Return of the Dodge Dart

[Cruzincat]

In the mid to late 60's I worked in an Architect's office, running errands, summers and after high school. One of the bosses had a Dart. I used it a couple times to run errands, and I though it was a POS. The thing I remember most was when I closed the door, it had a tinny sound like it was poorly constructed. It must have been light weight vehicle.

Now, one of the other cars I got to use that was owned by another Architect was a Corvair Monza, 4 speed manual. I would love to have that car today! That was fun to drive.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by Cruzincat

In the mid to late 60's I worked in an Architect's office, running errands, summers and after high school. One of the bosses had a Dart. I used it a couple times to run errands, and I though it was a POS. The thing I remember most was when I closed the door, it had a tinny sound like it was poorly constructed. It must have been light weight vehicle.

Now, one of the other cars I got to use that was owned by another Architect was a Corvair Monza, 4 speed manual. I would love to have that car today! That was fun to drive.

Interesting.
I would definitely take a '60s Dodge Dart over any Corvair. Corvairs were trouble-prone and all except the turbo-equipped 'Vairs were underpowered. The "styling" also left a lot to be desired... it looked like a European car, not a '60s American car. Even the 180-hp turbo ones struggled to make an under 10-second 0-60 time and they were 17- and 18-second 1/4 mile cars (and more like 19-20+ seconds for the base Corvairs with the standard engine).

For the record, I owned a '66 Dart GT V-8 and it weighed 3,180 lbs. Wheelbase was 111" and overall length was 196.3" (would be called a "big" or "mid-sized" car today). I did some basic mods (Carter 500 cfm AFB carb, Holley aluminum intake manifold, dual exhaust, electronic ignition, shift kit and 3.23 gears replacing the 2.93s). I did time 40-60 mph in 4 seconds which was pretty good considering this engine had a very mild tune... a "cool" (non-performance) cam.

The '65-'67 Darts, with the hi-po 273-4 bbl engine were fun to drive in either 3-speed Torqueflite or 4-speed manual form. And the '68/'69 Dart GTS, with the 340-4 bbl engine were even better! 0-60 mph in the 6-second bracket, even with 3.23 highway gears, and 1/4 miles well into the 14s... 3-4 seconds faster than any stock Corvair!

[us66]

Did anyone notice that the Dart with the man in the driver's seat (who also had his seat belt totally in the wrong position) appears to have an analog speedometer behind all that glare?

The Dart may explain why I've been seeing Alfa Romeos driving around SE MI as of late.