Happy 56th birthday to my Dart.
About 10 days from now, in 67, my mom and dad with us kids in tow, went to Claudia Short Dodge in Santa Monica, CA and picked up the Dart. He special orgered it DD1 paint, black interior, split bench seat, 904 automatic 273 2bbl, for power and economy. GT package and Ralley suspension package with KH disk brakes up front, front sway bar and HD tortion bars and 6 leaf rear springs.
My dad's philosophy was "the parts you don't add, don't cause you no trouble"
So no power brakes, no power steering, no AC.
He drove the car daily to work, first the trip from Malibu to Santa Monica. Then from Malibu to Huntington Beach (2 to 3 hours each way due to traffic)
Then we moved to orange county and his daily commute got shorter.
He drove it daily for 25 years racking up about 300,000 miles, 1 engine and trans rebuild in there at around 150,000 miles.
Then his company retired middle management and his commute days in his Dart were over. The Dart got occasional use racking up another 23,000 miles.
He passed away in 2017 and his dart after a 4 + year dry spell came to live with me and my family here in northern Colorado.
I'm so proud of how my dad maintained the Dart so that I could enjoy it as much as he did. Hopefully my oldest daughter will take it after I'm gone and enjoy it too.
About 10 days from now, in 67, my mom and dad with us kids in tow, went to Claudia Short Dodge in Santa Monica, CA and picked up the Dart. He special orgered it DD1 paint, black interior, split bench seat, 904 automatic 273 2bbl, for power and economy. GT package and Ralley suspension package with KH disk brakes up front, front sway bar and HD tortion bars and 6 leaf rear springs.
My dad's philosophy was "the parts you don't add, don't cause you no trouble"
So no power brakes, no power steering, no AC.
He drove the car daily to work, first the trip from Malibu to Santa Monica. Then from Malibu to Huntington Beach (2 to 3 hours each way due to traffic)
Then we moved to orange county and his daily commute got shorter.
He drove it daily for 25 years racking up about 300,000 miles, 1 engine and trans rebuild in there at around 150,000 miles.
Then his company retired middle management and his commute days in his Dart were over. The Dart got occasional use racking up another 23,000 miles.
He passed away in 2017 and his dart after a 4 + year dry spell came to live with me and my family here in northern Colorado.
I'm so proud of how my dad maintained the Dart so that I could enjoy it as much as he did. Hopefully my oldest daughter will take it after I'm gone and enjoy it too.
