slantsixdan
=..=
This is my clean, straight, no-rust, low-miles, well-equipped and heavily-hyphenated 1973 Dodge Dart Custom. It is for sale to a good home! Detailed description follows the photos. The car's homepage is here.
Front view
Rear view
Left Quarter Panel (entire body is this straight and unrusted)
Holy wah…it's a Dart!
Front interior
Rear interior
Instrument panel (before add-on temp gauge removed & original gauge fixed)
Middle of dashboard
Right side dashboard
Door panel (they're all this nice)
Underside
Underhood
Fender tag
Safety Certification Label
On Halloween (looking down from my roof, lit only
by distant Sodium street lights, 60-second exposure)
And now the description:
This car reminds me of my granddad's last car -- that's why I bought it. It puts a smile on my face whenever I drive it (and it would do the same even if it weren't for all the smiles and waves it attracts). Not that there's anything wrong with the 2-doors, but a well-preserved sedan is a seldom-seen car. So why am I selling it? Because I have too many cars and not enough space. If that weren't the case, it would be an easy no-brainer to keep it. But I just can't.
All in all, it's a hop-in-and-drive-anywhere car in terrific condition with very minimal "surprise, you get to spend more cash on the car you just bought" factor to it. But it is a 39-year-old car, so there are a few negative points:
Worth and price:
This car was appraised at $7500 before many of the repairs and upgrades. This appraisal was not the typical ridiculously-inflated bulk-wrap one gets from those appraisers who will write whatever figure you want as long as you pay his fee; this was done by a renowned, widely published Mopar expert who is also a licensed appraiser. I want $6172 with all the spare parts.
The car is in Seattle and is in "drive it right now" condition; it will readily go wherever you wish to drive it, without any repairs or fiddlefutzing needed before you go. Please send me a PM if you'd like to buy it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4klU_rFK8ps"]1973 Dodge Dart (for sale) Cold Start - YouTube[/ame]
Front view
Rear view
Left Quarter Panel (entire body is this straight and unrusted)
Holy wah…it's a Dart!
Front interior
Rear interior
Instrument panel (before add-on temp gauge removed & original gauge fixed)
Middle of dashboard
Right side dashboard
Door panel (they're all this nice)
Underside
Underhood
Fender tag
Safety Certification Label
On Halloween (looking down from my roof, lit only
by distant Sodium street lights, 60-second exposure)
And now the description:
This car reminds me of my granddad's last car -- that's why I bought it. It puts a smile on my face whenever I drive it (and it would do the same even if it weren't for all the smiles and waves it attracts). Not that there's anything wrong with the 2-doors, but a well-preserved sedan is a seldom-seen car. So why am I selling it? Because I have too many cars and not enough space. If that weren't the case, it would be an easy no-brainer to keep it. But I just can't.
All in all, it's a hop-in-and-drive-anywhere car in terrific condition with very minimal "surprise, you get to spend more cash on the car you just bought" factor to it. But it is a 39-year-old car, so there are a few negative points:
- The engine wants a timing chain; it still has original early '73 nylon-tooth cam sprocket on account of the low miles -- it still works, engine starts and runs well, chain's not going to jump any time soon, but there's about 6° of slack.
- It'll want an exhaust system sooner than later. No leaks or anything; it's not dangerous or loud and it'll pass inspection, but the muffler rattles.
- There's a hole in the carpet on the driver's floorpan; I have a new premium correct replacement from Stock Interiors as well as a large bunch of additional new and excellent used spare parts listed below.
- Wants some door and window rubber seals; I have all of 'em brand new from Steele.
- The driver's window mechanism wants some attention. It works, but I think one of the rollers is not quite installed right.
- The engine temperature gauge works, but reads lower than it should. The engine reaches normal operating temperature, but the gauge doesn't quite. Probably just needs a new sender, which I have.
- Rear bumper chrome is in fine driver condition -- not show condition, though. Rechroming the rear bumper guards, which are slightly flaking, would bring it to "excellent driver" condition. I I have a really nice shiny '73 Scamp bumper which would convert the car to the nicer looking (my opinion) one-per-side taillights as found on '70 Darts and '71-'73 Scamps.
Now lots of good stuff!:
- 55k original miles. Still has all the original esoterica in the glovebox, including the briefly-mandated brake performance disclosure
- No rust. Undercar thoroughly inspected, cleaned, and epoxy-sealed
- No dents. It's straight as an arrow (or...a Dart!). There is one minor ding in the rear bumper, and that's it.
- 225 slant-6 engine, A904 Torqueflite automatic transmission
- Power steering, power disc brakes, factory air conditioning, lights everywhere -- glovebox, fender top turn signal indicators, under dash, trunk, etc.
- remote sideview mirror on the left and matching mirror on the right, 3-speed wipers with electric washers, factory tinted glass all around
- Nearly perfect shiny Dark Gold Poly paint, perfect black vinyl top, shiny stainless steel trim, virtually perfect original tan interior
Repairs & upgrades:
The car is originally from Kentucky, and still has an interesting Kentucky insurance sticker in the back window. I fixed the stuff that goes wrong with cars that sit too long and don't get driven enough:
Engine:
- Pulled the cylinder head and cleaned out the water passages, put in new valve stem seals, de-carboned the combustion chambers, etc. The cylinders look beautiful; they've still got cross-hatch.
- Doug Dutra blueprinted oil pump
- New exhaust manifold (real Chrysler, not Chinese copycat)
- New Mopar heavy duty (truck) vibration damper
Electrical system:
- New engine compartment wiring harness (repairing previous-owner hacks)
- New (not "remanufactured") distributor, recurved for optimal advance
- Upgraded FBO electronic ignition control unit
- New (not "remanufactured") alternator
- Upgraded high-current/low-resistance ammeter
- Exide spiral-cell premium battery, heavy-gauge new battery cables
Fuel system:
- New (not "remanufactured") Carter carburetor and AC fuel pump.
- Powder-coated aluminum intake manifold
Cooling, Heating & A/C systems:
- New heavy-duty radiator core and heater core, belts, hoses, and thermostat, running Evans waterless coolant (zero corrosion). New water pump.
- Inertia-ring type A/C compressor clutch installed
Undercar:
- Rebuilt the entire brake system, upgraded the front disc brake calipers to the 1976 (2.75" bore) items with cop-spec pads, cop-spec rear wheel cylinders (13/16" bore), new booster, new master cylinder, premium brake fluid, etc.
- O'Reilly heim-joint strut rods, new ball joints, bushings, idler arm, and Edelbrock IAS shocks all around
- new 5-leaf HD rear springs
- Premium Vredestein Quatrac tires
Body & Interior:
- New premium correct trunk mat and trunk lid seal
- Front seat resprung and refoamed, NOS correct vinyl material used with original fabric in excellent condition.
- Original radio has stealth (invisible) conversion to stereo FM/AM + line-in for MP3 player or iPhone etc.; new kick panels with built-in speakers -- no hack/cut type of speaker installation.
Spare parts:
- New-in-box premium correct carpet with upgraded "mass back" underpadding; set of matching "Dodge Dart" floor pads
- Set of four premium interior door panels in perfect condition, with arm rest bases in likewise perfect condition
- New-in-box rubber weatherstrips
- Rechromed '73 Scamp rear bumper described above
- Assorted mechanical parts
- Scarce heated (factory defogger grid) tinted backglass. Some of the grid lines will want repair; there's an inexpensive, effective kit available at any parts store to do so.
Worth and price:
This car was appraised at $7500 before many of the repairs and upgrades. This appraisal was not the typical ridiculously-inflated bulk-wrap one gets from those appraisers who will write whatever figure you want as long as you pay his fee; this was done by a renowned, widely published Mopar expert who is also a licensed appraiser. I want $6172 with all the spare parts.
The car is in Seattle and is in "drive it right now" condition; it will readily go wherever you wish to drive it, without any repairs or fiddlefutzing needed before you go. Please send me a PM if you'd like to buy it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4klU_rFK8ps"]1973 Dodge Dart (for sale) Cold Start - YouTube[/ame]
