1960 Dodge Dart Seneca project car

[lloyd3]

In the eternal search for a car project to do with my 15-year old I came upon an interesting old Dodge yesterday. Slant six pushbutton auto with a shockingly decent interior. It is essentially a one-owner car that was bought new here in Denver and has stayed with the same family until anybody left is now in a home. It is a bit tired and rusty but clearly garaged and....absolutely unscrewed with. All the glass is good, the dash is almost perfect and it doesn't appear to have ever been in an accident, Starts and drives fine (the brakes need some adjustment).  My biggest concern is the rusty fenders and rocker panels. All have been repaired with mud and look very bad.  When you look under the car, however, the floors are fine (even the trunk floor!) and the sub-frame rails are perfect.  What should I be concerned with here?  Is is feasible to tear out the old mud and have somebody do a more-professional job?  My kid absolutely loves the Virgil Exner cars and this one has "The Forward Look" in spades.  The six is a bit smoky too, so that rebuild would be down the road for sure.  Any suggestions as to how to proceed? BTW- it's a 2 door.

[green69rt]

If it's really a project car then you can start anywhere.  Looks like you need to get the body/rust issues sorted out first.  Probably going to be setting for awhile? 

On the other hand if you want to keep it drivable I think you're on the right track but not going far enough.  Brakes and tires would be my first priority.  How old are the tires?  Go thru the brakes from front to back for a complete rebuild.  Then tackle the fuel system, gas tank, lines, filter, carb.  If it gets driven, you want to be able to stop, and you don't want to catch on fire.  Tires need to be a high priority item. 

Now you can start worrying about suspension.  When you start on the rust issues, that will probably be the end of driving till the car is back together, but you probably got all this figured out.

Sounds like some fun days ahead for you and your son.

[lloyd3]

Green69RT: Thankyou.  It's hard to buy an older car for him because a newer Honda Civic would cost far-less and still be far-safer. It's not like he needs a car anyway (we've got a small fleet of slightly older stuff he can drive when he finally does trade-in his permit for a licence) and all have air-bags, and disc brakes.  I also have zero interest in working on the newer stuff but... frankly this car intrigues me. It looks quite striking when compared to anything even remotely modern. I was surprisingly fun to drive as well (a bit of nostalgia, I suppose). Push-button automatics are a kick.

[Mike DC]

             
If the rockers are rusty but the subframes are not, then I might start by welding on some subframe connectors.  (Use some U.S. Car Tool type ones that don't cut through the floors.)  It would help tie that unibody back together and make up for the rockers being compromised.  It would still be a decent idea even if the whole body was solid.  

But make sure the unibody is level/square when you weld the SC's on.  Rusty rockers = it might already have sagged.    

[RallyeMike]

Neato - Post some pics please if you buy it. These are such cool cars and rare to find. I was after one of these that was a lawn ornament but I could not get the horder to part with it. Years later the guy died (I assume) and then everything at the house was scrapped. A sad story I have seen several times with FL cars

Its hard to find parts for these cars so you might be making your own patch panels. Amongst general tune and check out, I would suggest an upgrade to a double master cylinder if the car will be driven any appreciable amount, especially by a less experienced driver. It may not have seat belts either, so that would be a good improvement.

(Owner of a 60 Plymouth, 57 Coronet, and 57 Custom Royal)

RallyeMike

[lloyd3]

Thankyou Sir. I get it about the rarity, so much so that I'm still considering it, even with all of the rust. So hard to find something like it that hasn't been screwed-with or abused.  The dash in the car is spectacular to look at compared to all the plastic junk I've gotten used-too in the last 40-years or so.  For my purposes, even with all of the obvious challenges, it may still be worth taking a chance on it.

[DAY CLONA]

In the eternal search for a car project to do with my 15-year old I came upon an interesting old Dodge yesterday. Slant six pushbutton auto with a shockingly decent interior. It is essentially a one-owner car that was bought new here in Denver and has stayed with the same family until anybody left is now in a home. It is a bit tired and rusty but clearly garaged and....absolutely unscrewed with. All the glass is good, the dash is almost perfect and it doesn't appear to have ever been in an accident, Starts and drives fine (the brakes need some adjustment).  My biggest concern is the rusty fenders and rocker panels. All have been repaired with mud and look very bad.  When you look under the car, however, the floors are fine (even the trunk floor!) and the sub-frame rails are perfect.  What should I be concerned with here?  Is is feasible to tear out the old mud and have somebody do a more-professional job?  My kid absolutely loves the Virgil Exner cars and this one has "The Forward Look" in spades.  The six is a bit smoky too, so that rebuild would be down the road for sure.  Any suggestions as to how to proceed? BTW- it's a 2 door.

It's great that your kid is into the Land Yachts/Forward Look Chryslers, very few his age have any interest in cars period!, the car sounds like a great candidate from your description, being a 2 dr is a big plus... IMHO I'd concentrate on all the mechanicals/electrical top to bottom, front to back, the "beauty" part of transforming the physical looks of the car can come later, get your son to cut his teeth on the mechanical aspects so the car is road worthy, might want to consider some modern brake upgrades (disc/power discs?) upgrade the ignition/charging system with some modern components?

My daughter just acquired a 61 Bev from an Estate sale, original owner car, original paint, 64K on the odometer, poly 318, 3 spd manual on the tree, very clean body/paint/interior... but has been dormant for a decade or two, so mechanicals/electrical upgrades are the main priority for her before it hits the streets, and like your son, she absolutely loves the Sea Monster looking Forward Look Chryslers

Most likely going with the Scarebird disc brake conversion, and I'll use a relocated 67-76 A body Power booster assy from Pirate Jack to get the booster/master up to the right height on the firewall and clear the motor...

Here's a few pics of her "shed find" (no barns involved   ) that she dragged home about 2 weeks ago...

Mike

[DAY CLONA]

Here's the kid grinning ear to ear with her latest project...

[DAY CLONA]

After a day of through washing/vacuuming, not bad for a $1000 investment, luckily all the glass is good, the paint needs just a good buff/polish to revive it, the body is straight, dent/ding free, and with just a few small rust blisters here and there on the rockers/rear wheel openings, but nothing major, the frame/trunk and floors look like day one, and the interior is surprisingly in very good shape for the car's age... unfortunately the mechanicals have sat dormant for so long, they are the priority

Mike

[RallyeMike]

Good find also 

3 on the tree are fun to drive. When your gd drives down the road and people will see her shift, they will wonder "what the heck she is doing?"   

[lloyd3]

Shockingly Nice '61. Wish this '60 look half as good.

[green69rt]

DC, perfect license plate for that grill!

[DAY CLONA]

Shockingly Nice '61. Wish this '60 look half as good.

You'll get to the point where it looks good, but the biggest thing to look forward to, is the time you'll spend with your son, and the memories/history you'll both look back on someday, and he'll be grateful for the things he learned from you, and the time you gave each other

Mike

[lloyd3]

Mike:

Truer words....the sticky wicket here is logistics. His mother has her requirements as well, and the fellow with the '60 wants 3x what you paid for the '61 (I'm guessing that's negotiable).  If the rockers weren't so compromised I'd likely throw caution to the wind and just do it (I might still anyway).  I'm traversing something of a mine-field in my personal life and that limits what I can reasonably do right now.  Life used to be much simpler.

Your girl looks really happy with her "new" car. Beautiful smile!

[taxspeaker]

Shockingly Nice '61. Wish this '60 look half as good.

You'll get to the point where it looks good, but the biggest thing to look forward to, is the time you'll spend with your son, and the memories/history you'll both look back on someday, and he'll be grateful for the things he learned from you, and the time you gave each other

Mike

Absolutely correct. Wish I could do it again and hope I am still here to do it with grandkids in the future