The former owner of the car, Tony, my little sister's now-ex-boyfriend, received the Dart as his first car when he was 16 and right away began showing his lack of appreciation for it. The Dart was a beautiful turquoise metallic 2-door hardtop with bench seats, no headrests, and a column-shift automatic. It featured a black 270 interior complete with chrome horn button and ring. The complete interior was in perfect condition; the seats, headliner, carpeting, and dashboard all looked like new. It even still had the original "DART ALL TRANSISTOR" AM radio in the dash. The brakes were manual, there was no air conditioning, and the steering was power, a combination that I actually prefer, aside from the power steering. With that interior, all the windows rolled down, and that low rear-wheel opening, it's amazing how such a squarely shaped car could look so sleek and classy. Even though the body had moderate rust in all of the usual places (quarter panels, lower front fenders, and, of course, the upper front fenderwells), I saw that with just a little bit of bodywork and touch up, the Dart could be really nice. I was actually kind of jealous.
I had told Tony about a 1970 Dart 2-door hardtop 225 slant 6 that I had owned once and how dependable and enjoyable the car was. I also told him that his Dart was a much nicer example. It all went over his head. Most of Tony's friends were driving late model Cantmaros, Firechickens, and Frustangs. I don't even think these guys knew what they liked--only what they thought that their peers would think was cool. Talk about naive, they didn't even know about the Sixties muscle car era. They assumed that all old cars were clunky and slow. The first desecration I became aware of was cornfield dune buggy duty. They would all pack in and take turns "driving." Six months, a few mailboxes, and a deer later the Dart went up for sale. After the horror stories about Tony's abusive treatment, I was reluctant even to go look at it.
On the way to Tony's house, I remember thinking, "It's always guys like him that get these cars." When I arrived, my heart sank at the sight. The entire front clip was trashed and what looked like five pounds of dirt resided on the carpet. The front wheels were leaning inward and the rear springs were sagging badly. The original radio faceplate and rear shelf had been butchered to accommodate a modern stereo.
I really wished that I had been the one who bought the Dart six months ago.
As I continued to look around, I started to realize that maybe there was a future for the Dart. The carpet wasn't torn and the headliner, dashpad, and seats had miraculously survived. The body, with the exception of the previous rust and the damaged front clip, was straight and complete. It still only had about 70,000 miles on it.
Well, I paid the $200 asking price and drove my Dart home. Surprisingly, it ran more smoothly and had more power than any slant six I had driven before. I drove it for a few months before renting a storage garage and commencing the reconstruction. I was lucky enough to find a garage that didn't mind what I was doing; most places will only let you store a car and that's it.
My plan was to build a really fast car that looks totally stock. I wanted to do this without butchering anything, removing original equipment in such a way that it can easily be returned in case I want to restore the car to original condition later.
I started by stripping the car down and gradually cleaning and painting the parts as I returned them to the car or replaced them. I even managed to get the carpet clean. I was very happy that the front inner structure was not damaged. I acquired another steel front clip and am working on getting a fiberglass clip. I installed a smallblock K-frame, an 8-3/4 rear, new heavy-duty rear springs, and a manual steering box, and I rebuilt the front suspension. Luckily, the original radio was still in the trunk, and I managed to find a faceplate and rear shelf cover uncut in a junkyard. On an engine stand waits a 340 Six Pack engine, minus intake manifold and carburetors, to be rebuilt to above stock specifications. I am tempted to install a manual transmission, but I want to leave the interior untouched, so I will use an automatic with a shift improver and a stall converter. The bodywork came out great, and I hope to repaint it with the original color.
Soon, I will have the Dart that I always wanted and enough spare parts to keep it and my 1969 Valiant 4-door slant six daily driver going for a long time. Maybe my Trojan horse and I will pull up next to Tony at a stoplight sometime!