Decisions, decisions... 72 swinger
Ok, I need some advice on what you guys and gals on this fabulous site would do. I bought my 72 Dart (318, 904, 7.25 open) on Ebay during my first deployment to Iraq(Nov 07). The first thing I did when I came home for R&R in April 08 (well, maybe not the first thing... Waffle House, Burger King, beers, Outback, beers, billiards, girls, shots, girls... you see where this is going:blob:) was put duel exhaust on her. I stayed at my dad's in TN for a week and drove through Chattanooga. Stopped by Coker tire and picked up some new Ralley wheels and stayed the night. More girls and beer and free braves tickets. Stopped in Atlanta for the game ... more g&b... stayed the night and drove it down to SC to visit my mom for the remainder of my leave. It wasn't as peppy as I had daydreamed it would have been while driving my HMMWV and doing missions in Iraq, but it did get 21 miles per gallon. So, the pattern began of the drives to and from TN and SC. Saved me on rental cars.:cheers:I got back from Iraq to my duty station in Alaska(Sep 08 not a good place for classic cars). I went on leave again. went to my moms first and then drove it to my dads house. Somtime and during one of Her extended stays at my moms house, I received a great Xmas present, a vinyl top. I went on leave two more times and then had my mom and step-dad pick it up and take it back to SC. I had them pick it up because Greg(step-dad) is a great mechanic and because I am deployed to Afghanistan nowand make a LITTLE extra money and decided to buy some things. 408 Blueprint crate engine, 727 B&M street/stripnever used, 8.25 .391 fresh, SS springs. Now, the questions on what would you do? My car was numbers matching. It now has the 408, which I put in during my leave last Nov, but I still have the 318. It will soon have the rest of the items mentioned when I go home on leave in April. I know the engine is pretty decent because I made so many trips to and from TN and SC (6.5 hours), but what would you guys do with the engine, tranny, Steel wheels, Hubcaps, Edelbrock performer intake, electronic ignition, msd and anything else that comes off of the car? Would you keep them to make a numbers matching car at a later date, or sell them? I am on the edge here because if I kept them I would have to travel with them to each new assignment the Army sends me to and hope I had a place to store them. is a 72 318 car even worth trying to keep as a numbers matching (parts on hand) car? And I could use the money from selling them to buy more parts and further the progression on my car... because sadly I have reached my budget limit that I set for myself. Also, the guy that I bought it from painted the hood and the tail stripe on. The stripe is incorrect and I would like to it fixed. would I be able to sand it off somehow and polish the paint under it? When I bought the car it had a very small can of paint the same color as the car. There is limited surface rust on the car, but there is one very small spot starting to bubble behind the passenger rear quarter. I have a blue 2010 Ram. I'm thinking of painting it that color. Would you leave it original color or put all the time and effort changing it? I have 14's on it now, but I have to either drill out my axles or buy new rims in BBP. Would you buy bigger rims with BBP and have big rims in the back and smaller in the front, or would you just drill the axles out and keep the 14's all the way around? Well, I'm sure I have a ton more questons to ask, but I have an early wake-up and a long day. Please be patient on my response because internet over here is sketchy to say the least. Thank you ahead of time!
Mark