Well it's coming down to the wire. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. My 1970 Dart GT project is getting done. This car is sepecifically built for loooong distance road trips. The first one will be a 5000 mile trip from our home near Tacoma WA, taking the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica, turning left and taking Rt66 to Chicago and (yes, there's more!) taking the Lincoln Highway from Chicago to Philadelphia to hit the the Chrysler Nationals in Carlisle and then Mopar Nats in Ohio. After taking a break, Tina and I will hit those shows again in 2024 and head home by roughly the same route. Today I put the bucket seats and console in place and felt I was getting close enough to post some pictures. Over the next few weeks I will post more pictures of various pieces of the car project, but today as I was working I realized how much folks on FABO have helped me over the course of he last 2 years to make this dream a reality. The car has an A500 4 speed/ lock up Torqueflite and a mild to moderate 318 build.
I have probably forgotten more folks that have helped me than I will be able to remember but here are a few. MoparMatt2000 whose build of his son's car has given me all sorts of ideas. He is a savvy fabricator and more than once I have asked him to replicate some piece that he came up with for his build and sell me a copy. I wanted to use the original console shift, which wouldn't work with a A500, until Matt replicated the offset down rod that he designed. My car originally had manual windshield washers, but I didn't want the chance of having water from the in-car pump from leaking into the floorboards and carpet. That is when I spotted the momentary switch foot pump switch that he designed and was willing to replicate for me. Yep, no hands electric washers!
A shout out to HalifaxHops who rebuilt my distributor and checked out a couple of ignition boxes for the car as well as being a source of caps, rotors, ballast resistors, etc.
To TrailBeast whose pictures from his 4 speed auto install inspired this switch box
I believe it was 4speedragtop who suggested using Velcro to attach the carpet to the console making it easy to remove and replace when adjustments or repairs are needed - genius!
I have bought tons of parts for the build from a lot of FABO members and have sold a ton of parts here to help fund more parts. I can't begin to count the instances where I have come to understand how something works or have found a great solution to a vexing problem here on FABO that directly informed this effort. I still have plenty to do to finish things up, with the biggest one being a 2 month wait for a A/C-heater system from Classic Air which won't arrive until early February. We are shooting for a June 1st departure with arrival in early July in time for Carlisle. We are putting a web site together so you can all travel along with us.
So a BIG THANK YOU TO FABO and all who have had a hand in making this a success.
I have probably forgotten more folks that have helped me than I will be able to remember but here are a few. MoparMatt2000 whose build of his son's car has given me all sorts of ideas. He is a savvy fabricator and more than once I have asked him to replicate some piece that he came up with for his build and sell me a copy. I wanted to use the original console shift, which wouldn't work with a A500, until Matt replicated the offset down rod that he designed. My car originally had manual windshield washers, but I didn't want the chance of having water from the in-car pump from leaking into the floorboards and carpet. That is when I spotted the momentary switch foot pump switch that he designed and was willing to replicate for me. Yep, no hands electric washers!
A shout out to HalifaxHops who rebuilt my distributor and checked out a couple of ignition boxes for the car as well as being a source of caps, rotors, ballast resistors, etc.
To TrailBeast whose pictures from his 4 speed auto install inspired this switch box
I believe it was 4speedragtop who suggested using Velcro to attach the carpet to the console making it easy to remove and replace when adjustments or repairs are needed - genius!
I have bought tons of parts for the build from a lot of FABO members and have sold a ton of parts here to help fund more parts. I can't begin to count the instances where I have come to understand how something works or have found a great solution to a vexing problem here on FABO that directly informed this effort. I still have plenty to do to finish things up, with the biggest one being a 2 month wait for a A/C-heater system from Classic Air which won't arrive until early February. We are shooting for a June 1st departure with arrival in early July in time for Carlisle. We are putting a web site together so you can all travel along with us.
So a BIG THANK YOU TO FABO and all who have had a hand in making this a success.
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