1969 Dodge Dart Custom Sedan Slant Six, Father-Son Project

One thing about buying a working, driving car for $2180 is that you can't help but compare all the rest of the money you spend on it to that initial cost. "Wow, the EFI conversion kit will cost almost as much as the car did!" "The wheels and tires will cost more than a third of what the car was!" and so on. One thing that helps put it in perspective is to look at the savings for doing the bulk of the labor your self!

And so far, our favorite 'labor' by far has been the assembly process of the motor. There's something really cool about bolting together squeaky-clean parts, wearing your normal day clothes. You get so used to perpetual grime on your hands & fingernails, that it's almost weird to wrench in the garage for 4 hours and ... not be stinky and grimy.

Color-wise, there's the original sky blue, then there's Chrysler International Red, or what about Hemi Orange? We decided to keep it simple and see what engine enamel they had on the shelf at the local parts store. It ended up being (I understand this may be considered somewhat blashphemous to some Mopar purists) Chevy Red-Orange.