1968 Dodge Dart GT Sleeping Beauty?

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I cleaned out the doors and then sealed them with a rubberized sealant used on truck beds. Also between the bottom of the door weather stripping and the door shell I sprayed it with black paint. This should be body color, but it should catch overspray to blend in. It is just an area that the painter generally doesn’t see since you have to look up from the ground.

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Inside the doors.
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Several days ago I cleaned up the window action. Both front passenger windows were pretty smooth. Now they are like glass. Rear windows were not very good at all. Now they are like the fronts. Like butter!!

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Today I removed the grille and the front bumper. Power Washed the front fender wells after pulling the wheels and jacking it up. I cleaned the radiator opening with a toothbrush. My Scoutmaster Bud Bradshaw caught Scott Billington and myself peeing on the back of a tent. Who knows why other than the fact it was there and we were about 12 years old. Our punishment was cleaning the troop 43 school bus my dad had purchased for the troop with toothbrushes. Little did Bud know the lesson he was teaching me about getting into small places using a toothbrush and doing it for what seem like hour after hour. Back then you could teach kids a good lesson with common sense. Scott went on to fly for Delta and had an accomplished career with the US Navy. Unfortunately, my best friend as a kid passed away from a terrible disease leaving behind a beautiful wife and two small kids at the time. I know he would’ve laughed at me telling the story and I can hear him saying (Now Cal) my nickname back then and shake his head. Scott, God love you!

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Today I picked up my 91 year old gear head dad for a birthday party for 6 or so. It is for 2 of my sons. My daughter, 2 daughter in laws and several grandchildren. I may have missed someone.

I always try to get him to tell me stories. In 1964 he bought a 1963 repossessed Plymouth Valiant 4 door. Slant 6 with a 3 speed on the column. He said it was a dull white with red interior. It had clear vinyl covering the cloth seats. It was $1200 and had about 12K miles. I was 5 and my sister had just been born. He hated the white since it didn’t really shine. He wanted to get it painted. Not having much money working for the State of NC, he asked around if anyone had any idea of who to suggest? One coworker said I have someone who owes me a favor. Holman and Moody. The famous race shop was pretty good at paint as well. They really didn’t do this kind of work for the general public. He took it in and they did a complete change to a shinny black paint. He thinks they had it for 3 days and even did the jams, under the hood and trunk. At 5 I remembered the Valant because of the red seats with clear bubble wrap type covers. At 65 it really is my earliest car memory!

Pulled my seats down for inspection. Rear is going to be fine.

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For those that never knew about plastic seat cover from Fingerhut. These are what my dad used back in the day. No AC had an effect!!!

Also, there were several prominent makers of seat covers. Among them was an oddly-named company called Fingerhut, out of St. Cloud, Minnesota. They made clear seat covers — mostly out of a strong plastic. If your vehicle had a unique pattern to the upholstery the clear covers allowed it to be seen.

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However, air conditioning wasn’t a common accessory in vehicles during those days and that made summers even hotter. Sitting on those seats on a scorching day was what the first night in a state prison must be like. And forget about leaving the seat after a long drive – especially if you were dumb enough to have done so without wearing a shirt.

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Several years ago, I sold a truck to a young man from Kenya for my then 89 year old dad. He was so polite and a devout Muslim who asked if I would be offended if he prayed in my driveway. I worked with him for several weeks to come up with the money. He was an engineering student taking care of his mother and being a mentor to his younger brother. When he made his last payment I surprised him and gave him back $200 to take his family out for a treat. He was working part time then in an upholstery shop while going to school. Jump forward two years this weekend and he is going to install my seat covers at a very fair price. Occasionally a good deed is repaid.

My garage was cleaned top to bottom while searching for the seat emblem. I had misplaced my seat emblem I picked up a year ago and finally located it today.

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Now I am now in upholstery mode. When I was looking over the rear seat it was in pretty good shape. My only concern was the fabric that connects to the seat frame with hog nose clips.
I did not want to break the seats down and have an upholstery shop sew in new cloth. I think my solution will work for the long term.
Top of the back seat.

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Stains removed, old bubblegum cleaned and a little added shine. I am pleased. They should match the new fronts.

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It is the little things that can bother me. On the rear windows, on the passenger side especially there was an area of rust that was forming under the chrome trim that runs on the tops of the doors and along the rear windows.
Also inside the window frame where the outer window fizzy are installed there was corrosion. I have sanded them and then went to the trouble of painting both of them. It will never be seen again, but now I will never think about it again.

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hcallaway said:
It is the little things that can bother me. On the rear windows, on the passenger side especially there was an area of rust that was forming under the chrome trim that runs on the tops of the doors and along the rear windows.
Also inside the window frame where the outer window fizzy are installed there was corrosion. I have sanded them and then went to the trouble of painting both of them. It will never be seen again, but now I will never think about it again.

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I commend you. I have done the same.
 
I have been pushing hard to be ready for the body shop next week. 220 for the roof. Super slick and especially for a vinyl top car. 2 minor areas of pitting. 120 on the original paint. My fabricator really got it right on the window corners and will be easy to blend in. Passenger door shows a history of parking lot dings.

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RAT ROD AL said:
Must have been a 60s thing. First thing my dad did twice was take the new Dodge somewhere to get Plastic Seat covers installed. !!!
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Yup. When my grandfather passed in '83 I inherited his '72 Gran Torino (the 4 door, not the cool, Clint Eastwood one), and the seats were covered in that same plastic. With only 32K miles on it, the entire lower level of the car was completely rotted-out, but those seats were absolutely perfect.
 
Sanded from 7 AM until 5. 15 minute lunch. It is 95% done. The under side of the hood needs a wire brush and sanding. When I inspected it, it really was in much better shape than I realized on the underneath. I’m not sure if a battery or something else had issues that caused it to develop surface rust in the pattern it did.

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The sanding never ends. I sanded under the rockers. Then I painted that area. I am hoping the painter will cover it when he paints the Dart. At least it will have plenty of protection.

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The under side of the hood also needed to be sanded. Wire brush. Power Washer and degreaser. Acid etched. Coat of primer.

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Took the hood off by myself. I think I will use another person next time. Noticed a hairline crack. It was so thin I had to build up the welds and then grind it down.

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The last trim were the bullet turn signals. One is missing the post and nut. Firewall taped off. I am taking the easy way out with the headlight buckets.
Also loaded for the shop.

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Seats are being torn down. Emblem is in the new seat. Push pins I bought are still too large to hold them in place.

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Delivered the Dart to the Painter. He is a Mustang fanatic. While he was gone I told him he needed to get in Dart mode. When I took him the car, it was well received. He has seen it on two other occasions. All were prior to me stripping it down and all the metalwork being done. On the replacement quarter there was one small high spot, so no complaints. Always questions when you follow someone else work. The other metal work was on par with the replacement quarter.
He is going to paint (PP-1 Red) the jams, trunk and engine compartment, adjust the passenger door. (He agrees that the striker was never in the right position from the factory and this caused the issues with the door and hinge wear.) I installed a new top hinge.

The plan is to fix any obvious dents, spray a high build primer, paint the jams, engine and trunk compartments.
Return it to me and let me block to my hearts content. He said that this is when any issues he misses will show up and be corrected.
Then final paint.

I should see it by the end of the week.
Shaun did say that the 67-69 Darts were his favorite Mopar's followed by Roadrunners 1968-70. Who can not agree with that?
 
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