So im sure that youre all thinking "a little bad mirada?", but no.

This weekend, Amanda and I wrote a check for a bright red 1972 Dodge Demon. Factory 340 car, but im not certain of the other things. The car is a restoration project that the owner lost interest in halfway through, making it a rolling chassis car.

It has a fiberglass TA Challenger style hood with fiberglass fenders inner fenders. It has a 71 grille, which we are actually kind of happy about, as we both prefer the 71 grille. It has a leather rear bucket, and lightweight race front buckets, but it came with two extra full interior sets. It came with a uhaul truck full of extras, such as the factory metal hood, an extra trunklid, 4 extra doors, full extra glass, a 727 trans, a 904 trans, it did come with a 340 on a stand, but we are not sure if its any good or not, and we have an extra 360 laying around that may go in. I honestly dont know what we are going to do with all of the stuff that it came with...we have BOXES of chrome trim pieces that we arent going to use.

Our only concern, is that the previous own remounted the upper control arms, because the inner fender wells were removed, so we are going to have to reinforce the unibody with either some bars just under the hood, or an 8 point cage. We are making it a street car, so the cage will be a bit much for now, but its getting the old top end from the mirada (run high 13s with that top end) and this car is about a thousand pounds lighter, so it should run pretty good, but its going to be a lengthy build. The biggest concern is the front suspension, but that will be fixed soon, and then we have to get new brake lines and fuel lines.

However, the body is perfect. the is a chip in the paint on the drivers door, and the right front fender neds buffed because someone brushed against it with something and scratched it a bit. the ONLY bad spot on the car, is a little spot of rust, around the RR tail light..it measures about a quarter inch by a half inch, and thats it.

We are planning on getting the engine built this winter, hopefully before the end of the year, and then the chassis work will get taken care of. the only thing that we are missing is the brake and fuel lines, but there is so much stuff included, they may be there and we just havent seen them yet...

and i know what youre all thinking...and no, i dont have pictures yet. The car is supposed to be picked up in the next week or so, and at that point my dad will be getting pictures of it. I hope to make some progress on it, at least digging through the stuff that came with it in early october when i am in PA helping a friend build his engine...and i will definately have pictures by then...but i hope to have them sooner...just waiting for the friend of my dad's with a rollback to have time to get the car, and the check to clear...[8D]

 

Glad to hear you have a new member of the car family. With that title, I thought you were telling us that you and Amanda were going to have a kid or something.

 

Congrats on the purchase, Patrick.... and of course the obligatory

[sm=ttiwwp.gif]

 

TeeWJay is right, where are the PICTURES? and congrats on the new addition.

 

well, ill be honest, im sweating it out right now...im getting a great deal on the car, but the guy is waiting until the check clears on in a week before he will sign over the title. this car was an incredible find...and my luck has never been this good. i am honestly very very nervous that someone will somehow take it out from under me. if my luck changes, and the car does become ours next monday, my dad will be going to get it with the rollback, and at that time, pictures will be taken. the guy said that "a deposit is not needed...im a man of my word, and you said that you want the car, and the car is yours. as soon as the check clears, come on over to get it, and it will be yours"...so my fingers are crossed. the check will clear with no problem, but im concerned about something going awry, just because my luck has never been this good.

should we succeed, the best pictures will be from the rear, as the grille is in pieces. there are no headlights, and the bezels are in a box in the trunk.

one other nice thing, the 340 included with the car is not the numers matching 72 340, but its actually a 71 340. for those of you not up on your 340 history, the 71 had 35 more horsepower, so if that motor is good, i have myself a nice healthy 340. otherwise, it will likely get the 360 which i have had for a while.

the car comes with so many extra parts, we are going to have to throw out some stuff from the shop storage to make room for the new stuff...amanda actually asked the guy, "can we just get the car without the extras"...

 

I know it almost sounds too good to be true. I thought the only difference between the 71 and 72 was the change from gross to net hp. What did they do that lower the output.

 

there wasnt actually a change from gross to net, but more of a change in how the hp was measured. prior to that, engines were tested on an engine dyno, free of any sort of restrictions such as the alternator, power steering, etc.

my understand was that the 72 340 had lower compression...

 

Okay that explains that. Which measurement are we using today?

 

they are still using the "testing under load" method...they want the horsepower at the crank to be realistic, and i believe that now engines are tested with the cats and such, which they didnt have back then.

however, alot of cars actually dyno higher than stated. several sources, such as either car and driver or motor trend (one of the big magazies) as well as one of the mopar magazines, have dyno'd the 6.1L, and it actually puts out power in the 46X range...

 

Yeah I remember that. Also Motor Trend reported that the 98 Z28 and Formula GM F-cars were producing more than they were rated at, but the 98 Cobra produced 15 less hp than it was rated at. So I guess it depends on how honest the manufacture feels like being.