" THE " ugly duckling of the early sixties. 1962 Dodge Dart

[gtx6970]

On 11/5/2025 at 3:16 AM, dragcarz said:

Great project Bill! I really like what your doing. I too have been sitting on a 63 Dodge and a Lindberg 64 Dodge kit to do what your doing here. A little more information on fitting the chassis into the body would be really appreciated! Looks beautiful so far!  

This work ?

 

 

[gtx6970]

MOST of the BMF work is done

Need a sharper blade to finalize the fender trim

 

Body . Interior and chassis are now one

Time to finish up the engine and suspension in next few days 

 

That little Dodge emblem was done with a VERY fine brush. My lighted magnifier and fusion chrome paint

Turned out A LOT better than I expected. 

 

Edited November 8 by gtx6970

[Trainwreck]

That's looking really good.

[gtx6970]

Trying to decide on tires 

Between close to the actual car with Black side walls

Or dual pinstripe White walls, which is kind of the way I'm leaning. As I think It looks "right" for the period 

 

With the mods/ variations im going to make with the headers and rear axle.

IMO its more a " tribute"  build as opposed to a replica persay

Parts pack tires . Rims from the Mobeius AFX kits

 

 

 

Edited November 9 by gtx6970

[gtx6970]

Slowly,,,,But surely

 

Rear wheels from the Moebius AFX kits

Rear tires from the AMT tires parts pack, Ft wheels from the AMT  62 Impala chromed with the fusion chrome paint 

 

Stance is too low in the ft for sure.  But I like it.

I'm calling it more a 'tribute build ' instead of a true replica anyway.

 

But I'm liking this one more and more as it goes along

 

[papajohn97]

Absolutely loving what you're doing here Bill with this early SSer. The slightly lowered front end stance shown above looks very much like "tribute" entries I've seen popping wheel stand launches on the 1/8 mile drag strip at the last few Irwindale Nitro Revival meets (😢....RIP).

Blairs was a legendary speed shop/ sponser of drag cars in the '60's, hoping someday to build a Steve Bovan AWB Nova match racer with a set of Fremont decals I've been hoarding.

Seeing these '62 Darts & Furys as a car crazy nine yr old when they were new, I remember thinking they were really weird looking. I learned later that they were the last Chrysler designs penned by the talented & tasteful Virgil Exner but were radically reduced in size and re-configured from Exner's original designs by the bean counters (probably why he quit?). I think the combination of the awkward styling with the raw violence of an open exhaust 413 Max Wedge in an ill-handling chassis draws me to these cars as an early SS drag car modeling subject. Maybe someday soon I'll pull the trigger and spend the $150 of my retirement savings on an unbuilt Jo-Han kit and just accept running out of paint & glue $ sooner?!

[stavanzer]

I love what you are building here!

It looks great!

[gtx6970]

9 hours ago, papajohn97 said:

Absolutely loving what you're doing here Bill with this early SSer. The slightly lowered front end stance shown above looks very much like "tribute" entries I've seen popping wheel stand launches on the 1/8 mile drag strip at the last few Irwindale Nitro Revival meets (😢....RIP).

Blairs was a legendary speed shop/ sponser of drag cars in the '60's, hoping someday to build a Steve Bovan AWB Nova match racer with a set of Fremont decals I've been hoarding.

Seeing these '62 Darts & Furys as a car crazy nine yr old when they were new, I remember thinking they were really weird looking. I learned later that they were the last Chrysler designs penned by the talented & tasteful Virgil Exner but were radically reduced in size and re-configured from Exner's original designs by the bean counters (probably why he quit?). I think the combination of the awkward styling with the raw violence of an open exhaust 413 Max Wedge in an ill-handling chassis draws me to these cars as an early SS drag car modeling subject. Maybe someday soon I'll pull the trigger and spend the $150 of my retirement savings on an unbuilt Jo-Han kit and just accept running out of paint & glue $ sooner?!

Thanks, I never expected I would like it as much as I do when I dug out of the oblivion  a while back.

Not that I can do anything about it now, But I Wish now I had done better on the paint work back then. Such is life I guess 

Im happy with it overall

The car will look great in my case with all the other door slammers I have from the era.

 

 

Edited November 21 by gtx6970

[Mike Holland]

Looking good. I think the 62 Darts were cool, not as fugly as the Plymouths. Wasn't the '62 413 S/S the one being sung about with the Beach Boys, 'Shut Down' song? 

[bill-e-boy]

Looking real good. The black wall slicks give it a more menacing look IMO. I think the white walls just made it look "pretty". Too pretty for, quote.

On 11/21/2025 at 5:38 PM, papajohn97 said:

awkward styling with the raw violence of an open exhaust 413 Max Wedge in an ill-handling chassis

 

[gtx6970]

A very small update 

 

I had some time today so decided to see what I could do with the engine.

Using the max wedge and auto trans from a Lindberg Color Me Gone kit 

I chromed the valve covers using the fusion chrome paint 

Pre wired dist from MAD

scratch made fuel lines using craft wire  and some crimp ferrels painted white to replicate inline fuel filters

chrome air cleaners from the parts box, no idea the original source 

With a little luck I just might have this one done and off the bench by Christmas. 

 

Its not 100% accurate to the actual car. But I can live with it

 

Edited yesterday at 04:21 PM by gtx6970

[Mike Holland]

Bill, reading back many entries, no way this car would have WW tires, especially with probably cheater slicks or similar. No way!  This was not a higher quality model from 1962. Zero white walls on this pearl. Very interest being, the original invoice, gotta love having a cigar lighter for less than $4 in your car.

Myself, I'm from Jax., Florida. Before obliging Uncle Sam, a neighborhood buddy got me a job working at the very same Dodge dealership that supplied Don Garlits many parts from his earlier days. You can read about the dealership on his '63 Dodge from back then. The boys in the shop were well acquainted with Mr. Garlits. I'm surely a Mopar guy. Had the pure pleasure of selling a year old Plym, 383 Roadrunner for dirt cheap, to my own brother. lol. He got a great deal! 

Mopars never had good, comfort qualities, the exception being the upper class models.  The basic Mopars mostly, cheap materials, but well built. And they were quick for not much money. For us younger boys back then, what's not to love?  My fave was a 340 Dart, 4 spd. Bought it dirt cheap with employees discount. Like $2300. The boys in the shop did their magic, ignition and carb tuning.....mercy. The sweetie ran circles around BB Chevelles and such. The Olds 442 were tough, especially with automatic trans. They hooked well and had tons of torque. My Dart would spin tires at launch. So, street racing, only a rolling start with a 442 Olds. Olds are cool. My absolute favorite Mopar from 1970, would be the 340 Duster. You could order things like, a white interior w/ bucket seats and actual real gauges in the instrument panel! For cheap, Mopars were a thrill. Even AC was possible! 

Bill, please excuse my ratchet jaw here. Just slipping in some real Mopar stories from back in the day. I just like to communicate, which may be a problem for some.

Mike..