Most Mopar fans recall the Dart being Dodge’s successful compact from 1963 to 1976. But for the four years prior, it was at the lower end of the company’s full-size roster. This ’62 Dart is one of the so-called “plucked chickens” that were part of an ill-planned Chrysler downsizing. It’s also an unfinished project (mechanical) sporting an unusual body style that’s been customized with two doors on one side and a single door on the other. This interesting 3-door sedan is in Vancouver, Washington, and is available here on craigslist for $5,500. Super sleuth “Curvette” brings another oddity to our attention!
Based on a rumor that Chevrolet was going to put the Biscayne/Bel Air/Impala on a diet in 1962, Chrysler responded by shrinking their full-size Plymouths and Dodges. The rumor was dead wrong, as the perceived gossip was about the upcoming compact Chevy II. So, Chrysler spent 1963-64 expanding the B-body machines to recapture lost market share. Designer Virgil Exner did the hasty design work that wasn’t well-loved by lots of folks, including Virgil himself, who referred to the new cars as “plucked chickens.”
This ’62 Dart began life as a basic 4-door sedan, and it retains that configuration from the passenger side. For unknown reasons, the seller or someone else wanted to create an odd duck and reworked the driver’s side as a 2-door sedan with everything seemingly in the right places. The seafoam green paint (or something similar) is said to be original and in good shape except where the body mods were made. There is no rust, the car presents well, and the buyer should find him or herself fielding all sorts of questions.
A good running 318 “Poly” V8 sits under the hood, and the car needs a few things: an exhaust system to accompany $900 worth of headers, brakes, and some wiring needs to be finished. The whole package has 120,000 miles, though we don’t know how many have been added since one door was deleted. The upholstery has been redone, but we’re not shown much of it. After a couple of weekends’ worth of work, this odd Mopar could be ready for the gawkers at Cars & Coffee.
That’s an odd duck. Left side looks like a two door, right side looks like a four door.
My brain is still trying to reconcile the seeming size differential between the left and right sides.
What a morphadite! Someone went to alot of trouble to build….uh….this, I guess! Reminds me of automaker’s clay studies where they do this to show both bodystyles. GLWTA, but someone will have alot of head-scratchers at car shows!
Next …
Buddy has a 62 Dart sitting in climate dry storage for years.
Just a style that only a mother could love
These have not aged well at all
Love these odd duck body styles, and I can certainly appreciate the time and craftsmanship that went into this. Why do it? Because it hasn’t been done!
Counter-arguement: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!
Great find and great write-up.
Mopar four doors can be made into two doors relatively easily using a wrecked donor car. Ive seen it done in a weekend, minus finish bodywork
JUST LIKE THE TRI-FIVE CHEVIES
It’s documented (factory brochure) that Dodge offered a ’65 Coronet three door taxi – the idea being that passengers should only exit curbside. One (a tribute) appeared in MoPar Collector’s Guide recently.
Did they have the long door on the driver’s side like a regular 2 door though?
Yes
@RNR
Funny you should mention that. I always thought the stretch limos of today (even the SUV limos) should delete the driver side rear door. Its just safer for exiting curbside.
You need that door in the limo for when people throw-up Angel 🥴 🍺 🍻 🍷 🤢 🍾
I’m not a MOPAR guy but there’s a 65 Coronet 3 door that shows up in my area that is touted as an original 3 door taxi. Could that be the same here?
I’ve owned cars with suicide, rear-hinged doors and I can honestly say that they are easier to get into and out of than front-hinged. The drawback is having it on the passenger side as you’re likely to get to your destination with one less passenger if they try to slam a partially closed door once you’re under way!
I did once see a 2-door car with the driver’s door rear-hinged and the passenger side front-hinged. An odd ball, for certain, but making a certain amount of sense.
That is odd.
One of my sightings was a sort of worn out 2000s era Buick Century with Lambo doors at a gas station. One of them was up and open otherwise it would have looked like anything else.
Someone had a lot of time on their hands to make this monster.
I remember seeing a photo of a 1963 or 1964 Rambler Classic that hadn’t yet left the factory and it had inadvertently been assembled as a 4-door on one side and a 2-door on the other.
It was those single piece Uni-Side door frames AMC used starting in 63 and that they bragged about in their ads getting out of sequence, I’ll bet
Volvo once attempted a 243(?) built like this for wheelchair users. The idea being that the driver could fold his chair and put it in the car behind himself.
“sell ing a really nice clean 1962 3 door dart” It amazes me sometimes the crap people will do to cars.
You know, if it had 4 full doors and the Slant Six I’d would actually consider it to be my main driver and sell my 2005 car.
But this…. the lack of symmetry would bother me to distraction.
Still a nice car. My heads couldn’t process it on a full time basis though.
Wheels:
Driver’s Side: Sport
Passenger’s Side: Sedate
My Opinion :
Phoney Baloney
That Can’t be Real !
The left side would HAVE to be Longer
Compare the width of the “C” Pillars
Lousy job trying to match colors from the left front fender to the door
Might be the first A.I. car ad I’ve seen.
Boy, I’m so glad I quit drinking 47
years ago. Back then, this car would have certainly messed with my head if I walked by it on my way to the tour bus in the early to mid ’70s. Back then, getting hammered was the thing to do to pass the time on those long long road trips. There was a time when I could drink a 32 ounce tumbler of bourbon and coke or 24 beers in one sitting. And as for our bipolar Plymouth
here, I do recall seeing one in a video on YouTube a few months back. It was part of Plymouth’s
plan for a concept car as early as 1961. The video 📷 did indeed show a Plymouth like this one that was submitted for approval
of the big shots at that time. Other variations of this theme were the use of 3 headlights (2 on the right side, one on the left)
and 3 tail lights (2 on the left side,
one on the right) I can tell you that seeing those two setups really messed with my head even when stone cold sober. But as others have said, Chrysler did offer 3 door options for taxi use.
I think that if they would be testing the concept, I’ll bet they
tested it in New York in the ’60s
New York has more cabs per capita than anywhere else I know
of. And too, GM used a 3-door
format on Suburbans from ’68 to
’72 as well and got away with it. I
do recall that our school district
did use them to transport disabled students to special schools at one time. And how do I know? I was one of the kids they transported. And I seem to recall that Chevy tried it on their base level cars in ’58 but killed the project. Hi Angel! I did get one of the things I wanted for my
birthday when a friend of mine took me to Michael’s and got me a set of 128 Ohuhu markers today. Since all the colors are numbered, I’ll have to wait until my SIL or niece enlarge the color sheets that come with them before I can start using them. And no, I can’t wait to try them out on a ’38 Chevy rumble seat Cabriolet that she asked me for.
All that being said, it’s time for this fat old blind man to hit the sack as I still have a ’64 Mustang
convertible to finish. Night Angel
💋 Night all.
Never heard the ” plucked chicken” phrase before. It really fits!