Okay, the wheels are hideous. Sell them before you even pick it up and take some replacements.

Okay, you will have to find a Challenger manual trans and swap out some stuff. 15K minus whatever you can sell those wheels for is a great start.

The aftermarket support is good, and having a wagon with A/C and room WITH a supercharger and clutch? Sweet.

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/1871505317.html

Honestly? Sell the Dart and buy a new Challenger SRT8. Done. Drive. Enjoy.

My idea of a street car is exactly what I'm currently working on.......70' Road Runner, 31" ET Streets, Narrowed Ford 9", Ladder Bar'd WITH a Back Seat (Benefit of a B-Body), SRT8 Hemi & Turbo 400 trans. I'm almost finished with it. I'll have it at the Norwalk Classic. For now, what ever it runs, it runs, ET wise & on the street, drive the wheels off it. Long term plans are maybe a Procharger & 5 speed trans....

Get an early B-body wagon like Fran's
Gus

RodStRace, I think those Magnums are pretty cool.

DusterDave I love that idea, I've also always liked your blower motor, streetable yet very powerful.

Steff that sounds really cool! I can't wait to see it. That will be a great cruiser. I've learned ALOT the last few years, I know I could find a decent roller, and build everything the way 'I' want it, and it could run 8's in the 1/4 mile. But I know it would do the same thing as my Dart, sit in the garage under a cover. I think at least for now, it's time to move onto something I can cruise and not worry about all the SFI stuff, NHRA license, engine diaper, and all the extra cost of towing and racing.

Bob, your worst than me

keep the Dart if you really like it that much and de tune or sell drive train and build it more streetable.

i do miss my old 68 Cuda Pro Street car i built many years ago

340 pump gas motor(stroked), drive any where including the track and click off some 12.00 passes
full interior, no cage
the hole family got to enjoy it.
it was a blast to crusie and turned heads every where i drove it.
you cant tell from the pic but the wife had a smile on her face

sold it to build my 63 N/SS car
family was not happy with me

Bondo

Here's my take....

My idea for a street car is simple. MAKE IT STREETABLE.
Nothing that needs constant maintenance, nothing extremely loud, nothing that runs hot, etc.....

Mild street engine. Big cubes, big power, whatever, but RELIABLE and comfortably DRIVABLE.
Something that has more cooling system than it has a right to.
Ground clearance is a must.
Doesn't have to sit like a 4x4 but a speed bump shouldn't be an obstacle.
Reasonable gearing. If you can't travel for long distances at 60mph it gets old quickly.
Functioning wipers, lights, brakes, steering etc that doesn't require the word "borderline" in any way....

A street car can mean many things, but a true street car should be an enjoyment to drive, not a constant staring at gauges and working on the car, for me at least. It takes the fun out of it.

Buy a new mustang and be really happy for ever and after.

I like my stuff fairly quite too....it must idle fairly smooth.......and I HAVE to have a stick in EVERY car I own...... It's not super fast (10.60's @ 127 so far on just motor through exhaust manifolds).....but it's a FUN car to drive around (I'm not one of those guys that gets a thrill out of driving for more than an hour in ANY old car though.....it just doesn't do anything for me ).......

It could use a low profile pan, but the roads aren't that horrible around here......

I wish there was an iron low deck block available so I could put a 200 shot on it and have some REAL fun with it........

My idea... 70 Challenger, 496 B, 5 speed, EFI +/- 550 HP, AC. 3.23 rear. Re-enforced K, re-enforced control arms, big sway bars and T bars. Should be good for 150+ MPH with a few aero mods and hood pins (winter project). I also need to raise the exhaust system after getting rid of a frame rail mounted A1000 pump... which forced me to lower muffs for clearance. The in tank pump is a big improvement (Rickey's Hot Rod shop).

The new Challenger is cheaper... but slower in all respects and less fun. In fairness, the new Challenger would be better for a long, 500+ mi, trip.

ProSport, I know exactly how you feel, 3 kids...My two boys are nonstop with sports now, and they are only 6 and 8, between coaching their, working, pursuing my bachelors, amd training for Marathons my '65 has been sitting a lot the last year, and I have two '66 Plymouths that are sitting in peices that I'm slowly working on...We just got a new challenger to enjoy as a family and it has been awesome, granted I only got to drive it for 3 days before this deployment but the whole family loves it.

Now my plan for a street car is my '66 Satelite; full interior, 6 point roll bar, 360 Magnum motor, possible turbo charged or turbo slant, and steel wheels, nothing fancy, simple, reliable, if it runs 12s I'll be happy. In the meantime, my '65 is heading up to Wisconsin this fall for my brother to race for a season or two while I get caught up on all my projects. And when I get the bug to go racing can load the whole fam up in the Challenger or Race my dad's Daytona to get my fix...

Good Luck,
Curtis

It sounds like you have a good idea in what you want out of a car, and you already own a great platform. I would say make a plan, and adapt your car to fit your plan, save the race parts for down the road. Who knows maybe your son will want to do some racing with Dad in another five years? Look for some four speed swap parts and convert it, save the auto for later.

or keep the dart and pick up good deal like i did with the duster see pic $4600, needs some work but it didnt break the bank, the kids love it cuz it has a stereo

Prosport, I do understand where you are comming from. That kind of thinking is what laid out my build plans for my car as well. But it is so much work to get it to that point, I sometimes wish I would have just spent some $ and picked up a nice little finished car like a late 60's barracuda.

Street car =

Your current car but with....EFI and runnen on pump gas, and DOT tires & mufflers.

Bob, I'd keep your current ride and maybe tone it down a little to suit your needs. It's a beautiful car that runs really good. You can make it more streetable and still have an easy 10 sec car, which is still plenty fast for a street driven car.

I definitely would NOT buy a new Challenger SRT-8. I'll keep my opinion of those cars to myself since this a mopar board and people will bash me b/c I'm not a diehard mopar guy.

My dad has a nice street car that's fun as all get out to drive. It's a '69 road runner, rotisserie restored, stock interior with a bench seat. I built him a mild 440 w/ a 6 pack setup on it, hemi 4 speed, 3.55 geared 8 3/4 rear, and Vintage air A/C. The car makes close to 500 hp and blows cold air all day. It looks bone stock on the outside, the interior, and under the hood except for headers and the A/C. It is a blast to drive! It's a 12 sec ride and I have about as much fun driving it around as I do my 9 sec cuda. Makes me want to put a Jerico in the cuda.

It's all in what you want to deal with. Personally, I'm happy with my cuda as is. It is hot as crap during the summer, but it's worth it to me when you slam the throttle wide open. The only thing I change from street driving to racing is a different set of mufflers (race = 4" bullets, street = 4" flowmasters). Everything else stays the same. Unless you count removing the air filter.

Bob,
IF it helps at all, I've never had so much fun with my car, as I do now. It's a stick. Maybe that's something you definately should do, even if it's slower. It's just plain, MORE FUN.

My best auto time was 11.0 at 120mph with a 1.56 60'
My best Stick time is 11.4 at 121mph with a 1.68 60' (only 7 runs so far!)

But the car leaves HARDER with the stick and it's a blast to drive. WAY WAY WAY more fun now.

I know what you mean about time and family. I don't drive my car nearly as much now (5yr old and 3 month old baby girl now!). But they all fit fine in the car with no roll cage.

Just put in some 3 point harness retractable seat belts front and rear, and you'll have a safe street car that you can have FUN with at the track a couple times a year.

I'd put a stick in the Dart, take out the cage, de-tune the engine, and have FUN with it for a bunch of years. You can always ramp it back up later in life!

I could never do racing all the time, at this stage of my life. Maybe 20 years from now I can do it more.

Bob,

Your entering the same point with the kids that I've been in for a while. Which is why my car still only runs 11.70's. I don't need a roll bar and the car is very streetable. If it's not raining, my boys and I have taken her to Little League practice and games all summer for the last 8 years. Same with my duaghter's soccer stuff in the fall. The wife and I use it on the weekends to do our errands around town and the old retired Chrysler guy at church really likes seeing me lay a patch leaving the parking lot on Sundays.

I street drive my Valiant at least 20+ times for each run it makes on the track. And I couldn't be happier.

It's fast enough to be respectable at the track, drives good enough to be safe on the street, and looks weird enough to get a TON of attention.

When my kids are grown and out, then I'll step it up and run low 10's, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the ability to haul the wife and 3 kids around when we want to go cruising around town.

LAR,

What stick set-up do you have in your car, and can it be streeted? Do you launch it off a button? Can it launch consistently? Been thinking of putting one in my Cuda. Its still got the stock clutch pedal under the floor matt and I thought a stick and some drag radials would make it a lot of fun.

A real street car...driveable without going broke, IMO....

Pump gas, run cool, charge properly, reasonable ride height.



Everything else......anything goes.