In early 2002, I found the first car that really caught my eye, a 1971 Dodge Demon 340. It was a dark burgundy with a black vinyl top and had the original rally rims and a Hurst shift kit to top it all off. It was right next door to my grandmothers house. I knew it had been there for a while, but I just was not interested at first. After it had sparked my interest, I tried to find out everything about the car that I could. Looking this car over, I realized the body was extremely rusty -- it was so bad that there was a hole in the floor pan covered by a street sign. Not cool. Extremely disappointed, I had to forget about it. I loved that A-body style so much that I swore to myself that if I ever found anything like it, I would be on it immediately.
I continued looking hard for any Mopar I could. If one was in the paper, I had it scoped out instantly. The next thing I found was a 1966 Fury 4-door. It was white, with a decent body, but in desperate need of a paint job. for an engine it had a 318 big block, not the greatest engine. I honestly don't know why I liked it, considering how huge it was, but I did. I ended up ditching that one too because the bottom was really rusty, although not as bad as that Demon.
Then a few weeks later, I got word from my Automotives teacher that there was a 340 Dart for sale in a small town called Raymond, Alberta. He didn't know what year it was or anything else, so a week later I went to investigate. It turned out to be a 1975 Dodge Dart Sport 340 (well, that's what he said anyway, but I'll elaborate later). It was the pale yellow that Dodge liked to paint their cars back in the day with a black stripe running down each side with "340" underneath the line at the back. It had an Edelbrock intake, a Carter 4-barrel carburetor, the original 340 exhaust manifolds in excellent condition and dual exhaust. It even had hood pins. The car ran like a top and it sounded mean. I knew I was in love. The car had had some body work, new quarters, and bondo in places, but it was done so well that it was barely noticeable. After one drive, I knew I had to have it. I had it vetted by a mechanic, and he said it was great. Within one week of first seeing this car, I had bought it for $3100 Canadian, and this was only a few days ago, on June 3, 2002.
I haven't been away from my Dodge Dart at all since I got it. I took it to school for the first time yesterday, and people wouldn't leave me alone. I wasted a lot of gas just running the engine for people. I love the power behind it, I could get sideways and everything, and man does that 3.23 sure grip rear end fly.
But today, something changed. My friend was working on it in class and decided to check the serial number on the block, AND IT SAID 318! Man, was I mad. I paid for a car with a 340 and got a 318 instead. everyone thought it was the 340. It had the 340 air filter, 340 intake, and 340 exhaust. What frustrates me even more is that I was skeptical about it having the 340 even before I bought it. I was researching years and found that Dodge didn't put 340s in Darts in 1975. But my mechanic didn't say that it wasn't a 340, and I didn't question him because I am still quite inexperienced at telling what an engine is just by looking at it and hearing it. I was really surprised by the power, though. It's running over 200 horses, and they were only supposed to run 150 hp. So I'm still really confused. I am attempting to get some money back, but I don't think it will happen.
Despite the loss of the 340, I still love the car to bits. I plan on restoring it over the years, although probably not back to original because I would really like to have a 340 in it. I even found the original build code sheet for it yesterday, much to the surprise of some of my friends. Today, I bought my first upgrade, a K&N air filter for a 340 -- since I have a 340 intake, I might as well!
If anyone is selling a 1968-1971 340, please drop me a line -- thanks!