New to A-Bodies

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havensole

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Hi Everyone. I should say that we do not own an A-Body yet but have been looking at a few and plan to buy within the week. Most of my experience is with Ford but am not really tied to one camp. My wife and I are looking at 64-66 Dodge Darts mostly. Our budget is pretty small so our selection is slim. One we looked at today was pretty nice except that the driver's side floor pan is toast and there is some decent rust on the driver's side cowl at the windshield. I know this was common on early Mustangs so am curious if this is a similar situation. Was wondering if this is a difficult area to patch considering there aren't aftermarket pieces.

Going to look at a 66 Dart GT tomorrow that was a barn find. Most of it looks pretty good via pics but we will see tomorrow. Anyway, glad to be a part of the forum. Seems like a lot of great people and information here.
 
Welcome to the best MoPar site on the interweb!! Plenty of early a-body cars here and many pop up for sale too....glad to have you :glasses7:
 
You guys have great taste in cars! Welcome.
 
Welcome to FABO, havensole, from another SoCal member! You're going to have fun here. Lots of great people with a wealth of knowledge and willing to help with any questions you may come up with.
Good luck with your search!
 
Thanks for the welcome everyone. Really surprised with all the fairly late night posts. Awesome.

We tend to have fairly odd tastes in cars. We've been a Ford Ranchero family for almost as long as we've been together. I have a 67 Ranchero I've been working on for the last two years doing a lot of rust repair and an engine rebuild. So, not my first rodeo with older cars, but first Mopar. Always loved the Ford inline 6 and through that have had a long interest in the Slant 6. Most of the cars we've looked at have been SL6's and was able to drive my first one today.

Being as I have my 67 Ranchero as my project car, and my 06 Mustang daily driver, this car we are planning to buy is for my wife. It is her first classic and so I've let her pick the cars she has wanted to look at. There has been a long list of cars we've gone through and have really settled on the earlier A-bodies. Darts seem to be a little more available in fairly running condition in our limited price range. We had a lot of hope for the 65 we looked at today, but because of the rust issues we just couldn't agree on a price. Mechanically it was pretty sound, with just really needing some suspension rebuilds, a brake job, and a carb adjustment. Floor pan isn't a big thing. Done more than a little bit of that on my 67, but the cowl thing was a stickler. So, off to look at the 66 tomorrow. It is supposed to be running and rust free, but needs new tires, which the owner has ordered and come with the pricetag. Supposed to have factory AC, power steering and bucket seats. Much less of a project from the 65, but of course has a slightly high price point. If things go the way we hope I will post some pictures of our "new" car tomorrow.
 
Welcome Aboard! i think the early cars are underestimated and are coming up in worth as the others are demanding top dollar. The cowl areas are tough fixes. With over 30k members in here there are always things going on in here 24/7 365.
 
Welcome from another SoCal member. Lots of cool people on this site and you'll get lots of help. Good luck with whatever you buy.
 
Well the 66 turned out to be better than we thought it would be. The seller is a car exporter to other countries and this 66 was supposed to be shipped out but the buyer pulled out last minute. The Dart had been sitting in storage for the last 13 years of its life and the seller had replaced the tank and float, rebuilt the carb, and a few other little things to make sure it runs. Of course one of the tires is blown, as well as the spare, so we couldn't drive it. Seller ordered a new set of tires that he is waiting on arrival for. We started the car, which took no effort, and I put it into gear, checked the idle, checked the shifting. All checks out. Here's the specs:
1966 Dodge Dart GT
225 Engine
Bucket seats
Sliver Blue paint
83k original miles
Factory options include: Air Conditioning, Power Steering, floor shifter, and center console

I'll try to attach some pics of the car depending on how the forum rule work here.
 

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So, is that a "We bought it, it's ours!"
Good looking base for your build. What's the plans?
 
Yup. Its ours, just not in our driveway. Money traded hands and we have the pink slip. I will be getting the registration taken care of tomorrow. Should be picking up the car on Tues. or Wens.
 
Forgot your second part of the message. Plans for the car aren't anything super crazy. Most likely we will just preserve it in its current condition for awhile. Will use some rust converter on the surface rust and just clear coat the car. I will patch up the interior as needed. The driver's side a pillar cover is cracked as well as the dash pad. Most of the other interior stuff is pretty good, aside from the usual fading. This is going to be a daily driver for my wife so no big performance mods or anything like that. Mostly it will be just getting it running reliably and looking decent. Since it is her car I am leaving all the decisions up to her though. If she decides she wants to a killer exhaust and a turbo then she'll get it. Doubt that though. Ha.

I'll put some more detailed pics up once the car is sitting in our driveway.
 
Just talked to the seller this morning and I will probably picking up the car tonight as long as the tires get in early enough. Super super super excited. Had a question for the people out there though.

The engine bay is by far the worst looking area of the car, which is nice to say. Ha. The bay looks like its never been cleaned and is looking pretty nasty. Going to be doing a tune up and valve adjustment tomorrow or Thurs. but wanted to clean out the bay as much as possible while I am in there. Any advise about the best way to go about that? I've cleaned engine bays before, but it has been in prep for paint and without an engine, so a lot easier to do.
 
degreaser - purple power etc use in full strength, brush what and where you can lather rinse repeat. A good pressure washer would be nice also
 
Simple Green and a self serve car wash work pertty good too. :)

Welcome
 
Well it was a no go on picking the car up tonight. I called the seller when I got home to make sure the tires were delivered, and they were, BUT..... He forgot until they were putting the tires on that it needed a part that he had, but hadn't installed yet. I couldn't quite understand him when he said what part is was. Something bar. Only thing that comes to mind is a sway bar. He said that they were installing it now and want to do a front end alignment before I drove it away. Normally I'd be a little upset but it seems this guy is being professional about the whole thing and am more than happy to hold off for a day if he is making sure that the car is in proper condition for me to drive home. It is supposed to be done by noon, but I wont be able to grab it until after work. So...... pictures tomorrow.
 
Forgot that my wife snapped a couple of pics when we were there on Sun. There's a good shot of the great interior. Still trying to figure out what we're going to do about drink holders.
 

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Its got a sport steering wheel and its an A/c car too! Sweet 66 Gt!
 
welcome aboard, good luck with your purchase.
 
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