Upon first glance, you may not think twice about this little Dart Swinger. Its plain brown wrapper makes one think it's somebody's grandmother's car. Well, that's just what Greg Ondayko was shooting for when he built it. "I wanted everything to appear factory, but I wanted it to be heavily modified," he says. While this isn't a new gimmick, doing so with Slant Six is. After closer inspection you'll find all the right parts in the right places and a glovebox full of 14-second time slips.
In 1998, Greg's father, George, was the owner of a used car lot in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. He was an avid Mopar collector and owned an assortment of cars in various states of restoration. Another local dealer had just taken in a '69 Swinger and offered it to George. It was in fine mechanical shape, but the floors were rusted through. This didn't stop him from buying it since he still felt the Slant Six-powered A-Body would make a nice project car.
Not too long after his father took possession of the car, Greg mentioned to him that he wanted to build a Slant Six-powered car with a Hyper Pak intake. The freshly acquired Swinger would be the perfect candidate, and he took over the project from there. He purchased one of the last Hyper Pak reproduction intakes off the shelf of Slant Six builder extraordinaire, Doug Dutra. This was enough motivation to fuel the rest of the project.
This sight is becoming less...
This sight is becoming less common as many A-Body owners have decided to ditch their Slant Six engines and replace them with a small-block. As it sits, there is little hint as to what's going on inside. It produces enough power to shoot the Swinger into the 14s in the quarter-mile.
Surprisingly enough, the harsh winters of Pennsylvania had taken their toll, but the A-Body still wore its original paint and interior. That didn't mean it wasn't trashed, though. The interior had deteriorated from the sun to the point that Greg needed to replace every piece of plastic and soft trim, except the steering wheel. On the outside, he sanded the body down so it was ready for paint and had the bumpers rechromed. It was sent to Jamie Codispottti Auto Body in West Mifflin to have the body smoothed out and painted in the factory color scheme of two-tone Copper Metallic on the roof and Light Bronze on the body. Once sprayed, it was decorated with new, and gently used, bezels, grille, and chrome trim and emblems.
Greg knew he wanted to race the car from day one. That meant the 7 1/4-inch rear and three-speed on the column had to go. An overkill 8 3/4-inch rear was chosen for its incredible strength and durability. The transmission is now an 833 four-speed. This required Greg to install a transmission hump. He currently has three different 833s built with a variety of gear ratios so that he can use the optimal ratios for his intended purpose. "When set up for highway use, the Slant Six can achieve 24 mpg," he claims. The factory-issued 9-inch drums were also replaced with a Kelsey-Hays four-piston front disc brake set, and larger 10-inch drums were mounted on the rear.
The robust engine isn't your run-of-the-mill sixer, either. In its more docile days with just bolt-ons, the A-Body would cover 1,320 feet in an uneventful 17.20 seconds. Greg put a stop to this by having Broughers' Speed Shop in Pittsburg shave .100 inch off the block's deck and punch its cylinders out to a .030-inch larger bore. The displacement was now sitting at 228 ci thanks to the 3.430-inch bore and 4.125-inch stroke. The rotating assembly consists of TRW forged pistons, stock forged Chrysler rods and forged-steel crankshaft. To control the valves, a Mopar Performance .528-inch lift 284-degrees duration solid roller camshaft was slid inside. A cast iron Chrysler cylinder head was milled and treated to a full competition port and polish job that included a five-angle valve job on the intake and three-angle for the exhaust. When it was all buttoned together, it propelled the 3,200-pound A-Body to a respectable 14.72 at 93 mph.