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This ultra-rare 1967 Dodge Dart GTS was built from the ground up by the current owner, Gregg Barrette of Everett, Washington. When Gregg found it in 2001 there wasn’t much there to start with.
“It had a trunk lid, passenger door, and rearend,” Gregg explained. “No seats, headliner, or dash. Nothing.” Usually a project that far gone wouldn’t get the quality restoration treatment that Gregg gave this one, but this particular ’67 GTS is one of only 457 made that year, and one of only 228 automatics.
From looking at this car today, it's impossible to guess that it started in the state that Gregg bought it in!
This show-built car you see today is the fruit of seven years of searching for parts that came from all over the world. “The parts on this car came from Mexico City to Montreal and everywhere in between,” Gregg explained. “And pretty much everything is new-old-stock.”
He worked to restore the car as factory as could be. “Thank god for eBay. I was on the computer every day.” Without the help of the internet to locate available parts across the globe, the restoration of this car would have taken much longer. Imagine trying to go to enough swap meets to cover the ground just one quick search on eBay can cover?
Imagine trying to find all of these pieces? It's a wonder people did this kind of thing before eBay! Granted, back in those days, the stuff was easier to come by.
It’s one thing to buy all of the parts, but it’s another thing entirely to figure out the correct way to put them all back in the factory way. To kill two birds with one stone, Gregg bought an 82,000-mile survivor four-door and used it for parts and as a template. It was a great source for missing pieces and a great way to see how things go together.
There is the only giveaway on the car as to what it is.
Gregg finished the build in 2009 and it took a lot of time and effort to get it done. “Me and one buddy did 90% of the work,” he explained. “It was a labor of love. I love this car.”
All of that work certainly paid off and the final product is absolutely worth the effort. The car is powered by the correct motor for the ’67 GTS, a big-block 383 cubic-inch engine, making this an ultra-rare piece of Mopar history.
The cool thing about that too, is the only giveaway on the outside that this is a big-block car is the one GTS emblem on the front fender.
To help put in perspective how rare these are, there is an online registry where owners can list their car. Gregg has his in the registry, and he brings the total up to a whopping 25 cars. “That means there are maybe 40 or 50 of them still around,” Gregg says. That’s assuming there are double the number of cars than what is listed.
We love Gregg’s car, and we’d love to see what you guys are driving out there. If you love it, odds are good that we will too, so shoot us an email with a couple pictures and a little information on your ride, you might just see it here as one of our Street Features. Still a work in progress? Now worries, we’d always like to see a project for our What Are You Working On series.
