Original hemi dart information

[LO23]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

Welcome here Clint. Great to have another LO23 owner on this thread. Congrats on your purchase. You got a great old war horse there.
Have fun with it. Get it out for the public to see. These things will give you the "love it or Hate it" choice over time to decide on. And like Marfen said your tools will definately not get dusty owning one if you use it..lol
Keep us updated on your progress and pics are always a bonus.
I see your from South Dakota. You ever go to Mopars in The park in Farmington?

liteweight

Thank you! No, I've never been there. I have a few mopars, and have thought about bringing my Q5 turquoise Charger Daytona out there, but haven't made it happen yet. Maybe this year... As for the Dart, I definitely plan to get it out and share it with people!

[Chris DeGidio]

Nice car! IMHO...I'd leave it the color it is now.

[Charlie A]

Does anyone have any COLOR pictures of this one?


It's been a long time since last posted and the owner would really appreciate ANY (color or black & white) pictures that might be found.

[rhinodaert]

Originally Posted by Charlie A

Does anyone have any COLOR pictures of this one?


It's been a long time since last posted and the owner would really appreciate ANY (color or black & white) pictures that might be found.

Thanks for keeping this alive, Charlie! I still have no new pictures to try and find out just what the paint looked like in the day, hopefully it will happen soon! I have to contact Bob Riggle soon, he said he would build my Hemi for me, and I am driving out to Muscle Cars at the Strip in April, so hopefully I will be bringing it with me for him to build! I HAS to be running for the Carlisle reunion in 2108...

[Liteweight]

Originally Posted by LO23

Thank you! No, I've never been there. I have a few mopars, and have thought about bringing my Q5 turquoise Charger Daytona out there, but haven't made it happen yet. Maybe this year... As for the Dart, I definitely plan to get it out and share it with people!

Its a great show for sure. You should bring your new acquisition to it
Ill be showing my Dart this year in the Race car display. . It would be pretty cool to have another there.

liteweight

[LO23]

Originally Posted by Liteweight

Its a great show for sure. You should bring your new acquisition to it
Ill be showing my Dart this year in the Race car display. . It would be pretty cool to have another there.

liteweight

I will check with the wife/boss and see if it's possible. Have three kids, so their activities seem to take priority, I've found.


Is there a good resource for learning about the specifics of these cars? Not that I'm going to do a concourse restoration or anything, but lots of little things that I am confused about. For example, my car has 270 badges on the doors. Since my car was only owned by two other people, and I was told they are the original doors, I assume that is correct. Also, all of the L023 cars I've seen have carpeting, but several online articles (not always accurate, I know) state that carpeting was one of the things left out of these cars.


Any books out there I should get? I would love to see more pictures of factory untouched L023s. Any good resources for decoding the fender tag? These online decoders I've seen are a bit confusing as to where to enter each digit.


Finally, I am having trouble getting the car registered in my state (South Dakota), as the previous owner Jim Keyes said he never had a title to the vehicle, only a bill of sale, and the DMV here seems not to understand that this car isn't a typical passenger car and won't be licensed for use on the street. Did these cars come with titles? At least they have VINs. I'm told that todays factory drag cars (COPO Camaros, Drag Pack Challengers, Cobra Jet Mustangs) don't even have a VIN.


Thanks for any help, folks.

[Spyphish]

My good friends Chuck Comella (Dart) and Jim Kramer (Cuda) help me with questions as they got theirs new and still have them. I am no expert but the 270 door badges are on my Dart. It has carpet and a valid title matching the VIN. Since it was one of the last of the Feb. batch (56 plus or minus I have been told), Chuck pointed out its 67 steering wheel. He has seen others with that wheel as well. Maybe they were running out of parts on that first batch. Hope that helps. Good luck.

[marfen]

Originally Posted by LO23

I will check with the wife/boss and see if it's possible. Have three kids, so their activities seem to take priority, I've found.


Is there a good resource for learning about the specifics of these cars? Not that I'm going to do a concourse restoration or anything, but lots of little things that I am confused about. For example, my car has 270 badges on the doors. Since my car was only owned by two other people, and I was told they are the original doors, I assume that is correct. Also, all of the L023 cars I've seen have carpeting, but several online articles (not always accurate, I know) state that carpeting was one of the things left out of these cars.


Any books out there I should get? I would love to see more pictures of factory untouched L023s. Any good resources for decoding the fender tag? These online decoders I've seen are a bit confusing as to where to enter each digit.


Finally, I am having trouble getting the car registered in my state (South Dakota), as the previous owner Jim Keyes said he never had a title to the vehicle, only a bill of sale, and the DMV here seems not to understand that this car isn't a typical passenger car and won't be licensed for use on the street. Did these cars come with titles? At least they have VINs. I'm told that todays factory drag cars (COPO Camaros, Drag Pack Challengers, Cobra Jet Mustangs) don't even have a VIN.


Thanks for any help, folks.

Jim Schild's book is good. I believe Kramer sells them, maybe Mancini. Of course Jim Kramer is top authoritity. Fender tag what's to decode, ain't much to see, no extra options on these cars. As long as the assembly number on the tag matches your rad support number the rest is just confusing as these cars were converted 383 bodies, come to Farmington, Liteweight's forgotten more about these cars than most know. Bring the car, lot's of race hemi folk around there.
Yes your car came with carpet, yes your car is supposed to have 270 tags on door panels. You can tell if your doors are original if you find an exposed edge somewhere, really thin and sharp and your door handles will feel like they might tear off anytime (and they might if you're not careful). Steering wheel is just plain jane dart wheel with horn ring.
Title and registration? good luck. You bought yourself a historical race car not a street car. Restoration? I recommend you first immerse yourself in learning/gathering the race history of your car, talk to it's owners, look for racing pics, learn about the victories, losses, cause it's all about the history with these cars. You need to meet Mark.

[LO23]

Thank you, guys.


The radiator support number matches the fender tag. The doors seem correct. As for the data tag, there are several codes on there, so I thought it would be interesting to see how it decodes. As best I can tell, it decodes like this:


CAR: Unknown Make and Model.
ENGINE: 383cid 4-bbl HP V8
TRANSMISSION: 3-Speed Automatic
TIRES: Unknown tire code
BUILD DATE: May 21.
AXLE: 3.23 Rear Axle Ratio
INTERIOR: Sport Trim Grade, Vinyl Bucket Seats. Black Interior.
PAINT: Special Order Paint.
OTHER: Black Upper Door Frame Color. Stripe Deleted.
MOLDINGS:
25: Drip Rail Mouldings
30: Body Belt Mouldings
78: Wheel Lip Mouldings
ABC OPTIONS:
D9: Front Disk Brakes
abc OPTIONS:
a6: Console
b4: Bucket Seats
y9: Special Order




Finally, marfen mentions that I bought a historical race car, not a street car. True enough, but it would be nice to have a document that states I own this car. It has considerable value, and even though I never intend to sell it, I imagine it would be easier for my heirs someday to deal with, when settling my estate. Hopefully a long, long time from now. Others here have stated that they have titles to theirs, so...


Thanks for the recommendation on the book, marfen. I will try to purchase one right away!

[marfen]

Good point re title confirming ownership...up here in the great white north we register/plate on bill of sale. We really don't know understand your title process. I do know having a title for your car will help greatly on resale. On that point I do see @ Scottsdale auctions they do sell race cars on bill of sale only.
Regardless you got a really cool LO23 with history...have some fun with it this summer...take it down the track a couple of times and truly experience this car in its natural habitat especially before you detune it.