Please forgive me...

[legopnuematic]

I bought a Swinger. A 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger. I love my GM products but I have been heavily influenced by Mopar's in my life. General Lee, Bullit, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Duel, Brewster Mccloud, Blues Brothers (Granted most of those are B or C body's, but still have always taken a liking to them), with my good friend and boss having a 69 Roadrunner and another 69 that he has been building, his brother has a killer 1970 340 swinger that is a MR. Norms car.

So for the last couple years I have been on and off looking for an A body, because I don't have enough going on. But this was a really good deal and I couldn't not get it.

As stated earlier it is a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger, with a 225 slant six and 904 transmission, with factory air conditioning and power steering. This car and a red 1972 Swinger came up on marketplace as someone gauging interest for if anyone was interested in them, as he did not own them but could buy them, so a finders fee essentially, sort of for ***** and giggles I got in contact with him and talked and he was thinking around $2500 per car, was a little more than I wanted to spend, but didn't lose interest. Fast forward a week or two and I get a message saying that his price is $1500 per car, and if I was still interested, I told him I was, I was told I was second in line. Then came the day of which the 1st guy was supposed to look at them and was a no call no show, So I got bumped up and set up a time and date and my boss and I took last Friday off to go look at it. Ended up getting it for $1400, with a good Illinois title, the original window sticker, all of the factory literature for the warranty and manual, notes of every service and gas fillup. Has 102xxx miles on the clock and not much rust for being an Illinois native. When I lifted the front seat up the Broadcast sheet was still under there and in very nice shape.

So the plan is to put disc brakes up front using 73-76 A-body parts, and convert to 5x4.5 and likely run a set of 14" Rallye wheels. Going to keep the slant as it runs pretty good and auto for now, really just want a fun little driver that will be decent on gas and have high class. If I come along a good deal on a B engine or LA/magnum I mag snag one up to have if I decide otherwise.

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[legopnuematic]

Matching Broadcast sheet in good condition under the seat.

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This car and its red 72 brother were owned by the same family, with the 72 having been bought in 72 and this 71 being bought in 74 so its a 3 owner, Original paint, Unmolested car. As much as I hate saying that, it really is the case with this car.

 

[Snoots]

Should be a nice sleeper with a built 340 in there!

 

[WebMonkey]

yeah, i'm a little jealous.

an unassuming dart with a factory v8 always comes back in my mind as a 'car i'd like to have'.

 

[HOTFOOT]

It needs a hellephant

 

[legopnuematic]

So overall the car is not too rusty, floors are pretty good, front subframe is really nice, exterior as seen above is pretty good too, but its not all great, as with most any unibody mopar there is rear frame rail rot, this being no exception. I was cleaning the area above the gas tank to prepare it for when the new tank arrives and started jabbing and more holes kept showing up, along with what must be 1/4 of the state of Illinois' dirt, and mouse nests in the rails. The drivers side seems to be the worse of the two. Tonight I began with making some wood hammer forms and worked on getting the first frame rail replacement piece made up.

Although it does not look bad from the outside, the series of holes along the bottom suggests the inside is another story.

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Started with this piece, I could pony up the $600 to buy replacement rails, but I think that I can use what I have and fix the originals, as the arch and fronts are in better shape. Scraped the undercoating off but need to wire wheel really good to confirm that where I plan on cutting is solid. With the front joint I plan on adding some fish plating to aide a little bit more with spreading out the stress in that area.

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[Dave M]

Nothing wrong with a mopar, I've got a '35 Plymouth coupe I'm looking to shoehorn a 383 B block Chrysler into

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[Turbo4whl]

It needs a hellephant

I had to Google this, only $30,000 plus $2200 for the install kit if you want it too.

Hellephant = 1000 HP That's $30 per HP

My first car was a 1964 Plymouth Fury, paid $300 in 1970.
Wish I still had that car.

 

[dusterdude]

Excellent!!!

Sent from my LM-X420 using Tapatalk

 

[Catbox]

That is a fine looking car.
I have had a like for those for a long time.

 

[Poppy 87]

Nice score! Others may argue, but that slant 6 is arguably the best inline engine. Those fvcking engines are bullet proof! Think you may have to change front K member for V8 though

 

[fast68chevy]

i had a baby blue 72 dart swinger 318 bone stock repainted clean inside and out was a nice daly driver.. in the later 1990s. sold it and some kid got a hold of it and screwed it up and now its been gone MIA for lots of years dunno where it went.. the only bad thing on these cars is the front control arm can break.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I will forgive you this ONCE

 

[DoubleDingo]

First off, no apology needed. It's a classic car. Second, it's a nice classic car. Nice score!

 

[45tt]

That’s awesome and it’s a beautiful car! No need to apologize. We all like cars from different manufacturers that we’d love to own if given the opportunity. I’m still a Mopar guy and have owned many vintage Dodge’s and Plymouth’s including 4 darts. I’m currently eyeing a 72 Demon with a Slant. Someday I’ll have another abody. Enjoy it and keep the Slant! It’s the most reliable engine I’ve ever experienced in any of my classics.