Great 8 Contender for the Ridler Award …
Willie and Charlotte Maise were on their way over to the Cobo Center Friday morning to see their 1965 Dodge Dart SL Street Touring car at the 2015 Detroit Autorama. Their pride and joy, a 1965 Dodge Dart which they call the “Dart SL ” was to be shown to the public for the first time, and their anticipation was high. This car started out to be Willie’s driver, but when he took it to Big Oak Garage, the crew there came up with some good ideas so Willie’s driver turned into a full on show car. Every panel was reworked. The roof was lowered a bit toward the windshield and the body was totally reworked. The finely crafted custom includes 110 body modifications, 42 one-off machined parts and countless hand-made sheet metal pieces. But the lines of the car and enough of the look of the car were saved so that you can very definitely tell it is a ’65 Dodge Dart. The fit and finish on this car are perfect.
The Dart SL has a 392 Supercharged Gen 2 Hemi motor which is the heart of the car. It sits in a perfect clean engine compartment where all of the wires and plumbing are hidden, even the radiator was built in under a special valance.
When Big Oak Garage designed in the the suspension they used a special belly pan type cover that is tied into the rear suspension and they used a torque arm type suspension in the rear. (See photo.) An air vent was used below the headlights on the front valance to bring air through a duct in the fender to the front brakes. (See headlight photo.) You can also see that the front headlights are LED.
In the photos you’ll notice the one-off Schott wheels labeled SL65’s. Willie was told by Schott that they will be selling this design sometime in the future, and they will call them SL65’s in honor of this build.
The custom interior is so fully detailed it takes a while to take in all the subtleties. The interior was done by M&M Hot Rod Interiors.
Big Oak Garage did the paintwork in-house. The D-BASF color is called Green With Envy.
Willie and Charlotte soon found out that their car had been selected as one of the Great 8 contenders for the 2015 Ridler Award. Willie said, “It’s still all just sinking in.”
Click thumbnail pictures to view a larger resolution photo.
Click here to return to the 2015 Detroit Autorama page.
Had good fortune of following this build for over 3 yrs, and its been impressive from day #1.
Willy was so fortunate having the enormously talented group from Big Oaks in Hokes Bluff, Alabama take on the project. The car needs to be seen to appreciate the extensive body mods and one-off pieces, all of which screams…”hey, come look at what I’ve become”! And never was there a doubt of it making everyone take notice immediate with the striking green paint (happy St. Patty’s Day) with contrasting black trim in all the appropriate spots. No way you cant dig the classiness of it’s interior and how well it follows the cars overall theme. When you have a builder of Big Oaks capabilities team up with M&M Hot Rod Interiors from Holly Pond, AL, and make the Great 8, you know there’s a high degree of probability you take the Ridler on Sunday night. Good Luck my friends!
Proud far you Car looks good hope you win say hello to Jimmy and Will
Picked your car from the hit go, I hope we’re bothright GOOD LUCK
A HUGE congratulations to Willie, Charlotte and all the guys at Big Oak Garage in Hokes Bluff, AL. Who would have ever thought this “dart” would have ever EVER looked like it now does. Wonderful work and ingenuity from the crew to turn it into what is now is!!! Just making the Great 8 is an achievement in its own….and a chance to win the Ridler Award….well….gosh gee whiz….Big Oak ROCKS!!!!!!! Be careful coming home guys and ladies. We look forward to seeing that DartSL in all the right places… Jim….your vision for retirement is paying dividends in folds…. Great job my friend….
go figure, some country boys from Alabama have to show them dodge guys how a dart should LOOK. They knocked this one out of he park.
best to all.
I owned a 65 Dart GT. Always loved the looks of it. What a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Wish I still had mine…………