New owner of a '74 Swinger
Hello everyone!
A little 'bout me, moved to Marysville, WA from Springfield, MO in Aug of 06. I work at Boeing as an inspector on the 747-8 line in Everett.
Now to the important stuff, the Car. I just bought a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger that started life out with a 318 but now has a 360 with a 727 in it. Paid $1800 for it off of Craigs list pretty much site unseen. The guy I bought it off of said the motor had just been rebuilt and it was running like a scared cat and had less then 100 miles on it. He had already gotten a quote from a shop to get the typical roof rust fixed and have a new paint job done for $1400 so I just had it sent there to get all that done.
My girlfriend and I went to pick up the car from the shop and while driving it home (about 30 miles) it started losing power and backfiring out the carb about 2 miles from my exit. After letting it set for a few min on the side of the road I started it up and it sounded okay with no sign of overheating or low oil so I thought I could just nurse it home and worry about it later. While pulling into town off of the highway it died so I coasted into a gas station and as I stopped the huge ball of smoke that I had unknowingly been trailing behind me caught up. Thinking I was throwing oil all over the motor I popped the hood only to be meet by a huge ball of flame followed by my manly scream and a quick calm search for a fire extinguisher with me saying "OH S*%T" about 16,493 time before finding one and getting the fire put out. It was just a carb fire and did not get anything important.
Short story long my mechanic (yes, sorry to say I do not work on my own car..please do not judge me too harshly as my dad did not love me..and he bought a Mazda B2000 back in 1986 so I did not trust him anyway) said that it looked like a 16 year old high school drop out went out after reading a hot rod mag and bought all the right parts but did not know what to do with them after getting them home. Another $1400 in parts and labor I now have the most bad *** car I have ever owned that is unable to stop without a good head wind and a brick wall to run into. Now I am having new brakes put on it and should have it back in 2 weeks.
This is my 4th Dart. The first one was a 4 door I had back when I was 19 or 20. After the 4 door I bought a '72 Demon with a slant six for $600 and drove that thing hard for 2 years loving every second of it. I sold it after buying an AMC American and as the guy was driving it home it dropped the drive shaft. Flash forward about 13 years and my then wife's dad had an old car sitting in the garage just collecting dust. That "old car" was a '72 swinger with a 318 that he had painted but then just parked in the garage. Paid him $2000 and drove it off. Had to sell it after getting divorced and I had been jonesing for the past 6 years for another MOPAR.
I am hoping to meet some other MOPAR/Dart fans and maybe get some pointers to get my car up to speed and make a friend here and there. After learning how to drive it properly I would also like to take it to the track and see what I really have with out having SWAT pull me through my rolled up window asking me if I knew how fast I was going.
Okay...I have babbled on long enough and I do have a few pics so please enjoy them while sipping wine and listening to some Baroque in the background.
P.S. The Camaro is what I am driving now but I am giving it to my 16 year old daughter this summer. She wanted a Dart also but I thought I would let her learn with training wheels before moving up to the majors.
Hello everyone!
A little 'bout me, moved to Marysville, WA from Springfield, MO in Aug of 06. I work at Boeing as an inspector on the 747-8 line in Everett.
Now to the important stuff, the Car. I just bought a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger that started life out with a 318 but now has a 360 with a 727 in it. Paid $1800 for it off of Craigs list pretty much site unseen. The guy I bought it off of said the motor had just been rebuilt and it was running like a scared cat and had less then 100 miles on it. He had already gotten a quote from a shop to get the typical roof rust fixed and have a new paint job done for $1400 so I just had it sent there to get all that done.
My girlfriend and I went to pick up the car from the shop and while driving it home (about 30 miles) it started losing power and backfiring out the carb about 2 miles from my exit. After letting it set for a few min on the side of the road I started it up and it sounded okay with no sign of overheating or low oil so I thought I could just nurse it home and worry about it later. While pulling into town off of the highway it died so I coasted into a gas station and as I stopped the huge ball of smoke that I had unknowingly been trailing behind me caught up. Thinking I was throwing oil all over the motor I popped the hood only to be meet by a huge ball of flame followed by my manly scream and a quick calm search for a fire extinguisher with me saying "OH S*%T" about 16,493 time before finding one and getting the fire put out. It was just a carb fire and did not get anything important.
Short story long my mechanic (yes, sorry to say I do not work on my own car..please do not judge me too harshly as my dad did not love me..and he bought a Mazda B2000 back in 1986 so I did not trust him anyway) said that it looked like a 16 year old high school drop out went out after reading a hot rod mag and bought all the right parts but did not know what to do with them after getting them home. Another $1400 in parts and labor I now have the most bad *** car I have ever owned that is unable to stop without a good head wind and a brick wall to run into. Now I am having new brakes put on it and should have it back in 2 weeks.
This is my 4th Dart. The first one was a 4 door I had back when I was 19 or 20. After the 4 door I bought a '72 Demon with a slant six for $600 and drove that thing hard for 2 years loving every second of it. I sold it after buying an AMC American and as the guy was driving it home it dropped the drive shaft. Flash forward about 13 years and my then wife's dad had an old car sitting in the garage just collecting dust. That "old car" was a '72 swinger with a 318 that he had painted but then just parked in the garage. Paid him $2000 and drove it off. Had to sell it after getting divorced and I had been jonesing for the past 6 years for another MOPAR.
I am hoping to meet some other MOPAR/Dart fans and maybe get some pointers to get my car up to speed and make a friend here and there. After learning how to drive it properly I would also like to take it to the track and see what I really have with out having SWAT pull me through my rolled up window asking me if I knew how fast I was going.
Okay...I have babbled on long enough and I do have a few pics so please enjoy them while sipping wine and listening to some Baroque in the background.
P.S. The Camaro is what I am driving now but I am giving it to my 16 year old daughter this summer. She wanted a Dart also but I thought I would let her learn with training wheels before moving up to the majors.
