Like many Mopar lovers back in the ’60s, Rob Fraser
remembered when Dodge and Chrysler-Plymouth dealers sold brand-new, tire frying
performance cars.
But Rob did more than just dream about them. He influenced
his family’s decision to buy one—one that he inherited, drove daily, parked,
and restored years later.
Fast facts ’69
dodge dart swinger 340
That car is this Q5 Bright Turquoise ’69 Dodge Dart Swinger
340. “I was 18, and my dad and I went down and ordered it,” he recalls. “It was
when the new models went on sale in September 1968, so I have a lot of memories
of that one.”
Getting to that point wasn’t easy, according to Rob. “I was
twisting a lot of arms. Dad usually replaced our cars every four years—we’d had
a ’65 Valiant before that. I knew that he would buy a Dart. So I started
pushing for the Swinger 340.”
Before then, the Frasers had a dinner table discussion about
which transmission to order the Swinger 340 with. “I started making a pitch for
the four-speed, and Dad cut me off and said, ‘Your mother can’t drive a
standard transmission—we have to get an automatic,’” says Rob. “Mom got very
upset about that, and she pointed out that all cars had standard transmissions
when she learned how to drive, and she could operate a standard transmission
very nicely, thank you very much. I said, ‘Thanks Mom!’” (By the way, Rob’s mom
picked the color scheme—Q5 Bright Turquoise Metallic with a black bench seat interior
and no bumblebee stripe).
Once ordered, it wasn’t until early January 1969 when it
arrived at Lake head Motors in Port Arthur, Ontario. Per Rob, that delay was
thanks to the demand for Ma Mopar’s new small-block–powered budget muscle car.
Aside from the
tach, the interior is just how Rob’s mom spec’d it out. Front seat covers,
carpets, and headliner are by Legendary.
The Swinger 340 was one of the Frasers daily drivers for the
next four years. “Come 1973, Dad was going to trade it in, but I was in love
with it,” Rob recalls. “It was just an absolute toy for an 18-year-old to have
back then. So I made a deal with him, and I got the Swinger.”
That meant the four-speed A-Body was even more of a “toy”
for Rob. “It got used very lightly for about the next five years, until you
couldn’t get premium leaded gas anymore for it,” he says. “I parked the car and
I figured that I’d deal with that later.”
“Later” happened after the life-changing events many young
Mopar guys experienced. “When it finally came out of the garage, it had
followed me around for life,” says Rob, “through things like marriage,
children, and mortgages, because I had no money to do anything with it for a
number of years.”
Eventually, Rob decided that it wasn’t going to stay buried
in his garage. “It finally got to the point where I said, ‘I’ve got to do
something with that car or turn it over to somebody else who’ll get some
enjoyment out of it, because I’m not getting any enjoyment out of it sitting in
the garage, and time certainly isn’t being kind to it”.
So in 2009 the restoration began. Fortunately, it hadn’t
seen any major crash damage or rust. “The only sheet metal that we replaced
were the rear quarters,” says Rob, who says that was from bad repair work,
including a poorly-installed rear quarter. “We went to AMD and got a couple of
new ones, and I think the new ones are nicer than the original ones were.”
The 340 also got plenty of attention. “One of the paramount
objectives of the restoration was to be able to drive the car, but with 10.0:1
pistons, that wasn’t going to work very well with today’s pump gas,” says Rob.
“So, we had to modify the engine a bit, so it would run on pump unleaded. It
doesn’t show outside of the engine.”
Fast facts ’69
dodge dart swinger 340 on road
Finished in July 2011, Rob began showing his restored
A-Body. “We’ve been down to Carlisle a couple of times with it,” he says. “It’s
about 1,400 miles round trip from Ottawa, and we drive it all the way.”
Even if you never “influenced” your family’s car choices,
Rob has this advice if you’re looking to restore a vintage Mopar, regardless of
whose garage or barn you find it in: “Build what you want. It’s a matter of
personal taste, what you want in your car.
“Follow your passion, and count your pennies so you don’t
get in trouble halfway through your restoration.”
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Specs
Mopar power
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Engine: LenTech Auto Performance in Ottawa, restored the
original 340, and added a Mopar electronic ignition, SRP pistons, and a Comp
Cams hydraulic flat tappet camshaft and rocker arms. The stock ’69 340 heads
got a set of hardened valve seats and Comp valve springs, while the exhaust
system was restored to OEM-new with the original exhaust manifolds, HP
stock-type mufflers, and 21⁄2-inch pipe.
·
Transmission: Original 23-spline 833 restored by ASE
Motorsports in Ottawa, and the OEM shifter was rebuilt by its
manufacturer—Hurst
·
Rear: Original 83⁄4 rear end was restored to
Hamtramck-new condition with a 3.23-geared Sure Grip and stock axle shafts
Sure grip
·
Suspension: Restored ’69 Swinger 340 Rallye suspension: (Front)
Heavy-duty torsion bars and shocks, unequal-length A-arms and front sway bar
(Rear) Heavy-duty leaf springs and shocks
·
Brakes: Ordered new with the B41 and B51 options, the power
front/disc/rear drum brakes were also restored by ASE Motorsports.
·
Wheels/tires: Original 14x51⁄2 -inch steel wheels
wear the correct ’69 Dodge dog-dish caps, while a set of P215/70R14 Michelin
Harmony red-stripe radials replaced the OEM D70-14 bias-plies.
High impact
·
Paint/body: Original all-steel ’69 Dart hardtop uni body was
restored by ASE Motorsports, which included new quarters from Auto Metal
Direct and a base/clear version of the original Q5 Bright Turquoise Metallic
paint
Iinterior: Front seat, headliner, and carpets restored
by ASE Motorsports with help by Legendary, while the rear bench still wears
its original upholstery. Sound system is the original R11 Music Master AM
radio, and a period-correct Stewart-Warner Stage II tach is the only
non-stock item.
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