This 1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix sedan was offered for sale in October 2022 in Hawthorne, New Jersey (just 25 miles from me), but I just found out about it now. Had I known about it, I definitely would have gone to check it out. Apparently it was sold to a “flipper” who took it to Langhorne, Pennsylvania and re-sold it there. For the moment there are still good pictures available, so I thought I’d preserve them here because this is just too special to ignore and forget.
Seller’s Description:
1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix 4-door Sedan
- 1 owner
- Driven 54,000 miles
- Automatic transmission
- Exterior color: Green · Interior color: Green
- Clean title
- This vehicle has no significant damage or problems
1961 Dodge Dart Phoenix – 54,000 miles – Automatic transmission – Great classic – Runs and drives! Price: $6200.
1961 Dart Phoenixes apparently don’t have the little chrome “roof vents” as on the ’60.
1960 roof. Those “vents” are a 1960 Phoenix-only feature.
I have identified this color combination as “Snow White” over “Frosted Mint Poly”. Almost certainly this paint is original. Is this just the right amount of patina?
Here are more photos:
N.J. inspection sticker on the passenger side: early 1980s or older.
Doesn’t have those “extra” round taillights–that’s a relief!
Another “complex modern art masterpiece”.
If you think this ’61 Dart Phoenix is pretty wild, check out the top-of-the-line “senior” Dodge: the Polara–“The finest of everything Dodge. You will respect its masculine authority.”
Back to our featured ’61 Dart:
Front and rear seats have been covered in clear plastic, thus preserving them beautifully!
Dash and steering wheel look to be in excellent condition! Don’t know why there’s an aftermarket accelerator pedal.
V-8 engine power–probably a 318.
So that’s it. All I can tell you is that I really love this car: the color, the rarity, the far-out space-age design (I’ve always been iffy on the ’61, but looking at this car, I like it!) And of course there’s the super-original, unrestored but not ragged condition–a real time capsule which is so seldom seen today. Unless there’s something radically wrong with it, this is a real hidden gem which you will never find again. The $6000 range is totally reasonable for something like this.
According to my source, the flipper reduced his price from $10,500 to $7,300 and the car was sold. So maybe the flipper made a little money. But I’m wondering what will happen to this Dart now? If it were mine, I would make necessary repairs, shine it up the best I could, and just preserve it as-is. But with that mint interior and nice bumper chrome, a full body restoration and repaint in original colors is another possible alternative.
What do you think? My ’60 Dart Phoenix with a slant 6, and a ’61 with a V-8. Point and counterpoint. Wouldn’t that have made a great pair?
More photos and details here.
Thankfully it doesn’t have those midyear tacked-on taillights.
I think I read somewhere that the “extra” tail lights were added because of visibility problems (at night) with the stock lighting…guess they didn’t put higher wattage bulbs (maybe due to wiring gauge?) …too bad there weren’t LED lights back then.
I prefer the styling of these to the ’60, but realize it is is a bit controversial….the front would be much better (think ’63 Rambler Classic pac-man grill) if the Dodge weren’t so tall in the front…it’s a legacy of the 50’s cars with much taller grills (to fit a tall radiator?)…to me the ’60 looks like most 50’s cars but the ’61 they tried to modernize while keeping the ’60 structure, so the grill was still tall even if it was more “modern”. As for the rear, well, it is distinctive with “reverse” fins (how do you reverse a fin?) though I prefer a more tailored look from the mid to late 60’s instead…but again it seems to be partly a 50’s car…particularly in the rear roofline, which has lots of glass but to me gives away the age of the car, Chrysler seemed to like this roofline starting in the late 50’s…maybe it helped give a bit more hat room?
I was still a little shaver when these came out, there’s an Easter picture of me with my family taken around this time, of course we’re all dressed up in our Sunday best, and I’ve got my “mini” version of a businessman’s hat on (plus a bow tie…those seem to have come back but I’ve not worn a hat like that probably since shortly after the picture was taken. Still, if I regularly wore such a hat, I’d probably appreciate a bit more headroom for it….plus it would conceal my (mostly bald) head and help shield my eyes from sun and face from sun…darn, maybe I should go back to wearing one (but where do you find a car with extra headroom anymore?).
My Dad had first of two Rambler Classics when these were new…a ’61, and, yes, a “pac-man” ’63….though his first car (traded in because it was standard, and it wasn’t a wagon) was a new ’56 Plymouth Plaza.
Anyone else see Ford Zodiac Mk 3 in the grill/headlight treatment?
+1
Yes but the MK3 was released in late 62 though the design was in the pipeline before the 59 Loline MK2 came out as Ford OZ discovered when they submitted their redesign ideas and got turned down.
In 1963, I persuaded my dad to trade family second car 61 Valiant for a 61 red Phoenix convertible with red interior, white top, and unique instrument panel shared with 61 DeSoto. Spent much time cruising local streets, as was the custom! Part of the deal was keeping top and white walls pure white and washing and waxing. Labor of love. Thanks for this memory! Recently saw black 61 Phoenix convertible in Hemmings for BIG bucks $$$! Sadly, I believe for 62 the Phoenix was gone and whole DART line became compact! 😔😟🤮 😎
Chrysler Australia assembled a factory RHD version of this ‘61 Dodge Phoenix 4 door sedan. The Dodge Phoenix was Chrysler Australia’s top of its passenger car range luxury car from 1960 through to 1972 but the ‘Phoenix’ tile was dropped in 1969.
In Australia typical buyers for this Dodge Phoenix would have also considered a Mercedes Benz, Rover, Jaguar, Chevrolet or Pontiac. All of these were luxury cars down under.
Lovely car, even better in 4 door pillarless versions.
What a nice Monday morning post. Cars from my high school days, and me back then with a junior driver’s license on which the ink was barely dry.
The comparison photo of your ’60 and this ’61 shows how much effort car makers put into annual design changes and made all of us car fans excited around September of each year when car showrooms suddenly papered over their windows as they rolled in the new models.
I often though they also locked the door, but I never tested that theory. I’m sure they would have been happy to welcome you in to make a sale on any model and any year.
Personally I prefer the ’60, but having both would have made for an eye catching garage. Some contemporary wags compared the ’61 design to a whale shark.
Me… I don’t see it.
I have always found the 61 Dart to be a challenging design, but that interior sucked me right in, and I would happily own this one. This interior takes me back to my 59 Plymouth Fury sedan – its interior was just as nice as this one, with the cloth/vinyl seats perfectly preserved under those thick clear plastic covers. My interior was even this same color of green. But mine was only 20 years old at the time while this one is now over 60!!
A choice between your 60 and this 61 would be a hard one for me. The 60 is far more attractive. But the 61 has the V8 engine. I guess the answer is to own both. 🙂
As JP said, the interior is just a work of design beauty. The body however, is just trying too hard to be outlandish. The fins protruding out and away from the body look like they could begin to flap at any moment. And either the headlights were too low in the grille, or the grille itself is too tall.
Comparing against the 1961 Ford and the 61 Chev, both were much cleaner designs.
Between the two, I like the 1960 Dart better.
Well presented article, great writeup.
I remember admiring a white ’60 my cousin had at his wedding. Toned down fins and a beautiful taillight bezel.
The ’61 is hideously over the top. I am not sure if I remember it right, but I think this model suffered a serious loss in sales in ’61.
The proliferation of Dodge full size cars always bewildered me. Beside the “Big Dodge, the Dart which you can see is big, was offered in three series, Seneca, Pioneer and Phoenix. The Phoenix was the top of the line Dart. It is as bewildering as the 1958 Canadian Pontiac with four different trim levels when the market was so small. The car is a honey. Love it!
In 40 years from now, absolutely nobody will be looking at cars of today having this type of enthusiastic conversation! To say ‘gee, do you remember that 2012 Hyundai Elantra, what-a’ car! So economical on fuel!’ It just sounds stupid to even say!
Nope. Once these rolling works of art are gone, that’s it. It’s all over. Unfortunately…
Never mind 40 years. It’s happened already.
Hey how about that 2009 Honda Oddyssey? Ooh man, compare that to a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan! Never going to happen. Or hey man, my 2004 Acura 1.7 was better than your 2004 Honda Civic SE! Ford Escort instead of a Rav4? Whatever.
We used to have those conversations back in the day, and we had enthusiasm about the cars we had, the new cars coming out, Olds vs Pontiac, Mercury vs Ford, Plymouth vs Chev. It’s an appliance market now.
Imagine a reunion of Tesla and other EV cars in 20 years time. Won’t happen, the batteries will have all died.
AMEN and HALALUAH to that! 👍 As I have said in numerous posts, today’s vehicles have NO distinctive character! What ever happened to CLASS?
Well Nicholas Maxim, perhaps not.
The very accurate historical (future) outer space documentary “Space Balls” describes how make and model vehicles still arouse a lot of pride and emotions.
Here’s a quote from the documentary describing the missing princess Vespa’s space ship:
Lone Star: What’s she drivin’?
Roland: A brand new, white Mercedes, 2001 SEL Limited Edition. Moon roof, all leather interior. I got it at a very good price. I paid cash. My cousin, Prince Murray, has a dealership in the valley. He was very nice to me.
So perhaps there is hope for the future – or the past as the case my be.
God Bless Mel Brooks, 96 years old and still kicking.
Nissan must have liked the fin design.
Absolutely love the colors this car was available in! Shows you the optimism of the times back then. All bright and cheery colors. Now, with things the way they are, colors are drab, gray and lifeless, for the most part.
A professional pain restorer could probably bring that paint back to looking very good and shiny. Absolutely no need to repaint that one.
“professional pain restorer”. I think you nailed it!
LOL, I missed that when I typed it. Sorry for the typo!! 🙂
So ugly makes my eyeballs bleed.
The quite plain front end doesn’t exactly do the rest of it justice. It’s interesting, as that simple horizontal grille with the quad headlights is something of a preview of the post-’62 Mopars; especially the ’65 Coronet. Uncontroversial, but dull.
And of course that front end was reused without any real changes on the ’62 Dodge 880, and that morphed into the ’63 and 64’s very plain front ends, reprised on the ’65 Coronet.
Always felt the rear end of the lower line ’61 Dodges were the most incoherent designs ever put on a car, though I do kinda like the modernist front end.
Growing up in Towson MD one of my neighbors was the sales manager at Smith Motors in White Marsh, a Dodge dealer. His son Richie was one of my best friends and Rich was of course a certified car nut, as was I. When his dad drove his ’61 demonstrator home for the first time we went all around it and Rich told me his Dad had said “Well, remember you sit in the inside, not on the outside” LOL. I guess even he realized the challenge ahead and come up with the appropriate “line” for his salesmen!
That building is still there! Although it looks nothing like it did when it was Smith Motors…
Across the street, where the cars and trucks were stored for Schaefer & Strohminger Dodge (presumably who took over Smith… although I thought it was Tate Dodge… no matter, I think they’re all gone now), is the site of some sort of future Mega-Mosque….
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ebenezer+Rd+%26+Philadelphia+Rd,+White+Marsh,+MD+21128/@39.3836813,-76.4321815,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c7e2f4a763b755:0xc3dd0905a2f2144!8m2!3d39.3836813!4d-76.4321815!16s%2Fg%2F11f315d345
There’s even a Chrysler Penstar symbol still located on the mosque’s sign!
Of the two of these, I prefer the 1960 Dodge, but my opinion is a little biased as my Dad had one, although I hardly remember is as I was 5 when he traded it in on the ’66 Chevy.
The ’61 has always been challenging to look at from the outside (to me anyway), but I’ll be the contrarian here and say I prefer the “senior Polara” taillights on these a little better, “tacked-on” looking or not.
But wow! That interior is beautiful. Since I can’t remember what my Dad’s ’60 looked like inside (his was the lower trim Seneca anyway), I’ll have to say I’d pick this interior all day, everyday.
Still Stephen, I think you chose wisely with your ’60. That car looks great, especially with that light to medium blue repaint. My Dad’s was a lighter blue than yours, a shade of baby blue… I’m not sure of the official Mopar color names.
The 1961 Dodge was able to be both wild and mundane at the same time. Quite a feat, but not too enticing. Make my 1961 Mopar a Plymouth.
But, really, for an actually attractive 1961 car, the Pontiac Ventura is hard to beat.
The local Mopar fanatic picked up a Dodge Dart Seneca a while back, I put up some photographs on the Cohort. I never even knew such a thing existed until I saw it.
Mr. Exner was a wild man. Not sure if that did Chryco any favors, but he sure did leave some memorable shapes for folks to gawk at 60 years later. Mr. Engel saved the company, methinks, until the fuselage cars sunk it once more in an excess of style.
That’s quite the find, Stephen! I agree with JPC that the styling is challenging.
Your side profile comparison shots of your ’60 and the featured “61 show off the effort Chrysler made to differentiate between the model years. The advantage for us now is to marvel at all the styling variations from year to year. The disadvantage back then was planned obsolescence with so many millions spent that could have gone toward improved handling, braking, safety, rustproofing, and reliability.
I recall becoming jaded by annual styling changes beginning with model year 1968, after having read Ralph Nader’s book as well as the thought-provoking ads of Mercedes-Benz.
In “Mad Men”, Don Draper had a wreck in one of these 61’s, and was even a post-sedan.
Was drunk, of course and his loyal secretary helped him cover it up, since he had his mistress in the car.
Another scene he says “I drive a Dodge” in disdain and disappointment. Later season, goes to Caddy dealer and buys one off showroom floor.
engine must have overheated at some point…
No runs strong
The ’60 is still reverberating from echoes of the 1950’s. The “61 is an early look into the mid ’60’s. (It does appear to be an uncertain future!) I prefer the Phoenix bullet light inside the fin. I wouldn’t say that I find the ’61 attractive, but it is different. I remember when a low line four door sedan was just treated as a beater. Usually a family hand me down, or something bought as transportation by a cash strapped person.
Now when you see one of the few intact, original, survivors in good shape, they really draw a lot of attention. It provides a realistic view of everyday cars from the ’60’s, especially in a nice color combination like this one. So evocative of the period. It’s encouraging that this car survived for so long. It will draw a lot of interest and attention at a show, but not much envy. Most show attendees will flock to the more popular models, it takes a viewer with more experience in the car hobby to appreciate a car like this Dodge.
Those cars landed here RHD without the Dart name just Dodge Phoenix, Im not sure if Todds were still assembling them CKD or they came in from Aussie, probably the latter,
That’s correct, the same applied in Australia. However Chrysler Australia offered these ‘61 Dodge Phoenix’s in two trim levels. From memory, one as called a Luxury Liner” and had power steering and power brakes as standard equipment which competed directly with the 1961 GMH assembled Pontiac Laurentian which came with power steering and brakes as standard equipment.
The ’60 Dart is an attractive package, and I can see why Mopar loyalists drove Plymouth dealers to distraction with Dart defections, selling a bit over 306,000 cars. Sales fell 40% for the 1961 Dart, styling has been fairly universally blamed for this.
The front clip seems tacked on from the side with a character line that looks out of place. The face of the car is just sad.
I actually like the reverse slanting fins, but it takes the Polara style tail lights to make the most of this feature. It appears the ’60 front clip would easily bolt on to the ’61 Dodge.
Put a ’60 clip on a ’61 Polara and you’d have a mild custom that I’d quite like.
Another alternative would be to put a ’61 Plymouth clip on the Polara. Supposedly a few such Plodges were built for the Mexican market, and were sold as the Dodge D500. The result is actually appealing to me……
Agree that the ’61 Polara’s wild rear end matches up well with the equially wild ’61 Plymouth front end. I mean, if you’re going to go bizarre, might as well go all the way, right? I love the peak Exner weirdness, including the toilet seat, something I’m usually not a fan of. But on the Mexican D500, it fits right in.
That Mexican story is a myth, this depicted car is a scam to try to increase its value.
For many years, when it came to MoPaR cars, I generally collected the more expensive [when new] cars, including Imperials, New Yawkers, and 300s. However in the early 1980s I visited an elderly couple who had called me because they wanted to sell their car; a 1964 Dodge 880 convertible in this very same color. The couple had bought it new, it had been garaged all it’s life, and had very low mileage. Plus it had factory A/C, a very unusual option on a mid-1960s convertible!
Only after buying it did I realize this was a Dodge in name only, as it shared the same body & wheelbase as the big Chrysler convertibles, with a Dodge front end and special taillights to replace the Chrysler versions. I kept that car for quite a few years, and it was always a pleasure to drive. Wish I had it now.
I love survivors like this .
Now I know the briefly owned 1961 Dodge Phoenix four door sedan I had was “Spring Green” .
Yes, odd looking but that was the 1960’s for you .
Mine had a JcWhitney “rebuilt” AM radio in it that said “DESOTO” not Dodge .
It had an electrical fire that fully filled up that lovely speedo with smoke, I got $35 at some BH, PH car lot in Rosemead, Ca. that offered me $100 over the phone then lowballed me when I showed up .
-Nate
Had neighbors who “plasticized” their fabric seats in a “1968 Impala (fastback) coupe.
They also did it with their sofa/ chair/ dining room chair, seat cushions, piano stool…..lol Getting the picture??
I always liked the “Rocket-Making-a-U-Turn” side and fin trim……
In my original post, I did not think about most of the 62 Chrysler Corp down sized vehicles original designs were frequently called Reverse Chicken Wing styling. Although 62 Dodge and Plymouths were SO ugly, they were spared the chicken Wing, which I personally liked on the 61 Phoenix and Polara. Sad end (62s) for Exners reign as king of finned fantasies for Chrysler.
What will happen to the car after it was sold by the flipper? Unfortunately, probably sold again by the new owner/flipper. Sad fact that once cars end up with a flipper then tend to stay on the merry-go-round. Someone who once turned their 76 New Yorker into a four speed has since seen that car sold and resold almost a half dozen times by flippers. The story evolves over time like a fish story.
It true ! I love sofina and been wheeling her all the time
For a Top Ten Most Horrifying Car Designs all round the World ,
this Chrysler`s Dodge Dart gets the 1st Winner Award
As mentioned in my original post, I actually liked this car, having had a 61 Phoenix convertible in the family. In my opinion, the smaller 62 Plymouth and Dodge vehicles ( family had a 62 Belvedere 😔) should be at the TOP of ugliest full size vehicles! Don’t even go to compacts and imports! Old 🐕 DOG, never has liked new tricks! 😉 😜 😘 😎
My Grandfather bought one of these from a neighbor, it was Buckskin. This would have been in 67, I was 5 but it made an impression on me the few times I saw it. Never got to ride in it though. He passed away in 68, so it was his last car. I think of him when I see a 61 Dodge grille, and whenever I have Dentyne gum, his favorite.
Just ran across July 2021 HEMMINGS, reporting a 61 PHOENIX hardtop sold at major auction for $42,930! As stated in previous post, HEMMINGS recently had 61 PHOENIX for sale for over $80,000! Still have great memories of family 61 PHOENIX convertible!
That’s my car and it’s not ever getting flipped or sold again. It is mine forever. Haha. TOP HAT out😄🚘😂 Seriously, I have this car now. Not kidding. Also not kidding, not selling it, I drive it every day.
Have always loved the 61’s since I was a little kid. Growing up there was a 61 wagon in our neighborhood, I thought it was the coolest car in the world. Loved the jet pod taillights. Here’s my former CHP Polara.
It’s a space ship on wheels ! . love the CHP livery .
-Nate