opar folks had it rough years ago when it came to building or restoring their muscle cars. They either used what they had, found nice used replacements, or dropped massive sums of money on N.O.S. parts. Thankfully that has all changed in the last decade or so with the explosion of reproduction muscle car parts. Ask anyone wrenching on classic Mopar trucks and they’ll tell you they’re still the dark ages. That was the reality going on for Mike Toupin when he decided that he wanted to try his hand at putting together a mid-’60s Dodge truck. “I’ve always liked trucks,” he explains. “After building a car, a patina shop truck is what I was after. I had seen a few like that and really thought it was a cool look.” Having spent four years building a 5.7L Gen 3 Hemi-powered ’63 Dart restomod, the truck wasn’t his first Mopar rodeo, but it was every bit as challenging to pull off.
After five years of build time at home the Dodge has now surpassed the debug stage. Mike has sorted out any issues that might pop up to make it reliable. With that sweet spot of reliability achieved, his plan is to start hitting local and long-distance shows. His parting advice to anyone contemplating a Dodge project is that “you have to be a problem solver because you can’t just open up a catalog and buy something. You have to be creative and make stuff on your own.”