Ok, I guess I'll tell my story... Funny, I was actually driving in my 1968 Dodge Dart today and starting a video blog for a possibly new Youtube channel I kind of want to start, just for the fun of it. Too bad my gopro was lying against my windshield and making tapping noises throughout the entire thing so I'll refilm it tomorrow.
Anyways, back when I was in high school, for my graduation present my dad bought me 2 1968 Dodge Darts as project cars. I really wanted to work on them and learn, but I had no money, tools, or experience so they sat at my mechanics for a year. My mom got so mad at me, I told my dad to sell the cars so that hopefully someone could work on them. Both were pretty big projects for a teenager, imo. One was a hardtop that had a decent interior but a bad 273 and the other was a /6 post car that had a straighter body but needed a lot of attention. Anyways, I wish I had kept at least one of them but we let them go for practically nothing. Honestly, we could have made a lot more money on them but just broke even instead. I always wondered what happened to them. I believe the red hardtop was sold to a guy named James and I'm not sure who got the Sunfire Yellow one. I really was starting to like that color too before I had to let it go.
Anyways, about a year later (July 2012) I found my current Dart on CL. I had been bugging my mom about getting another car for a year and her excuse was, "What's going to be different? How do you know you can work on it?" So, I joined a club at school where they design and build a small off-roading vehicle. Anyways, I learned a little bit more about cars and when I had found my Dart on CL, I did what I had to do to convince a mother that her son is ready for a car project. I basically made up a 30+ page Powerpoint explaining why I should be able to buy an old car. She thought it was so funny, she had to let me get it. So the next day I called the guy and my dad and I visited him in a shopping center after work the next week. My dad is really good at negotiating and I know mopars better than him so we tag teamed. It was listed as a 318 car and as I looked around I saw a "273" on the exhaust manifold and asked to decode the VIN. I confirmed that it was a 273 car and that's when my dad started to chip the price down. He'd ask me questions in arabic asking what price he should offer even though my arabic is terrible and I'd just nod yes or no. Eventually we knocked him down $1500 off his already, pretty low price for a running 273 car and we had him take the car back to my house at night.
Anyways, so now I got my running and driving mopar and it's the summer. Why not drive the heck out of it? So I did... The first 3 mile trip around my neighborhood, the power steering hose blew up when I hit my driveway. Then I found the steering coupler!!!
That's right, that is scrap metal, barely welded to the only thing connecting my steering column to my power steering box... The more I looked into the car, the more things I found wrong. My striker peg area was cracked, the driver's door wasn't original to the car, the locks were installed weird, etc. I still drove the car quite a bit that summer and enjoyed it.
Towards the end of summer, my mom was going to marry her current husband and what teenager wouldn't want to bring his classic car to a wedding? So I brought it, drove about 75 miles that day. It was featured in some pictures and I really enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, when we got to the reception, the restaurant that served us really screwed us over. Basically, the reception ended early and as I parked the Dart on the inclined driveway to put the gifts in the trunk, the car suddenly rolled back as I attempted to put it in Park. Anyways, we go over a curb backwards and hit a tree. Luckily, no one saw and I pulled the car forward. The only damage to the car was a little scuff and a paint chip. I don't think I spotted any damage to the tree, it may have been a little more crooked than usual. Right as we're about to leave, my mom decides she wants to go home with me even though she didn't like the Dart. At the same time the manager comes out demanding more money and that's when things escalated extremely quickly. I got pissed, he threatens to put me under citizen's arrest (I just yelled at him. I'm not dumb enough to throw a punch). Eventually cops get involved and let us go. On the way home, I babied the car. I knew there was a brake problem so I only drove at about 50 mph and kept my distance from other cars. Well, to get to my house you have to go through some sort of hill. At the last hill to get my house, I knew something was going to go wrong. I told my mom and her husband, "So, this is what's going to go down. The brakes don't work well so hopefully when we reach that light at the bottom of the hill, the light is green and no one is there. When we get down there, I'm going to first slam the brakes. If that doesn't work, I will pull the emergency brake. If that doesn't work, I'm going to just turn this car and hopefully we don't go into opposing traffic." So we get down to the bottom of the hill. Brakes didn't work and I barely make the turn and limp the car the next half mile home.
From then on, it was just a year long battle redoing the entire brake system. That included firewall repairs, switching from power to manual brakes, redoing the entire KH disc brake system, and rebuilding the steering column. I eventually was able to take it to Fall Fling this year and have some fun. I enjoy the car every once in awhile. I drive her about every 2-3 weeks or so.
New plans for this summer is replace the leaf springs, install my 8 3/4, replace the T-bars, rebuild the suspension, and hopefully install a 360. We'll see how far I go.
This was the car about a year and a half ago. It looks pretty much the same, just dirtier. Lol. It looks uglier in real life. The paint was like a cheap-o $500 job by the previous owner.
i can't stop driving it 
