Project: "A Body Jr" - 1975 Dodge Colt

[72_340_Demon]

I believe that it was this (same?) car in stretched nose configuration
that he perished in. The first photo of Clyde Hodges servicing the Colt
was taken by myself outside of my hotel room at the Spring Nationals
in Columbus less than a month before that terrible day.

Rear axle position in last three shots is an anomoly I haven't seen elsewhere.

I never saw these before, fascinating what they were working on.

 

[72_340_Demon]

Continuing.......and why do you put it in there?

I remember seeing the gold Colt at Indy. These cars almost changed weekly back then. They must have been trying to make them more stable by stretching the front and moving the rear wheels back too. They were quite squirrelly as I recall.

 

[Old Man Mopar]

Found one more pic of the B/A Carlton Colt today.

 

[rapidtransitric]

Youv'e been hijacked...........oboy!

 

[Backtobasics]

No complaints, but thanks for the consideration Rapidtranistic. If it brings more Colt awareness, its cool.

 

[Backtobasics]

Minimal Update.

Job changed. Against my will.

Colt still sits, but on a progress front, not too much. I did recently take a deposit on my 70 Challenger. It will blow the last of the credit card debt away, plus open that side of the garage. Once cleaned, I can start putting more effort into the Colt.

 

[Michael sipe]

I am picking up a bandsaw and stand tonight for metal cutting.

Budget so far:
250.00 Colt, Kansas City Craigslist
125.00 383 and 727, u pick it junkyard
250.00 parts for 383, piston, rings, bearings, gaskets, cam, lifters, oil pump
50.00 tune up parts for Colt from Rock Auto: Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, v-belt, brake pads, rear shoes, and rear wheel cylinders toothy10
Free C body 8.75 (sold A body 8.75, took C body housing in deal)
Free 2.76 center section (came with c body axle)
Free Edelbrock 600 cfm carb (brother in-law wanted a Holley)

675.00 so far for the car, 383 and 727, 8.75 axle, and carb.

Immediate needs:
200.00 2x4 steel tubing to start on the frame.

Longer Term needs:
Intake manifold
Pertronix to convert points distributor that came with JY 383
driveshaft
8.75 axle cut down, and new axles
Wheels
Tires

Is the colt still available

 

[funnykarman]

Years ago I built a 1972 dodge colt . Blown 440 , 727 trans and dana 60 rear with 4:10 gears . Drove it on the street . Had full roll cage . Car ended up in the Crawford Auto Museum. First pic is in Crawford's the second is the old paint job and before it was painted .

 

[Michael sipe]

Years ago I built a 1972 dodge colt . Blown 440 , 727 trans and dana 60 rear with 4:10 gears . Drove it on the street . Had full roll cage . Car ended up in the Crawford Auto Museum. First pic is in Crawford's the second is the old paint job and before it was painted .View attachment 1715226473 View attachment 1715226474

Nice little car

 

[funnykarman]

Michael , The Colt you have in pic over your name Was built byTerry Gentry / And me . I found the car for Terry helped him get the ft. end from fatman fab. The rear end set up is from Chris Alston . I gave terry the Lightning Rod shifter and we had the shifter Balls made from White Q balls . Robert Early helped him finish the at his street rod shop when I moved to Az. I have a lot of the fabrication pic's as the car was built .

 

[Michael sipe]

Michael , The Colt you have in pic over your name Was built byTerry Gentry / And me . I found the car for Terry helped him get the ft. end from fatman fab. The rear end set up is from Chris Alston . I gave terry the Lightning Rod shifter and we had the shifter Balls made from White Q balls . Robert Early helped him finish the at his street rod shop when I moved to Az. I have a lot of the fabrication pic's as the car was built .

Yes I have a bunch of pictures from the beginning to the end and the Mopar magazine article s as well y’all did a great job on it I would like to get in touch with terry sometime

 

[Michael sipe]

Yes I have a bunch of pictures from the beginning to the end and the Mopar magazine article s as well y’all did a great job on it I would like to get in touch with terry sometime

Thanks for getting in contact with me I would like to learn more about the car I have had it for 6 months I love it I worked on a team that ran on Back in the late 70s for Davis brother s racing I Tried to buy thy car back then but it got away from me I bought a 68 barracuda super stock car and ran it for many years it’s still in my area in a barn I have tried buying it bac for years

 

[funnykarman]

Will get in touch with Terry and see if wants to talk with you . Please send me your phone number in a private message and I will pass it on to him . He lives just out side of Fuquay N.C. I see you are in N.C. He has a lot of build pic's of the car . Thanks Johnny

 

[Old Man Mopar]

Plans:

• 383 Big Block
• 727 Auto
• 8.75, C Body housing cut down, with 2.76 gears

--Building a 2x4 tube frame, as front subframes are rusty.

Objective: build a lightweight car with big block torque, that will allow me to hop in and drive to work, or take it to the drag strip for some fun. It will be a low buck build, using many OEM parts, and the combo will be streetable.

I want to take it to the track, but it will not be dedicated / pro street. Narrowed rear end, with a little more meat for tires, but close to stock appearing. A little sleeper effect would be fun.

The Colt that my friend Carl Penley from Hudson, NC built which was patterned off of Don Carlton's gold Nationwise Colt including body molds taken directly from Don's car. Carl worked with former Carlton crew chief Clyde Hodges for some time after Don passed away.

 

[famous bob]

I never saw these before, fascinating what they were working on.

These cars were dangerous w/ big h.p. in them !!

 

[Abodybomber]

These cars were dangerous w/ big h.p. in them !!

Not if you know ,how drive.

 

[Hyper_pak]

Michael , The Colt you have in pic over your name Was built byTerry Gentry / And me . I found the car for Terry helped him get the ft. end from fatman fab. The rear end set up is from Chris Alston . I gave terry the Lightning Rod shifter and we had the shifter Balls made from White Q balls . Robert Early helped him finish the at his street rod shop when I moved to Az. I have a lot of the fabrication pic's as the car was built .

This is a great thread. I have a 71 Colt I bought in Tucson a few years ago off ebay. Hope to start building my drag car in a few years. Here is mine. The second picture is the Davis Brothers in the pits.

 

[Michael sipe]

This is a great thread. I have a 71 Colt I bought in Tucson a few years ago off ebay. Hope to start building my drag car in a few years. Here is mine. The second picture is the Davis Brothers in the pits.

View attachment 1715226942 View attachment 1715226943

Yea looks good I worked for the Davis Bro s mike and Randy in the 70s Wher was that pic taken

 

[famous bob]

Not if you know ,how drive.

You saying Don Carlton didn`t know how to drive ? What are u smokin/ Better think again.

 

[moparmat2000]

Is not called neather cuz it is not a Chrysler product, the Dodge Colt is in fact a Mitsubishi Galant rebadged as a Dodge Colt to start theyr USA marketing program and then Mitsubishi take over theyr own brand in the States, while keeping theyr partnership with tha Chrysler group, i think they still have some business together but not as strong as before. Most FWD Chrysler product had drivetrains and chassis made by Mitsubishi!

Here is a picture of the Japanese version,

I worked on chryslers in the 80s that is an incorrect statement. Yes chrysler used the mitsu MCA jet 2.6 on some of their cars and minivans specifically the fwd E class and minivans as a stopgap until their own 2.5 L could make production and replace it, they also used volkswagen audi 1.6L 4 cylinders in the omni horizon twins until their own 2.2 could make production and replace it. They used the mitsu 3.0 V6 until their own 3.3 and 3.8 L V6 could replace that engine too. Those engines were only stopgaps until their own designs could make production.

Recap
3.0
2.6
1.6
were all foreign and readily available.

All were replaced by in house designed
2.2
2.5
3.3
3.8
that were american designs

The transaxles automatic and standard were all of american design and manufacture as well.

I get tired of people lumping ALL fwd chryslers as rebadged or mitsubishi based products when they were not !! I worked on them back then. I know !!! Had a guy even argue with me about my daytona shelby being made by mitsubishi. I said then why is the car made in st louis missouri then? So he back pedals and says the turbo is mitsubishi then. I was like umm ok then why does its data plate say Garrett AIResaerch made in USA. Then he mentions the trans being japanese to which i reply umm no the data plate on it says new process gear syracuse new york. Then i told him he was an uninformed tool.

Chassis werent jap either. Everything FWD at that time except the FWD dodge colt (captive import) was loosely derived from the K car platform which was a chrysler based in house design chrysler was working on when iacocca got there around 1980. The L body horizon and omni came out in 1978 however they were not japanese designs either. The horizon design was bought by chrysler from Talbot in europe. Prior to this, it was called the Talbot Horizon. It was tweaked for american tastes, and manufactured in the states, and sold with the VW audi 1.6 and 4 speed manual. It was also offered with an american made automatic transaxle until a more powerful 2.2 american engine could be offered. An american made new process 5 speed was also introduced at that time as well.

So as Paul Harvey says. Now you know the rest of the story.

 

[tinman2]

The Colt that my friend Carl Penley from Hudson, NC built which was patterned off of Don Carlton's gold Nationwise Colt including body molds taken directly from Don's car. Carl worked with former Carlton crew chief Clyde Hodges for some time after Don passed away.




View attachment 1715226834

Actually, I had nothing to do with the blue Colt. The white Colt is the one I had pictured after I sold it. I played around with the picture using IIRC, Microsoft Paint, to remove lettering, stripe, and huge hood scoop, to show Old Man Mopar the way it looked when I owned it. The car was designed for a W2 340. Things happened, I got frustrated with the project and sold it to a local bracket racer who raced it with a big block until it was crashed and destroyed.

These are the only pictures I ever took of the Colt when I removed the completely fiberglass body to paint the frame and cage. This would have been very early 1980s.

 

[Empty Hand]

I figure this is a reasonable place to put this build, as I consider this to be the A body's little brother. You all know, the little brother that was smaller then everyone, until...one day...POOF...he sprouted muscles surprises everyone...

Here are some introductory pictures to appease all you picture fiends: Then I will detail build plans and ideas...

As purchsed: Previous owner was a bit of a gothy girl... She named the car is named Clementine?
At their house:

In my driveway: License plate blanked because it overexposed on the photo and was blinding...

Here she sits in hibernation for a couple more weeks:

Here is some of previous owner's hippie bumper stickers:

Thankfully has a good grille, as I am sure these are impossible to find:

Reason for the full frame: Engine room, and rust!

I see a B&M or Hurst, pistol grip automatic right here...

Gauge positioning could be intersting...

Interior and door panels are incredibly solid!! :toothy10:

Like my 1975 colt

wow sick! What are your plans for it. Make is a track animal? 440 with narrowed dana and wheelie bars?

 

[Empty Hand]

My 1975 7 inch extended frame and body with a 440. Old drag car that’s now streetable.

 

[Empty Hand]

Hmmm....This is going to be interesting. I have not seen one of those Colts in YEARS!

1975/440