mmarshall

(1969)



(1970)



(1970)



(1970)




(1969)



(1970)



The Dodge Dart line was first unveiled in 1960 as a version of the full-sized Dodge coupe/sedan/wagon platform, which competed with lower-line trim versions of the full-sized Mercury and Pontiac, leaving the corporate-brother Plymouths to compete with the full-size Fords and Chevys. The Dart survived the disastrous downsizing of the 1962 full-sized Dodges and Plymouths……a mistake that was almost as bad as Ford’s Edsel in its execution. For 1963, with the redesign of the Plymouth/Dodge compact (A-Body) line, Dodge marketers decided to transfer the Dart name to what had formerly been the Lancer, and rename it the Dart….which would sell alongside Plymouth’s compact Valiant (the car I first learned to drive on). As a teen-ager, I had MANY hours behind the wheel and MANY miles in Valiants, both column-stick-shift and automatic, all over the Eastern U.S…..particularly throughout the Piedmont/Central Appalachian Mountains and to Ohio, but it will save that for another write-up. For this write-up, I will concentrate on the Valiant’s sister-car, the Dart, which remained Dodge’s mainstream compact, alongside the Valiant, until 1976, when the ill-fated Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen took their places. The Volare and Aspen were defect-riddled and poorly-built, but that is also another story (see my earlier write-up on my Late mother’s 1977 Volare).

In the 1960s, however, particularly the mid-60s, the Dart and Valiant got an almost bulletproof reputation, despite some noted weaknesses in paint-finish, spit-back gas filler-pipes, second-rate body hardware, road/engine-noise, and the Push-and-Pray non-power drum brakes on 13-inch wheels that faded much too quickly and weren’t really up to the task….I learned how to drive very carefully in the mountains. But the durable Slant-Six engines/Torqueflite automatic transmissions (they were popular in non-Checker taxicabs for a reason), fully-unitized body which resisted rattles/squeaks better than body-on-frame cars, and the torsion-bar front/leaf-rear suspension, which sacrificed some softness and comfort for noticeably better handling than competitors, were all features which helped sell these cars in good numbers and establish their reputation.

In the late 1960s, quality control on these cars, as with most of the rest of Chrysler’s American lineup, started downhill again after several excellent years earlier in the decade, though not quite to the disastrous levels of 1957-58, which turned a lot of people off to the Corporation’s products. The Corporation had also adopted a then-unheard-of 5-year/50,000 mile warranty on the drivetrains, which reflected the basic durability of their engines and automatic transmissions…competitors had one or two years at most. By 1970, multiple assembly-defects were common in each new Chrysler product that came off the line.

But, at the same time, in 1969, a interesting new version of the Dart was added….the two-door high-performance Swinger 340, which used the new 340 cubic inch (5.6L) bored-out version of the more pedestrian but no slouch) 318 cubic-inch (5.2L) V8., which had replaced the smaller two and four-barrel 273-cubic-inch V8s of the mid-60s. Transmissions were a 3 or 4-speed manual (column or floor-shift on the 3-speed) and the durable 3-speed Torqueflite automatic.

The Swinger 340 was a big success, and scored big as a relatively cheap but effective no-friils muscle-car in a time when the American muscle-car-craze (and production) was at its peak. It bought a lot of muscle for not a lot of money, and was a decently reliable car, once the dealerships had repaired the endless number of assembly-goofs in them that came out of the factory. Dodge built a few Darts with the big 383 (6.3L) V8 stuffed under the hood (which competed with Chevy’s Nova SS396), and even fewer with the monster 426 (7.0L) Hemi, which was no-warranty and strictly for drag-racing, but those big iron-blocks were simply too large and bulky for the chassis, and impractical for most street use. The 340 was perfect for most people as a daily-driver, and competed very well with Ford and GM small-block V8s….better than a number of them. The torsion-bar/leaf suspension gave noticeably better cornering than most Ford/GM products (except for maybe the Corvette), and, by then, power-disc-front brakes (which Ford had used for several years on V8 products) were finally making their way into GM and Chrysler products, particularly in muscle-cars. The first 1969 Dart Swingers were done on the same A-body-shell as the 1968s, but the Dart/Valiant line-up was redesigned in 1970, and the new bodies and interiors were somewhat different.

Darts (and Dart Swingers) could, of course, be ordered in a wide variety of colors (back then, the manufacturers actually HAD a variety LOL)…my personal favorites were the extra-cost Tor-Lime-Green and purple/Violet Plum Crazy, though the classic Dodge high-performance “Scat-Pack” and “Super Bee” color-combo was yellow with black Bumble-Bee stripes in the rear. Many Swingers, particularly with the 340 engine, were sold that way. A two-door coupe-version, the (Dart) Demon was introduced for 1970, along with Plymouth’s twin Duster (I owned a later-model Duster as my first new car)…both offered the 340 engine, and the Duster 340 also became quite popular as a cheap performance car, more so than the Dodge Demon version. The Valiant itself, for some reason, never got a 340 version, sticking with the 318 as its top-engine, which, as I said earlier, was itself no slouch. Chrysler’s marketers, from what I remember, never publically gave a reason for that, except perhaps that Plymouth’s mid-sized Road Runner, along with the Duster 340, were selling in such large numbers (at a good price), taking most of that brand’s performance market, and the more pedestrian Valiant had never been associated in the public’s mind with performance.

The Swinger 340 models lasted into the early 70s, but, along with most other engines of that period, lost power and drivability with the new emission controls, and, with gas skyrocketing in price in late 1973/74 and long gas lines, interest in performance cars basically dried up. And, even with their durable engines/automatic transmissions, Chrysler’s continuing level of defects in their factory-assembly was starting to drive customers to Ford and GM products….and, of course, to the increasing numbers of Toyota and Honda dealerships that were just starting to pop up in the American market.

And, as Always, Happy Car-Memories.

MM

mmarshall

This was probably its closest competitor......the 1969/70 Chevy Nova SS

The Chevy had much better bodywork, marginally better brakes, about equal in transmission durability with the 3-speed turbo Hydra Matic, better exterior/interior hardware, better soundproofing (though still with a loud exhaust), marginally better brakes, better assembly quality, and much better fit/finish overall. The Dodge had a more durable engine, better-handling suspension, more road/engine-noise, more durable paint (GM paint in those days was awful), and a more interesting body-color choice.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I think I remember the Dart Swinger comercial's had Girls on the beach playing with beach *****?

mmarshall

Yes, the more pedestrian versions appealed to young single people, but the 340, despite its low price, was a serious muscle car that could keep up with all but the very meanest machines of the period (HemiCuda, 427 'Vette, Shelby 427, etc...)

BTW, I forgot to add, in the write-up, that the 340, on paper, produced a rather conservative 275 HP and 340 ft-lbs. of torque (measured in the gross HP-ratings of the time)...but that was apparently done for insurance reasons. The 0-60 and quarter-mile times strongly indicated more power than that.

Och

iTrader: (3)

I think Al Bundy used to drive one of these.

tex2670

Yeah - my dad had 2 of the "more pedestrian" versions. One was actually a Plymouth Scamp; my mom got to pick the color - yellow with a black vinyl top. My dad did not look back fondly on those cars; and he really regretted letting mom pick that color.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

A work buddy of mine had one of these (in my late teens/early 20s), think it was a 69 or 70 scat pack dart with the 340, six pack intake and stick shift. It was lightweight, a real fun car and pretty quick!

mmarshall

Thanks, Dave ...I had forgotten the 340+6 (triple-deuce) version. The six-pack had more publicity on the big-block 440s in the Challenger/Barracuda and Road-Runner/GTX/Charger/Coronet R/T and Super-Bee.

mmarshall

The Scamp, like the other versions of the Valiant, never got the 340 (at least that I can remember). Plymouth marketers never chose to give the Valiant a performance option like the Dart, although both the Valiant and Dart did get Luxo-Brougham versions for 1975 and 1976 (their last year) decked out in vinyl roofs, full-body-color wheel-covers or wire-wheels, pin-stripes, hood ornaments, velour-pleated seats, chrome, and some extra conveniences inside.

Felix

The Mopar LA engine's are one of tough stout engine, best rod to stroke ratio, shaft mounted rockers, windage tray, w2 heads....Add the 727, 8.75'' diff as well as a A-body such as a Demon.....Direct Connection had different recipes for 10 thru 15 second qtr mile times for the engine, drivetrain, chassis set up's...Instead of a purple shaft cam, I ended going w/ a Erson hi flow 3 cam w/ 5115 Hooker super comp headers, w/ the typical 505 orange box....Mopars didn't have the Ford interiors or all the different model options as GM, but then what'd you'd expect from a company runned by a bunch of engineers at the time......A great low buck car to run them was a E58 Aspen, (as a few of my buddies ran) for Mopar offerred high stall convetors, rear ratios, oh & have a look at how they did the exhaust....

Jezza819

He drove a Duster but I think it was the next generation after the Dart Swinger.

mmarshall

The Duster and Dodge Demon twin remained pretty much the same car, without any major redesigns, from 1970 (its introduction) to 1976....its last year on the market. The only significant changes were heavier bumpers in 1973 to meet the new regulations, minor trim-revisions, and increasingly de-powered engines because of emission controls.

The Demon, BTW, though mechanically similar to the Dart Swinger, used a purpose-designed coupe body......the Swinger was a two-door version of the Dart Sedan, a different body-shell. There was the same difference in the Plymouth Valiant Scamp vs. the Duster.

Felix

Demon's were '71-'72 only.....

mmarshall

Yes, Thanks...I know. I was referring to that specific version of the A-body, which was used by both the Duster and Demon versions. It went on till 1976.

Some have argued that dropping the entire Valiant/Dart line was one of the worst mistakes that Chrysler ever made. Having had a number of years, and many thousands of miles, in various versions of Valiants and Dusters, I tend to agree. The only things I liked better about the Volare/Aspen line were its better sound-insulation, electric rear-defroster option, and two-barrel option for the Slant-Six. Otherwise, mechanically, it was a piece of junk....and set a new record for defects and recalls at the time, although the infamous X-body compacts from GM, which debuted four years later, would set even worse records.

Felix

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