If this story has given you the urge to look for that phantom Max Wedge '62 Dart that's older than this one, Jeff has this advice if you come upon a barn filled with early B-Bodies. "If you find one and you don't need it, give me a call and I'll take it!" He adds, "If you have a passion to build it your way, then you buy it in accordance to what you're looking for. Two-door sedans are hard to find-there are more hardtops out there now then there are sedans. Buying one that's already done is great-one man's loss is another man's gain. I've always had a passion for doing them my way, and trying to make them as era-correct as possible. That's the fun that I've had doing these."
Fast Facts
'62 Dodge Dart two-door sedan
Owned by: Jeff Miranda, Pompano Beach, Florida
Mopar Power
- Engine: The first of the "Max Wedges"-a 413-inch RB packed with 11.25:1 compression pistons, high-lift camshaft, and topped by a short-ram intake manifold wearing two huge four-barrel carburetors.
- Transmission: An Art Carr-modified 727 Torqueflite, with dash-mounted pushbuttons. (One big reason why this car won automatically.)
- Rearend: 8 3/4-inch with 3.91:1 rear gears.
Sure-Grip
- Suspension: Restored stock '62 B-Body (Front Longitudinal torsion bars with tubular shocks (Rear) HD leaf springs with tubular shocks
- Brakes: As good as there were back then: 11-inch-diameter drum-and-shoe brakes all around, no power assist.
- Wheels: Era-correct American Racing Torq-Thrusts on Inglewood Tire Service 8.20-15 slicks in back, with a pair of chromed Hudson wheels wearing a pair of vintage BFGoodrich "Silvertown" bias-ply skinnies in front.
High Impact
- Body: Original '62 Dodge B-Body two-door sedan unibody, all steel. (And, in the case of the '62 Dodge, with styling only a Mopar devotee would love.)
- Paint: One repaint in its original Medium Blue Poly finish, with era-correct lettering added later.
- Interior: Low-line Dart all the way-vinyl-upholstered bench seats, front and rear. Dash-mounted pushbuttons control the 727. Dash still has heater/defroster pushbuttons and OEM radio delete plate.