BASKET CASE! Will This 1963 Dodge Dart Convertible Live Again After 21 Years Off The Road?

In this video: Cable shift Torqueflite 727 and 904 shifter setup and adjustment; Classic Mopar wiring identification and electrical tips; no start diagnosis; coolant system bleeding tips; Early A-body Mopar hood spring installation (the wrong way); fitting early A-body V8 exhaust manifolds to a 360; Mopar 318 and 360 exhaust manifold and exhaust manifold gasket differences explained; Early A-body LA Mopar engine swap oil filter number; burnouts; and much, much more.

This is Gidget. Gidget is a 1963 Dodge Dart 270 convertible. Gidget has lived multiple lives - first, with slant six power, driving from Washington to Texas and back, among many other places. Then with a 318 V8, installed by beating an inconveniently placed section of the '63 only firewall with a hammer. The next iteration was to be something much greater - a fresh 360, with all of the correct pieces, and an updated firewall to clear the new engine properly. This project was started with the best of intentions, and some nice fabrication and paint work was undertaken. Unfortunately, the project was never completed beyond the paint job, and the car spent more than two decades as a stack of pieces - a literal basket case - moved from storage space to storage space.

The previous owner had always hoped to put Gidget back on the road, but work dragged him all over the country. Now in Alaska, he decided it was finally time to part with the car, instead of letting it rot away in a strange garage. That's where I enter the picture. A Craigslist ad with no pictures (found and shared by my coworker Evan) led to a telephone conversation, a verbal handshake agreement, and the inevitable hooking up of a car trailer and the withdrawal of some hard earned YouTube dollars. The only question now - can I reassemble this poor car, and finally bring the last owner's vision into reality? Let's find out.