Found an original 340 car in a shed

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70DartMike

Too many projects
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Vancouver Island, Canada
I've driven past this car a bunch of times before, but never stopped by to say hi to the guy. Well yesterday I had the Dart out so I thought I'd stop by and see if he wanted to talk about the car and if I could take a look. Right away he was pretty tense about it, but I assured him I didn't want to buy it. He asked why I wanted to look at it, so I pointed to my Dart and said I'm into A bodies. Once I said that he relaxed a little and said he gets about 100 people a month offering $200 for it.
He has owned the car since 1981, when he bought it from the original owner. Its an original Vancouver Island car. He said it was parked due to having a family, and he built the motor to 11.5:1 and fuel prices was killing it for him. It's been parked about 25 years.
It's a '72 Duster 340, 4 speed, DANA 60, originally brown with a black longitudinal stripe and a black vinyl top, black interior with high back buckets, shark tooth grille, dual chrome sport mirrors, 340 call out on the hood, black stripes on tail panel, dual chrome exhaust tips, fender mounted turn signals, rallyes, front discs. No idea on interior options.
Its now painted black, still has the black vinyl top, needs quarters, interior work, and a possible engine rebuild.
Apparently when he was younger he pulled the original 340 (still has it) and built a '69 340 to 11.5:1, Isky cam, tunnel ram, cut the original hood, and put in 4.30's. Later on he took off the tunnel ram and put the original air cleaner on, 340 manifolds, 3.55's, and found another flat hood for it.
He had some pretty cool stories from back in the day, like driving it out to kelowna with 4.30's on it, or when he did donuts in the KFC parking lot and ended up smacking the quarter into the wall, which is why its now full of mud and why it was repainted black.
He said he wants to have the quarters done and is ready to drive it again, but isn't sure when that'll happen. He filled the 340 with tranny fluid before parking it, but is sure it'll need a rebuild.
Here's some pics. Don't ask me where it is, because I won't say. He wasn't interested in selling it, and I'm not going to bother him with that.













 
that is pretty low down for people to low ball the poor guy like that. He sounds like a pretty nice guy and hopefully he will get something done on it in time.
 
I sure hope he follows through, although if it's been sitting 25 years, I'll bet it sit another 25.

Most people I have approached say the same thing. I know of a Roadrunner, a Dart Sport, a Duster and a I think 74 Cuda all sitting out in the weather and the guy has been saying for 25 years he's going to restore them someday.
 
won't EVER be restored..25 yrs is way too long... at least its under cover though...
 
Give him your number and mention when he gets to working on it and needs help...
 
won't EVER be restored..25 yrs is way too long... at least its under cover though...

Not by him anyway, sad to see it in such tough shape

Give him your number and mention when he gets to working on it and needs help...


Good idea, I would love to donate/help working on Mopars while Im stuck out here....
 
Cool story, Mike.
At least the car still lives and hasn't been stripped and crushed like so many of them were back in the day.
As for if he will ever restore/fix it up, it's his car and he has the right to do with it what he wants.
Maybe if you talk to him again, tell him all of the body panels to restore the car are available through AMD, so it could be easily restored now!
Keep giving him nudges like that and maybe he will bite the bullet and do something with the car instead of letting it sit.
Tell him it doesn't have to be perfect for him to enjoy it again!
 
Nice find!
Givin it a bath would go a long way to motivate him.
Looks like it would be a nice car with some love.
 
I sure hope he follows through, although if it's been sitting 25 years, I'll bet it sit another 25.

Most people I have approached say the same thing. I know of a Roadrunner, a Dart Sport, a Duster and a I think 74 Cuda all sitting out in the weather and the guy has been saying for 25 years he's going to restore them someday.

Isn't it a shame,I stopped by a guys house in 2000.He has a totally original 1968 navy blue 340s fastback 4 speed barracuda sitting outside in the weather.I stopped by in one of my barracudas just to see what he was doing with the car.He told me he was going to restore it one day .
14 years later that car still sits in the same place,now the qts are rotted and the inside has condensation on all the windows mold all over the outside.
By all means its his car to do what he wants but geez could he at least have enough brains to get it out of the weather? :rambo:
 
Neat find, it would be nice to see him restore it but like some of the others think it's highly unlikely. I like the idea of offering to give him a hand where you can, should he decide not to you might get a call.
 
Nice find, offer him some help. This will give you a reason to leave him your phone number. Then should he change his mind you will likely get the first call.
 
We all know its never gonna be touched. Some people get funny when you show interest in a parked, neglected car. Like youre gonna steal their kid or something.
 
I stopped by in one of my barracudas just to see what he was doing with the car.He told me he was going to restore it one day .
14 years later that car still sits in the same place,now the qts are rotted and the inside has condensation on all the windows mold all over the outside.
By all means its his car to do what he wants but geez could he at least have enough brains to get it out of the weather? :rambo:
(I've told this before but anyways...)
My brother knows of a '71 340 4spd Demon sitting in a farmer's field not too far from his house. Been sitting there for many years. With no passenger side door glass. He asked the owner about it and got the usual "gonna fix it up some day..." line. Told the guy he could HAVE a door glass for it, and the guy couldn't even bother with it.
So of course some day he'll look at it, see that it's too far gone from filling up with water countless times every year (not to mention whatever else might have moved in over the years), and sitting in weeds that have grown up all around it, and want to sell it...
 
I hate to agree with everyone else, but after 25 years it really is against the odds that he'll restore it. I'm glad you're respecting his rights to privacy. It sounds like he's keeping it because of all the great memories. - And that's cool in my opinion. Even if the car wastes away at least he's still holding onto the dream. Life starts to suck once you give those up. If I were you though, I'd stay in touch with him. I have heard of a lot of cars that guys couldn't buy. But eventually the owners made a quick sale to someone else years later.
 
...there are 2 original winged cars in my local that are in the same boat..going to "fix them up" soon...yeah..
 
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