1974 Duster
Hi everyone! Long time Mopar owner, first post to the board!
One of my "back burner" projects is a 1970 Plymouth GTX with a 440 engine. I have owned it since 1984 and it has been more or less parked for the last 10 years while I pursued other interests.
The time has almost come for me to pull it out the garage and start the restoration I have been waiting to do. To get "warmed up" to the task so to speak I went looking for a smaller & cheaper sibling to buy.
To fit in the current garage it had to be one of the smaller offerings, have the "large bolt pattern" wheels so I could swap running gear with the GTX is needed and reduce the number of rims floating around, already have a V8 so I didn't go broke getting V8 brakes, transmission, engine cradle, etc. and have factory disk brakes.
So pretty much this narrowed my search down to a 73-74 Duster, Dart Sport or a 67-74 Duster, Dart, Scamp or Demon that someone had already converted over to larger bolt pattern and disks.
The car is going to be used for some light car shows & drive in movie use, drive to work when the mood suits and going to some cruise nights.
Eventually I'll give the car to Leah (my daughter) when she is old enough to drive.
After weeks of searching this is what popped up-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&item=270262066216
Trust me the price was cheap- I had been watching junk go for $2500 with 6 cylinder engines. I don't know if buyers did not bid due to the rust or the fact they would have to drag off two cars but I snapped it up for $1500.
The seller was honest and the car is what he said it was if not better- The frame rails were mint, it has a good running 318 V8 engine, the running gear is in sound condition (mandatory vehicle inspections yearly in the state it was from) and it has factory a/c which is fairly rare. The black interior is a nice bonus as well as a desirable option.
I stripped the car down and dropped it off at a friends body shop, the interior and exterior will be fully refurbished in another 2 weeks.
The white top was stripped off first thing, it's not going back, eww!!
The insides look rough but no worries- New carpert, steering wheel, kick panels and seat skins are already on the way via UPS! Some minor paint work on the dash and everything will look like the day it rolled off the assembly line.
Edit- 4 weeks out on the seat skin, frak!
Performance work is going to be limited to a dual exhaust setup at the moment, I'd like to be driving as soon as possible not tinkering in the garage for weeks.
When the car is finished it will look somewhat like these two vehicles- Red with a black stripe running front to rear, no hood scoop though. I am going with factory hood pins though.
The rims I'm going to be running can been seen here, for $99 each shipped from Summit Racing a huge steal!
The car is going to have BF Goodrich radial T/A's all the way around, 205-60-15 on the front and 255-60-15 on the rear.
I have all next week off and will post pictures as work progresses, the car should be back from the body shop on Thursday.
I have already polished, painted or repaired a number of items and reassembly should go smoothly.
Gary
Hi everyone! Long time Mopar owner, first post to the board!
One of my "back burner" projects is a 1970 Plymouth GTX with a 440 engine. I have owned it since 1984 and it has been more or less parked for the last 10 years while I pursued other interests.
The time has almost come for me to pull it out the garage and start the restoration I have been waiting to do. To get "warmed up" to the task so to speak I went looking for a smaller & cheaper sibling to buy.
To fit in the current garage it had to be one of the smaller offerings, have the "large bolt pattern" wheels so I could swap running gear with the GTX is needed and reduce the number of rims floating around, already have a V8 so I didn't go broke getting V8 brakes, transmission, engine cradle, etc. and have factory disk brakes.
So pretty much this narrowed my search down to a 73-74 Duster, Dart Sport or a 67-74 Duster, Dart, Scamp or Demon that someone had already converted over to larger bolt pattern and disks.
The car is going to be used for some light car shows & drive in movie use, drive to work when the mood suits and going to some cruise nights.
Eventually I'll give the car to Leah (my daughter) when she is old enough to drive.
After weeks of searching this is what popped up-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&item=270262066216
Trust me the price was cheap- I had been watching junk go for $2500 with 6 cylinder engines. I don't know if buyers did not bid due to the rust or the fact they would have to drag off two cars but I snapped it up for $1500.
The seller was honest and the car is what he said it was if not better- The frame rails were mint, it has a good running 318 V8 engine, the running gear is in sound condition (mandatory vehicle inspections yearly in the state it was from) and it has factory a/c which is fairly rare. The black interior is a nice bonus as well as a desirable option.
I stripped the car down and dropped it off at a friends body shop, the interior and exterior will be fully refurbished in another 2 weeks.
The white top was stripped off first thing, it's not going back, eww!!
The insides look rough but no worries- New carpert, steering wheel, kick panels and seat skins are already on the way via UPS! Some minor paint work on the dash and everything will look like the day it rolled off the assembly line.
Edit- 4 weeks out on the seat skin, frak!
Performance work is going to be limited to a dual exhaust setup at the moment, I'd like to be driving as soon as possible not tinkering in the garage for weeks.
When the car is finished it will look somewhat like these two vehicles- Red with a black stripe running front to rear, no hood scoop though. I am going with factory hood pins though.
The rims I'm going to be running can been seen here, for $99 each shipped from Summit Racing a huge steal!
The car is going to have BF Goodrich radial T/A's all the way around, 205-60-15 on the front and 255-60-15 on the rear.
I have all next week off and will post pictures as work progresses, the car should be back from the body shop on Thursday.
I have already polished, painted or repaired a number of items and reassembly should go smoothly.
Gary