1968 gts 340 4spd convertible

hi all,,,recently found my parents original 68 gts 340 4spd convertible that they ordered in 67, as their first new car,,that they sold in 1979,,and spend 36 yrs regretting it. after a lot of dead leads,,i was finally able to track it down, buried in the woods. it was pretty easy to verify it was theirs because there was only 44 built in 68, and it still had remnants of the island dragway class winner stickers my mom won in 69.

Did you get the car back in the family?

yep,,i showed the owner pics from back in 69-70,,he was more than happy to gift us the car back after hearing the details of my 20 year search,,he said it all added up based on the guys that he knew of that were prior owners. we are almost dont stripping the body shell in preparation for full resto

quite hidden

well camouflaged

my mom, back with her original gts, 37 years later

its rough,and certainly no money maker, but being a 1 of 44,,and my parents first new car,i couldnt let it die in the woods. its seems that at some point in its life after us, it got creamed in left side, and gt door and fender were used, based on color being off, and the car never had the side trim, but the vin# matched an old registration we had, as previously posted, the vague remains of the island dragway class winner stickers were stillon the rear 1/4 glass and there was only one 68 gts 340 4spd convertible built with black top and painted QQ1 blue.

us back in the day

i had dart fever at 4 yrs old

Cool story! The side trim was on the GT only...not the GTS. I'm working on a 68 GT convertible myself. Same QQ1 paint color but white interior and white top. Good luck with the project and keep posting pictures!

Yea, I was wondering what the story on the GT trim was, are you sure it's the same car?

yep, 200% positive its the same car because the vin # matches an old registration, the gt door n fender dont match paint of the shell, so they were obviously salvage yard replacements,,alot can happen in the 37 years we lost the car,,and it was found about 6 miles from my parents house,,and he bought it from the guy my folks sold it to,

I missed your previous comment about the accident and parts swap. Very neat car, I hope you can get it back up to snuff. Neat car!

Glad to see you got it back

thx all! I'll keep you posted on the progress and the appreciate the resources and knowledge here! i feel much more confident being among such mopar gurus that i will be able to have everything back just as ma mopar intended. thx again!

I owned a 383 4 speed Dart GTS Convertible in College. I new there weren't many. Bought it for $500 in 1974. 383 and am radio were the only options. It was in nice shape except for some rust in the front fenders. Bought two new ones at the dealer, $88 each.
Doug

Nice you found it! My dad would love to find his 68 GTS convert he sold in 74, gold with black top, black stripe, white interior, 340 console auto. has yet to find any old info with a vin # so it makes it hard to track down.

well all,,gts is tentatively headed to Springfield oregon for oe restoration,,will take 2 years but results should be well worth it.

I drove a 68 GT in college and afterwards, it ended up becoming a GTS clone with a crossram that I sold with the car, they added the 340 and has been seen for decades at the Mopar Nats and many pictures of it sold. I also drove another yellow 68 Dart GT convertible for years, I still miss both of them! I lost out on a 68 GTS convertible that was blue/blue automatic, a friend ended up with it and restored it. Let me know if you need any parts, as I have parted out several Dart verts.

hey thanks! i will definitely keep you in mind when compile my next list of parts im hunting down

68 gts was FINALLY delivered to graveyard cars in oregon,,,got delayed for weeks and weeks because the transporter felt so far behind with the big storms in the Midwest,,which set them back almost 2 months,,we hated to see it leave, but with my dad in poor health its just waaay too much for me to undertake if we actually ever want to see it finished. we would have much rather have done all the work ourselves, but this beast definitely needs more help than we can give it,,so sometimes you just hafta bite the bullet, suck up your pride, and let someone else take the reigns,,plus side is we couldnt come close to restoring the car anywhere near the price we contracted for. if uou have facebook,,you can check out the sketchy setup we had to cobble together to get it loaded and unloaded in oregon
the video is on graveyard carz face book page titled "new arrival",,,

Outstanding !!! Great story, great discovery and I guess maybe I'll see it in an episode of GYC...

Wow. What are the chances that you'll find your parents old car. You are very luck to have found it.

Very cool story!

Will it be on their TV show??

It is a very cool story! I wonder if the OP will fill us in on the resto costs? I've often thought that these 'high-profile' TV show shops wouldn't necessarily be big $$$$$ cause the money from the TV show is probably MUCH more that the profits from their actual labor.

Im probably wrong though.......... They probably make sure they get it from both ends.

What a fantastic story!

thx everyone! as far as the cost,,,the car needs EVERYTHING,,,and i contacted quite a few shops,,the cpl that got back to me either couldn't take on something SO extensive,,,or just plain werent interested. when i called gyc,,within the first few minutes of explaining what i had and the brief back story,,without hesitation mark said he and the shop would love to be involved in the restoration,,regardless if the capacity. i sent him a hundred pics of every square inch,,and the next day he gave us a price to restore, and hand us back an completely finished car that meets/exceeds all factory specs for assembly, appearance and safety in accordance with the 1968 Hamtramck assembly plant specs. that being said,,he was half the price of the spitball estimates i got from 2 other shops that didnt have the time,,,,i could not buy the parts myself for what mark is charging to do the entire restoration. he did ask us permission to use the car as a feature car,,so that may have played into helping lower the final price, but its still less than a new ram pickup.

That's awesome Jack!!! I can't wait to see it on TV.... too cool.

Just so ya know, there's no way to know if it's the only one equipped like that. Chrysler's records that currently exist don't track information with combinations of options.

A great story!!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154295066147918&id=106340827917

Great Story !
It will be interesting to watch it come back to life!

Mark

If you need any parts please PM me. I have parted out a couple dozen Dart convertibles and just bought two more, a 67 and 68 and have a couple of project GTS convertibles for sale. If you want it restored correctly I hope the GC people know enough about them to make it right.

Just curious as to what happened with this oh so cool car and story ?? I'm hoping there is a happy ending.
Thanks

Great story. Great car! Can’t wait to see it restored.

Would be great to see that car restored so his mom could drive it again. Does not look like original poster has posted since 2017.

There is a guy on For A Bodies Only who gave a '69 383 4 spd Fastaback Cuda, blue, to Graveyard Carz 8 years ago. He is waiting for them to get the interior put in it is getting close so maybe 9 year wait? It was featured on TV in a couple of episodes.

I agree. Thought I read somewhere that his father had some health issues and that's why he decided to get it restored as soon as possible. Hopefully it is or has been completed ?? 8 or 9 years is not what I'd be hoping for. It passes quickly but how many decades does one have ??
Good luck

Just viewed a little update on GYC newish episode ?? Appears they have the car stripped down and take inventory as well as verify it's providence. Maybe the car is near completion and the family can get their beloved car out on the road this summer. Again I love the story/history. Good luck.

Graveyard Carz Facebook page has pics posted: https://www.facebook.com/graveyardc...bought-new-by-the-fam/10157241204797918/