Cats on a Hot Tin Challenger (not really hot) and a Charger in a Swamp

You never know what the cat dragged in, or your friends. I visited a friend in Wisconsin last year and he showed me some cars he had bought recently, a 1959 Chevrolet Impala and a 1970 Dodge Challenger pulled from a barn. He said when opening the door, “Be careful when you get in here though, they're rambunctious”. I had no idea what he meant... until we opened that door and there at our feet were a bunch of cats! Apparently the Mama was killed, so my friend started to take care of them. So they run the storage building now!

The Impala was the nicest of the recent acquisitions. It had been restored in the not too distant past.  But my friend said he got it at such a good deal he could not pass it up. The cats liked it too. It was a basic in-line 6 cylinder car I believe, white with a red interior.  Eventually his son would like to drop a modern suspension, brakes and engine in the car.

With the Challenger, it had been sitting in a barn for a many years he said. Someone had started to restore it about a decade ago, then lost interest, and it sat. A small block 318 car with a vinyl roof. I could not pop the engine bay to see what was in there now or what the tag said. But it is a fairly solid project for someone eventually.

But at one time he had other cars stashed at the same location and some really interesting parts. The owner restores mostly Model A's and the like. The son is more into the Muscle Car and Hot Rod scene. So there is a combination of everything hanging around. Here is a few of the cars over the years that have been around the shop.

After parting ways with my friends, I made my way over to a large classic car junkyard in the area to see if anything new had come in or if they had anything I needed. At the time the torrential rains, the pond at the back of the yard had overflowed into the yard, causing it to become partially a swamp.

After not finding anything to save at the yard, I headed back to enjoy the rest of the evening. Have a little peace and quiet.

BIG UPDATES WITH THE NEXT BLOG POST. SO STAY TUNED.

Ryan Brutt

The Automotive Archaeologist

TheAutoArchaeologist@yahoo.com

SPOTTED: IT'S ME FORTY

Talking about Starlet family in Toyota, we were usually exposed with KP30, KP60/61 and FWD EP series. A bright day had brought me to this superb condition P40 Starlet/Publica, which I believe it just stepped out from paintjob garage.

Without emblems and decals, it was totally clueless to obtain the identity of this car. Really glad to see this forty-year-old P40 in an excellent condition. Kudo's to the owner (In other words, Please join OCCC!).

Darts over here, Darts over there. Darts a bit of everywhere!

Sometimes you just gotta know the right people. I have a friend named Jim and he always had mentioned that he had a small storage area where he stashed some of his projects not far from his house. And after a car show a few summers ago, we decided to see some of what he had, so he gave me the 10 cent tour and it was definitely eye opening.

We first stopped off at his house to drop off his truck. There he showed us some of the Big Block Darts he was working on, and some of his neglected projects that were around. Since these pictures were taken, the Turquoise Dart is in the process of final assembly. Also around the side he had his project Polara Convertible (with Superlite!), Aspen R/T and Australian Valiant Ute!

Jim then lead me over to his secret storage building full of a bunch of spare parts he has, including some projects he had hanging around, including a Super Stock Demon (now sold), more Dart parts tehn you can shake a tree at. Along with a single J-Code 1969 Charger sitting quietly in the corner.

They don't call Jim the Dart Guru for no reason! Here is another big block Dart!