Over the past 40 years, George Poulson has become pretty handy at making chrome-bumper Mopars look good and go fast. “I had a low-13-second 340 VG four-door in the early 80s, an 11.4-second Regal in the early 90s, and a 10-second Charger in the mid-90s,” he says. He’s remained in step with the times since then, as illustrated by his previous effort, a bad-arse 6.1 SRT-swapped VJ hardtop (SM, Aug ’16), and he’s now debuted another Gen III transplant, distilling his formula into a sweet 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger.

First published in the August 2024 issue of Street Machine

“Most of my mates have US Mopars, and I was excluded from events where only those cars were invited to attend, so I decided to change that,” George explains. “It had to be lighter than my hardtop and be a muscle car; the 340 Dart Swinger was part of the Scat Pack group, and of those cars, it was the quickest down the quarter-mile, so a ’70 Scat Pack mock-up with a much quicker Hemi was the car for me.”

The Dart came from Pakenham’s Murray Markwell, who’d bought it as part of a deceased estate bundle in the US. After rebuilding the front end and brakes, George had a solid cruiser, albeit underwhelmingly powered. “It was an 81,000-mile, matching-numbers car, but it was boring as bat poo to drive,” he laughs. “I don’t have any problem with time capsules; I just don’t want to drive one!”

Tony at Comp Engines machined and assembled a 6.4 Gen III short block with a factory crank and rods, along with 10thou-over Mahle PowerPak forgies that bump compression to 11.3:1. A Comp 274 cam works with a VVT phaser limiter, while George ported and assembled the heads himself, matching them to a 6.1 Hemi manifold.

Rather than fab the conversion from scratch as with his hardtop, George sourced a Gen III fitting kit, which soon became a sticking point in itself. “It came with extractors, engine mounts, mount brackets, and the sump,” he says. “And nothing fitted! I modified and strengthened the brackets, and heated up all four pipes near the collectors to bend them away from the trans, as they were hitting so badly on both sides.

“After all of that, the drag link hit the sump, and the idler and Pitman arm hit the extractors. After lots of tweaking and patient manipulation, I have everything clearing and functioning as it should! I guess if it was meant to be easy, everybody would be doing it.”

George was rewarded with 435rwhp and a huge 696lb-ft of torque, which runs through a Cope Racing-built 518 Torqueflite four-speed. Found in many 90s and 2000s Dodge trucks, the rear section of the overdrive-equipped auto is longer and wider than an earlier 727, so George heated and massaged the floor around the crossmember for clearance. VJ Valiant calipers replace the Swinger’s factory front drums, and SSD torque boxes work with home-fabbed chassis connectors underneath.

“My dad was a painter and panel beater; I painted my hardtop over 10 years ago and then did this, so it was a long time between drinks,” George says. “Steve from Lonsdale Paints was good – he supplied the paint and gave me some tips before I started, and it turned out pretty good!” The B5 Blue copped four extra parts of Aqua Pearl, with the red tones deleted. Don’t ask George for a recipe for the white, though: the roof is a blend of left-over paint from his mum’s Commodore, his CL Valiant Regal and a Porsche!

You’d never pick the front seats as VE Commodore ute buckets; the flip-down structures use flatter foams and reshaped headrests for a period look with modern support. Even better is that George paid $150 for them and sold the original bench for $1100! The under-dash layout is another simple yet intelligent play that follows the brief of tidy, no-frills functionality. “I’ve used two camping hairdryers as heaters and demisters, which work great,” George explains. “It removed the massive a/c and heater unit, which gave me all the room needed to hide everything, including the windscreen washer bag and pump.”

Climbing under the dash of an old car is painful and frustrating at the best of times, let alone when you’re six-foot-two and have a torn disc in your spine, so George outsourced the fitment of the plug-and-play loom and digital Speedhut gauges. “The O2 sensors were wired backwards – left to right – so the car was not happy, stuttering and missing until it hit 4700rpm, where it would go into an open loop and all hell would break loose,” he says. Good mate Johnny came to the rescue with a datalogger to read the Mopar Performance ECU, and guru James Veldhuizen at SRT Autoworks quickly diagnosed the issue over the phone. “A big thanks to James for that and for talking me through some other issues,” George says. “After basically finishing the car, I had to pull off the intake and un-loom and reroute the wiring the right way, after which it was like a different car!”

The degree of modification around the Dart isn’t as extensive as the hardtop’s, and the fast turnaround was helped by George now being retired. “I basically rebuilt the whole car from scratch in two years,” he says. “I’d have a list and make sure I achieved a few things every single day.”

Despite now owning two blue, modern Hemi-powered Mopar coupes, George maintains they’re each a distinct experience. “The hardtop’s more refined; it’s a more luxurious cruiser. This thing’s a bit more brash, but I’ve tried to keep it looking as meek and mild as I possibly can. I’ll be running it down the quarter regularly – that’s why I built it, really – so stay tuned.”

Chryslers on the Murray 2024 was the Dart’s first, and so far only, show outing. “She was awarded the third-place trophy for Best Dodge Muscle,” George says. “I’m pretty happy with that, given it’s a low-budget, backyard shed build that held its own – and then some – against many high-dollar professional builds.”

George is 63 next year and reckons he’ll pull up stumps on building cars. “Though I wouldn’t mind an AT4 Dodge truck with an extended chassis, running 300 SRT8 trim, dash and motivation,” he admits. “Apparently the factory 300C K-member will almost bolt straight in!”

GEORGE POULSON
1970 DODGE DART SWINGER

THANKS
My lovely, patient, understanding wife Sue; my good mate Johnny V; Andrew Dunnett for his help with the tune; Rod for the use of his spray booth; my brother John for helping to hang panels, wire the cooling fans, listening and lending a hand; my neighbour Mick for popping over when I need an extra pair of hands; Bruce Morphett and his oxy for bending and relieving the extractors; Darren, Rick, Tim, Spil, Dean and the two Jims for being interested to chat about the progress.