Although he tells us he was more of a sports guy during his formative years, Dan Iverson says he was destined for the gearhead life, thanks to his dragster-racing dad and the influence of an older brother who owned a hopped-up Oldsmobile 442.
A Minneapolis, Minnesota native, Iverson says that eventually, he caught the hot-rodding bug and ended up buying his brother’s ’68 Olds for a few hundred bucks. Soon after that, he swapped its 400ci big-block into a ’64 Cutlass, which served as his daily driver throughout his high school years. “I liked that ’64 body style more,” he explains. “It was smaller than the ’68. Big motor, lighter platform means faster car, you know? And it was a sharp car – it had old-school candy apple Kosmoski paint, so it definitely looked the part.”
Although Iverson eventually put his gearhead aspirations on extended hold after high school, there was one car that continued to live rent-free in his mind over the ensuing years. “Back in high school, a good buddy of mine had a ’68 Dodge Dart GTS with a 383ci V8 under the hood,” he recalls. “That thing just went. I always thought that if I ever built a Mopar, it should be a ’68 Dart with a big block in it. It took thirty years for that to come to fruition, but I figure, better late than never!”
Iverson started hunting for a Dart of his own back in 2010, a search which led him to a slant-six-powered, rust-free example in eastern Oregon. After driving the car more or less as it was for a summer, he began the process of bringing his vision for the ultimate Dart GTS street machine to life.
“I more or less worked from the back of the car to the front,” he says. “I’d done a bit of research and knew the limitations for the wheel and tire package that would fit on the rear, so I decided to have a buddy of mine do a three-inch mini-tub, and the 8¾ rear end was narrowed by two and a half inches on each side. And since he was already under there with the welder anyway, we also did subframe connectors at the same time. We put CalTracs and adjustable Rancho 9000 shocks on it at that point as well. That was the first big project I tackled with the car.”
A 440-based 499ci big-block was being prepared for the Dart as he worked his way through the project, and some quick math convinced Iverson to install a roll bar to ensure the car would remain in compliance at the drag strip with the ETs it was projected to be capable of.
“The next thing on my list was the front suspension, and I was kind of enthralled with the idea of getting rid of the torsion bars,” he says. “With a big-block and headers involved, I knew it was going to be a tight fit in a Dart no matter what. But at that time, the only aftermarket suspension readily available was from Reilly MotorSports, and that setup was just beyond my budget. So I did some more research on the ‘For A-Bodies Only’ forum and found out about a custom setup someone had developed for these cars that was about one-fifth the price. I welded that new setup onto the factory K-member, and now the Dart has coilovers up front with QA1 springs and Strange shocks.”
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The new powerplant was ready to go in shortly thereafter. Built by 440 Source, the engine started life as a low-deck 400ci Mopar V8, but with a stroker crankshaft now in the mix, it displaces a hearty 499 cubic inches. A custom grind camshaft from Howards Cams, Trick Flow cylinder heads, TTi headers, an Edelbrock intake, and a six-pack setup consisting of three two-barrel Holley carburetors are also on board, resulting in a combination that’s good for 560 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque at the crank.
“I’ve always been fond of multi-carburetor setups – don’t ask me why,” he says with a laugh. “My Olds had two four-barrels on it. They can be a little tricky, but they’re also kind of unique because folks tend to shy away from them. But it’s just three two-barrel carburetors; ultimately there’s not a whole lot to them. And over time, I’ve gotten pretty good at tuning them.”
A 727 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic with a 4000-stall converter handles the gear changes, while the narrowed Mopar 8¾ rear end was livened up with Moser axles and 3.91 gears.
“The interior is 95% stock,” Iverson notes. “The seat color and pattern come from a ’69 Dart, and I have a few aftermarket gauges as well as the roll bar, but the rest of it is factory Mopar stuff.” The head-turning exterior hue, meanwhile, is actually a Harley Davidson shade called Silver Anniversary Silver Pearl.
“One year when I was at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, I found a ’67 Pontiac GTO in this color,” he says. “So I struck up a conversation with the owner of the car, and he filled me in on the paint. It just really caught my eye. I was like, ‘Yep – that’s what I’ve gotta have.’”
Completed in 2020, the Dart fulfills Iverson’s vision for a rowdy-yet-streetable big-block Dart that looks as good as it goes.
“I went to my first Holley MoParty event back in 2022, and that year I left the Dart at home,” he says. “But last year, I brought the car down to Bowling Green, and it was an awesome experience. The interest was incredible – I got comments all day throughout the show, and doing the photo shoot was really cool. Honestly, it was a little bit overwhelming; I just wasn’t accustomed to the attention! To me, it’s just my car. But clearly, we did something right with it.”
Iverson says he plans to hit the drag strip at the next MoParty event, but in the meantime, he has a few more upgrades in mind for this ultra-sharp A-Body. “The plan is to swap out the stock K-member for a HemiDenny K-member to get the suspension geometry dialed in. The current setup works, but the geometry isn’t exactly the way I’d like it, and I’d prefer something with more extensive engineering behind it. But other than that, I just want to get it on the track this year. And put as many miles on it as I can.”
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