My Dart beginings...

Yay! I got my Dart wagon back from the carburetor shop. Boy did they do a great job! They rebuilt the carb and it is now so clean when I first laid eyes on it, I thought they replaced it all together. The also had to tap out and re-thread an old bolt holding in the choke housing to the engine block. They then replaced the whole apparatus on that one. They put in a new in line fuel filter and some new gas lines leading to and from the filter. They lastly replaced a dodgy (no pun intended) wire heading to my coil. They did one fine job with the tune up and now the wagon is much more road worthy and has been starting right up each time. She's purring like a giant kitten. I will be driving her to and from work and hope no new problems will manifest. I have my eye on some new tires too, just waiting for my next pay check!

Now enough about the new-old car, lets give credit to the past Darts in my life. The whole love affair started when I found a late 60's model Dart in a Cars for Causes auto yard. It was several years ago and way before I had even an inkling of mechanical knowledge. Immediately I was head over heals. It was a 4 door sedan, probably a '68 or so, all red, inside & out. Immaculate condition. The only hitch, it wouldn't start. That didn't keep her from telling me her name though, it was Beulah. She was a big girl. Big and beautiful. My Dad was with me on the lot. We were looking for mopeds not cars. He saw Beulah and loved it too. He told me he had owned a Dart and a Valiant when he was a younger man. He loved those cars. He was all for me to buy it. (My dad is unusually pro crazy mechanical projects come to find out) the boyfriend I had at the time was not so enamored. He told me I would be bringing home an $800 paper weight.

That's right, $800! Oh, how I wanted her. I went back each weekend for about a month, to visit with Beulah and I quickly befriended a dude who worked there. He assured me that these old cars had very little that could go wrong on them. That most likely it was a small problem that kept it from running. As enticing as that was, I had no idea how to work on it and had zero dollars for endless mechanics. Then, finally the disapproving boyfriend went out of town. I had made up my mind to bite the bullet and buy Beulah. If I was to have an $800 paper weight at least it would be a beutiful one! As soon as my day off rolled around, I drove out to C4C. I ran into the yard, cash in hand looking for my Dart. I'm here Beulah, where are you??? I hurried over to her spot in the yard and all I saw was an empty parking space and some old oil stains. What? Where was she?? I looked desperately around the yard, maybe they moved her to the back--nothing! I found the dude who worked there...

"Where's my Dart?", I pleaded.

"Some one bought it yesterday" he said, "they connected some wires and it started right up. They drove it away."

My brain realed, they DROVE it away???? All I could do was stare at her empty parking space. I looked up to the heavens, "BEULLLLLAAAHHHHH!" She was gone.

I do not have any photos of this car. All I know is that she was beautiful and she was the one that got away. It was a valuable lesson though, the universe will provide for you when the time is right. Beulah wasn't meant to be mine, but she was meant to plant the seed in my mind. Over the years weeds grew in my brain and I knew that ONE day, I was meant to have a Dart. It would happen, but not until the stars had aligned.

The only record of Buelah I have is a few pages of a comic that I had started. I will dig those out and post them here. Long live Beulah, I know you are out there somewhere, in good hands.

xoxox, Amber

Coming Soon: The Mighty Blue