By his own admission John Burpee will tell you he’s a true motor head. Always have been, and without doubt, always will be. He displays a love and appreciation for most things mechanical, and has a certain affliction for Classic American Muscle.

As any good motor head worth their “I’m not speeding, I’m qualifying” bumper sticker can tell you, there will always be that one car that just stops you in your tracks. The car that just reaches out and grabs you, the car that somehow magically forces you to fall head over heels in love with it. The car that you vow to own someday, even if it means selling your collection of Rolling Stones vinyl LP’s, or your first edition Superman comic book.

Cleaned up and ready to cruise. This beauty only comes out when the sun is shinning

For John Burpee, the object of his affection would be a Dodge Hemi Dart, red with a black interior, and chrome wheels. “My love for this car goes back to my high school days,” Burpee recalled. “I had a 1970 Swinger that I drove back and forth to school, it had the 340 V-8 in it, and I always wanted to drop a Hemi in the car, but never got around to it.”

Burpee drove the Swinger throughout his High School years and eventually replaced the car when it was just too tired to go any further, knowing that someday he would find that Hemi Dart with his name on it. That day came in the summer of 2010 when Burpee traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota with a few of his friends to attend the annual Car Craft Nationals.

“We were roaming around the grounds when I turned and saw it, a beautiful red Hemi Dart with a for sale sign on the windshield,”Burpee laughed. “I immediately reached for my wallet.”

A 540 cubic inch jewel shines under the designed fiberglass hood

As fate would have it, Burpee was unable to come to terms with the owner and left St. Paul walking. After this disappointment, Burpee was driven to find another Hemi Dart that he could own. He was well aware from all of his research that the Hemi Darts were far and few between, most had not survived the years, and those that did were either not for sale, or carried a price tag similar to that of a used aircraft carrier.

With this in mind, Burpee began to consider, if he couldn’t find a Hemi Dart he could buy, he would build his own. Before he had returned home to Sunny Florida, he located a Dart on E-Bay that looked promising, and it was in Chiefland, Florida, not too far from his home in St. Petersburg. Once he was back home, Burpee contacted the seller, made the trip to Chiefland, bought the car, and drove it back home to St. Petersburg.

Light assemblies, Bumpers and side reflectors are all OEM replacements. The custom fabricated Spin Tech Exhaust runs front to rear.

Although the car drove out good, Burpee had other plans for his newest acquisition. This car would be the car of his dreams, that bright red Hemi Dart with the chrome wheels and scooped hood. He entrusted Dave and Andrew Stephens, the owners of NBS Performance and Fabrication in nearby Pinellas Park, Florida, to do the complete frame up restoration – or in this case, a frame up transformation.

The Alterkation K Member houses the rack and pinion steering, QA1 Coil Over Shocks keep the rubber on the road

The first order of business for the guys at NBS was to take the car down to the bare frame and put it on the jig. After inspection, it was determined the frame was straight, and symmetrical, so fabrication of the 12 point roll cage was next on the list. “Once the cage was in place we put the bare chassis on the rotisserie,” Andrew recalled. “We installed a mock up for the motor and the 6 speed Tranzilla so we could get started on the tin work.”

Fabrication of the mini tubs and floor pans went pretty smooth, however Dave and Andrew found they had to modify the transmission tunnel to accommodate the Tranzilla that would reside there. At this point the assembly went across the street to Straight Line Body Shop where Mark Mahowski and his crew would lay on the epoxy primer, base coats, two color coats and a layer of clear coat.

The chassis returned to NBS a beautiful Viper red; the cage was done in gloss black to coordinate with the black leather interior that would be installed later in the build. The rear clip was also in place when the rotisserie was rolled back across the street.

A look under the car reveals the Cal Trac springs, QA1 adjustable Shocks and the narrowed Dana

Back in the hands of the Stephens brothers, the suspension on the car was put in place. A Cal Trac leaf spring system would hold the narrowed Dana 60 rear differential with a 3.73 gear. A complete Alterkation front K member, to include the rack and pinion steering, would support the front end. Four wheel, two piston, Aero Space Disc Brake components were installed to supply the stopping power. QA1 coil over shocks on the front end, and QA1 adjustable shocks in the back, were expected to provide a smooth ride for Mr. Burpee’s dream machine.

A brand new 540 Cubic Inch, 745 horsepower, second generation cross ram Hemi from Tim Banning at For Hemis Only in Ontario, Canada, was next on the list. A Center Force twin-disc clutch and the Rockland Standard Gear, 6 Speed Tranzilla was bolted to the back of the Hemi and properly secured between the frame rails. A custom made drive shaft from Precision Shaft Technology in Clearwater, Florida, is responsible for moving the horses to the Dana 60 and the 10 inch Mickey Thompson skins.

Electronics and Battery are nicely concealed behind the custom fabricated panel directly in front of the 20 gallon fuel cell. The hand stitched carpet adds the finished look.

“We had a fueling issue at first,” Stephens recalls. “I ended up changing out the carburetors that came with the motor, and put two 850 Holly carburetors on it, and that cured our problem.” David Stephens completed the wiring on the car before it went back across the street to Mahowski and his crew for the front clip and doors. “After we had the front clip and the doors on it, it was starting to look like a real car,” Mahowski chuckled. From there the car went to Mark Krause, owner of Shape Shifters Interiors, for the fabrication and installation of the interior.

Initial plans for the car was for the interior to mimic what could best be described as a Super Stock clone, however, as it evolved a few modern creature comforts were added. Knowing the car was going to live in Florida, air conditioning was a must; Krause was also aware that Burpee planned to use the car as an occasional driver, so he included a 900 watt JL Audio system with a 5-channel amp tucked under the custom made leather bench seat in the back of the car for his listening pleasure.

Dashboard and instrument panels were custom fitted to accommodate the roll cage, and everything that was plated was removed and powder coated to maintain a period look. When Krause finished with the somewhat altered interior fabrication, the car returned to MSB for the final touches.

Andrew and Dave Stephens made the final adjustments to the car, and finished the incidentals like installing the Auto Meter gauge package, and fine tuning the cooling system. “After we got the car back from Mark, the extras that were added during the interior install added about 400 pounds to the car,” Andrew stated. “We had to order a heavier spring package from Cal Trac, but all things worked out in the end.”

The classic lines of the 4th generation Dart are pleasing to the eye. The car is equipped with windshield wipers, but to this point, they have never been used.

After nearly a year in the making, the beautiful Viper red Hemi Dart of John Burpee’s dreams was ready for delivery. Today the car spends most of the time inside the climate controlled garage at Burpee’s home, but when the weather looks good Burpee will drive the car to his office, or take a cruise along the Gulf beaches. You may also find John and his Dart at any number of local shows and displays throughout west central Florida. If you happen to be attending one of these shows, stop by and say hello, John will not be hard to find, he’s the guy with the ear to ear grin standing next to that shiny Viper red Hemi Dart.