Randy Bolig
Story Text
IT all started when Steve Shampine was a little boy growing up in Brasher Falls, New York. Steve's childhood friend's father had a used-car lot and the best motorhead training facility known to man-a salvage yard. Steve and his friend spent countless hours among the rusting hulks of cars put out to pasture. To say that Steve was hooked at an early age would be a gross understatement. After moving south and living in St. Petersburg, Florida, for 18 years, Steve got tired of his driveway being devoid of any hot musclecar iron, so he set out to quench his Mopar thirst. while combing through his local paper's classifieds, he stumbled upon an ad that had exactly what he was looking for-a '67 Dart GT with A/C.
In the course of the next four years, Steve was able to transform his stock Dart into the Silver A-Body you see here. He took everything apart, stripping and straightening the body by himself. A minimum of rust was present and summarily liquidated. In true Mopar Muscle spirit, a field-expedient paint booth was erected in Steve's garage with plastic sheeting and an exhaust system fab'd out of a plastic drainage pipe. Steve shot the car in Dupont Platinum Metallic base/clearcoat and added an M.A.S. fiberglass Six-Pack hood. Matt's Interiors of St. Petersburg was commissioned to restore the aged interior to like-new condition. the steering wheel was pirated from a '68 Charger, and the bucket seats were procured from an Omni.
Turning to the heart of the Dart, Steve deemed the small-block inappropriate for his needs. So, naturally, a 440 was the choice for power. The RB was punched .030-over and filled with Mopar Performance forged slugs. The 9:1 compression ratio will consume pump swill with nary a hicccup. The stock forged rods and crank were retained, and the ubiquitous Mopar Performance 509 cam was employed to bump the valves. A pair of 906 heads were massaged and fitted with 2.14/1.81 intake and exhaust valves, and an M-1 single plane intake and 850 Speed Demon top off the potent powerplant. A Mopar Performance electronic distributor backed by an MSD 6A box and a Blaster II coil provide reliable spark. The big-block is exhausted by a set of tti 2-inch headers flowing through a tti mandrel-bent 3-inch system with Flowmaster mufflers. To reliably ensure the RB's power makes it to the pavement without damaging the drivetrain, a beefy, owner-built 727 was chosen to transfer power through a B&M Holeshot torque converter to the rearend, housing a 4.10 gear and disc brakes. The four corners are held up by a set of Cragar wheels with BFGoodrich T/A radials. KYB gas shocks dampen the front suspension, while air shocks handle the back end.
Steve was exposed to the intricacies and sheer pleasure of working on cars from an early age, which ultimately led him to the classified ad for this '67 Dart GT. It's almost as though it was meant to happen, and that he was destined to build this stunning example of Mopar muscle. Is Steve satisfied? Not really. Seems a Hemi is on the horizon in the form of a 472-inch stroker. we can't wait to see where destiny's hand takes Steve next.