Hello everyone. My name is Bill and I have had a soft spot in my heart for years for the scamps and darts. Short back story how I ended up here. So as a 15 year old kid I found a 1972 Plymouth scamp on eBay way back in 1997 down in Harrisburg Pa and I won the auction for $278 dollars. We brought it home and got it running and I loved that car. Well being a broke kid I didn't have the funds to v8 like I dreamed of. It ended up getting pretty rough and it ultimately went to the scrap yard. I still remember watching the loader pierce the door and the glass breaking and just picking it up. It crushed me and I always wanted another one some day.
Then fast forward many years and I ended up falling in love with the Mazda Miata platform and built many of them from mild to wild and even a lifted off-road version. I got married and had 2 kids and though it was great platform I had to come to reality that it wasn't going to work with 4 of us. So again I had 12 years into one show car and more money then care to admit invested I decided to switch gears and find something family oriented.
I went round and round as I am JDM guy but nothing fit the bill. Fits 4 people, can get 500ish plus horsepower but be fun and different. I toyed with mustang gt or challenger scat packs but they aren't unique or different. Don't get me wrong great performance even in stock form but not what I wanted for me. Then it hit me. Why not get a another A body. Scamp or Dart doesn't matter but what can we do for a powerplant. I thought about it and thought about. Ls swap? Go with a magnum and turbo it but I kept coming back to one engine. I know the purists won't like this and I understand this has been done l. Just know when I thought of this I had no previous knowledge so I don't want anyone thinking I'm just copying someone's build.
It had to be a JDM engine and a straight 6 just because it belongs in the engine bay like a good ole slant 6. Only one 3.0 liter I knew of that could make 500hp with little engine work. The Toyota 2JZ. Yes the very engine found in many Lexus and Toyota's. I didn't know a lot about them but man the past 6 months I have learned a lot and made a plan to find one.
I did find a 1972 Dart swinger on marketplace about 30 mins from my home. It was a 1 owner and garage stored since there grandmother passed away in 1995. The car had 15k original miles. Has some dents and lower quarter rust and rot but all fixable and the car as a whole was a true survivor. You don't find them like this anymore and I was so excited to find this and be able to bring it home with my 6 year old son.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to shed some backstory so people understand the build before just not know the passion I have had for these 2 types of cars and make them one and be mine and something that fits me. I will be starting a build thread in the next few days and keeping track of everything the family and I find as we navigate a really unknown road. Super excited and blessed to do this with my daughter and my son.
Thanks for making it this far and look forward to a long and trying road but glad I have a place I can come and feel like you belong when questions and issues arise.
Bill
Then fast forward many years and I ended up falling in love with the Mazda Miata platform and built many of them from mild to wild and even a lifted off-road version. I got married and had 2 kids and though it was great platform I had to come to reality that it wasn't going to work with 4 of us. So again I had 12 years into one show car and more money then care to admit invested I decided to switch gears and find something family oriented.
I went round and round as I am JDM guy but nothing fit the bill. Fits 4 people, can get 500ish plus horsepower but be fun and different. I toyed with mustang gt or challenger scat packs but they aren't unique or different. Don't get me wrong great performance even in stock form but not what I wanted for me. Then it hit me. Why not get a another A body. Scamp or Dart doesn't matter but what can we do for a powerplant. I thought about it and thought about. Ls swap? Go with a magnum and turbo it but I kept coming back to one engine. I know the purists won't like this and I understand this has been done l. Just know when I thought of this I had no previous knowledge so I don't want anyone thinking I'm just copying someone's build.
It had to be a JDM engine and a straight 6 just because it belongs in the engine bay like a good ole slant 6. Only one 3.0 liter I knew of that could make 500hp with little engine work. The Toyota 2JZ. Yes the very engine found in many Lexus and Toyota's. I didn't know a lot about them but man the past 6 months I have learned a lot and made a plan to find one.
I did find a 1972 Dart swinger on marketplace about 30 mins from my home. It was a 1 owner and garage stored since there grandmother passed away in 1995. The car had 15k original miles. Has some dents and lower quarter rust and rot but all fixable and the car as a whole was a true survivor. You don't find them like this anymore and I was so excited to find this and be able to bring it home with my 6 year old son.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to shed some backstory so people understand the build before just not know the passion I have had for these 2 types of cars and make them one and be mine and something that fits me. I will be starting a build thread in the next few days and keeping track of everything the family and I find as we navigate a really unknown road. Super excited and blessed to do this with my daughter and my son.
Thanks for making it this far and look forward to a long and trying road but glad I have a place I can come and feel like you belong when questions and issues arise.
Bill
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