1968 dart grill/bumper on 1973 dart sport?

[ratty dart 340]

Howdy yall, i'm sure this question has been asked several times but I can't quite find the info I'm looking for.

I've got a 73 dart sport with a 360. Pulled this old gal out of a private storage lot a few years ago and now I have push button start, ford 9", built 360 and lots of other goodies. I've been flirting with the idea of a front clip swap to a 1968 dart. I think it would be super unique and look menacing. this is her:

This is a picture i found on facebook, so i know what i want is able to be done. However, I cannot find the guy's facebook profile to ask how it was accomplished.

From what I have read in the forums and online, I believe all that I need to do is to get a 68 dart hood, grill, and bumper?
I think I can keep my original fenders. I was planning on removing the hood latch and latch support panel all together, and just using my hood pins to keep the hood down.

Is that correct or totally wrong? The other question i have, is what would i need to do/modify to the headlight buckets?


Not sure if I will go through with it yet, but just wanted to gain more info.

Thanks

 

[Kern Dog]

Years ago, I put a whole '68 front end on a 73 Dart Sport but I used everything including fenders.
Using the 73-76 fenders, you may see a problem with headlight position and how the bezels fit. If you're willing to remove and reposition the headlight buckets, sure...it would work.
Me? I don't mind the 73-74 Dart front end. It seems to be a room divider for many people though, enough to earn the nickname "Beak front end" to describe the appearance. I've owned several of them and actually liked the stock look. The '68 front end looks interesting because it looks like the factory could have done it. I've seen 67-69 Valiant front ends on Dusters too. Those don't look as good.

 

[ratty dart 340]

Years ago, I put a whole '68 front end on a 73 Dart Sport but I used everything including fenders.
Using the 73-76 fenders, you may see a problem with headlight position and how the bezels fit. If you're willing to remove and reposition the headlight buckets, sure...it would work.
Me? I don't mind the 73-74 Dart front end. It seems to be a room divider for many people though, enough to earn the nickname "Beak front end" to describe the appearance. I've owned several of them and actually liked the stock look. The '68 front end looks interesting because it looks like the factory could have done it. I've seen 67-69 Valiant front ends on Dusters too. Those don't look as good.

interesting. Yea i am impartial to the beak. Sometimes i think it looks pretty good and sometimes i think a different clip would be really cool. I have also toyed with the idea of a demon grill or even a sharktooth. I love the grill design from the factory, i just wish it was flat or indented.

As for the headlight buckets, how much fab do you think it would take to keep my original fenders?

 

[Kern Dog]

Not sure.....

This is my 73 Swinger with a 67-69 hood, a 68 grille and bumper.

The 73 headlights are set apart wider as you can see by how the green painted buckets are as seen through the RH bezel.
I love to fabricate and change things....If I cared to make this work in the black stunt car above, I'd remove the headlight bucket, attach it to a headlight directly, position the headlight where it is centered in the hole with the 68 bezel mounted to the fender, then reverse engineer how to reattach it to the fender stamping. I have several 73-76 fenders that I could convert to 67-69 fenders if I wanted, I just haven't tried.
It could score me a few bucks.....those fenders USED often sell for over $350 each!

 

[ratty dart 340]

Not sure.....

View attachment 1716395524

This is my 73 Swinger with a 67-69 hood, a 68 grille and bumper.

View attachment 1716395525

The 73 headlights are set apart wider as you can see by how the green painted buckets are as seen through the RH bezel.
I love to fabricate and change things....If I cared to make this work in the black stunt car above, I'd remove the headlight bucket, attach it to a headlight directly, position the headlight where it is centered in the hole with the 68 bezel mounted to the fender, then reverse engineer how to reattach it to the fender stamping. I have several 73-76 fenders that I could convert to 67-69 fenders if I wanted, I just haven't tried.
It could score me a few bucks.....those fenders USED often sell for over $350 each!

very cool. I think i will try to keep my fenders so i can keep my patina look and try to fabricate the bucket to fit on my fenders.

While i have the grill and bumper off i might dig into the 360 a bit more.

Thanks for putting me in the right direction.

 

[Jeff Seighman]

You know that looks great and strange all at the same time. Good luck with it and keep us updated.

 

[Kern Dog]

very cool. I think i will try to keep my fenders so i can keep my patina look and try to fabricate the bucket to fit on my fenders.

While i have the grill and bumper off i might dig into the 360 a bit more.

Thanks for putting me in the right direction.

I got a chance to snap a few more pictures. This is the headlight mount issue….

You can see the bucket needs to move over about an inch

Cheers!

 

[ratty dart 340]

I got a chance to snap a few more pictures. This is the headlight mount issue….

View attachment 1716395809

View attachment 1716395810

You can see the bucket needs to move over about an inch


View attachment 1716395811

View attachment 1716395812

Cheers!

Excellent, thank you very much. Those pictures will help a ton.