1968 Dodge Dart GTS - Feather Weight Contender

The LA 340 powerplant was immediately pulled from between the fenders and sent to John Krag of Krag Magnetos in Memphis. The block was bored .30 over and decked. Fred had the compression bumped up to 11 to 1 with TRW slugs on stock reconditioned rods. The Crane hydraulic cam rolls at .467 intake and .494 for the exhaust pushing up the Crane High-Intensity lifters. For the top end, Fred wanted to mess with the production timeline and make his 340 Dart a 340 Dart T/A. A pair of Mopar X-Heads was milled, ported, and polished with a competition valve job, loaded with TRW valves, Crane valvesprings, and Dove aluminum rockers. An Edelbrock-built original Chrysler AAR/T/A intake manifold with the appropriate trio of Holley carburetors rests atop the stout powerplant. Fred also installed a pair of tti headers with large 211/42-inch tubes and Dynomax Turbo mufflers for pumbing the spent gases out past the rear bumper.

The Chrysler A-833 four-speed manual transmission needed little-to-no work and was mated up to a Hurst shifter. Fred mated the gearbox up to a Chrysler 8 3/4 rear with a 4.10 geared Sure Grip differential. For suspension, Fred chose to leave well enough alone, keeping the stock power drums at all four corners stopping the redline-wrapped steel 14-inch rims. New polygraphite bushings were pushed in for a stiffer, more responsive ride with KYB shocks. Within the short time that Fred owned the car, he had stripped it down to a shell and piecemealed the entire car back together.

With the Dart rolling on its own, it was then taken to Ron Foster for the final bodywork and paint. Fred had tackled some of the body labor himself, but he knew he needed a professional's touch. Ron was more than willing to let Fred assist in sanding and wet-sanding the A-Body's panels over and over again to get that perfect final shine. What resulted from all of that labor was a near-perfect example of a Dart GTS.

Fred took the Dart back home and started installing the interior himself. As a carpet contractor, Fred knows a thing or two about interior accommodations. The dark green rug by Auto Custom Carpet was installed without a flaw, as were the Legendary vinyl bucket seat covers. Fred kept the GTS interior options (e.g., the faux woodgrain steering wheel), but modified the Dart slightly by installing a radio block-off plate; as Fred says, "there's no better music than that coming out of the motor."

Since the GTS' completion, Fred has been meticulous about keeping the little A-Body in pristine condition. Living in the South, Fred has gone to extra lengths to keep the Dart out of the rain. He tells us, "I have never let a drop of water touch it since it was wet-sanded in 1991." With all that power pumping out of that 340 lung, we hope to see a few drops of H2O hit the rear quarters when heating up some slicks in the water box.