plumkrazee70
Well-Known Member
I have been lurking here for a long time, and figured it is time to start a build thread. Sorry for the long post, but I think it is worth a read. 
I am the 2nd and 5th owner of this 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger.
I bought it the first time in 2001 (I was 14) for $400, it was my first car. It was dark green and sporting a 318, 7.25 and column shift. I quickly threw headers and a 4 bbl on it.
I drove it all through high school and for my senior project my dad and I did a scuff and spray paint job on it. After high school I wanted to put a 440 into it, and got done with the short block but couldn't afford to finish it, especially right out of high school. I didn't know what I wanted to do life wise so I eventually sold the motor and then lost interest in the car.
My brother asked to buy it so I figured better than it just sitting there. He threw an 8 3/4 in but left the 318 untouched. A few years went by and I ran into my brother and asked where the car was and apparently he never insured the car and got it impounded during a routine traffic stop. He didn't have the funds to get it out of the impound so there it sat and was eventually sold at auction.
Fast forward to 2005, I was on my way home from work and saw the car for sale in my however, the guy that bought it from auction wanted $4k for it. I tried to get him to come down, telling him the story, but no dice. After that I never saw it again.
Fast forward to 2011, my wife and I bought our first house and while we were unpacking I found a copy of the registration for the car. I took that as a sign that I should see where it ended up.
I had the VIN # and the plate # from the registration and an old poloroid sporting the way it looked when I sold it. So I posted an ad on the forums, craigslist and social media. No real hits, until one day someone called me up from Georgia and said that a friend of his saw the ad and realized it was his brother's car and to call me.
The guy said his brother bought it for $1500 and drove it up to Portland (5 hours north of me) So now came the tricky part, the guy that called me was in the military, so couldn't confirm if his brother still had it, but knew for sure he did within the last year. He gave me a number to call, however when I called it turned out that the owner of the car had just gone to jail and sold the car before he went in.
BUT he was due to be released soon. So I waited for him to call me back so I could get a lead on who he sold it to. He eventually called and turned out he had sold the car months earlier, so I was barely too late. He described it and sent me pictures and it looked identical as to when I saw it last (2005).
Now I was tasked to find the new owner, which proved to be the most difficult of all because as it it turns out the current owner of the car just went to prison on some massive drug raid charge. The previous owner and current owner were friends. I looked him up in the inmate system and he wasn't getting out anytime soon and the previous owner was not to associate with anyone of his past, so for all he knew it was still parked at the dude's house.
So from then on all I had was a name of the current owner, so I scoured Facebook and found his profile and his friends, non of whom returned any of my messages. So I searched Google for weeks and somehow found his previous landlord who gave me the place where his girlfriend worked. I called there and left her a message and sure enough she called back. She had the car in her possession and was willing to sell it, but for a hefty price.
She wanted $5k for it (no doubt seeing dollar signs from the story) I drove up to see it anyway and talked her down to $3k figured it still had a running motor, 8 3/4, MSD ignition, demon carb, etc. Some really good parts and the body was fairly straight minus the lower quarter rust. So we towed it home.
So that is my story. Now onto the build.
The plan has always to build it the way I want it, nothing too crazy just a fun street car that was comfortable and looked good. Here is how it looked the day we brought it home.
I am the 2nd and 5th owner of this 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger.
I bought it the first time in 2001 (I was 14) for $400, it was my first car. It was dark green and sporting a 318, 7.25 and column shift. I quickly threw headers and a 4 bbl on it.
I drove it all through high school and for my senior project my dad and I did a scuff and spray paint job on it. After high school I wanted to put a 440 into it, and got done with the short block but couldn't afford to finish it, especially right out of high school. I didn't know what I wanted to do life wise so I eventually sold the motor and then lost interest in the car.
My brother asked to buy it so I figured better than it just sitting there. He threw an 8 3/4 in but left the 318 untouched. A few years went by and I ran into my brother and asked where the car was and apparently he never insured the car and got it impounded during a routine traffic stop. He didn't have the funds to get it out of the impound so there it sat and was eventually sold at auction.
Fast forward to 2005, I was on my way home from work and saw the car for sale in my however, the guy that bought it from auction wanted $4k for it. I tried to get him to come down, telling him the story, but no dice. After that I never saw it again.
Fast forward to 2011, my wife and I bought our first house and while we were unpacking I found a copy of the registration for the car. I took that as a sign that I should see where it ended up.
I had the VIN # and the plate # from the registration and an old poloroid sporting the way it looked when I sold it. So I posted an ad on the forums, craigslist and social media. No real hits, until one day someone called me up from Georgia and said that a friend of his saw the ad and realized it was his brother's car and to call me.
The guy said his brother bought it for $1500 and drove it up to Portland (5 hours north of me) So now came the tricky part, the guy that called me was in the military, so couldn't confirm if his brother still had it, but knew for sure he did within the last year. He gave me a number to call, however when I called it turned out that the owner of the car had just gone to jail and sold the car before he went in.
BUT he was due to be released soon. So I waited for him to call me back so I could get a lead on who he sold it to. He eventually called and turned out he had sold the car months earlier, so I was barely too late. He described it and sent me pictures and it looked identical as to when I saw it last (2005).
Now I was tasked to find the new owner, which proved to be the most difficult of all because as it it turns out the current owner of the car just went to prison on some massive drug raid charge. The previous owner and current owner were friends. I looked him up in the inmate system and he wasn't getting out anytime soon and the previous owner was not to associate with anyone of his past, so for all he knew it was still parked at the dude's house.
So from then on all I had was a name of the current owner, so I scoured Facebook and found his profile and his friends, non of whom returned any of my messages. So I searched Google for weeks and somehow found his previous landlord who gave me the place where his girlfriend worked. I called there and left her a message and sure enough she called back. She had the car in her possession and was willing to sell it, but for a hefty price.
She wanted $5k for it (no doubt seeing dollar signs from the story) I drove up to see it anyway and talked her down to $3k figured it still had a running motor, 8 3/4, MSD ignition, demon carb, etc. Some really good parts and the body was fairly straight minus the lower quarter rust. So we towed it home.
So that is my story. Now onto the build.
The plan has always to build it the way I want it, nothing too crazy just a fun street car that was comfortable and looked good. Here is how it looked the day we brought it home.