February 2001

George Masek

When I first heard the rumor and saw the spy pictures of the proposed SUV from Chrysler Corporation I knew I had to have one. My wife and I had fun with the spec sheet and ordered as soon as my local dealer started taking orders. Our first Durango was delivered on our wedding anniversary in Dec '97. After two great years of enjoyment, it got smashed while sitting at a traffic light. No one was hurt but the Durango. Ouch! It was competently repaired and back on the road but......... I heard a rumor about an R/T model and here we are today. Our new R/T was delivered on Valentine's Day, 1999. Ours is a 2000 R/T with all the R/T accoutrements, love that R/T rumble, plus the hitch and heavy duty package for towing, skid plates, ABS, 3.92 axle. We added the chrome grill, sun visor, WeatherTech visors on the side windows, sill guards, rear molded mud flaps, inner fender covers and lighted hood emblem (you gotta see it at night!), Vtech marker masks and subtracted the roof rails.

I have a 5.9 R/T nameplate ready to go on the rear hatch as well as a transmission drain plug and remote oil filter mount at the next oil change. Future plans possibly include a Starcoach Hood and Keystone Wing like Heavy D's (DOTM, Dec 2000) and an auxiliary transmission filter.

We now tow a 26' travel trailer and have been around the Midwest a couple of times. The Durango is an excellent tow vehicle for our trailer. Powerful and competent. Our old PowerRam has been around the country several times with 5th wheel trailers and is grateful the Durango has joined the household.

Please take a look at my D'zine Photopoint Album

George Masek

Editor's Note: George and his D were nominated for DOTM in recognition of the D'Accessories article he wrote for the October-December 2000 issue of the D-Zine. In it, he encouraged DOC members to submit information on accessories they have added to their D's so that others would not only be able to see how they looked, but learn how difficult/costly (or not) they are to install and where you can purchase them. Many times, this information is shared on the Forum, but is difficult to retrieve from the archives. If you'd like to see the D'Accessories section become a regular feature of the D-Zine, take a look at what kind of information George was looking for in the October-December 2000 issue and e-mail him.

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