We have too many projects, and some are neglected.

We’d feel worse about it if we didn’t know that many of you suffer from the same issue. Hopefully you’ll have some sympathy as we introduce one of our long-ignored favorites, the Spectre Dodge Dart.

Write in and tell us if any of the following sounds familiar.

We purchased the ‘69 Swinger on Ebay in June of 2006 from a guy in AZ. Why a Dart? Why Ebay? Nobody can remember. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

As is so often the case, the Dart came to us as an all-stock running car, but nothing stays that way in the Spectre shop for long. We sent the car off to Fast Eddie’s to get a full cage in preparation for a proposed drag car project.

Over at Eddie’s the little Dodge went from stock to stripped and caged, but then we got busy with other projects and the Dart has lived like a bat in the rafters for the past five years.

Happily, the Dart has made its way back to the shop floor.  Does this mean that 2012 will feature a second blue Spectre Mopar project? We may just get into drag racing…or should we build a corner carver?

Head over to our Flickr account for more Dart and other project photos.

RPM built the car for one of their longtime customers, Gerry Kerna, who was interested in competing in the autocross, as well as adding to her show car collection.

The Runt may have a funny name, but the car is no joke! With custom fabricated chassis, LS7, Tremec 6-Speed and all kinds of custom body modifications, this cherry beast will definitely have the last laugh at anyone who dares to challenge Kerna on the track.

The Runt not only won Goodguys Muscle Machine of the Year award for 2011, but it also was invited to join the elite at OUSCI this year.

Anyone who takes the time to  peek under the hood of the Runt will definitely appreciate the quality and hard work that went into building this car.  Of course, we’re especially delighted by the  awesome custom Spectre intake.  Not only did RPM add their own unique coating to the aluminum tubes, they utilized the inline filter option we have, making a lot of people question where the filter went. Ooh, a mystery!

We will be working closely with RPM in the future and hope they will continue to use Spectre’s parts to build custom intakes for their one off cars.  We also will have a special surprise that we are working with RPM which will debut mid March.  Stay tuned for sneak peeks.

The main reason is, who wants to compete with Dan “the man” Weishaar? Seriously, look at this thing. Can we do better than that?

It’s a real 383-powered ‘68 Roadrunner and it barely weighs more than our Dart.  At 3556 pounds, the blue bird seems remarkably nimble skirting the cones at a Good Guys Autocross and Dan doesn’t limit his driving adventures to nice, rubbery cone barriers.

In the last year, we’ve seen Weishaar at Optima events, at SEMA, on local cruise days and, perhaps most impressively, braving the hill at our own Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge. Perhaps our favorite thing about the Weishaar Plymouth is that Dan is never afraid to jump in and wrench on the thing, and he often includes his whole family. We approve of family automotive time.

If you want to build your own road warrior B-body, you’ll have to talk to Dan at one of the 2012 events. Luckily, his sweet cowl airbox is available from us, so at least you can make your engine bay look the part.

For more specs on Dan’s car, check out some of the following links.

Car Craft Magazine

Street Legal TV

Hooniverse

Hot Rod Magazine

One person that is guaranteed to cheer you up no matter how bad the race weekend, Albert Melchior.

Albert comes down from Canada, where he owns Carbon Kustoms, a couple times a year to participate, and often sponsor, many of the Pro-Touring races.

It’s always a pleasure to see Albert. He has an enthusiastic attitude and it’s reflected in the cars he builds and races. We first worked with Carbon Kustoms when Albert called us with a project in mind and wanted to know what tubes he should use. We sent him a couple things and like magic a Spectre custom intake was created.

Albert spends so much time under the hood, that he’s got some help behind the wheel. Kevin Miller, co-builder of Albert’s Firebird is a young and very talented driver. He has grown up around cars with the influential help of his father and has a ‘69 Camaro of his own that he built himself. Kevin has already participated in a handful of events throughout this year and did an excellent job piloting Albert’s ‘70 Firebird. We look forward to seeing more of Albert, Kevin and the Firebird in 2012!

Recently though, we started thinking about all the great rookies we meet. When we go to shows, we meet whole families building cars together, and we really think it’s cool to talk with kids who are just getting their driving permits about their car interests and driving goals. We guess you could call them “new shoe” drivers, but we think of them as SPIs…Spectre People of Interest.

We decided that our new shoe drivers deserve as much attention as the hot shoes, so with no further ado, we’d like to introduce Sam Farrington, our very first “SPI” highlight.

Name: Sam Farrington
Age: 15 1/2

We first met Sam at the Good Guys Nashville show in May, 2011. Sam had been working his way through the passenger seat of all the vendor cars and when he ended up next to Brandy in the Carbon Camaro, she had a chance to chat with him while they prepared to run.

Sam was a pro at these Goodguys Shows. He and his family have been attending car shows and pro-touring races longer than many of us have been in the industry!

Sam’s parents Tom and Debbie are active car people. Tom has a ’66 Chevelle he races and Debbie has a ’64 Chevelle Wagon. Sam told us that both his parents encouraged him to get involved in building and working on the cars. If something on one of the cars needs to be checked, Sam is there alongside his dad looking under the hood of the car.

We ran in to Sam and his family at many more events this summer, including Run to Music City, Midwest Musclecar Challenge and Goodguys Indy. Sam was known as the “professional passenger.” He had more seat time as a passenger at the Goodguys Nashville Show than any one person did as a driver; and Brian Finch drove a lot of cars that weekend!

We spoke with Sam’s parents about his car adventures. They had been working with him on basic skills such as parking and even some autocrossing. Sam had also spent some time one summer with Detroit Speed. Kyle and Stacy had taken him in and he helped them around the shop.

Give or take a year… this kid will be kicking everyone’s butt and by the time he is 18 and allowed on a Goodguys track, all of us old timers won’t be able to keep up with Sam.

Sam impressed us because he quickly saw that you do not need a car to learn to drive and be competitive. Sam already has the experience years beyond his age. His seat time as a passenger has already helped him become a better driver. Even more so, his seat time with multiple drivers has taught him several different driving styles that he can apply to his own when he finally gets to switch seats and get behind the wheel. He’s already giving his mom and dad pointers when they take out their Chevelles. We know he’s eager to challenge his sister Kaytlin on the autocross and the skills that both Farrington kids learn on the race track will make them safer drivers on the street as well.

Keep an eye out for Spectre parts on the Farrington’s wagon and hopefully a custom install on Sam’s car when it is ready.