spinman1949

When I was 20 I bought brand new a 1969 Dodge Dart 340 Swinger. Auto / no Posi / 3.23 gears and because I burned the bias tires off it in a few months I shod the bad boy with G78 / 14 Goodyear Radials. You see I liked to chase down 911 Porsches on a road called Topanga Canyon. Folks who know the route to the beach from the valley will be nodding their heads. Big sweepers and long straights. Well after I got a vacuum leak fixed and took the POS single point out and replaced it with a Dual Point Mallory, this baby really came to life. Top end was down right scary. Pegged the 120 speedo soon after 3rd gear. 110 in second was no problem. Never wound it totally out cuz the frontend got scary light. Did some rejetting of that AVS as well. Primary side only. Took it to the strip which was hilarious for the crowd. Even had a prof photog take pictures as I tried to get off the line. The right rear just went up in smoke. Back then radials were not knowm for their traction. LOL !! Dropped the pressure in the right rear to 8 lbs and I could finally get into the throttle about 300 ft off the line. But even then I had to peddle it when I shifted into second. Or the right rear would light up again. With all of that I dialed in at 15.0 My best test run was 14.50 at 101 through the traps. I beat a Roadrunner. A 440 Cuda. And finally I ran against another Dart. 1970 340 with 4 speed, 3.55 posi and cheaters. we were both dialed in at 15.00. When the tree went off he left me like I was stone cold. He had at least 20 lengths on me at the 1/8 mile mark. But that is where my swinger was incredible. Once I got into second and could put my foot into it that car took off like a scalded cat. I caught him at the lights and beat him but alas I ran a 14:94. Too fast.

So here I am now at 62 and while it is not the exact car I loved so much, I am buying a 1969 Dodge Dart 340 GTS. It is in pretty good shape, but I may want some advise re steering and brakes.

Oh and another personal note. The girl I dated when I owned the Dart back in 1970 is now my wife. We went our separate ways back then but never lost touch. And after a failed marriage and her becoming a widow we ended up back together in 1993. 23 years after we dated. Used to go the drive in with the Dart back then. Too bad no more Drive In's. LOL !!

Anyway that is my story. Hope to have some fun on this forum. The political forum I am the moderator for is not fun.

bremereric

Welcome aboard....now you have movie places where you can eat and drink beers while watching a movie...I like the drive in's to...I coud sneak in a keg of beer in the trunk.

spinman1949

I see you are a Super Mod. Not sure the folks at my forum would title me as such. More likely a Dictator Mod. Wanna trade jobs?

bremereric

Iv'e been called many things. Main job here is to keep the peace which doesn't happen very often or ban a spammer which happens a tad bit more.

PK1

Great story, welcome aboard. Good to have you. This forum is excellent!!! All positive info and different opinions that are always back up with good info. Moderators here are top notch.

mr340

Welcome aboard, how 'bout posting up those pics you speak of.. BTW, we still have a few Drive-in theaters here in the north east...oke:

MReeves

Welcome to the forum.... Oh my ... The drive in movie.... Hadn't thought of one in a very long time.... Makes me smile just thinking about it... Too bad today's generation won't know what they are. Guess I'm getting old !!!! We do love pictures and would love to see some of yours.....

spinman1949

I wish I had PICS

The only pics the wife and I can find are of us on the beach with the two younger sisters we used to take with us to the beach. But no pics of the Dart. But she was the bright Orange / Red with the black top and the black swinger stripe on the rear. Oh and of course you need to think about the wheel wells being filled with huge G78 radials that rubbed on the wells at full turn. Believe it or not but that car could corner with those tires. Hard in with an early appex and ***** to the wall tail out acceleration out of the turn. I surprised many a porsche with that car. Oh yeah they would out brake me for sure and they went through the turn with grace, but if I had 1/4 or less of straight after the turn all they saw was my taillights and my desperate attempt to slow down for the next turn.

I will post pics of the new / used car when I take ownership.

78D200

Welcome!

rickyr

welcome to the forum

challenger

Welcome to our great forums , gota love them DARTS

67 GTX

welcome to the forum