Yes, I’m a fan of Mopar A-Bodies, and this Mexican Dart, shot and posted by RiveraNotario, is perfect; my ideal of a late-model Dart. I don’t know the exact year, but it corresponds to our 1974 Dart, minus the 5-mile bumpers. It’s in great shape, and its got those fine ventilated steel wheels. My kind of Dart.
I assume it’s got the slant six under the hood; make mine a Super Six with the two barrel carb. Not sure that was available in Mexico.
Of course I love these; I’m my father’s son, after all. But no stripper for me, thank you. I like to drive in the lap of luxury.
Related reading:
Auto-Biography: 1968 Dodge Dart 170 Two-Door Sedan – The Neurologist’s Car Of Choice
I will join you in your fandom. Only make mine a 318 V8. I lived with the six for 5 years and many thousands of miles, so I am ready for a new kind of A body experience – one that involves plentiful and effortless acceleration.
Had a slant 6 69 gt convertible for five years. Got it at a local junk for $100 bucks, adjusted the lifters and enjoyed the hell out of it. One of the best cars I’ve owned…
These (and Valiants) were the semi-official cars of the working class in 1970s NYC, and I suspect for the same reasons they were appreciated in Mexico. Cheap and durable, and the torsion bar front suspension made for a better ride on awfully maintained streets.
By the early 80s, people I knew would buy them used for $250-$500. Many of them had really low miles – city dwellers usually commute by public transit – but they looked and felt like they had over 100k. If you needed a cheap ride and didn’t mind the beat up looks, you could usually keep one going another 3-4 years.
I was one of those people in the 70s, making a side living buying up 10 year old Valiants and Darts in Nassau County, and hauling them to VT for fix up and resale.
In the NYC area, a dime size hole in the floorboard, or rust showing in the rear quarters, was reason to get rid of the old “rust bucket”.
Compared to our much more severe experience in VT, however, these early stage rusters still had 8-10 years of life in them. And the /6 backed up that proposition.
Comparative advantage in action!
That’s an astoundingly sharp 1974, assuming the grille is original to the car—which, given the overall condition, seems overwhelmingly likely (though it appears to be missing some nameplates, so perhaps a resto?). I like those neat Mexico-only wheels, too, but I’m less enthusiastic about the bumpers; I don’t think they’re improved by deletion of the impact absorbers. On the other hand, neither are they worsened. I’m pretty sure this car has no shoulder belts; it might have a couple of lap belts up front.
The 2-barrel carb wasn’t offered in upper North America ’til ’77, when and where “Super Six” was its marketing name by dint of an air cleaner lid decal (the decal was deleted after ’80 or so, when Chrysler had very few pennies for such things). Ten years earlier in ’67, a 2-barrel setup without the cutesy name was offered in various markets around the world, including Mexico, so there is probably a chance this car might have it.
The old Slant-6 News magazines had stories of the ’67-’76 A-bodies being used as unofficial taxicabs (the actual term used wasn’t polite) in NYC and vicinity. Sort of a Lyft/Uber thing many years before apps existed.
My father drove a series of ’67-’76 A-bodies for a private car service (the polite term that you’re looking for) in NYC and vicinity well into the early 80’s. His last was a ’75 Dart Custom. IIRC it was the first car he owned with factory air conditioning.
I don’t know, man…maybe, but private car service sounds several large notches upscale from what the stories I’m thinking of described.
Trust me, most of the time it wasn’t. Maybe 10% of the custom was from people that called and requested a ride. I remember those magazine articles and for the most part they were spot on.
Fair enough, you were there! But I’m gonna file ‘private car service’ with the likes of ‘household waste removal technician’ (garbage collector).
My neighbor in Tehran in 1978 had one. Seemed to be very reliable . It was so large compared to all the Paykans (Hillman Hunter clones) on the road.
In Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada people often kept these cars to use as “winter cars”. The winters are brutally cold and the roads are salted causing rust so the “newer good car was kept off the road in winter.The Valiants and Darts were very reliable and seemed to run forever. I once had a 73 Scamp(I think) with a 318 that started at -30 Celcius below zero! The Achilles heel of the Darts was the torsion bar front suspension that would eventually pull out of the frame because of rust. That happened to the Scamp so I sold it to a welder and he ended up putting it back on the road. Great cars those Darts. Very durable. Someone once wrote that after the nuclear holocaust all that would be left alive would be cockroaches and Dodge Darts 🙂
Those wheels look great. Lend a commercial, law enforcement, or agency quality. Combined with the steel roof, blackwalls, rocker panel molding and nice stance, not the usual dowdy look of Valiants/Darts.
When I worked for Alcatel, there was one daily driven, and located in the Kanata parking lot. Circa 2006. Of course, looking entirely out-of-place, at a tech company lot.
Agreed. It looks nicely classy without going the garish full-brougham look.
Oddly for all their merits and suitability for fleet use, I don’t remember any larger corporations here in Canada, employing them. At least in the 1970s. I do recall smaller independent cab companies, using them. The Aspen/Volare being more visibly used as fleet cars, by police, taxi, and big companies like Bell Canada. At least for a few years in the late 70s, the F-Bodies lent a more modern/progressive image. Something, the Valiant/Dart did not convey by the mid-70s.
For what it’s worth, the local rural Canada Post driver who served my parent’s home, swore by them. She owned a succession of three or four Slant Six-equipped Valiants/Darts. When one needed repairs, suddenly another one, would appear for a few days.
It is my belief that the presence of the fender mounted front turn signal indicators, viewable to the driver, make this an SE model, more upscale than a regular Dart Swinger. That is, if I have the nomenclature right, going from memory.
I would have one of these with a 318 also. Dart Sport preferably, like what I had.
This car is in great shape for a 50 year old vehicle.
Equipment groupings and trim levels like this what you have in mind don’t necessarily cross international borders, so even if the fendertop turn signal indicators were available only on the SE in the US (which was not the case), that wouldn’t be a reliable tell on this Mexican car.
Also, the Swinger was the name for the 2-door Dart; never applied to a 4-door.
In mid 1976 my parents decided to downsize the ‘ol 67 Fury 3 wagon, and visited the local Chrysler Plymouth dealer. Dad was interested in a Valiant sedan, but was directed towards the Volare. For some reason they didn’t like it. As my parents were getting ready to head over to the Dodge dealer, the salesman, in hopes of salvaging a sale, mentioned he had one leftover Valiant, a 1975 loaded luxury version known as the Brougham.
The Brougham was dark maroon with a tan vinyl roof and tan velour interior. The front seat had high back seats with a folding center armrest. I’ve always figured the car was the last Valiant on the lot because it was really, really loaded with options. It’s the only Valiant I’ve ever seen that had power windows, cruise control, and AM/FM stereo radio, in addition to the basics like power steering, disc brakes, A/C, 318 and Torqueflite.
My parents weren’t really looking for such a highly optioned car and said so. But they did like the car, especially my mom who would be driving it most of the time. Dad said the salesman put a dealer license plate on the back and suggested they take it out for an extended drive while he talked with the sales manager.
My family was well known to the dealership management, having bought quite a few new and used cars from them. On returning to the showroom, the sales manager met with my parents and told them because the new Volare cars were already in stock, selling that expensive Valiant was proving impossible. so he offered them a deal.
I don’t remember the final “out the door” price, but it was soooo low I suspect they actually lost a lot of money on the car. My parents kept the Valiant in the garage for about 10 years, finally giving it to the guy who did all their lawn & garden work. It was replaced with a new Volvo sedan. Mom always said she would have preferred to keep the Valiant over the Volvo.
Cruise control, yes, on the Brougham. But power windows were never offered on an A-body; I think you might be remembering the windows on another car. And the available FM-AM radio was monaural; if your folks’ car had a stereo radio, it wasn’t a Chrysler-sourced item.
(the fanciest versions of the last generation of Australian Valiant-based cars were still A-bodies, and did offer power windows and perhaps locks, but…not in this hemisphere.)
I felt this way as a little kid, when these were new. That lower body-length ‘crease/fold’, is what gave these, much of their styling character. Same, for all the A-Bodies. Design becomes somewhat more generic, without them. Big exterior design addition. Nicely accentuates, the coke-bottle rear quarter on the Duster. And added a crispness, to the overall design. Almost, like pleated pants.
Interesting how taste differs, eh! I can mostly live with the lower body crease on the square-body cars, the 4-doors and the Swinger-Scamp models, but that downslope to the leading edge of the rear wheel arch has never sat well with me. I think the Duster-Demon cars might look better without that crease, judging by the ’67-’69 Baccaruda (which did not have the crease).
The Barracuda had super-clean lines. Inspired by the ’65 Corvair. The full-length crease would not work. Would just make a very tidy exterior, busy for nothing. The Duster/Demon have a thick and tall rear quarter, that I find, the crease nicely breaks up vertically. Without drawing too much attention to itself, in most lighting conditions.
I see your point.
I find myself looking for the bumper jack slots in that bumper and notice their absence. That is curious to me, I thought that was pretty standard on these in the ’70s.