Dan's 72
Member
Hello,
February 28th, I purchased my 2nd 72 Dodge Dart. The first one I had back in 81-85 and drove it into the ground. The engine was strong (what else would you expect from a 318?), but the rest of the body, interior and exterior was coming apart. About 12-14 months ago, I began looking for another. It had to be a 72, it had to have a 318, it had to have a bench seat with an armrest in the middle of the front seat. I watched on e-bay and another great site, oldride.com. I finally found a California 72 Dart on e-bay. It had all I was looking for - and was going cheap too. It had about 30 minutes to go on the auction, and I checked with my wife if it was ok (really ok) with her that I place a bid, she said "go for it". I placed my bid, and was immediately out bid, I placed 1 more bid about 5 minutes before the end of the auction, and it stuck. I won the auction - all while we were at the theatre watching a movie, I was bidding on by crack-berry. That was only the beginning of my "adventure". Because of my work schedule, I had to wait a month before I could go out there and pick it up. By brother-in-law and I flew out to Orange, Ca to get it on a Thursday night to seal the deal Friday. We got it and headed out on our way home. Living in IL, I grew up near Rt 66 (there is a great old brick section of 66 still drivable south of Springfield, IL, extremely cool), so we went to to Santa Monica Pier to see the end of 66. Then we drove to Valencia to visit a HS friend who worked at Warner Bros and directed a bunch of Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo cartoons, then headed home. The big question, I-40, the south route or through Las Vegas and up to I-70, the north route. We made the fatal choice, we went to Vegas. The car started getting hot shortly after, it had only been driven 5000 miles in the last year after all. It was getting dark, we were in the desert, and we were beginning to panic. We were blowing steam as we got off the interstate and headed to New York New York to stay the night and come up with "Plan B". I got something to eat, and went to my room, and my brother-in-law had "other plans". I didn't find him until about 12:00P the next day, and he was still drunk. We had about 1,800 miles to go, and I didn't want to damage the car, so I got a U-haul and a trailer, 33 hours and 15 gas stops later, we were home. I drove most of the 33 hours waing on him to sober up. The trip up and over the Continental Divide was treacherous. It got icy, and the chains lights came on, we had no chsins, and weren't goint to stop for anything. But, after having the car here for about 6 weeks now, boy was it worth it. I have a great car, a great adventure, and as far as I know, the bears got my brother-in-law when I ledt him at a deserted rest area in the mountains...just kidding. Changed the thermostat, fixed a small Power Steering leak, and it's a great driver.
February 28th, I purchased my 2nd 72 Dodge Dart. The first one I had back in 81-85 and drove it into the ground. The engine was strong (what else would you expect from a 318?), but the rest of the body, interior and exterior was coming apart. About 12-14 months ago, I began looking for another. It had to be a 72, it had to have a 318, it had to have a bench seat with an armrest in the middle of the front seat. I watched on e-bay and another great site, oldride.com. I finally found a California 72 Dart on e-bay. It had all I was looking for - and was going cheap too. It had about 30 minutes to go on the auction, and I checked with my wife if it was ok (really ok) with her that I place a bid, she said "go for it". I placed my bid, and was immediately out bid, I placed 1 more bid about 5 minutes before the end of the auction, and it stuck. I won the auction - all while we were at the theatre watching a movie, I was bidding on by crack-berry. That was only the beginning of my "adventure". Because of my work schedule, I had to wait a month before I could go out there and pick it up. By brother-in-law and I flew out to Orange, Ca to get it on a Thursday night to seal the deal Friday. We got it and headed out on our way home. Living in IL, I grew up near Rt 66 (there is a great old brick section of 66 still drivable south of Springfield, IL, extremely cool), so we went to to Santa Monica Pier to see the end of 66. Then we drove to Valencia to visit a HS friend who worked at Warner Bros and directed a bunch of Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo cartoons, then headed home. The big question, I-40, the south route or through Las Vegas and up to I-70, the north route. We made the fatal choice, we went to Vegas. The car started getting hot shortly after, it had only been driven 5000 miles in the last year after all. It was getting dark, we were in the desert, and we were beginning to panic. We were blowing steam as we got off the interstate and headed to New York New York to stay the night and come up with "Plan B". I got something to eat, and went to my room, and my brother-in-law had "other plans". I didn't find him until about 12:00P the next day, and he was still drunk. We had about 1,800 miles to go, and I didn't want to damage the car, so I got a U-haul and a trailer, 33 hours and 15 gas stops later, we were home. I drove most of the 33 hours waing on him to sober up. The trip up and over the Continental Divide was treacherous. It got icy, and the chains lights came on, we had no chsins, and weren't goint to stop for anything. But, after having the car here for about 6 weeks now, boy was it worth it. I have a great car, a great adventure, and as far as I know, the bears got my brother-in-law when I ledt him at a deserted rest area in the mountains...just kidding. Changed the thermostat, fixed a small Power Steering leak, and it's a great driver.
