in 1968 my newlywed parents spec'd out a 68 gts 340 4spd convertible, waited 2 months,,and 3300.00 later picked up their QQ1 convertible,,and withing 6 months my mom was drag racing it at island dragway in nj, and won all 3 outings. they drove the wheels off it until 3 kids and 12 years later had to let it go for a used Crestwood station wagon to haul us kids around. fast forward 36 years of sellers remorse and 30 of them searching for the car,,,and after doing a cpl years detective work,,on mothers day 2016,, I found their original gts buried in trees, brush and firewood. the current owner, after hearing our story, seeing our 45 year old kodak pictures,,gifted us the car back,,under the condition that we had to get it out of the overgrown forest ourselves. being 1 of 44 built,,,i couldn't let it die like this,,we got it out,,and while needing total restoration,,it is going to be saved, and given back to my mom and dad
& for thier 50th wedding anniversary. the project is well on its way and going great so far.
1968 gts convertible
- Thread starter jack68gts
- Start date
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doug 371
Well-Known Member
wow...that's awesome! congrats!
autopar3000
Well-Known Member
That's a great story. Or, it will be a great story once the car is done!
That's an awesome story with a happy ending!! Nicely done. Also good to hear the previous owner didn't want a pound of your flesh for a car that didn't mean as much to him as it does to you/your mom!
I have to ask though, how exactly did you track down where that car was? The car doesn't appear to be visible from any streets/roads? How did you know to knock on the owners door to confirm he had the car? It's a great story so far and I'm interested to hear about the legwork required to actually find it......
I have to ask though, how exactly did you track down where that car was? The car doesn't appear to be visible from any streets/roads? How did you know to knock on the owners door to confirm he had the car? It's a great story so far and I'm interested to hear about the legwork required to actually find it......
it was word of mouth,,and internet white pages,,asking questions,,etc. we knew who bought the car in 1980,,found his mother,,she remembered it being sold,,,ww tracked his parents down,,etc,,,,luckily it was super fast little car in its day,,so it was sold to younger guys who were all kinda buddies,,and sorta lived in the same area of nj,,,and the last lead i had,,was an address in rural nj,,and when visiting my mom on mothers day,,i left and went to my last "lead",,and the owners parents answered the door,,i asked if they had a son named henry who bought a dart convertible from a guy abt 1985,,they were 70+ years old themselves,,and shockingly said "if you'd like to see it,,it's out back in the woods". they said he had quite a few "projects" back there,,but had since married,,moved away and had a family of his own,,and they would love to see that stuff get hauled away. I told them the story,,showed them pictures from 1970 of me (3 yrs old) and my mom standing next to it,,and she made a phone call to her son,,and told her he was honored to gift us the car,,and told his parents,,"i knew i hung on to that car for a reason!"
VF69HARDTOP
Well-Known Member
Bloody awesome story there mate. I look forward to your build progress.
well done
Paul
well done
Paul
2fine69s
69 340-6pak Rag Top
Man, Super Cool Story. Please keep us informed on the build, and If I can help with anything, please let me know.
Martin
Martin
340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Congrats on finding that car. Looking forward to some more pics.
JDMopar
Well-Known Member
Contact member FJRdoc about the shop that has his Duster. After going thru body shop hell, he found this place and they appear to be doing very nice work to his car. It is in PA, so he can give you contact info. Great story on your car! Here's a link to FJRdoc's thread.
Finally getting to it!!! 1970 Duster 340
limegreen70
Pokorny Enterprise's
Awesome story. Subscribed
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