Bought a 62 Dodge Dart 440 Station Wagon

[440 PHIXX]

That is a beautiful station wagon!

 

[Michael R]

The Detroit buyer is a collector and the car was garaged for many years. The last time it was registered was 1999 in Washington. I don’t think he did much with the car. It looked like they did the bare minimum to keep it running. I am concerned that the engine isn’t original.

 

[Budnicks]

Welcome to FBBO fromNorCal Sierras

 

[Lefty71]

My concern is it is a truck motor.

That motor looks vintage to me.... old style water neck, stovepipe valve cover tubes.... of course cant see a thing about the bottom end and the older stuff would bolt on about any bb motor... 4 bolt valve covers??.... that would at least tell you if '63 and earlier heads. That sure doesn't look like an industrial/truck 413 to me.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

Very nice B body wagon...3 row seating to boot!

 

[Michael R]

That motor looks vintage to me.... old style water neck, stovepipe valve cover tubes.... of course cant see a thing about the bottom end and the older stuff would bolt on about any bb motor... 4 bolt valve covers??.... that would at least tell you if '63 and earlier heads. That sure doesn't look like an industrial/truck 413 to me.

 

[Michael R]

Thank you for your insight. It is sounding like an original. The carb was a mess. My mechanic sent it to the east coast to get it completely rebuilt. I’ll say the car runs great now. It has some good power if I step on it.

 

[kiwigtx]

Welcome to FBBO from New Zealand, and thank you for the pictures.

 

[moparedtn]

Wow, that's a beauty right there!
One heck of an example of an un-messed with, rare wagon for sure.
That is the kind of car that could serve as an excellent example of those of
the era - definitely not one to be "customized", but rather to be preserved
responsibly for future generations to be able to see.

 

[Ron H]

Yes, from the photos sure looks like a nice survivor…the car that could play an extra in a movie. Lol, on this note, bet I’m in a lot of company here: How many look at the vehicles used in period movies or shows to see if any are newer than what year the flick is supposed to be…say it’s supposed to be 1963 and see a ’67 Impala in the background. Then I tell my wife or kids, look at that car; they’re clueless what I’m pointing out until I describe the glitch then say yeah ‘you’ would pick that out. Seems the movie people do a better job today than they used to as I don’t run across this anymore…oh what was the movie about? I forgot.

 

[Michael R]

So, thanks to so many of you, I’ve found the stamp in the engine block. It is a 361 which makes sense as that was the largest engine offered in the wagon. I’ve posted my embarrassing dirty photo

 

[khryslerkid]

So, thanks to so many of you, I’ve found the stamp in the engine block. It is a 361 which makes sense as that was the largest engine offered in the wagon. I’ve posted my embarrassing dirty photo

View attachment 1289069

Very well may be the original engine. I see an "S" in front of the "36" which denotes the year 1962. Also there's the "HP" which stands for High Performance. That would be the four bll carburetor, a little higher lift cam and more than likely dual exhaust. The 361 was introduced in '62 just for these cars.
http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/motor/36.html