Of course, the Swinger was required to appear, since it was the Grand Prize giveaway, yet handcuffing it to a trailer or a transport rig just seemed wrong. Those who attended will remember how badly that event went down, which was made even worse by the intense heat and a traffic jam that would make a veteran Los Angeles driver wince. This was the year that the Street Machine Nationals made its ill-fated move to East St. Over the next eight months, CC documented the Swinger's progress with the finale in the Aug. I removed the driver-side valve cover and discovered a broken aluminum(!) valvespring retainer, and further inspection revealed at least three more that were badly cracked. I barely got out of the driveway for one last road test when the engine began clanking badly and was suffering from at least one dead cylinder. After some further rough tuning, I decided a drag test was in order before disassembling the Swinger for its complete restoration and subsequent giveaway at the Street Machine Nationals. I swept out the wasp nests and rat droppings, changed the carburetor to a Carburetor Shop 650 Holley, messed with the Mallory ignition for a time, and actually fired the small-block. Mopar aficionado Roland Osborn offered to transport the 340-powered Swinger to Los Angeles, and within a few short weeks, a Bright Poly Blue A-body with a Swinger 340 bumblebee stripe was sitting in my driveway. We actually tried to convince him to wait until the trade got better, but his mind was made up. ![]() That's when Coralville, Iowa, reader Tom Toycen offered to trade us his '69 Dodge 340 Dart. A few months later, we had horse-traded up to a Muncie four-speed that Stick Only rebuilt, which we then offered up for a best-offer swap. In the back pages of the July 1983 issue of Car Craft, we offered a used aluminum connecting rod up for trade. ![]() It all started innocently enough with a magazine attempt at the time-honored technique of bartering. Click the button below for a free full-color Mopar parts catalog.Veteran readers know the story, but for the benefit of those who have arrived after 1985, it's a tale of restoring a Dodge Swinger two times over. If you own a classic Dodge or Plymouth Mopar car, Classic Industries has the parts and accessories you need to keep it on the road, whether it has 4,000 original miles or 400,000. We've already admired his Buick, and hope to see the race car next time he's on the way to the track. Stephen also owns several other classic cars, including a Buick Grand National and another 1969 Dart which was built into a pro-street monster with a staggering 1,600 horsepower. Stephen still daily-drives his grandparents' car, and stops by our Retail Showroom when he needs maintenance parts to keep it running smoothly. The Dart's interior was also reupholstered in black, including the original-style bucket seats that came with the GT package. It rides on period-correct chrome Cragar wheels. The sheetmetal was repainted in elegant dark green, and new chrome bumpers, trim, grille, and lighting were installed. This 6-cylinder has simply been maintained consistently and well-cared-for.Īs for the Dart's body, it has been restored to its original condition. Not only has the venerable slant-6 never been machined or rebuilt, Stephen tells us it hasn't even been opened up at all. At the time of our photoshoot, the exact mileage was 428,139, and it's going up every day. Clearly Stephen's grandparents took excellent care of the Dart considering its astonishing mileage. ![]() He tells us it was originally purchased brand new by his grandparents, and he inherited it in 1985 when his grandfather passed away. Stephen Ruiz, of Gardena, California, is the current owner of this 1969 Dart. ![]() Its slant-6 engine has covered nearly 430,000 miles without a single rebuild. Such is the case for this 1969 Dodge Dart GT. Some classic cars are daily-driven year after year, decade after decade, racking up miles and soldiering on with incredible reliability. However, it's just as cool to see vehicles at the opposite end of the spectrum. We're always impressed to hear about "survivor" cars, found in barns or dusty garages in all-original condition with extremely low miles.
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