disk swap on '74 or keep drums?

A lot of it has to do with driving habits and common sense. I had 9 inch drums on a valiant and never recall having fade in over 100,000 miles of driving. Poor brakes when wet, yeah, but if you drive slowly with slight pedal pressure, they dry pretty quickly. Back then, most people were staying under 70 on the freeway (OK, surface streets, too!), and I timed the lights and flowed with traffic, so rapid decelerations were rare.
I drove up and down Vail Pass in Colorado with those brakes, and had no fade problem. But I also didn't allow a problem to develop by doing 80 downhill.
Someone near Vail please chime in..............

When I return to daily driving in a Dart after my Mark 8, I will have to apply common sense, and start out carefully, as I am far more aggressive driving today. I will change to 10 in. drums just to keep up with the newer cars. Many more people are able to (better tires, suspensions), and do , drive more aggressively than in 1988.