My 65 Dodge Dart GT Journey

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Coryduran

Coryduran

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Location
Fresno
So I was in the market for buying my second car ever. Having been burnt in the past buying a modern era car (guy sold me a lemon basically, spent tons of money keeping that car running until the transmission **** out) I decided I'd go with a classic car. I'm not the most car experienced person here, but between me, my brother and my dad, and a couple of my friends, I figured if I go with an old car, I can do the majority of upkeep/work it needs done myself, without needing to go to a shop etc. Well I looked for a long time to find the right car. I almost got a 72 duster that somebody was selling for 2,200, but instead I chose a 1965 Dodge Dart GT 273 2bbl that was in 100 times better shape for the same price. I've already learned how easy the carb can be flooded (I felt like an idiot) and the important of a sun shade (temperatures are still hitting low 100's high 90's here in fresno, and an all metal wheel gets burn the skin off your hands hot)

But all in all, my first week of owning a classic american car has been amazing. I have a lot of work I want to do to this car, but I don't really know how to do any of it, and I don't have the money yet. But I will definitely keep everyone here updated.

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Some front left damage
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Seats are a little rough
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As you can tell
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Having a modern stereo is definitely nice though.
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Lookin' good there. Doesn't seem to be anything too serious AND, your candy cane is in great shape ! Resto Thread time ? I'm just curious why your dash pad doesn't have the notch in the center or is your's steel and not a pad ?

Best of luck.
 
yours steel? I'm not sure what you mean about the dash. Also not sure what you mean about candy cane ha ha. God I feel like a noobie. I'll learn though! I swear I'm smart ha ha.
 
Ooops, we have the same dash pad afterall; even the same cracks. I bought a dash pad overlay from eBay that fits perfect. That seller will even match the color for more $ but wants too big a sample ( I didn't want to cut mine so painted over the basic black ).

The candy cane is the trim around the headlights; VERY HARD to find in good shape.
 
ha ha yeah I have those exact same cracks. Yeah all the trim on the car is in great shape, which is awesome because i've been reading that it's usually very hard to find the trim for these cars, and it's usually a pretty penny. Although I found a little emblem I'm gonna have to upload a picture of because I'm not sure where it goes right now. I found it in the ash tray mixed in with a bunch of change.
 
Your car is why I love CA cars. That thing would have been rusted to oblivian in 1970 around here. Good buy!
 
O know for sure why I love my DartChargers! They are from CA and rustfree. Well, almost, the hardtop had some issues.......!

You have a great project. Love to such a complete car without rust. Good luck with it. Needing info about 65 Dart let me know and I'll be glad to help you.
 
I did the same thing several years ago, got tired of paying big $$$ for people to fix my late model vehicles so I got rid of them and got a classic. Didn't know how to do anything, but I bought a shop manual and a set of hand tools and jumped in with both feet. You'll learn fast and these cars are great starters, very simple and easy to work on.
Good luck with it!
-Tim
 
Nice lookin' ride. I don't think that I've seen one in powder blue before.

There are lots of us here with cars like yours. Don't hesitate to ask questions, that's how we all learned.

Your car seems to have all of the outside trim, so I'm not sure what the part that you found may be. Post it up, and we'll have a look.
 
Great decision, you will love this car. You can keep this one forever! I was going to say it could be the second and last car you will ever have to buy, but if you are like a lot of us you will want more than one.
 
Yeah comoxian a couple of my friends are doubting if it's factory paint like the previous owner claimed, but I at least know that the color was offered in 65. I still haven't found the paint code so I still don't know what it came out of the factory with.
 
Yeah Timbolia I plan to have this car for a while, but I will definitely own another classic A body car at some point down the line.

Pictures!
So, I went and bought the stuff for the first real work/maintenance I'm gonna do to the car (I replaced the fuel filter the day I bought it because it was disgusting, but that was a 5 minute job)

Plugs, wires, rotor, dist cap, contacts, etc
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Also, here is the emblem that I found in my ash tray, if anyone can help tell me what it is.
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Ok, so I currently have these dodge center caps on the wheels, which are cool and all...
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But I'm hoping some of you can help me find two of these? I have two sitting in the trunk, and I'd love to throw them on.
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Thanks everyone for, well everything ha ha.
 
Welcome from another 65 Dart owner (GT vert and wagon). I have one of those 13 inch full size hubcaps you can have BUT it's dented and probably has some rash around the outside. FREE, just pay the shipping from 22657.
 
Thanks a lot dartman. Yeah if you can post a pic of it up, I'll shoot you a pm let you know if I want it or not. The ones I have aren't in mint condition as it is, so as long as it isn't too gnarly looking I'd probably go for it.
 
Those dog dishes are cool man! I'm pretty sure I have all 4 of the full sized ones in good shape if your willing to maybe trade? Shoot me a pm.
 
Ha ha I don't know if I'm willing to trade them. I don't know which I like more yet :D
 
That emblem is the same as the keychain that I have for my car. I've never seen another one like it, nor have I seen anything like it on a Dart.

Are your rims still the 13" ones, or have they been changed to 14"? OK, I went back and saw that you still have 13's. I'll see what mine are.

I have a set of wheel covers that I'm not going to use, I'll check to see what they look like. And the size.
 
Yeah that definitely looks like my emblem. That's what I assumed it was for, some kinda key chain, key kind of accessory but I wasn't sure. At least now I know, just gotta figure out what to do with it now. Yeah throw up some pics of your hub caps haha. And I am jealous of your 4bbl :D
 
Ah I just did my first like real maintenance. Didn't get any pictures taken during the process unfortunately, but I will snap some pics tomorrow of the stuff I took off it, and of the newly installed stuff.

I decided I was gonna replace the spark plugs and wires because they looked old and some of the wires looked burnt and damaged, so I wanted to replace them. Well I figured since I was gonna be doing that, I might as well just replace the dist cap, points contact and condenser as well, cus who knows how old all that stuff was. So $60 in parts from pep boys and an hour or two of work with my brother later, and now I have all that stuff replaced. Seems like the car is responding better too now, which is nice. I've also read that this kinda maintenance can help mpg, which will also be awesome.
 
btw, it was a big day for me because, I've like never worked on a car before. So yeah ha ha.
 
Good job, Cory.

I checked my wheel covers, they are 13", but they are Plymouth ones. They've been up on a shelf since I bought the car. Never looked that closely.
 
I'm just a few miles over in Mountain View and last summer bought a '65 GT from the original owner here in Sant Clara. He was 88 and bought it new. My third CA car resto that is 100% rustfree, it too had 100% of the body trim in above average condition and of course the interior needed a complete legendary kit headliner to carpet. I have a couple other valuable '65 classics,(GM & Ford), but if you want to see an example of the finest complete power train restoration possible on a '65 GT, feel free to contact me and I can show and tell you all the difficulties you can expect, and about the amazing last 12 months that I went through to put the "perfect" totally Mopar 273 Commando together obssessed to add every top option that was specific to that year. I am just putting the finishing touches of 12 months of learning everything there is to know about the 273/904 where I went way over the top to get the power train done first and with no expense spared. (yes, I do now have the reputed Mopar psychological illness). But I was determined not to do a single thing to the ratty interior or the original sun baked biege (with the exception of picking up a few choice pieces I found on e-bay and Craig'slist that I knew I'd use later). But, I promise you, there is no other that I've seen yet that could come close to my mechanicals from stem to stern. I sound like a braggert but I'm boasting truly because I found out long and slow that there is something unique to the 65 that it seems unusually not as popular for aftermarket resources where many, many repo sources have everything imaginable for '66's on or '63's and earlier but that made it very difficult to get it 'exact'. I have aquired several of the real brochure and magazine articles and Dodge promo stuff that were printed then and when you open my hood today it is the same beautiful breathtaking reaction one see's in the movies when the person opens the treasure chest and it makes their face glow. I still get that feeling today as I get ready to move onto the body/interior moneypit phase. Anyone out there reading this just try to suggest what I might not have done! (then of course tell me what you want for it). All in fun. Frank
 
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