Beater factory muscle drivers.

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Canucklehead

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I'm more of a lurker than a poster but enquiring minds want to know. I own a slightly rusty, dinged up, hacked in hood pins, flaking crappy 80s colour change repaint M-code Dart GTS that I drive a lot, weather permitting. It even has the mind-blowingly expensive 440 only exhaust manifolds. So I'm wondering what else is out there for beat up, driver, factory 340 or bigger cars.

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Canucklehead said:
I'm more of a lurker than a poster but enquiring minds want to know. I own a slightly rusty, dinged up, hacked in hood pins, flaking crappy 80s colour change repaint M-code Dart GTS that I drive a lot, weather permitting. It even has the mind-blowingly expensive 440 only exhaust manifolds. So I'm wondering what else is out there for beat up, driver, factory 340 or bigger cars.

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Love it.
 
That's a survivor, not a beater. Needs more rust to be a beater! 65'
 
It's a California car but had a bit of a leak through the rear window, so the right rear quarter has some rust, and a dime size spot on the dog leg of each fender. It was painted some Fiat red back in the 80s which the sun burnt into a very close match the 68 Bronze metallic. The hood had been replaced at some time but the replacement is rougher than the rest of the car. This picture is from the early 80s, I think.

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Canucklehead said:
I'm more of a lurker than a poster but enquiring minds want to know. I own a slightly rusty, dinged up, hacked in hood pins, flaking crappy 80s colour change repaint M-code Dart GTS that I drive a lot, weather permitting. It even has the mind-blowingly expensive 440 only exhaust manifolds. So I'm wondering what else is out there for beat up, driver, factory 340 or bigger cars.

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Is that a numbers car? That's badassary at its finest. I've always said that if I had a car like that, I would drive the wheels off it. Too many of them spend their lives in climate controlled storage. Cars were made to be driven.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Is that a numbers car? That's badassary at its finest. I've always said that if I had a car like that, I would drive the wheels off it. Too many of them spend their lives in climate controlled storage. Cars were made to be driven.
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Not the original engine or tranny but it came out of the factory with a 440/automatic. It has a 76 440 in it, it also came with a 69 440 HP block but it runs fine the way it is.
 
Canucklehead said:
Not the original engine or tranny but it came out of the factory with a 440/automatic. It has a 76 440 in it, it also came with a 69 440 HP block but it runs fine the way it is.
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Yeah I know what M code means LOL.....even still , regardless of the drive train swap, that's badass, man. Really cool.
 
I recall buying parts from you in Edmonton and looking at this one not long after you got it. Cool ride for sure. Do you still have the Dart rag top? How is B.C. treating you? Much longer car season than Edmonton for sure.
 
There was a 71 Challenger R/T 2 streets away that was in terrible shape: rust, dents, vinyl top that was gone, rear valence was gone. He drove it 3-4 times a week. Didnt sound good either. Just an old man hanging onto the past, probably still having fun.
 
That is badass. I'd drive it too! Very nice I actually like the color. The faded out copper color reminds me of my car when I bought it.
 
That’s awesome, I had a few beater dodges, and I beat on a few dodges. I sued to drive mine daily in the 70 and 80s, then in the 90s only weekends usually. Now their more of a lawn ornament. Kim
 
All my cars are as described, but, not nearly as nice as yours, not even close, miles away in fact.
 
cpearce said:
I recall buying parts from you in Edmonton and looking at this one not long after you got it. Cool ride for sure. Do you still have the Dart rag top? How is B.C. treating you? Much longer car season than Edmonton for sure.
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Yup, still have the convertible, it finally made it up last summer for our wedding. BC is beautiful, but up in the northern parts the car season is actually shorter. We still have 4 inches of snow. I was in Edmonton last weekend for my Grandma's 99th birthday and there isn't much snow left.
 
It is sorta like the RatRod mentality. I like to think of these old Mopars as CARS! and meant to be driven. How many times do we see the guy spend decades restoring a car to perfection? That guy loves the process or he would not do it right? Then we the guy restores a car to perfection in a reasonable amont of time,spends how many $$$$ ?? and never drives it..too perfect!!!
I got drawn to the under dog cars, the ones that are cheap to buy as the project, the ones no one will give that many $$ for if it was all done, not the M codes, had them decades ago when they were actually cheap-ish.
I do applaude the guy here starting this thread to have an M code, drive it, and not worry about its worth or getting it perfect!!!
 
I did build one to shiney, pristine status years ago, a 68 383 automatic GTS that had a bar and an old school 11.5 to 1, Stage IV iron head 440 in it, NOS grille, mint. But I was nervous driving it, it needed a splash off 112 octane, and it was tough to drive and keep cool. So I sold it and bought this one, haven't looked back. The photo is a picture of a picture, sorry. Hats off to guys who do ground up restos, it's a huge process. I am doing some tweaks to the engine this year, 440source heads, old school .528/284 MP cam (supposed to work well with manifolds), Comp valve springs and rockers, plus a CH4B intake. I will have to throw some dust and dirt into the paint when I paint the heads. Plus the open 2.76 gears that were in it when I bought it are finally getting replaced with the 3.55s it came with.

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cpearce said:
I recall buying parts from you in Edmonton and looking at this one not long after you got it. Cool ride for sure. Do you still have the Dart rag top? How is B.C. treating you? Much longer car season than Edmonton for sure.
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The convertible has had a hard 34 years with me, but this is my favourite wedding picture from last summer. I guess this picture belongs on this post!

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Yup, our cars were made to be driven. Back then they were just cars. Even now some are just cars. And some are more than just a car. Kim
 
When u have cars as long as u have they are 1 of the family. We have had a love affair with our cars for as long as there has been cars. Kim
 
oldkimmer said:
Yup, our cars were made to be driven. Back then they were just cars. Even now some are just cars. And some are more than just a car. Kim
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Yes, the poor old vert probably would have been parted out but it's the first car I ever bought, January of '85 when I was 18. It has rusty inner fenders, a cracked (and crudely repaired) LF frame rail from doing stupid stuff when I was 19, and a fair bit of bondo and rust in the quarters. It's taken me all over western Canada tho, including a 2 week trip with 2 buddies through the Okanagan to see The Who in Vancouver in 89. It got filled with water after our front street at work got flooded during the Edmonton tornado of 1987 that killed a bunch of people. I should probably be buried in it.
 
Absolutely love it!! I have a 70 Gran Coupe vert. that I bought in H.S. Dad and I fixed it up. It's really showing its age with battle scars and rust coming back. I have a hard time parking it to fix it. Drive the **** out of 'em!! Check out Ratty Musclecars on youtube.
 
I got some pictures from my phone. Surely there are more people out there who loves driving their factory HP beaters? Any body style, let's see the Roadrunners, Swingers or R/Ts!

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