (Saturday by appointment)
6309 East Brick Road, Oregon, IL 61061
815-732-7751 or 1-800-426-HEMI

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