[Liteweight]

I spoke with Tim Hennessey at great lengths today about my Dart.Tim is the gentleman that did the extensive restoration on it in the mid 80's. Here's some of the conversation as told to me by Tim :
-Lou Vignogna purchased the car in the early 80's (82 or 83??) from someone in Mt. Kisco.It was parked in an apartment complex parkade.The car was complete including engine.
-It was painted silver with either a red or bronze inlay on the sides.
-Lou told Tim that this car was once campaigned by Charlie Castaldo.
-There was a 3 point Lakewood rollbar installed.
-The original inner wheel tubs were replaced with aftermarket ones.Outers were left alone.
-Lou removed the drivetrain & sent the car to be repainted in white to Paul Pittman.

-Tim purchased this car in 85 as a roller.
-It had a Jenkins style of hood scoop mated on top of the original hood scoop.
-The trunk lid had no hinges on it,& was retained by hood pins.It was a steel lid.
-Tim removed the Lakewood rollbar & sold it to a friend.
-stripped all the external white paint & sandblasted the rest,including the complete chassis & interior.
-replaced the aftermarket inner wheel tubs with original tubs that were cut from a donor car.A 3"section was installed between the outer & inner tubs to allow for a large tire.
-reinstalled hinge mounts in the trunk.
-repaired a 2"x 2" square hole on the top of the trans tunnel.The rest of the floorpan was not damaged or modified.
-welded in the holes left behind from the bolt in rollbar.
-removed the Jenkins hoodscoop & repaired the original scoop.
-no other sheet metal repairs were needed or done to it.
-Tim completed the restoration in 87.

I spoke with Paul Pittman (the guy who painted the car white for Lou) & he does remember doing the paint job.He's not sure of the colors before hand, but he thinks it was silver & red.
This is where the confusion starts on this car. As far as I am aware Charlie Castaldo had only 2 cars.The first one was a 4 spd. that he rolled at E Town in 69.The second was an auto car that he won the Super Stock Nationals at York in 69. I believe this is the car that is now owned by Brooks Lee,it is painted a georgous black with no lettering,& competes on a limited basis in SS/AH today.
In speaking with Tim today, he remembers going to York as a kid & seeing Castaldo's cars in the pits.He said there were at least 2 of them there at the same time. If the 4 spd. was wrecked,then what other Dart or Darts did Charlie have with him????
Anybody have some input here????????

Liteweight
Daryl