The story of this car begins back in the fall of 2006 when I was working as the business manager at a restoration shop. A guy was having a �67 Dart 2 door post built at our shop and one day we got to talking about his plans for the car. He began telling me about his ideas to try to capture the spirit of the �68 Hemi Dart, but he�d be using a 383 instead of the Hemi as well as some modern updates to the car. As a joke I asked him when he was going to sell the car to me. Well, in hindsight I guess it was a blessing and a curse that I opened my big mouth and asked that question because to my surprise, he replied �I�ll sell it to you today�. Apparently he had lost interest in the car and wanted to pursue other projects. Well, knowing my intent to one day build my ultimate Mopar, and my love affair with Dodge Darts, that was the blessing part of the deal. The curse would begin to make itself known as the car took about two years longer than expected to build and cost about twice as much as we originally budgeted, but I�ll get into those details later on in the story.

I knew I couldn�t go into this project alone (both physically and financially), so I had a bit of a conference with my old man and before you know it, we inked the deal and this beautiful, rust-free California black plate Dart was ours. At the outset, our intention was to take his idea and expand on it a bit and pretty much build the car with the parts he had accumulated. So, like any project, we started doing our research on missing pieces we�d need to finish off the car, talking to guys in the know, lots of bench racing and what if�s and, well, our share of Budweiser while staring at the car and dreaming. So it wasn�t long before we had taken a major detour from the original plan and all of a sudden we�re talking about building an all-out ground pounder that could burn coast to coast on pump gas, chill us down with a/c, cut corners and be a real head-turner. You know how this stuff goes�..

To take a small step back in the story, the car had already undergone body & paint work and some other mods including a carbon fiber bumble bee stripe, so we felt we had a good solid foundation to build our dream car upon. Well, it wasn�t long after we acquired the car when the resin in the carbon fiber had reacted with the clear coat lying above it and the once-cool carbon stripe looked more like a black cloud than a neat idea. Having no other choice than to strip the area back down to bare metal, it was decided that we would go over the entire car and smooth out the rest of the problem areas. We did a full mock-up of all the panels and found areas to improve upon to bring the car up to the next level. It was at that time I decided to smooth the engine bay and firewall and remove any extraneous elements that distracted from the beauty of the engine and pulley system. I wanted a clean, industrial look, but not an over-the-top Foose style sanitary engine bay. We also spent a good deal of time making the Tremec transmission fit the tunnel, which was a matter of cutting the old tunnel out and starting from scratch. They send you a piece of tin that�s supposed to cure your problems, but it looks like more of an afterthought than anything. Building this car was a great lesson in the fable of �bolt-on� parts.

So after all the back-up work, we finally had it the way we wanted it and it was time for paint. I really liked the idea of a bumble bee stripe, so we decided to keep it, but this time it would be gloss black to tie in with the wheels and we would bury the stripe under the clear so you couldn�t see or feel the line. I had a good friend of mine help with all the bodywork (which is to say he showed me the ways of the Jedi bodyman), and he sprayed PPG Viper Red on the car for me as well. I was there for moral support. By the way, this was all done on nights and weekends at our car club�s shop here in town, so I owe a big thanks to his girlfriend for �borrowing� him for about 10 months.

Behind the scenes of all the nightmare bodywork and straightening, I was coordinating all the parts that would go into the car like the motor, trans, suspension, brakes, wiring, interior, etc. It was nice working at a restoration shop at the time because I had a lot of connections (and discounts) that a lot of other guys don�t have, so that came in handy. The basis of any bad ass hot rod is the motor and for that, I wanted a reliable, low-maintenance, pump gas engine that made enough power to make me cringe a bit when I stab the throttle. Jeff Fiala at Wheeler Dyno Service in Blaine, MN hit it out of the park with a 512� big block stroker motor based off a 400� Chrysler. The combination he cooked up came up with 555 HP and 650 ft/lb of torque on the dyno. That should be enough to boil the hides respectably. We used the low-deck 400 mainly because it gives added header clearance in the engine bay and space is at a premium with the little A-body as it is.

The final assembly work was all done at our shop, with a few details being subbed out to shops that have specialized equipment that we don�t. The real goal of the car was to have an all-business hot rod that can be thrashed at will and not have to worry about breaking parts every time I drop the hammer. Now, unfortunately, we live in an area of the country where we get about 2 or 3 �ideal� driving days every year, so as of this writing, I haven�t even had it on the road for a proper thrashing, but it�s time is coming very soon. I�ll need to de-bug the car ASAP because the Hot Rod Power Tour starts in Madison, WI this year and that�s about 3 hours from where we live and our goal was always to drive the car on the Power Tour. We missed our goal of the 2007 Power Tour by a mere two years, but I think we�ll make it this year!

During the late stages of building the car, I left my position as business manager of the restoration company I worked for and have started my own company called Fast Freddie�s Rod Shop. My plan is to use this car to demonstrate my capabilities as a car builder. We�ve got a full schedule of car shows and cruises to hit this season and hopefully we�ll get a chance to run into some of the rest of the guys that are featured on the site and anyone else that visits the site. I want to give special thanks to my Dad for being there every step of the way in any way he could � there�s no way I could have done this without you! I also want to thank everyone else that helped make my dream a reality � you all know who you are!

Specifications for 1967 Dodge Dart Sedan

Owner(s)
Fred Kappus, Jr & Sr
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Engine:
512 ci stroker built by Jeff Fiala of Wheeler Dyno Service in Blaine, MN
Edelbrock Performer RPM heads ported and matched to Performer RPM intake
Comp Cams hydraulic cam .480 lift in/ex
Holley HP 950 Race carb
555 HP @ 5200 650 TQ @ 3700 � Pump gas
Ignition: MSD 6AL and MSD pro billet distributor
March Serpentine Pulley System
Milodon oil pan

Transmission:
Tremec TKO 600 5 speed built by Keisler Engineering
Hydraulic clutch assembly
Pistol grip shifter

Front Suspension/steering:
Reilly Motorsports tubular K-frame with Vari-shock coil-overs
Power Rack & Pinion steering

Rear:
Narrowed Chrysler 8.75� with a 3.55 sure-grip center section and Moser axles

Wheels/Tires:
American Racing Torq-Thrust �M� wheels 17X10.5 rear, 17X8 front
BFG G-force 245 front, 315 rear

Brakes:
SSBC tri-power 13� front discs and SSBC 8� rear discs � non power master cylinder

Paint:
PPG Viper Red � 3 coats base, 3 coats clear. Hand-laid bumble bee stripe.
Hot Rod Black on hood

Interior:
Rocky Mountain Dash custom aluminum insert holding Auto Meter Carbon Fiber instruments.
Vintage Air A/C system
Alpine iPod deck with Canton 5.25� speakers and 10� sub in trunk
Partial roll cage
Custom interior panels stitched to match front buckets by Auto Top Shop of Eau Claire, WI
Electric Life Power Windows
Grant Steering Wheel
Ron Francis Express wiring system

Fuel System:
Stock replacement fuel tank
Stainless �� supply line, 5/16� return line from Fine Lines
Race Pumps mechanical fuel pump
Mallory fuel log with return
Custom aviation style fuel cap � flush with � panel

Other Features:
Quick Time Performance electric exhaust cutouts
TTI ceramic coated headers
Flowmaster mufflers
Custom bent A/C and heater lines
Smoothed engine bay and firewall
440-6 Pack style lift-off hood
Custom trans tunnel to fit Tremec transmission
Mini-tubbed wheelhouses
Frame connectors
Radiused fenders for tire clearance
Fully restored aluminum and stainless trim and re-chromed bumpers
Lizard Skin applied to underside of vehicle
Hushmat applied to every interior surface for sound deadening