Jalopnik
Is it really possible that it's been two months since our last Mopar A-body in this series? Like air-cooled VWs, Chrysler A-bodies are so plentiful in Alameda that I tend to lose track of when the last time I DOTS-ized one (also like air-cooled VWs, I've owned a few Slant Six A-bodies and feel much affection for them). So here comes a nice solid 4-door Dart, which lives on the same block as the Mercedes-Benz 280SEL that came in second in yesterdays DOTS Benz poll.
The Dart is one of the few vintage Detroit cars in which I prefer the six-cylinder engine to the V8, but then the Slant Six makes even the 318 seem flaky. Of course, a 340/4-speed Dart might convince me to give up the Leaning Tower of Power.
This Dart gets driven every day, and there's no telling how many times its 5-digit odometer has been turned over.
Check out those Buick hubcaps, which actually look pretty good on a Dodge. This car parks in front of a house in which a high-school girlfriend lived back in the day, and I have vivid memories of cutting the engine in my straight-pipe-equipped '58 Beetle about a block away and coasting up to this house in total silence, so I could drop my girlfriend off without tipping off her parents about how late we'd been out. Then, of course, I'd have to push the VW down the street a few doors before firing the 1835cc back up and driving away in as mellow a fashion as a 17-year-old with no mufflers could manage. This is the kind of flashback I get all the time, living in the town in which I grew up.
But enough of my old-time Alameda gibberish- it's poll time! We've had a bunch of A-bodies in this series, and it's time we found out which one is the crowd favorite. Sorry, haven't got a Demon on the list, but I'm keeping my eyes open for one.
Comments
If only there were a commenter who could tell us more about this magnificent automobile...
Official car of the AFDA.
Alameda
Funeral
Directors
Association
I voted for the convertible, just because it must be extremely rare. Plus - this is the second poll that has featured it, and it won the first. Impressive!
Also, that 61 Valiant is damn ugly. Not cute and interesting ugly, just damn ugly.
@ash78: Maybe someday someone will be willing to share their slant six Dart experience with us. I'll keep my fingers crossed until then.
I seem to see old A-body Dodges in good shape all the time. Just goes to show that Slant-6s will be around as long as cockroaches.
As much as I like Darts, I voted Valiant because Valiants rule. Having said that, let's be on the DOTS lookout for a Dart Swinger 340 / 4 speed. Gotta be one somewhere in the country.
I voted for the '64, since I have a '63 convertible...quintessentially dart- /6, pushbutton automatic. I like those 61's, too.
I also have a '60 Dart Pioneer wagon. Interestingly, From '60 to '63, the Dart shrunk by quite a bit. The '60 Wagon is nearly 18 feet long. The '63 convertible, only about 14 1/2.
I just sold my '64 Dart parts car (which is the twin to the '64 in this poll) to a fellow with 2 '65's, 2 '63's, a '68 and a '69. He daily drives a '63 4 door, white with red vinyl interior, and as nice as any show car you care to mention.
@Andrewpetty:
@ash78:
Okay, okay, I have some stories. My dad actually still has his '72 Dart four-door with the slant six (same body style as this one).
I can remember many snippets about riding in the car, but I was kind of young when he parked it for good. But not so young. My sister (5 years older than I) drove it as her first car. I remember riding with her as we cruised the backroads at what seemed like breakneck speeds. That thing had a two big bench seats (one up front, one in the back), and was an on-the tree auto tranny, so you could slide around up there pretty good. Especially if you went without the lap belts, which we very rarely did.
I also remember my dad and sister taking it out on the highway and cruising in 2nd gear (three speed auto, I believe) at actually breakneck speeds, to hopefully clear enough gunk and crap out so it would pass emissions (before Oregon settled on their current emissions scheme).
But my most vivid memory is of myself and one of my brothers taking it out without permission when my folks weren't home. He was 15, I was 13. We drove it around the new housing development across the way, and almost got it stuck in some mud. Actually, I think the mud is still on the tires, as it was right after that it was parked for good.
I should steal it from him, after I take his AH Bugeye sprite. And maybe one of his Saab 96s....
Where is the 1968 Hemi Dart in your poll? Now that is the all time best Dart!
The most durable of all cars, the 60's and 70's Dodge Dart with the slant six. I've always maintained that in the distant future, when everyone's driving around in hover cars, they'll still need to maintain the roads, because people will still be driving these things.
My buddy in college had a '74 Dart Swinger w/ 318 and torqueflight. He put the biggest damned Firehawks on the stockers and straight-out exhaust pipes tipped in chrome. It was the most badass POS car I've ever had the privledge of driving.
Surprisingly, the most common remark he got about the car was: "Dart, huh? I had one of those once. Worst car I ever owned." We never did understand that.
Anyway, voted for the scamp purely b/c it's the same color as my buddy's Dart.
Still wish new cars had those fresh air ducts. They worked brilliantly.
@Andrewpetty: I was in the Slant Six Club of America- back in the old days 1988 to 1994 B.I.- before internet.
[www.slantsix.com]
[www.slantsix.com]
Had to vote for the '71 Valiant, merely because my beloved uncle, who died last year, had one identical to it, but in white. Cost him $25...the scrap plywood covering the holes the floor was extra.
Car got hit so hard in the ass while in front of his house, the fuel tank's capacity was reduced to 3 gallons. Insurance paid for the car 50 times over and he continued to drive it for another year...trunk floor, what was left of it, blocking the rear window.
Long live the slant six! Wait, that's redundant...
These things were nearly indestructable. Solid, basic body design, but I do prefer the 69's 'Delta' rear end treatment over 70.
I wonder if the owner of this car is sitting at a desk right now spitting in frustration.
with a 1 bbl carb darts run 0 to 300 in .005 seconds.
Long Live Deskman !!!!!
Cripes, this poll is like asking which of my children I love more. But I chose the '73 since it looks exactly like my late lamented '75 Dart hardtop. 318, disks, column shift and slidey bench seats, all in shades of blue. Yes!
I sent it to the crusher because I thought wrongly that the front end was tough to rebuild and besides, there were always more $500 Mopars around then. Sniff. I'm so sorry.
Being a single enginerd (yeah those terms are like peanut butter and jelly) at the time I moved upscale & got an off-lease, low mileage '84 RX7 GSL-SE which was a total hoot.
@dolo54: The only way I could see that happening is if this is deskman's car.
"I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM!"
No what's sad for me, I still remember the Arvin Exhaust tailpipe part number for that car. 354148!!!!
How Bout that Dex Cool Lawsuit settlement!!
Despite being almost April, it's grey outside. We're barely above freezing, and there were snow flurries last night. So yeah, I vote convertible.
Also, my dad drove a Duster for about five or six years while he was in university. I'll have to bug him sometime, see if he's got any pictures, or remembers anything about it other than the "keen lights" (what a friend of his called the hood-mounted turn signals).
Speaking of 68 Hemi Darts, back in 1973 (as a high school senior in central Massachusetts), I spotted a for-sale add in our local paper. It was mid-week, and most inserts were for the Sunday edition, so we always checked regularly for a early-placement in the classifieds to get a jump on weekend buyers. Lo and behold, from a young man a few towns over, was an ad that said "1968 Hemi Dart. Too fast for me. $1500.00 Call....." I kid you not. I still have the piece somewhere in my scrap collection.
I was the 3rd person to call. The first caller (my neighbor down the street) snagged it and drove it home (I think) that Thursday night. The seller fellow had it about a month, buying it from someone in NY or somewhere, and it was the first "fast" car he ever had. He was really afraid of it.
My neighbor had it for some 15 years, but when he moved, we lost track of that car.
I had a 68 hemi dart.i could not afford a new crank for the hemi so i ran a 440 with a tunnel ram intake. i wish i had deskman tune because i could only get the car to run 10.20s in 1/4 mile.
I voted for the 64 Dart.. I used to have a Convertible 64 Valiant (with a factory 4 speed) I love that body style
I owned a '71 with the 318. Great little car. Wasn't what I wanted but it showed up in the drive one day and my father handed me the keys. Of course he also handed me the payment book. $83 a month...try that now with a new car.
About 2 years later I drove it thru a house...don't ask.
Voted for the '61. Gorgeous car.
I'd drive that to the Country Club and ask the kid to get the clubs out of the trunk. Next to the Benz's and BMW's, it'd be The Cool Car!
My folks had a 71 with the V8 for a few years. The thing went like hell but tended to become airborne. It broke a few too many times for Ma Dulcamara and she swapped it out for a (no joke) Ford Granada.
Fuckers. The whole lot of you.
This just made me spill my coffee on myself from laughing.
I wish I had a slant-six Dart.
Somehow my earlier comment got lost in glitchville, so here goes. This was my mother's last car. I still remember the day I visited back home and she handed me the keys and said it was probably best that she stop driving. It was very difficult, but I was glad she had the brains to take the initiative. She had worked hard most of her life, sometimes holding three jobs at a time and always driving some second or third-hand clunker. The Dart was her first "new" car -- a "deluxe" demo bought at the end of the model year. It had a little nicer trim that this one and a vinyl roof and gold brocade bench seats with the most perfunctory of pleats. I was always struck by the relentlessly Spartan quality of these cars, even in their lux "packages." It was almost as if there was an inspector at the factory who would not let a car leave if the bumper chrome was too mirror-like or the paint shined enough that he could see his reflection in the door. The paint was very durable but with that flat enamel look to it. And, of course, when you fired the slant six up it had that signature high-pitched eh-eh-eh-eh Mopar starter sound. But the engine ran and ran and ran. A little valve noise, sure, but it ran and ran. My kids drove it and drove it and we eventually sold it for cash to some guy who ended up in jail after the breaking of a burglary ring. I remember thinking later, what an ideal car to be unobtrusive in while casing a neighborhood. There was a time when I was almost sure that every immigrant to the U.S. was issued a white one of these upon entry.
@HansStuckJr: <---smacks w/glove.
sacrilege! Sir, you have offended me. Defend your honor!
Choose your second - Pistols at dawn!!
@mechimike:
@Jon: @Eldorado: @dulcamara: @Chuckie_A:
Oh thank God someone has Dodge Dart stories.
@VW_SollteMichAnstellen: ++++points for Harlan!
Yeah, there is something amusingly cruel in this particular DOTS today!
I voted for the drop top. But I have to say the specimen featured today is in amazing shape. I think it fell through a time warp. And in some other dimension a piece of paper saying "1970 Dodge Dart" appeared. Just a theory.
I voted '64 because a '76 Duster (coupe) was the second American car I ever rode in when my family moved to Canada.
Also, a guy in high school had one into which he'd installed "Javex Injection." He put a wiper motor and nozzles into the trunk, used a bottle of bleach as a reservoir and stuck the nozzles through the rear wheel wells. Bleach shot onto the tires so he could do a smoke show, even though the clapped-out slant six prolly only produced 34.8HP.
Wow, the only attractive A-body of the bunch (IMHO) is that '64 270. A truly ugly series...but awesome nonetheless for unabashed ruggedness (mostly).
Had to go with the Barracuda for its absurd rear aquarium glass. Take that, Marlin!
@Andrewpetty: The Wellbutrin wearing off?
I had to vote for the Cuda because it was new just about the time I discovered my attraction for cars. Somehow I've avoided owning Chrysler products throughout my long resume of autos but that Barracuda had a hand in my life-long love affair with cars.
It never ceases to amaze me how rabid auto enthusiasts can be - and I count myself in that group. Here we all are drooling over what could best be described as a 35 year old, mundane family sedan, and most of the stories attached to this particular model center on it being a mother/grandmother's car. I come to realize that it isn't so much the cars, as the memories they evoke in us. This is good stuff.
Has this been on Jalopnik? I just found this rather amazing thing from Down Under on YouTube.
A revelation to me: same vintage Chrysler slant-sixes with turbochargers!
(Maybe slant-sixes will live for ever?!)
+ Watch video
Dunno what year is on the title, but the rear bumper of today's Dart is for 71. The 70 bumper has one big light on each side instead of two small ones.
@thatguy01: You're correct. Either the grill, or rear bumper are the wrong year. This website also points out an error I made in identifying similar vintage to mine.
"1967-1972 Dodge Dart Identification Guide" [dartid.jonsteiger.com]
grill can be a 70 or 71 .
@JRX: If there isn't one Down On The Street, it ain't gonna be in the poll...
(my 1st comment didn't show up, so forgive me if this becomes a double-post.)
Omigod that's my car. No wait, circa 1982, I had a "stripper" 1972 in a metallic lime-like green, manual three on the tree, vinyl floor covering, windshield squirt bulb on the floor...(which if you really stomped; would squirt over the roof!)
I cursed my automotive fortune, but the thing grew on me. I ironically named the plain-jane car my "Objet D'Art". I even accidentally tested the theory that the only thing surviving nuclear war would be cockroaches and slant-sixes. (Coolant disappearance, long story.) ...I was sure that she was a goner. However, after changing the oil, (which it used a bit more of after that), put many more miles on it. It also withstood me messing with the pushrods. I felt so butch with my shop manual and the thing running with the valve covers off. (And such an authentic rural Mainer working outside in the dirt driveway.) Those were the days mere mortals could mess around under the hood.
(Does all this nostalgia bore the kiddies on Jalopnik?)
Ok, re the vote: I have trouble lovin' the familiar but awkward econo-sedan/fastback mix that was the early Barracuda...
Call me biased but I voted for the '70 (or whatever it is). I think it has the "cleanest" styling. ...and sorry, but the Buick knockoffs are knockoffs. (hehe)
Dodge Dart [en.wikipedia.org]
mmmm.. slant 6 turbo goodness.. done in proper dodge fashion (parts yard engineering)
[www.slantsix.org]
can we get a hyper pak dart or a hang ten dart sport 360 4bbl 4 speed elected to fantasy car garage?
most of them aussie mopar sixs are 245 cube inline six that for some reason they called a hemi.the combustion chamber was canted like a poly 318 or a big block cheby.
@Jon: "That thing had a two big bench seats (one up front, one in the back)"
Oh, is that how the seats were arranged? Thanks for clearing that up.