Ever since I moved to Asia over a decade ago, I’ve lived without television. That’s not to say I’ve not had a TV set at home, but I don’t watch it any more. It’s not something I miss – Youtube and other web-based services have taken over the slot that TV used to fill, but whenever I see certain cars, I do get flashbacks of the TV shows I used to watch back in Europe. Cars like this Dart, for instance, take me back to childhood, when the French channels consisted in a steady diet of American cop/action shows.
We had a lot of ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s American stuff on TV: Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Dukes of Hazzard, The Fall Guy, T.J. Hooker, Charlie’s Angels… I bet there was a Dart or ten in every season of every one of those shows. Finding one of these in the wild is not unlike bumping into a character actor. Especially with those hubcaps.
Why is it I get those TV flashbacks when encountering Chrysler and Ford products of that era, but usually not GM ones? I get the impression that cop cars (except Columbo, of course) were usually Plymouths or Fords, but not Chevrolets. Maybe I’m misremembering those shows – it had been a very long time since I’ve seen them.
But then, I guess there were a lot of Darts about in the States in real life anyway. Dodge built about 200,000 Darts in 1969 alone, including 22,000 Customs with a V8 like this one (both in hardtop and sedan form), so there were a lot of these being churned out during that very long 1967-76 generation.
I wonder how many were exported. These would have been on the larger side for Europe or Japan, but much more user-friendly than the gigantic full-sizers that the Big Three were offering at the time.
Chrysler sold these under different names in many global markets, and even assembled them in a number of places (Australia, Brazil, Spain…), so it was one Detroiter you might actually encounter overseas on a fairly regular basis. I distinctly remember one (a later, mid-‘70s sedan) still being used as a taxi in Geneva in the early ‘90s.
Again, compared to giant behemoths like the Chrysler 300 we saw recently, even the interior looks pretty normal. It has a few touches of mock-sportiness to give an otherwise boring dash a bit of flavour. That’s what you get for forking out the extra bread and getting the fancier “Custom”…
What you don’t really get is a usable back seat. But that’s ok, if you wanted one of those, you could order the four-door sedan. The two-door sedan, alas, was no longer on the roster for 1969.
The Custom trim also provided for a trendy vinyl roof, which has seen better days in this particular car. The real purpose of this photo, though, was to capture that backlight’s curvature. A striking feature, but also the polar opposite of the windshield philosophy that American cars had at the start of the decade: from panoramic to concave in less than ten years.
Question for those of you who are well-versed in Dartology, by the way: what the dingus is this? Vaguely ballistic, isn’t it?
But let’s get back to the TV procedural theme we started this post with. I think a passing shot of the dog-dished Dart going through an alley, with a bit of Dutch angle…
Add an appropriately upbeat but dissonant instrumental, heavy on the strings and horns…
And a title card that reads, à la Streets of San Francisco, “Epilog.” I’m not going to go out of my way to watch on of those old TV shows again, but you can call me a convert to the late ‘60s Dart.
Related posts:
CC And Vintage Review: 1969 Dodge Dart 2-Door Hardtop – Swinger Or Solid Citizen?, by GN
Curbside Classic: 1969 Dodge Dart GT – A Genuine GT For My Father, by PN
Vintage Dealers: 1969 Dodge Darts And Simca Esplanadas In Brazil – The Changing Of The Guards, by Rich Baron
Cohort Pic(k) Of The Day: 1969 Dart Swinger – Serious Swinger Love, by Rich Baron
Kojak drove a 1973 Buick Century. So GM had some presence on TV shows.
Not that it made any sense. NYPD was not going to spring for a Buick.
Ford and Chrysler did seem to have much more aggressive product-placement marketing along with a lead in the real-world police market, both of which seem to be things GM tiptoed at the edges of when their overall market share was around 50% and often topped it if they had a good year and the others didn’t.
Those ‘vaguely ballistic’ things on the front fenders were turn signal indicators for the driver to view…looks like they got sealed off at some point when they stopped working, maybe…?
My first thought was that those are deer whistles on the front fenders, but now I’m not sure.
I think Ford and Chrysler worked harder at getting their cars featured in television in the 1960s and early 70s than GM did. Although Bewitched was always full of Chevrolets.
I still think this is one of the most pleasing designs of its era.
Because Chevy was a big sponsor. TV was still in the single-sponsor show era.
Nice.
It reminds me a bit of my ’69 Swinger which has a more austere and spartan exterior trim / bright work. The Door panels and Interior are very similar to my car.
Here is a little video of it for anyone interested
Cool video! Car has a nice sound to it.
The Australian versions of the Dart were locally manufactured rather than assembled and the range never included any big-blocks, the only V8s mild versions of the (imported) 273 & 318. In the last of the line (1970-1971), the 225 was replaced with the locally made 245 cid “Hemi” six and there were even some 4 barrel versions homologated for competition. There was no convertible but as well as the two-door hardtop, there were sedans in two wheelbases, a wagon and a ute. Structurally, the Australian versions were close to the US versions (except for the 245 six) but there were detail differences in the interior and exterior trim.
Don’t forget “Mannix” on CBS, he drove 68-69 Dart GT’s on his show. Watched it every Saturday night.
My childhood memories of this generation of A-bodies is chock full of versions from about 1972 onward. Around, when I started car spotting. Examples dating from the 1960’s, were already surprisingly rare.
It depended upon what TV programs you watched. ABC debuted The Rookies in September 1972. It featured many Chevrolet Bel Air police cars. Plenty of 1973 era LTDs squad cars as well.
NBC debuted Police Story in 1973. It also featured many Bel Air police cars. Both shows appealed to a younger demographic. Favourite shows of mine then.
I love how you shoot the rear window with a shotgun and the window blasts out. Man, I have gotten so picky as I have gotten older since I didn’t notice it back then.
Nice Dart. I have a soft spot for this generation. Not just because the first car I ever drove in Driver’s training was a 1969 Dart but also because I think the car looks so damn good.