| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
A buddy picked up a '71 Dart recently and is talking about "mustgofaster" (this is the same guy who won the 2012 GRM challenge with a turbocharged Aries K car...). So, I had a free afternoon yesterday and was tooling around the junkyard (any excuse I can get, lol), and found an old wagon with an 8.75" rear, 489 case. Not sure on ratio or suregrip, but being a wagon my guess is at least a 3.23 ratio and its probably a SG. They built wagons strong back in the day and my personal base-optioned wagon was built with the same rear, with 3.23 SG. Guy quoted me what I think is a smokin' price on it...just curious if anyone has any ideas what a complete, drum-to-drum, assuming "rebuildable" 489 case rear would be worth before I drop some money keeping it out of the crusher. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Can't answer your question, but look forward to hearing more about your friends Dart. I would just love a 71/72 Dart Demon! | ||
| Hootowl |
71. Before EPA neutered the engines. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Okay, a 71! | ||
| Buellmeister57 |
I bought a 1969 Dart Swinger 340, 4 speed in 1974 for $1000. I was 17, won a lot of drag races, got tickets, got laid. Good times... | ||
| Ltbuell |
..those were cool cars and very fast...you got a great deal for that price.Several friends back then had 340 Dusters and Demons.One of them put 360 heads and a bigger carb on his and i believe a slightly "bigger" cam.....wow...what a difference.Already had headers..thing really was a quick car.LT | ||
| Aesquire |
Big Mopar guy here, but I can't help you with rear axle housing prices, I'm not plugged into the market anymore. I used to work at Legendary Auto Interiors Ltd. IT, warehouse, sales, cook and bottle washer. From a 2 man shop to a multi-million dollar business, all on the drive and hard work of the founder. They started with just Mopar interior bits but expanded to Buick Grand Sports & kept going. You need carpet, seat covers, etc. Go to Legendary. ( Or buy their stuff from Year One, if you want ) Legendary puts a lot of effort into authenticity, both in the stitching patterns and the actual grain of the vinyls used. In many cases the only source of really proper seat covers. I'm proud to say that when I worked there, the majority of first place winners at the Mopar nationals had our stuff. So I was very into the codes and what came with what, and how the parts were installed on the production line. ( like what was painted when & where. The judges know what should & shouldn't have overspray, etc. ) I no longer work there, so don't have access to the OEM trim books they have in their library, ( I could drop by and ask to look something up, or you can call them ) and in the "use it or lose it" category, no longer have all the trim codes memorized. I can tell you with dead solid certainty, that if someone tells you "they never made X" or "you couldn't get Y" that they could well be wrong. Dodge would take custom orders. My Buddy Mike ordered a Street Van with a 440. It ate Firebirds for breakfast. None of the fleet orders followed the rules, either, if a rental car agency, police unit, or sales division wanted something, they got it. ( red seats in a green car, etc. ) I know, since Dad was a traveling salesman for years, and his cars were all fleet. In fact, when he finally decided to buy a car of his own after decades of us being a "Dad has the Work car & Mom has her own family. Dad went shopping and was unhappy with the selection. So he went to our next door neighbor's Dodge dealership and Ordered himself a car out of the fleet/police catalog. ( the neighbor always had a Charger or other hot car. He couldn't get The '69 1/2 Daytona into the driveway, not enough clearance... ) Dad ordered a '72 Polara. Yellow, 2 door, black vinyl roof. Sleeper. Cop tires & wheels, pursuit suspension, cop heavy duty 727 trans, and the "they never made that" 360 light pursuit engine with a 850 Carter thermoquad. Pollution control? What's that? Time and again I was told they never made such a combo, but I drove it. Drag raced it on Lake Ave. ( and Spencer Speedway ) ( Lake Ave is mentioned in Foreigner's "Rev on the Redline". Did pretty good. I learned to do bootlegger turns in that car, and it wasn't unusual for guys I showed how to do the maneuver to wreck their cars trying. ( Yeah! 727! ) I also had a lot of people hit the brakes when I was behind them, since in the dark, a Fury cop car and a Polara look a lot alike. Ah, Memories. Light pursuit was in contrast to the 440 equipped pursuit cop cars. You wanted the 440 if you were patrolling the LA-Vegas run to catch Ferraris but the 360 handled notably better on back roads. Several buddies bragged hard on their Pontiacs & Camaros, but when I flipped the air cleaner cover, and turned the mixture screw, they didn't beat me. I did forget one night to change everything back before I got home and in the Morning Dad fired up the car, and the intake roar & burning rubber when he pulled out of the drive told me I was SOOOOOO busted. And I was. Dragged out of the house and told, "Change It Back. Now!" | ||
| Aesquire |
Oh, check overall length on the axle assembly. You can shorten them no problem, it just costs more. the 8 3/4" rear end is darn tough, and parts are not hard to get. | ||
| 1313 |
The proper spelling is Buick Gran Sport. Going fast with class! I guess it's clear where my interests lie - 510 ft lbs of FUN, 1313 | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
My uncle was a state trooper in Oregon and has a fun story about those old mopar cruisers. He said that he had to get either a thing or a person a few hundred miles "as fast as possible". It was a 440 equipped car and he mashed it good, maintaining top speed as much as possible. Whatever it had for manifolds got hot enough to melt through so when he got to the destination, it sounded like he had open headers. I guess it must have been like putting the poor thing on a chassis dyno for two hours straight. | ||
| Court |
Any FORD folks here? . . . . I have a stack of Ford brochures . . . 2006 F-150, 2006 F-150 Accessories . . a couple Focus sales brochures . . the $75,000 Ford FR500 Mustang Window Sticker card, SHO and so forth. I've neither the time nor patience to sell them on eBay. | ||
| Aesquire |
Auto correct is a beach. Best place to get rid of Ford stuff is a Ford forum. After years of bean counters that apparently didn't drive, & the quality control nightmare of Mercedes influence, ironically the Fiat people let Chrysler QC improve..... ( while the Fiat 500 rates terrible ) The Hellcat was a secret ( to corporate ) project from the engineers. Still can't believe they got away with it. The Demon is even more unbelievable. A drag racing factory special? Not since the A-body big blocks and actual plastic windows lightweight special order cars has a factory done it so right & so politically incorrect. You can say the Camaro has in it's top package a far better road course track day car with magnetic ride and super tuned suspension. ... and with the better than 'vette lap times & engine, finally a camaro that doesn't suck. Apparently Chrysler decided not to even bother competing with the handling wizards at Cadillac and Chevy, & jumped the Nostalgia Shark right back to Sox & Martin days. 800+ horsepower in the age of the Green Tyranny? Revolution, Baby! ( read in Austin Powers voice ) | ||
| Court |
>>>Best place to get rid of Ford stuff is a Ford forum. That's more work than eBay . . . it's headed to the trash . . . I, for years, stopped by Porsche and Ford every year and collected all the literature. I've got 94 containers of Buell stuff . . . I'm at capacity. Thanks :-) | ||
| Strokizator |
Apparently Chrysler decided not to even bother competing with the handling wizards at Cadillac and Chevy A brilliant move in my estimation. Very few people have the intention of taking their cars to a road course, and most don't give a rat's patootie how fast it can go around Road Atlanta, but every red blooded American male (and more than a few females) have engaged in a stop light drag race. Hell, that's what the '60s were all about. It's ironic that you can't take the Demon to an NHRA sanctioned event because it lacks a bunch of safety mods required for cars this capable. | ||
| Aesquire |
Actually you can. Until you break the time limit where they require a roll cage & pro license. The banned hype is from Dodge's ad campaign. They've been hyping this mystery car for weeks. More impressive is the attention to detail on heat soaking the engine. Using the AC to cool the intake is a thing the factory can do that would be hard for aftermarket parts...... never been done. Afaik. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Court, I'm a Ford guy. Very interested in the Mustang window stickers. |
