Mopar Muscle Association UK

After many sleepless nights and checking online to see if I could find common sense I eventually bit the bullet and added a second A body to the Dave81 household.

Its not a stranger to the forum as it used to belong to Jeff over in Ontario Canada. When he sold the car and Don put up that he was importing I casually enquired about the car..............The rest is history!

I've decoded the Vin:
Its a Low spec car with a 225 1 barrel built at Hamtramck, Michigan on 17the April 1973. The interior was a Deluxe, vinyl bench in Y4 (Gold).

The exterior is now a dark metallic green. Now I've always had a thing for gold on gold and unfortunately sometime in the past the beautiful JY6 Golden Haze has been covered. Though after removing the door sill covers, looking at the aerial, its quite clear it wasn't an all in job.

No vinyl roof on this one.....all paint and as confirmed by the fender tag......This one was built to Canadian Specs.

History on this one only confirms its owners in Ontario, so I'm going to see if I can track some more history via previous owners....starting with Jeff.

Registered Owners and Dates I have:
First Registration/Owner: Unknown on 25/04/1973 - Ontario

Next Owner: Named on 08/10/1992 - Dresden, Ontario.

Next Owner: Named on 29/08/2008 - Chatham, Ontario.
Next Owner: Named on 19/05/2009 - Wallaceburg, Ontario.

Next Owner: Jeff....sometime in 2014 - Coldwater, Ontario.
Next Owner: Me 02/03/2016 - Kidderminster, Worcestershire.

Going by the gaps I'm going to assume that its gone out of state/country potentially at some point.......I'll fill in the gaps if I can!

The car........
Can't believe its 43 years old. It must have been garaged all its life (especially in Ontario) as its unbelievably clean underneath.
Interior has one crack in the drivers seat and a wrinkled dash pad (not cracked though).
Paint is misleading as its not 43 years old.....no history of when it was done, but I'd say at least 10 plus years ago. But very good from 10 foot away.
Exhaust....Jeff Special I think. Sounds like a bit more than a 6.
Engine bay.......Ugly compared to the rest. Cheap painting means that rather than mask or remove, they have covered the gold and painted it all matt black.....
I'll be spending most my time in here I think as with the hood down the car looks great. Open it and it just doesn't fit in!

That said, I'm happy as a pig in the proverbial! I love solid, honest cars!

This was bought as a ready to go driver, not a project.......Think its fits the bill perfectly.

Issues......
Leaking Carb and a seal somewhere has gone. I washed the Sea/Road salt off it as prevention of rust......err oops. It kinda filled the foot wells.

To be fair though I'm new to it. I've owned the Dart 5 years and never washed it!

Bar that and the need to fill out the rear end (the skinny's are lost) its Done.

Pics:







Paint:


Business end:



Underside:

Nice I do like that, looks solid

Exhaust is horrible.... It came like that.

There should be some gaskets for the carb in the glove compartment.

Wipers have just had the plastic bushes replaced, so should last another 20 odd years.

I was seriously going to put a turbo on it. People are having a lot of fun with slant 6 turbos at the moment.

As for the rear end needing to be filled out...... They were!

Oh, and don't believe all the old wives tales about all Ontario cars being rust buckets..... There are plenty of fantastic examples here!

Good luck with it Dave, I look forward to seeing your progress.

like the green on gold combo actually...

Good solid car, like that a lot.

I think that is a really good buy and top marks for Don for importing too!

smashin Dave

that pic of Jeff's with the slots on looks spot on, do it

Really lovely little car that is, Dave. Nic and I were talking with Jeff when it was up for sale. Had the night to sleep on it, got up super early and were ready to press the button and we'd missed out on it by about 4 hours I reccon. I'm gutted I missed out on this one.

Dean has just had a set of SBP steelies banded for his Duster and they look really good?

Cheers,

Jon.

looks well dave call by at some point and we will take a look

Well done Dave, a good solid car.

Spring cleaning soon and all the Dusters will be out!!

Regards

Arthur

Thanks Chaps.

Jeff wrote:Exhaust is horrible.... It came like that.

There should be some gaskets for the carb in the glove compartment.

Wipers have just had the plastic bushes replaced, so should last another 20 odd years.

I was seriously going to put a turbo on it. People are having a lot of fun with slant 6 turbos at the moment.

As for the rear end needing to be filled out...... They were!

Oh, and don't believe all the old wives tales about all Ontario cars being rust buckets..... There are plenty of fantastic examples here!

Good luck with it Dave, I look forward to seeing your progress.

Cheers Jeff.
Yes, got the gaskets thanks........hopefully an easy fix.
Love slots (as seen previously on the Dart), and it always amazes me by just putting fuller fitting wheels on them it changes the attitude of the car........Once the weather sorts itself out ill grab the wheels off and get the tape measure out.

Exhaust will get sorted eventually..........Once it's registered, I'll see how bad it is on a long run.

Jim......Drop by whenever mate. Will have the kettle on.

Forgot to mention in the OP. Big thanks to Don for all his help (importing and questions), and giving me first refusal..........Top bloke.

Yes, Don has the right attitude... I posted the car up for sale. At a bargain price. But that is because I did not pay much for it... There were quite a few people interested in it, I was answering so many questions, I was going giddy.

1 email from Don. think it said, "I'll have it. What are your bank details." Couple of hours later he paid. That's the way to do it..

Nice one Dave.
Good solid mope in the proper colours.

loved this car from day one ,remember jeff ,,,,just love the steels n caps ,not about engine ,just the way it looks ,,that green just looks sinister

good luck with it dave ,,I'm sure you will be happy with it

Jeff wrote:Yes, Don has the right attitude... I posted the car up for sale. At a bargain price. But that is because I did not pay much for it... There were quite a few people interested in it, I was answering so many questions, I was going giddy.

1 email from Don. think it said, "I'll have it. What are your bank details." Couple of hours later he paid. That's the way to do it..

To be fair, I'd not even said "hello" on the forum at that point... Didn't know a thing about how importing a car works etc. etc...
Amazing what a couple of months of education and exposure does? I'd fire off exactly the same email if the opportunity presented itself tomorrow. Never mind... I’ll know for next time!