WAYNE PERKINS’ 1962 DART

Text and photos by Wayne Perkins

My first car was a 1962 Dodge Dart 440, four-door hardtop, with a 318 Polyhead V8. It was replaced with a 1974 Satellite, and was pretty much forgotten after that.

Well, I started looking for a ’62 Dart a few years ago and preferred to find a two-door hardtop. I found two-doorsedans, four-door sedans and mostly Dodge Polaras or Plymouth Belvederes.

Then, as luck would have it, while looking on eBay in late November 2021, I found the perfect car! It was a 1962 Dodge Dart 440, white with a red interior and equipped with a 440 sixpack with Max Wedge hood scoop, push-button automatic, power steering, an updated master cylinder, Dana rear end and 15-inch Torque Thrust wheels. The overall condition of this car is excellent. I made an offer and the seller accepted it.

So late in November, I headed to the Chicago area to pick up the car and do the paperwork. The car now residesin my garage with my other cars. When I got the Dart home, I started removing all the non-stock parts including the sixpack setup, aluminum radiator with electric fans, the alternator and power steering using a serpentine belt. I wanted to run inline dual quads as per the correct ’62 engine. I bought the correct intake manifold, new carburetors, and reproduction air cleaners.

Then Jesse Heberling called and asked if I would be interested in all of the Max Wedge parts off his ’62 Plymouth. Those parts included a Cross Ram intake with carbs, air cleaners, exhaust manifolds, 3-inch exhaust and valve covers. This was everything I needed to get the car’s engine back to original, so I bought his parts. I sold all the parts I had removed and the new parts I had previously purchased at the Indy trade show/swap and at the Mo-Kan dragstrip swap meet. This paid for the correct parts that I bought.

I ordered a correct radiator from Glen-Ray and picked it up at the Mopars in the Park show in Minnesota the next year in June. I have all the Max Wedge parts installed and have been driving the Dart to local cruises and shows.

In the meantime, I sent the original cracked steering wheel out to Kochs in California to be restored. Other improvements I also made were changing out the rear shocks to replace the coil-overs with stock shocks. This lowered the rear end by two inches. I changed out the inner black headlight rings for correct silver rings.

I purchased a replacement headliner from REM in the correct hard Masonite material and had it installed at a trim shop in Olathe, KS. The Max Wedge alternator wiring harness came from Kramer Specialties. Hot Rods by Rohrer installed all of the Max Wedge stuff that I got from Jesse. Harry Rohrer of Hot Rods by Rohrer also carefully removed the “Six Pack to Go” that one of the previous owners had painted on the rear of the car. No repainting needed to be done and you have to really look closely to even see where that was now.