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............