Works in Progress
1962 Dodge Lancer GT
Dave Huff writes:
I have a car that I think you might be interested in. It is a 1962 Dodge Lancer GT 2 door HT.
A little history. In 1962 I was a senior in High School and I bought a 62 Lancer GT.
It was a stick on the tree which I converted to a Hurst floor shifter. I
began racing the car locally at Green Valley strip (and others) in the stock
class and won the majority of my races. I really didn't have any competition
even against other Lancers and Valiant because for some reason I was much
quicker than the rest. My best et was a 16:32 with a mph of over 80 for the
quarter. Remember that this was totally stock. In 1964 the car won its
class at the AHRA National Championships. Shortly after that, I put in a
hyper-pack and eventually ran in the low 13's with upper 90's but being a
college guy with low bucks forced me to give up racing and revert back to
stock. In '67 I found out why my Lancer was so much faster then everyone
else. I found that the block had rotted out where the upper radiator hose
fits to the block. Turns out the block was aluminum and therefore much
lighter. I was told at the time that this block had been installed on
different cars unknown to the owners to check the reliability. Anyway
Chrysler would not do anything so I had to put in an iron block and soon
after traded it in on a brand new '67 Dodge R/T with the 440 motor. What a
beast.
Anyway not too many years after that I began a search for another Lancer but
never did find one until late 1999 when I spotted one under a tree in
someone's front yard. I did an immediate U and asked if the car was for
sale. It was and $500 later it was mine. The seller said that the car was
running when he parked it in 1990 but that the brakes were bad. Three days
later I put in a battery did a quick brake job and started it on 10 year old
gas!
This is my first restoration and not really knowing what to do first, I
decided to go and repair/replace the front end, shocks, etc. Then I worked
on the engine. No real problems there. Then, not being a paint and body
guy, I took it to a local professional Chevy restoration shop...(Big Mistake!)
where they took the body all the way to the bare metal, primered it, and
painted it the way you see it now. Turns out that the job was pretty sorry
and it looks like it will have to be done over, probably in a different
color. Any one in the Fort Worth, Texas area have any suggestions?
Now I am working on the electrical system. Thank God that this car is
pretty simple because I am having a bear of a time. However, I will get it
done soon and then on to the interior. I had originally planned to do the
car up in original stock trim but because these cars were not really
popular, parts are really hard to come by. So, I may do a tuck and roll or
something else. I haven't decided yet.
I'll keep you up on what's going on as I get closer to the finish. I'll
tell you this tho, every time I drive it, I sure do get a lot of thumbs up.
Enclosed are a couple of photos of the car as it is at this time. If I can
find some pix of "before" I'll send them later.
Update April 2011
The Lancer GT was sold several years ago and shipped to the east coast. At the time it was sold, it had the seats recovered in “stock” trim, had new carpeting on hand but not installed because of the need to completely re-wire all the electronics. The original wiring was completely shot and was having to be replaced. At that point, with two new granddaughters to play with, my priorities changed and I put the car on E-bay and a week later, it sold.
I’m sorry the story doesn’t have a happy ending from my side, but the guy I sold it to sure seemed excitied to have it and it was at about 85% complete so hopefully, he has completed it by now.
Thanks, Dave!
Certainly these are among the rarest of the early pre-A body Mopars, even if it was not a GT!
That GT for sale so close to your home was a great find! U-turn indeed!
Keep up the good job on the restoration!
RE: Thanks for the April 2011 update. Well, “life happens” and that’s okay. Anyway, it is hard to top grandchildren, even for cool Mopars! 
The Lancer found a new loving home so perhaps the new owner will send in an update someday.
Gary H.
May 24, 2001. Updated April 10, 2011
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