E.T.D. 3 weeks and counting...and thank you.

Well, were now about 3 weeks out from the trip. The weekends have been a feverish pace of installing parts, ordering new parts and making plans. To say that this trip has consumed most all of my fre e time would be an understatement. The map is the intended route, A to G and back, more or less. There are a few folks that i need to say thanks to, for without their help, tolerance and love i'd never have made it through this project.

I've had the Dart longer than i've known Mike, but Mike has spent countless days, and nights helping. He was next to me in the paint booth on paint day helping any way he could. I couldn't ask for a better co-pilot for the first leg of this journey. If you happen to be in Dodge City Kansas when we roll into town, check all the local watering holes cause i can guarantee there is going to be some celebrating and rebel rousing. We'll spend a few days in Iowa, and then Mike gets to fly home.

I continue the route with my daughter who has been behind the build of this car from the very beginning. Regina has helped weld, sand, primer, paint, wire, reassemble, hold parts, polish and clean. And other than an ocassional shrug now and then, has never balked at any request for help. She understands my passion to get this car finished and she has enjoyed being part of the progress along the years. I've let her be the guide for the direction we take on the trip back from CT to AZ. She likes learning about all the cities and states we'll drive through and has a varied mix of things that she would like to see. (think, Rock and Roll, food, chocolate, the blues, science, the beach and good ole mother nature). Regina, thanks for always being there for me and thanks for hanging out this summer with me as we cruise the country.

And while there are plenty of other thanks and shout outs, they all pale in comparison to the huge thank you I owe my wife Becky. Over the past 5 years of building this car there have been a lot of sacrifices of my time, although i do think she enjoys when i am in the garage and she gets "alone time". I told her from the very beginning that the whole "dirt under my fingernails" was never going to go away. I also told her that if she ever wanted to know where i was on a friday or saturday night, to look in the garage first. Over the past 5 years both of those have held true. Love you honey, maybe i'll see you in mid August??

 

 

19 Days, 17 States, 6,000 miles.

The goal with the Dart was always to get it to a level of finish, and drive it to Connecticut.  But there never was a determined level of finish.  I badly wanted to get the car to Connecticut for the 20th anniversary of John's passing in July of 2011.  Sadly the car was not anywhere near being "ready".  Once the car ran, drove around the block and was reliable, the plan was hatched. 

Road trip summer of 2012. 

It all seemed to just fit together.  My wife and daughter always go to Iowa for a few weeks in the summer.  Small town, mid-west.  Always a parade for "Hudson Days" with plenty of folks riding in cool convertibles throwing candy to the kids that line the street for blocks.  Last year, as we watched the parade roll by, the light bulb in my mind flashed on.  "We need to drive the Dart to Iowa for the parade, then to Connecticut".  And we're going to hand out good candy.  At the rate the progress was going on the Dart it seemed like more of a challenge than a goal.  But as I said, if anything, I am a man of my word. 

I've spent a great deal of time in that garage over the past 5 years, working on the Dart.  Weekends sun up to sun down.  Several weeknights till the clock ticks into the next morning.  My family understands.  I think that most people that will read this will understand.  As I type this, it is a mere four and a half weeks until I start that car up, lower the top, shirt into first gear and head east.  I don't think I have put 500 miles on the car since it has been back together.  The convertible top has yet to be put down.  The seats are still at the upholsterers shop.  I think only a handful of people have seen the car since the side trim and the convertible top have been put on.  I'm waiting for the wiper motor to be delivered, because that install is the first piece that goes in before the a/c controls, and the glove box liner.  I'm missing 6 clips for the side trim on the front fender.  I have yet to order the weatherstrip for the top along with a few other items.  But no matter what, it's getting driven across the country.  19 days, 17 states, 6,000 miles.

The proper motivation.

The Dart was always going to get done. Someday.  Those that know me that if anything, I am a man of my word.  Fast forward the story to 2007.  Life was finally back in a groove.  My daughter Regina was now 7 years old, we had a house with a nice garage, my business was good.  In April 2007 I took my 71 Challenger to the inaugural Spring Fling Speed Festival at Willow Springs Raceway in California.  For those not in the know, it is a High Performance driving event for Mopars held yearly in conjunction with one of the, if not the, largest west coast Mopar show.  I suckered in some friends to go with me for support and we were also going to take in the car show and swap meet, but not looking for anything specific.  The Dart had not yet moved to the hot seat.

While at the swap meet, in the 2nd row, my friend spotted a faded blue 69 Dart 4 door riding on replica Minilite wheels.  To say that the convertible needed a donor car is only a slight understatement.  I found an open bank branch in Van Nuys on a Saturday morning, took my Challenger off the trailer and drove it home, 350 miles with race slicks on all 4 corners. Thanks Rob, the parts form this car are on the Dart, my Challenger, my friends 64 Valiant (I sold to him) and my friends 72 Trans Am. 



Purchasing the donor parts car was the gateway to where we are today.  I have literally thousands of pictures of every nook and cranny of the convertible during the entire process.  Trust me, most of them are boring and redundant.  If you want the Readers Digest version of how I got the car to what it looks like today, just read this forum post:

The Readers Digest version, thanks FABO!!

If the linky no worky copy and paste this:
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=110061

Here are the cliff notes:
The convertible and the 4 door got cut apart to bite size pieces, literally at the spot welds.  The best sheet metal from both cars, and the specific convertible pieces were welded back together.  I took the running engine out of my Challenger, rebuilt the 3 speed over drive that was in the convertible,  rebuilt EVERYTHING and if it didn't need rebuilding I polished it, painted it, lubed it, detailed it, re-plated it,cleaned it.  I think you get the idea.  The car got painted the first week of October 2010.  By the end of 2011 it had made it around the block safely, although needing a bottom end of the motor rebuild caused by years of abuse in the Challenger.  By early 2012 it was a full fledged, running, driving car...with no top, hardly any interior, no trim, no bumpers and a host of gremlins to work through.  It was then that the plan was hatched............

Time goes on.

I kept in touch with Lori and John's mom with letters and calls.  Every time I went back for a visit they were always on the must see list.  After John's passing, Lori's father became the custodian of the Dart.  I tried to think of a better word than "custodian", but none seemed fitting.  One day I got a call from Lori and she had told me that if I could take it, they would bring John's Dart out to Arizona.  John and Lori's dad got along classically and while John's passing hit us all hard, her dad couldn't bring it upon himself to work on the car.  I was told that everything was already set as far as arrangements and they (Lori and her father) would pack up the car and all the parts and drive them in a U-haul to Arizona.  By this time I had sold my first Challenger, purchased my second, which I still have after 22 years, and had owned several A body Dodges and Plymouths including three,1969 Darts.  My father at the time owned a 1959 Belvedere that my brothers and I painted and were working on his 1966 Plymouth Fury 3 convertible.  My finger nails were still dirty.

The Dart got delivered and once unloaded I was finally able to see John's Dart for the first time.  It was well worth the $75 he paid, even 8 years later!!  Unfortunately I do not have too many full body shots from the early days.  Most of the pictures were detail shots to remember how it all went back together.  I remember getting the car with fiberglass front fenders because rust free ones were almost impossible to find in the land of the rust.  And just as John had described there were boxes of tail lights, an extra set of doors and a pair of brand new quarter panels.  Matter of fact, there were probably enough extra parts to build another car.  The Dart was rusty as the salted winter roads of the northeast had taken it's toll on the sheet metal.  There was rust in nooks and crannies that were going to be difficult to get to.  But all the convertible specific parts were in great shape.  The top mechanism worked when a battery was installed, and the slant six ran with a gas can fuel tank.  There were no brake lines, but the front brakes were rebuilt Kelsey Hayes 4 piston.  And, if it wasn't for the rust, John might have been pretty close to road tripping to Arizona.

Within a year of having the Dart delivered, life started to get busy.  Wife, kids, self employed.  Keeping grease under my fingernails was still a priority.  I replaced one of the quarter panels on the Dart.  A job I had never done before.  When I was done, I wasn't sure I wanted to do it again.  I began to collect parts and trading the good extra parts that I had for good parts that I needed.  Some life interrupting changes caused me to lose some of my working space and the Dart went to storage for a while.
 

This was a year or two after having the Dart delivered to Arizona.  I can tell by the steel fenders and new drivers side quarter panel.  Most of the missing parts are stored. 

 

My only friend the end....

"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again..."

Jim Morrison sang the words as the Doors played.  John loved the Doors.  If you were with John, you were listening to the Doors.  Up until meeting John, I was not a big fan of the Doors.  Or Led Zeppelin.  Or the Beatles.  but Frank Guzzardi was the reason I couldn't listen to Zeppelin and WPLR was the reason I didn't like the Beatles.  I liked John so I started to like The Doors. (I've since grown to appreciate the Beatles, still working on Zep, but at least I don't change the radio when it comes on any more). 

On a weeknight in 1991, around dinner time, my mom answered the phone, then told me I had a call.  My life was about to be rocked.  On the other end of the phone John's mom told me that John was dead.  There had been a car accident while John was vacationing with a friend.  I remember her voice was very calm and I understood every word she said.  The call was brief.  My parents immediately knew what was wrong based on my side of the conversation they had heard.  I hung up the phone and started to cry.  I grabbed my car keys for the Challenger and walked out.  I drove to Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix which is a small municipal airport and watched planes for hours while I listed to the Doors cassette tape John had made for me. 

You paid how much???

I can still remember the phone call...
"Rick I finally bought a car."
"Really whatdja get?"
It's a Dodge.  1969 Dart Convertible.  Red.  With a slant six. It came with three grills, an extra door, boxes of extra parts........."
"That sounds great"
Guess how much I paid?"
"I don't know.  How much?"
"$75, plus I had the guy tow it to my house for another $40"

John had just purchased a 21 year old convertible for less than $100.  He told me the car was rough and needed work but that he and Richard we're going to work on it.  And they did.  As the phone calls and letters came, they would detail the other cars he was buying to rob parts off.  I think I created a monster.  John was going to school and working so the car got as much attention as he could afford it.  I'm sure Lori got to spend some time with him too ;) 
Things progressed with the car and the one constant was that John couldn't wait till the Dart was road worthy because he was going to drive it to Arizona to visit.  John sent me a video (VHS, remember those?) must have been in 1990.  Shows the Dart down at his grandma's garage, along with an old Hemi motor he bought to tinker around with.  Takes me along for a short drive up to his house.  The self narrated video shows John opening the door to his bedroom where he had been recovering the seats from the Dart. I laughed out loud.  
In early 1991 I got a call from John that his car made it into Mopar Action magazine (February 1991 issue for you collectors out there):

A history lesson....

Sometimes in order to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been.

I am sure that someone famous spoke those words.  But I am going to call them my own.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the late 80's I was going to high school in Connecticut.  I kept to myself mostly and had a few really good friends.  The two pictures on the page above were from my high school year book.  They were in love.  But you knew that if you read the first lines of each of their comments.  These two were inseparable.  Joined at the hip you may say.  Even beyond high school John and Lori remained together and I saw them often.  Pizza anyone??

John and I had a special bond, that made itself known in his yearbook comment: "Rick get the green machine fixed."  The "green machine" was my 1970 Dodge Challenger.  At the time we graduated it was not much more than a rusty 18 year old muscle car.  But it was green.  Sublime to be exact.  And it was cool.  V8, air condition, sunroof, and I spent every spare minute I could working on that car.  I loved (and still love) having dirt under my fingernails and the accomplishment of fixing something.  John would drive me home from school just to get a chance to see the car and chat.  At the time, John wasn't much of a grease monkey......yet......  We all went to a private school that required nice clothes and it wasn't often I saw John dressed in anything but a clean pressed shirt, but he never had dirt under his nails.  During the senior year John and I worked together at an auto parts store and I think it was then that his passion for things mechanical started to flourish.  Or maybe I was just a bad influence.  I saved enough money to get the Challenger road worthy and painted and within 2 years of graduating high school I relocated to Arizona with my family and that car.  I still have the pile of letters that John wrote me after I moved.  He would address the envelopes "Dude Man Dolan"  The letters always brightened my day, were handwritten, and would talk about his search for a cool old car. I would get phone calls and he would tell me about his adventures looking at a black 60's Chrysler Imperial, and other cars which my memory chooses not to remember.  There was a common thread through most of the adventures - MOPAR. 

Now if you glance back up at the photo above, there was another influence on John and his penchant for the Mopar.  His girlfriend.  With a last name like Dodge, you can't really side with Ford or Chevy.  Lori's father Richard was a mechanic and if my memory serves correctly he worked on VWs at the time.  But that's just a technicality.