MoPars Left For Dead

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Dartnut said:
Awesome!
Is that a real '69 Hemi Road Runner convert?
Or is it just HEMI emblems in the non air grabber hood?
Rare car either way even if it's not even a real Road Runner...
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Looks like a 68 hood on a 69.
 
FJ5 Duster said:
This one is my sons 70 340 Dart. It was purchased from the 2nd owner who owned it since early spring 1970. He still had some of the original dealership paperwork with the car including the original owners name. It was sold new from Quality Dodge in Kansas City Kansas in December 1969. Its had one repaint in the late 70's but is an original plum crazy car with black vinyl top and a white stripe. As you can see the pack-rats made a nice home out of it for several decades along with a few snakes. They chewed up the wires, belts, and hoses but amazingly the original build sheet was fully intact under the front bench seat! We plan on keeping the original color combo but are more day two guys so we plan on mini tubbing it and basically using my Duster as the blueprint for the suspension. The first four pictures of it are from about 12 years ago when I first came across the car. Then the rest from when we finally bought it and cleaned it up.

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Looks complete. Why was it parked? Will/does it run? I'm glad your son got it.

I see so many tv shows where they pull a car out from somewhere, and it runs, after some work. Why were they scrapped, and why hasn't someone grabbed it/them over the years?

When Roadkill pulled their 69 Mach I out of a yard is an example. Around here, those kinds of cars are loooong gone from junk yards.

EDIT: They were probably scrapped because at the time, they were just junk, not worth fixing. But to sit there for years?
 
SpeedThrills said:
Looks complete. Why was it parked? Will/does it run? I'm glad your son got it.

I see so many tv shows where they pull a car out from somewhere, and it runs, after some work. Why were they scrapped, and why hasn't someone grabbed it/them over the years?

When Roadkill pulled their 69 Mach I out of a yard is an example. Around here, those kinds of cars are loooong gone from junk yards.

EDIT: They were probably scrapped because at the time, they were just junk, not worth fixing. But to sit there for years?
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Thanks! Unfortunately the Dart is too far from that trust me otherwise would have absolutely tried to make it run again. The pack rats pretty much ate all the wiring, hoses and belts off of the car! The fellow we bought it from daily drove the car into the 80's. The reason it was parked besides getting rusty was it stripped a few teeth off of the torque converter. He got tired of going to start the car and the missing teeth being right where the started needed to engage. He would then go open the hood and rotate the engine over by hand a little for the started to grab the next set of good teeth on the converter. He just figured it was time to restore it and would address the converter then. So he collected a few parts for it a swap meets and one year went into another and obviously it never moved again.

While the car was hard to see from the road other people did try to purchase it over the decades and he chose my son to get it. He became a successful individual with his career before retiring so selling the car was never about the money it was to make sure it went to the right home. He loved the plans we have for being an old Mopar drag racer in the 60's so he is cool with it getting modified and mini tubbed. I'll keep him and his wife updated on the project as I see them and his brother at least once or twice a year. Last my son is working part time for a friend of mines detail and restoration shop so his skill set is going to be surpassing mine... the Dart is in good hands. The picture is the look we are going for but purple of cousre with the white stripe and a stock looking dual scoop hood but fiberglass.

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FJ5 Duster said:
Thanks! Unfortunately the Dart is too far from that trust me otherwise would have absolutely tried to make it run again. The pack rats pretty much ate all the wiring, hoses and belts off of the car! The fellow we bought it from daily drove the car into the 80's. The reason it was parked besides getting rusty was it stripped a few teeth off of the torque converter. He got tired of going to start the car and the missing teeth being right where the started needed to engage. He would then go open the hood and rotate the engine over by hand a little for the started to grab the next set of good teeth on the converter. He just figured it was time to restore it and would address the converter then. So he collected a few parts for it a swap meets and one year went into another and obviously it never moved again.

While the car was hard to see from the road other people did try to purchase it over the decades and he chose my son to get it. He became a successful individual with his career before retiring so selling the car was never about the money it was to make sure it went to the right home. He loved the plans we have for being an old Mopar drag racer in the 60's so he is cool with it getting modified and mini tubbed. I'll keep him and his wife updated on the project as I see them and his brother at least once or twice a year. Last my son is working part time for a friend of mines detail and restoration shop so his skill set is going to be surpassing mine... the Dart is in good hands. The picture is the look we are going for but purple of cousre with the white stripe and a stock looking dual scoop hood but fiberglass.

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That's great that you know the history, and will see the previous owner occasionally. I can think of three cars that I owned years ago that I would love to know what became of them. I'll contact you if I ever sell my Duster clone!
Edit: Oh and your car is very cool, too! Way to stick with it. My story is similar. I bought it in '08, and just got it on the road this Spring.
But, I digress...
 
cosgig said:
These were all taken last year, and they are all available to purchase. Or just parts too if that’s what you need.
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Are these the cars from that story a few years back, the guy had a ton of cars in his yard, and some neighbor caught a glimpse through the trees and went to the township over it and they gave him X amount of time to clean them all out?

(Vague story, but it's all I remember)
 
SpeedThrills said:
That's great that you know the history, and will see the previous owner occasionally. I can think of three cars that I owned years ago that I would love to know what became of them. I'll contact you if I ever sell my Duster clone!
Edit: Oh and your car is very cool, too! Way to stick with it. My story is similar. I bought it in '08, and just got it on the road this Spring.
But, I digress...
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Thanks! Family life and other projects took priority but I kept plugging along when I could. That's awesome and had to feel great finally getting it on the road and it looks good with the Pro Star wheels!
 
This one was left for dead and has now passed on good parts to my Duster and others. It was a real 70 340 Duster, B5 blue car that was repainted at some point with 71 stripes added. The tail panel ended up on my car.
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72Duster440 said:
Are these the cars from that story a few years back, the guy had a ton of cars in his yard, and some neighbor caught a glimpse through the trees and went to the township over it and they gave him X amount of time to clean them all out?

(Vague story, but it's all I remember)
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Nope, these are all at a yard I frequent up north when I go up there to work. They are all for sale, along with about 750 other vehicles of all males and models. He will also sell parts from most of them, but the better cars he would like to sell whole.

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A few pics. from a junkyard I visited this last spring.

1970 GTX FC7 440 4 spd.
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1970 Dart Swinger 340 4spd.
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1971 Duster 340 4 spd.
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