ON THE TRACK

After spotting Aaron’s oh-so-tough two-door-post Dart at the Chryslers on the Murray’s track day, I had to have a closer look.

Some cars simply live up to the muscle car tag that they are given. Whilst many still refer to a nicely restored Mustang, Chevelle or Challenger as a muscle car, its cars like this Dart that take that description to the next level. For me, this Mopar is muscular, with its stout 500cube big block jammed into the engine bay, the menacing stance and the mini-tubbed rear end. And the sound…damn! I’m sure there’s footage from the recent Chryslers on the Murray driving events, where Aaron gave the big block every opportunity to show the rear tyres that they were not worthy!

The ’67 Dart two-door post (or two-door sedan as some call it) is a rare car in Australia. In fact, if Aaron’s mate hadn’t decided on selling this one, chances are of use and abuse. Aaron’s name has appeared on the rego papers for 14-years now, and the body and 2K black paint were sorted some eight years ago by Barry’s Paint & Panel. Body mods are minimal such as removing the badges and mouldings, tubbing the body to the rails and fitting the familiar “Mopar-esque” bonnet scoop. Satin finish Street Pro wheels measuring 17x4.5 and 15x10-inches complete the tough street look Aaron was after.

Under that rather large scoop sits a big block sporting 500-cubes of raw Mopar muscle. Whilst in theory, having a big block under any bonnet is a good thing, but trying to fit that lump of engine into the confines of the relatively small A-body engine bay isn’t as straight forward as you’d think. And trying to find suitable engine parts locally proved to be stressful as well. Built by AK Fabrications, the single carb fat block makes around 450-horsepower on 98 pump fuel with the factory block comprising of a Scat crank and rod combo, SRP pistons, Mahle oil pump, a factory sump and a wildly idling Howard’s cam. The heads are alloy Edelbrock RPM items and a perfectly matched to the intake manifold from the same catalogue. Supplying ample amounts of fuel via the Quick Fuel high-volume pump is the 850cfm Quick Fuel carb. AK Fabrications also built the custom headers with 4-inch merge collectors and dual 3-inch exhaust system.

A B&M-spec 727 auto trans is mated up to the big block using a Red Diamond 4000rpm converter to handle the grunt, with gear selections made via the retro-cool Hurst Lightning Rods. The power is then sent through a 4-inch Spicer tailshaft to the narrowed 9-inch diff featuring an alloy centre, True-trac with 3.55-gears and Dutchman 35-spline axles. That’s one hell of a tough driveline in anyone’s language. There’s no doubt that this car is setup more for straight-line action, but it does see plenty of street use, so Aaron made sure the suspension and brakes were up to the task. Keeping the Dart bearable on the street meant updating the shocks to Calvert’s (90/10’s on the front and adjustable on the rear), adding split mono leaf and adding 1-inch Torsion bars to the nose. The original brakes up front were replaced with ’68 GT Dart discs and calipers, whilst the 11-inch Ford drums handle the rear with ease.

In stark contrast to the all-black exterior, the Dart sports a bright red interior where Red vinyl has been used to cover the factory bench seats (the rear modified to suit the wheel tubs), door trims and headlining. The dash has been painted red to suit, as has the standard issue steering wheel. The dash now has extra AutoMeter gauges added to give Aaron a more accurate reading of what’s happening in and around the Dart, whilst the Hurst Lightning rods take pride of place on the trans tunnel – the knobs of which are also colour coded. The carpet is of course, red as well…

Owning a rare car in Australia offers up all kinds of problems when trying to locate certain parts, but thankfully, Aaron has hooked up with a fellow ’67 Dart owner in the USA who has helped out many times with parts when needed. So, what’s next for the Dart? Aaron has tipped that there’s a bigger brake upgrade coming along with air-conditioning and there’s a possibility that if he ever decided to redo the paint work, the Dart would emerge a different colour. Aaron told us that it will never be a show stopper – even though it has won a few trophies over the years, but insists this Dart is a definite driver. And can you blame him?

For me, this Mopar is muscular, with its stout 500-cube big block jammed into the engine bay, the menacing stance and the mini-tubbed rear end.

THANKS TO: Obviously, my wife for putting up with the lonely nights and dollars spent. Big thanks to Ash Knowles from A K fabrication. He has pretty much turned spanners on this for years, and built my first engine way back (before I zinged it and snapped a rod at 120mph) He built the current stroker 3 years ago and continues to assist with anything I come up with. He has just fitted a set of custom 2” headers which let the old girl breathe a lot better. Kingston Auto electrics help keep the smoke in the wires! Apart from that I do as much myself as I am able.