Thanks to a tip from BangShift forum member Rush, I found the infamous 1968 Dodge Dart Hot Rod Magazine project car known as Cheap Thrills for sale in Arizona on Craigslist. Built in the early 1990s by David Freiburger this is a car that lots and lots of us followed with baited breath every month. Freiburger’s Cheap Thrills Dart was a departure from what lots of magazine project cars had come to be at that time because Freiburger was raiding junkyards, making transmissions mounts out of hoe clamps, and showing how cheaply a fast car could be built by using your noodle and not necessarily the most cutting edge, zooty speed parts. The Cheap Thrills Dart was 100% BS Approved decades before that concept existed!
Ultimately the car ended up running in the 12 second zone with a 440 plucked from a Chrysler Imperial. More specifically, it ended up running in the 12.60s at like 110mph for around 1900 bucks if I remember right. When these stories were coming out month after month, my (at the time) 14 year old brain was absolutely reeling with the idea that it was possible to put a fast car together for a very attainable amount of money. Yeah, the thing was kinda ugly, would never win an award for design and engineering, and is basically female repellent, but it went in the freaking 12s for less than two grand! That’s hot rodding and it has certainly served as an inspiration through the years. Like many of you, I think the Cheap Thrills Dart is one of my favorite cars of all time.
There’s no price listed on the CL ad, but the guy certainly knows what he has and seems to have all of the documentation on the car, including the original folder that was used to house receipts and stuff for the build. We’re guessing that the thrills are going to be far less cheap for whoever the next owner is.
Thanks to Rush for the tip!
SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS AND A LINK TO THE CL AD – THE CAR IS IN THE PHOENIX, ARIZONA AREA
CL AD LINK: DAVID FREIBURGER’S FAMOUS CHEAP THRILLS DART HOT ROD PROJECT CAR
12 g’s? sheesh ! I love FB and Cheap Thrills but thats ridonkulous……….i still have the HR mags and the elco (12.99 for $1299) he did at Car Craft was cool also (before he painted it etc.)…bet its worth north of 30 grand lol………..
Freiburger and Finnigan need to get the ’68 Dart back and make it into a episode of Roadkill.
I thought DF tried to buy it back some time ago
but the then owner wanted too much for it.
IIRC, I remember an editorial where he was pining to get this back. Has anybody contacted DF about it?
Nevermind, just read the article.
If I’m not mistaken that was back when at 11.99 meant you had to get a cage. Made sense to stop in the mid to low 12’s.
Does it come with a front clip? Even if it does 12k!? How much is a ruff BB dart worth 6k? 200% mark up for ink? ………4k / 300%?……
‘Wonder if the same “hoe” clamps are still securing the trans?
I’ll have to pass and make my own project cheap thrills and pocket the extra 8 grand.
It’s been up for sale before. And, it was priced stupid high back then. It was also missing it’s front clip then. I see nothing has changed in three years.
This was one of the builds I loved as I have always needed to be frugal in my spending, what with having a family and all. If I could get it for what was spent on it origanally it would be a great father son project, but 12K not a chance. Maybe Barret Jackson could hype it enough to get there.
Its truly amazing what people ‘think’ a car is worth just because it had some part of a magazine. I wouldn’t pay more than 3k for that car. But that’s just me. If the guy wants anywhere north of 5k for it, he’s on crack.
Tthe guy will take 5000 for it.