AlV
Crabs in a barrel
Hi FABO,
I’ve been thinking about starting a thread in this forum to track the progress of my project for a few months. My only apprehension was that I had already started a Facebook page to do just that and thought that it would be redundant and difficult to keep up with. The fact is that I didn’t find my way to ABodiesOnly until after I started my project and created the Facebook page. With that said I’ve decided to move forward with a thread on FABO primarily because I thought who better to share my passion with folks here who share the same passion, and can appreciate it with me the way I do. My Facebook page is open to the public and it’s amazing the number of people who found it, people write in to tell me their personal stories, show their appreciation of the car, ma MOPAR and project.
Background:
As child in the early 70’s, I lived in NYC, my mom was a single parent and did not have a drivers license let alone a car. Back then whenever we didn’t take public transport we were shuttled around by my grandmother. I looked forward to getting rides from grandma because she drove a red 1970 340 Swinger. Too be honest I didn’t know what it was back then, all I knew was that I thought it was the greatest thing on the planet and it was called a Dodge. Over time, Grandma sold the car but it was burned into my childhood memories and it exists today.
Growing up, I really liked street bikes. I’ve owned many cars over the years (nothing noteworthy) but spent as much time as possible on two wheels (I’ve owned at least twice as many bike as cars.. lol). Like many long term riders I’ve had several spills, but two were pretty major. My last big off happened in 2012, I high sided my GSXR 750 at 55 trying to avoid a stray that charged across the two lane road I was on. I got really banged up and broke a bunch of stuff but consider myself blessed because I am fully recovered. That being said, over the years I have had some great bike trips across America and through Europe (which of course comes with lots of tales but that’s not for this thread lol). I still love to ride but have decided that after 28 years I’d take a break, sell my bikes (well except for the 82 GPZ550) and try something new.
This is where my adventure begins…
I don’t consider myself a car guy (well maybe a little now J) so with no real experience I decided to take a leap and direct all the displaced energy of not riding or tinkering with bikes towards a car project. I don’t even think it took a second for me to choose a car because Grandmas 340 immediately came to mind. I shopped around a bit and one day I saw a 69GTS for sale on Ebay, I looked at all the pics on the auction and even had the seller send more pics of the underside and driveline. Never thinking that I would land the car and just wanting to get in the game I placed a bid. AND WON! Whoa! To be honest I don’t really know what kind of deal I made and guess it’s too late to worry about that but I can tell you that I am really happy with it so far… No, it’s not a 70 and it’s not red But it is probably what I would have wanted (beside prying grandmas) if I was driving during the golden age .. lol
I’ve had the car for a year so I will do my best to back the Facebook page into this thread. You’ll notice that for the most part that I am happily stumbling my way through with minimal knowledge and means.
So here we go…
After winning the auction in good faith I sent the seller a down payment and made plans to come out to see the car. I wasn't going to buy it with out having put eyes on it and figured at the worst If I got there and it wasn't as represented or what I thought I could "call it" and maybe loose some money but without loosing my shirt.
The auction was for a running 1969 GTS that had a 1973 318 and A727 from an 88 diplomat. The Auction also included the original numbers 340 engine and Trans. Also part of the deal was an a833 4spd with linkage bell housing and pistol grip shifter and a piece of tunnel sheet metal if I wanted to convert to a 4spd.
This is what it looked like when I arrived at the seller's (Warning Lot's of Pics):
So I hooked it up...
I’ve been thinking about starting a thread in this forum to track the progress of my project for a few months. My only apprehension was that I had already started a Facebook page to do just that and thought that it would be redundant and difficult to keep up with. The fact is that I didn’t find my way to ABodiesOnly until after I started my project and created the Facebook page. With that said I’ve decided to move forward with a thread on FABO primarily because I thought who better to share my passion with folks here who share the same passion, and can appreciate it with me the way I do. My Facebook page is open to the public and it’s amazing the number of people who found it, people write in to tell me their personal stories, show their appreciation of the car, ma MOPAR and project.
Background:
As child in the early 70’s, I lived in NYC, my mom was a single parent and did not have a drivers license let alone a car. Back then whenever we didn’t take public transport we were shuttled around by my grandmother. I looked forward to getting rides from grandma because she drove a red 1970 340 Swinger. Too be honest I didn’t know what it was back then, all I knew was that I thought it was the greatest thing on the planet and it was called a Dodge. Over time, Grandma sold the car but it was burned into my childhood memories and it exists today.
Growing up, I really liked street bikes. I’ve owned many cars over the years (nothing noteworthy) but spent as much time as possible on two wheels (I’ve owned at least twice as many bike as cars.. lol). Like many long term riders I’ve had several spills, but two were pretty major. My last big off happened in 2012, I high sided my GSXR 750 at 55 trying to avoid a stray that charged across the two lane road I was on. I got really banged up and broke a bunch of stuff but consider myself blessed because I am fully recovered. That being said, over the years I have had some great bike trips across America and through Europe (which of course comes with lots of tales but that’s not for this thread lol). I still love to ride but have decided that after 28 years I’d take a break, sell my bikes (well except for the 82 GPZ550) and try something new.
This is where my adventure begins…
I don’t consider myself a car guy (well maybe a little now J) so with no real experience I decided to take a leap and direct all the displaced energy of not riding or tinkering with bikes towards a car project. I don’t even think it took a second for me to choose a car because Grandmas 340 immediately came to mind. I shopped around a bit and one day I saw a 69GTS for sale on Ebay, I looked at all the pics on the auction and even had the seller send more pics of the underside and driveline. Never thinking that I would land the car and just wanting to get in the game I placed a bid. AND WON! Whoa! To be honest I don’t really know what kind of deal I made and guess it’s too late to worry about that but I can tell you that I am really happy with it so far… No, it’s not a 70 and it’s not red But it is probably what I would have wanted (beside prying grandmas) if I was driving during the golden age .. lol
I’ve had the car for a year so I will do my best to back the Facebook page into this thread. You’ll notice that for the most part that I am happily stumbling my way through with minimal knowledge and means.
So here we go…
After winning the auction in good faith I sent the seller a down payment and made plans to come out to see the car. I wasn't going to buy it with out having put eyes on it and figured at the worst If I got there and it wasn't as represented or what I thought I could "call it" and maybe loose some money but without loosing my shirt.
The auction was for a running 1969 GTS that had a 1973 318 and A727 from an 88 diplomat. The Auction also included the original numbers 340 engine and Trans. Also part of the deal was an a833 4spd with linkage bell housing and pistol grip shifter and a piece of tunnel sheet metal if I wanted to convert to a 4spd.
This is what it looked like when I arrived at the seller's (Warning Lot's of Pics):
So I hooked it up...