Posted: 2/17/2015 1:36:34 PM EDT
Pic from June, 2000.
This car has been in ten different iterations, five of those while I owned it and at least 4 of those, while it was in the middle of the build. I grew up in this car in a manner of speaking. My best friends mom owned it, then sold it to him to drive for high school. As teenagers, we raised all kinds of hell in his car. My buddy eventually found a 71 to play with and sold this old 330,000 mile burnt up Swinger to his Dad. I in turn bought it from him and drove it a bit until parking it in a shop I was renting, saying to myself, I’ll go get a junkyard 360, drop it in and finally have the fast cool old muscle car I never had. Even though these cars were daily drivers, life was all about drag racing at the time and I wanted to finally be the fast kid on the block. While hanging out in the circles of proper young, beer guzzling, women chasing, drag racing guys, I stumbled on too good of deal after too good of deal. A narrowed 8 ¾, 4.10 geared, forged axles, mini spooled, rear end that I just couldnt pass up came my way. Well that “good deal” led to having to cut half the car apart to fit it in, deleting the rear seat (which was fine by me at the time - weight savings and all that), ditch the fuel tank because it came from a fuel cell car, and generally starting the transformation into a pro street styled build instead of a simple engine swap. I got a 360 from the junkyard and from the same guy the rear end came from, he gave me another screaming deal on ported aluminum heads and a built 727 tranny. The engine got built and balanced, the decent 904 I had already built was sold, and the race car build really went to another level. Bigger fuel lines were fabbed and ran and the sub frame was connected. Fast forward a bunch of years and the project somehow still sat unfinished. I got tired of spending time and money on it and it never really getting anywhere. I also started paying attention to the pro-touring style of actually drivable cars and realized that it appealed to me a lot more than a teenagers pseudo drag car anymore. I didnt want to drive it as it was looks wise and wanted a better interior too, the addition of a family made that a little more attractive. A while later, a small resurgence of interest came on and the smaller, cost appropriate fuel cell got ripped out and sold before it ever had a drip of gas in it. The hard, plastic lightweight bucket seats got unbolted before my ass every sat in one for a drive. I sold the roll cage before it ever got welded in. About that time a good buddy and car guy came home after living on the other side of the country for a while and kicked my butt back into gear. He’s the one that did all the body and paint and will probably be the one to finally make it run and drive. I never wanted a show car, heck, you can't even be in most shows with a car from 1973. All I wanted was a cool, respectable muscle car and I think I’m nearing that point. There are a few things about the car that are still a little too pro street for my taste: the manual valve body in the tranny, the low gears and mini spool, etc... but my best bud who owned the car before me told me not long ago to keep it a little racer-esque, that way my boy can grow up racing cars with dad, something he did, but I never had the chance to do. It helps that I do have my grandpa’s old 68 mustang sitting, ready for a rebuild to be the easier driver so I don’t have to have the dart be a one-car-fits-all approach. So after starting to tear the body apart in my home garage, said screw it, and trailered it to my work (commercial painters - schools, hospitals...) where we'd have more room to work. After some grinding and welding up patch panels for the side marker lights. 
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j469/sefus73/Dart%20Pics/IMG247_zps6cd326bd.jpg Doing this we had too many colors and areas going so we decided to do a base coat to get us back to square one. 
Now we could start getting somewhere. 
Important lesson, always wear gloves when block sanding. 
Found a "tool" from one of the previous owners when we peeled off the fenders. 
Also found a bullet hole that had been previously bondoed over in the drivers side running board 
I liked the original paint scheme it had and thought that a nice blood red would fit the image and feel of the car so thats the direction we went. Again, this is no show car so dont pay attention to the lack of paint booth... 
Red went on nice, clear went on really nice... got a little foggy though. 
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Due to where we were working, we decided not to buff it out yet.
Seats came in off of an ebay auction. 05 Cadillac CTS-V. Really nice, really comfy, really cool seat warmers... also really heavy, and really concerning with the airbags in them... which of course are getting ditched. 
Seats looked great in the ad pics but once I got em here, they had a couple rips, piling of the suede on the drivers side and what I could only hope was nail polish spilled on one. Found a good upholstery shop and they fixed me up for a good price but the "good deal" I got on them went out the window after repairs. 
I honestly really liked it without the top but we didn't prep it to not have one (deleting mounting posts) so a new one went on. 
A nice smooth top is hard not to appreciate. 
Gauge cluster needed reworked but I didnt have a grand to drop on a new dash or inset panel and all new gauges so.. from this: 
to this: 
Clear plastic all got buffed too. Pic doesnt nearly do the difference justice. 
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Pics dont properly show the metallic in the red paint, it really shines in sunlight and dies down deep at dark.
Putting the front bumper on was honestly a little ho hum for me as it went from being a cool muscle car back to that mid 70's beak car that somehow reminds me of a pimp's Lincoln Continental. We put the rear glass in and found out that ten years ago when I was grinding and welding away, I actually managed to melt a nice big ugly section of the glass. Leaving it as is for now, will probably change it out soon though especially after seeing how nice the new front windshield looks. We've moved into the interior and the dash is back in. Guage cluster has all new LEDs lighting it and Ive started the RamMat and Ensolite (heat and sound deadener). Up next is finish the steering column conversion and get the front and rear seat brackets figured out. I bought the carpet years ago so that wont be holding us up. Still have to inset and plumb the new larger fuel cell, figure out a new headliner and sail panels. Then the little stuff of bleeding the brakes, figuring out the sway bars and selling a kidney for the wheels and tires to take advantage of the mini tub. There really are no "sleeper" cars anymore as any old rig that looks decent on the road these days you know has been taken care of, even so, I like how its a little more low key looking with the vinyl top but little things like the shaved marker lights give it an edge. That the power plant is as potent as it is, I fear that this thing is going to be a real bastard to drive, but that might be what makes the car so fun. |
I had been staring at the somewhat assembled car and the front end kept bugging me. I finally figured out that I dont like my grill. It just looks incomplete somehow. I grabbed my old cracked grill and spray bombed it to match my current flat black one, but also sprayed in some gray metalic accents. Dont know which version I like best.
to this: 
Basically outlining the whole thing and doing the middle horizontal rib. But then thought it was too much and backed it down to this: 
The middle left side rib right broke out when it fell off the car for the third time as I was balancing it there to get a quick picture. You still get the idea of what it would look like anyway. Glad I never trashed it before now so I could do these mock up changes. Still not sure which version I like the best. Also prepped my interior trim with a pressure washer on about the coldest night we had so far this year... but it blew all the old flaky layers right off. Going to use the SEM line of products to change the plastics and vinyls properly. I did make some calls to Detroit Muscle Technologies who are the people that sell the Carbon fiber and wood grain vinyl overlays for our dashes. I was hoping to get a matching overlay for the door panels but it doesnt look like they're going to release it as a product. Best they will do is sell the physical stock so that we can measure and cut our own. They gave me great price quotes and all that but if Im going that route then Im just going to order a small roll of black from ebay and apply it. The carbon fiber on the doors would probably be a little much Im thinking. I'll spray it first and see just how much of the wood grain laminate shows through. |
| If I could do it all over again there's no way in hell I would. And if I did, I'd never pick a Mopar again. Parts prices between them and fords or chevys are astronomical. The rarity of decent ones around is what first and still does attract me to them though. Between me, my boss, and my friends, Im around hot rods every day so I know you do it for love, not money, but for the amount of cash I have in this thing and for what the finished product will eventually be... well lets just say i'll never build from the ground up again. |
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Just an FYI: the bad shit in that paint goes through your skin.
I paint in the garage, but I have cross flow ventilation, tyvek suit, and a full face supplied air respirator. These things are not cheap, but they are cheaper than cancer or a new liver. My experience with the mask you are wearing is they clog easily in poor ventilation conditions. If you see mist in the air, those are the conditions. After the mask clogs, paint goes around it. If your nose is the paint color when you are done, that is a problem. Nice work.  I am building a 1965 Chevy C-10 right now.
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Nice.
There is a guy around here that has an old coronet wagon that isn't what it seems. Untouched original outside, ratty paint, etc. But when you get up close and look you'll notice that everything from the rocker pinchwelds in is a Dodge Charger police car, right down to the 5.7 Hemi under the hood. Pinchwelds out and up is Cornet wagon. It's really kinda cool. It's like one of these; 
Wearing one of these for a jacket. 
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I love builds that arent the same as everything else out there. I'm not a huge Mopar guy but I'm digging this.
I like the top and very bottom grille designs the best, leaning towards the top one to match the roof you put on. Any smoother bumper options than the one that looks like a pickup truck one? 
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Quoted:
Nice. There is a guy around here that has an old coronet wagon that isn't what it seems. Untouched original outside, ratty paint, etc. But when you get up close and look you'll notice that everything from the rocker pinchwelds in is a Dodge Charger police car, right down to the 5.7 Hemi under the hood. Pinchwelds out and up is Cornet wagon. It's really kinda cool. It's like one of these; http://www.allpar.com/squads/photos/charger/MSP.jpg Wearing one of these for a jacket. http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z223/rustydodge/DSCF0881.jpg Many years ago I worked at a Dodge dealer and a black wagon like that rolled in with a 440 and the stiffest set of rear springs you ever saw. Story was it was an in use boot leggers car . It was very healthy under the hood 
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Quoted:
Many years ago I worked at a Dodge dealer and a black wagon like that rolled in with a 440 and the stiffest set of rear springs you ever saw. Story was it was an in use boot leggers car . It was very healthy under the hood Quoted:
Quoted:
Nice. There is a guy around here that has an old coronet wagon that isn't what it seems. Untouched original outside, ratty paint, etc. But when you get up close and look you'll notice that everything from the rocker pinchwelds in is a Dodge Charger police car, right down to the 5.7 Hemi under the hood. Pinchwelds out and up is Cornet wagon. It's really kinda cool. It's like one of these; http://www.allpar.com/squads/photos/charger/MSP.jpg Wearing one of these for a jacket. http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z223/rustydodge/DSCF0881.jpg Many years ago I worked at a Dodge dealer and a black wagon like that rolled in with a 440 and the stiffest set of rear springs you ever saw. Story was it was an in use boot leggers car . It was very healthy under the hood my dad had an old 71 dart with a tunnel ram 318 or 340 I can't remember. It was two tone and was damn fast. Well fast for the 80s that is. Like the build. |
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The 360 that I got most my parts from was a tunnel ram set up. I never though the combination was right since tunnel rams are high rpm deals and 360s dont spin happily much past 6k but that thing was dialed in and made some incredible power.
Ordered up the rest of my interior today and have been seriously looking at RFID push button start systems, half for the cool factor and half for security factor. Im starting to get nervous with the idea of not having a security system on a car I will be driving and leaving unattended in parking lots (movies or whatever). These older rigs are just so easy to bypass everything and the market is hot for stolen muscle cars and hot rods. I've done kill switches before which is about as helpful as anything in the scheme of things. Kind of thinking of that and an alarm that will sound when the doors, hood and/or trunk is popped. |
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