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Orangeville Chrysler sponsors SRT meet & greet event

November 1, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Muscle car owners were invited to come to a meet and greet at Orangeville Chrysler on Monday, October 28, for the Orangeville Chrysler Hellcat / Redeye / Demon Seminar and Drive.

The event brought out car owners who own current Dodge muscle cars as well as several owners who have vintage high powered rides.

A morning seminar featured a discussion on current trends in high performance cars as well as updates on the current price of some of the vintage collector cars.

Car owner Patrick Drake brought his original 1968 Dodge Coronet RT. 

He purchased it brand new and has held on to it every since.

“It has a 440 – a 7.3 Litre engine,” Mr. Drake said. “I’m the original owner. Now I take it to shows and cruise nights and events like this. I was sent an email to come to the seminar and show. They talked about some of the new vehicles and the value of the older vehicles. You can sign on to their website and track the value of your vehicle. I don’t care about the value. I’ve had it for 52 years, it’s not going anywhere.”

The car is mostly original. Mr. Drake had it repainted and the front seats were re-upholstered several years ago to take care of some wear and tear. 

The chrome was re-done when the car was painted and he had the taillights refurbished as well. He still has the original bill of sale with the breakdown and final price.

The Dodge Coronet was produced for over 20 years in various versions, however the car was reintroduced as a muscle car in 1968 and produced until 1970.

The original price was $3,600. 

The event is co-sponsored by Hagerty Insurance – a company that specializes in insuring vintage and classic cars and also takes care of car owners that have high performance vehicles.

“Hagerty is a classic car insurance company that insures SRTs,” explained David Murphy, Orangeville Chrysler’s business relations manager, and noted local cruise night organizer. “They insure collector vehicles, niche vehicles, and performance vehicles. Hagerty has a driver’s club an they do member events. They work with industry partners like us and get the owners in touch with the actual industry. They bring it all together. It makes for a real community and partnership. It keeps the owners engaged. The seminar show classic and Mopar values – what’s gone up and what’s gone done. We did the history of the SRT and the Hellcat, Demon, and what’s coming for 2020.”

Hagerty Insurance has been reaching out to it’s customers and organizing events as most of their clients are hardcore auto enthusiasts. 

“Today is a day for Dodge SRTs and to engage the Mopar crowd,” said Hagerty Insurance representative Andrew Count. “We will insure any enthusiast vehicle. Old or new, as long as there is enthusiasm about it, we can look to insure it. When the Demon came out, we were the preferred provider of insurance for the Demon. Most insurance companies aren’t willing to insure cars with 800 plus horsepower. Accidents come from the drivers – it doesn’t come from the car. If you have an older driver who buys a car, they still have 30 years of driving experience. They knows the power and how drive these vehicles a little better than a guy who’s only had his license for four or five years. Hagerty has launched a new membership and we’re partnering with industry partners. We’re just trying educate people who love cars. We’re building a collector car community.”

The group was split almost in half between current SRT models and vintage cars. Owners traded information about their vehicles.

After the morning seminar, the group enjoyed a barbecue before heading out on the road for a group cruise.

The tour went through a circuit through Hockley Valley, then down to the Forks of the Credit Area before ending up at Boot Hill Auto Resurrection in Erin.


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