1973 Dodge Dart Swinger History | |
Welcome to the history of my pride and joy. I originally purchased this car in 1978 from my dad's mechanic for $1,500.00. It was his wife's car and had 41,000 miles on a 318 cu. in. 2bbl. small block Chrysler engine. I had a lot of fun with it, seeing it was my first car. Allow me to give you a photographic tour of what was then, and what I did to end up with what is now. | |
Below: This is the original body and paint and yes, it had hub caps when I bought it. | |
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Tacky huh? Well if you think this is bad, look below and see the "power plant" | |
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Not a pretty sight, now is it? Well as time went by, some changes were made. First, of course, came the body. Below you will see the first paint job. Take note that I already had removed most of the rust attracting moldings and trims. | |
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You see, it did have hub caps! Now we get into some major body work. Below you see the first color change to "Mercedes-Benz" paint called "Thistle Green" and note the new "Sand Gray" padded vinyl roof. This gave the car a look of elegance. The rims helped too. | |
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The car stayed like this for a few years with minor engine modifications, but nothing too extreme. When I got fed up looking at the same car everyday, instead of selling, I decided for another paint change. Below you see the result. | |
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No, I did not drive it in the winter!!! This is the day it came back from the body shop and was put to sleep right away. The color was "limousine black" retaining the same top and rims. What a difference a color makes!!! This gave the car a "mean" look. The one drawback was that the "cops" thought so too!!! Talk about getting tickets!!! Well, you live, you learn. I kept this color for a few more years until I once again got tired of the look, so guess what? Yup, paint shop here we come!!! | |
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So what about this combination? We have the "Cragars", the "Goodrich T/A's", the dual exhaust, the "Hooker Headers", the "Purple Shaft", the 340 cu.in. engine with all the frills. I liked this the best so far. So did the cops.( ha, ha ). The car remained as shown up until August of 1996 when someone did a nice vandalism job on it. Thanks to my insurance broker for suggesting I have evaluations done yearly. The damages exceeded $3,000.00. So here we go again, back into the shop. What you see below is the final product, and I'm leaving it this color for good!!! | |
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Welcome to "Plum Crazy"!!! This is my favorite to date. This is an original Chrysler color from the late sixties and early seventies. Now I can "honestly" say that I love my car!!! You will also note the lack of the vinyl top. Looks like a different car once again. The point being, if you are tired of looking at the same car, day in and day out, give it a paint job and you will end up spending less money than you would should you decide to buy a new car, and have yourself a "new" car to enjoy for many years to come. | |