This Dodge Dart Sport has just emerged from a barn after a 30 year slumber. The seller now has too many projects on his hands, so has decided to part with this car. It is listed for sale here on Craigslist and is located in Spokane, Washington. It is offered with a clean title and can be yours for $1,950.
The seller states that this Dart is painted in rare “Root Beer Brown”. I’ve done a pretty thorough search of Dodge color charts and can’t find it mentioned. Having said that, the car must have looked nice when it was new with the contrasting stripe and 3/4 vinyl top. Speaking of that top, it most definitely needs replacing. There is some rust in this Dart, but it doesn’t appear to be as bad as it could have been. There appears to be rust in the passenger door and the lower left rear quarter panel, but otherwise it might just be okay. There is a shot of the trunk which indicates that it is solid there, but there are no shots of the underside of the car. Those Rallye wheels also set off nicely against the car.
The interior is going to need some work, but it certainly isn’t as bad as it could be. The door trims look to be reasonable although the armrests look tired. The front seat will need a new cover, but the dash looks complete (minus the factory radio) and both it and the pad look like they are free of cracks.
This was one of the options that motivated Dodge to tag this as a ‘Convertriple”. Part of the package was the fitting of a manually operated sunroof which made the car a sort of “semi-convertible” in their eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if the seals on the sunroof are actually in quite good condition as there are no obvious signs of moisture having entered the car through there.
This was the other feature that gave the car its title. The rear seat folded down giving the car an enormous 6 foot 5 inches of load space. Coupled with the sunroof Dodge marketed the car as a combination of an economy compact, a convertible and a station wagon in one package. Looking at the available photos indicates that rear seat and trim could come up well with a clean.
The 225ci slant-6 in this Dart is backed by an automatic transmission. The seller doesn’t indicate whether the engine turns freely, let alone runs. There is an awful lot of corrosion on some of the components under here, so the new owner is facing a lot of hard work and cleaning to whip this back into shape.
This is a rather interesting car. The “Convertriple” option sets it apart from the average Dart and if it is solid then it would certainly make an interesting project car. I undertook a fairly thorough search of the internet and was unable to find another Dart with this option pack for sale, which indicates that it may be quite a rare package. At the asking price I think that it shows a lot of potential.
Go Dodge! with some noteworthy marketing likely before the term even existed.
One of my best friends had a similar slant six powered Duster in high school & he was legendary for putting the back seat to good use.
It was a faded dusty (of course) green with rusted out rear fenders flapping in the breeeze as it moved down the road due to typical Midwest winters.
THis is the moment that silenced any envious guy (me) yearning to blame his romantic success on money or having a cool car…here I was driving a brand new red Camaro (or Corvette when I could sneak it out of the garage) & didn’t even go to prom.
Jeff was the prom king & his queen was drop dead gorgeous & down for any extraneous activities he could dream up.
Not fair. I need a drink.
Cheers!
That’s a cool car, the sunroof looks huge.
I love how the spare tire is missing the rim….lol
Or trunk liner cover for that matter.
At least it DOES come with a spare tire.
I’m in Spokane delivering cars today. MMMM
I think this car is a good deal. The Dart and Duster prices have crept up a lot,at least in Canada,
I’ve owned a 1973 Dart Sport 340 along with some Barracudas. My Sport 340 was that same paint and stripes with black bucket seats and automatic trans.and no sunroof.This is a nice car for the asking price,not many out there in good condition!Find a small block and a dual snorkel sport hood and you have a classic Mopar!
I actually owned one of these in Red and White!
Yes, yes I did.
The slant six was one of the best engines made.
A friend of mine owned a tan 1972 in Michigan. For all of you who lived north of the snow line , you know these cars rusted faster than an ice cube melts on an Arizona blacktop. The tops of both fenders rusted so bad that keeping his windshield clean was a constant chore. The washer fluid pump fried, so he kept two spray bottles of Windex in the car at all times. The things things you do for a buddy. Good times.
My Mom had a silver run of the mill one. God I hated that thing. What teenage kid lusted after one of these in 70’s…….Loved the rust around the antenna, Our Duster did exactly the same thing. With the stock tires, it looked significantly out of proportion.
I always wondered where my car from 30 years ago went, and now I know. Either that or it is a nearly identical one. It was a good driver. Reasonable power, reliable. Good MPG. For some reason people constantly passed this car, even when I was a 5 over. I could never figure out why. Perhaps everyone assumed it was a grandpa car. I think I sold it for that same price back then, which makes it a pretty good deal today.
Wow, that back end would be just big enough for me to spend a night or two in. Couple that with that bulletproof leaning tower of power and I’m getting geeked over this one!
I’ve seen pictures of these and Dusters with the sunroof, but I’ve never seen one in person, and Dusters were everywhere when I was a kid. My parents had two of them, a 71 and a 75. A relative in Florida has a 72 Gold Duster with it’s original snakeskin roof in almost perfect condition.
just wish it had the hatch my ventura had (350 ci).
Owned 3 or 4 of the slant6 – oddly enuff never the 240 (all 170s).
B an excellent DD.
One of the best motors ever (w/the 123TD, 300 i6’n more).
I bought a new ’75 Dart Sport for my wife & it was a great car! We also had a ’65 Dart & a ’74 Duster all slant 6 & couldn’t kill them!
Doesn’t look like a convertible to me.
Darn! It’s on the WRONG coast AGAIN!! :-)
This is actually kind of cool, and in my opinion has huge potential, relative to the up-front purchase cost. The automatic tranny is a downer, but I always thought the slant six was under-appreciated.
Nice it doesn’t have the spare wheel you Stooges….you can see it looks nice down there….good car for the price and a cleaner earlier A-body front end is a bolt on !!!!!!!
I’m happy that It’s MOPAR day at Barn Finds. Love ’em!
Ahhh those were the days. I had one of these in 1982 – it was my first car. Mine was some pastel-green (a light color green) with white stripe. We called it the super-slime lol. Big bench seat in the front – fold down back seat – what a great first car (aka bedroom on wheels). had the 6cyl 225 engine in it — thing had a top speed of MAYBE 70mph downhill with the wind and handled so poorly it was probably dangerous. If I ever were to run across one that color I would probably buy it – if nothing else for the laugh-factor with my old friends lol lol.
This is the result of changing the name of the Demon to satisfy the religious zealots. Park one of these ugly things next to a Demon and you won’t have any trouble deciding which car you’d rather have. I’ve had two Demons, and I’d love to have another one. I wouldn’t be caught dead with a Dart Sport in my driveway.
But i bet a priest wouldn’t be caught dead drivin a ’71 or ’72, espec if he was going to or from an exorcism. lol
Have to ask yourself if it’s worth 2 grand to dress up like Al Bundy and family (Married With Children TV Show) and drive around….lol
Ha! Little geek that I was, I thought the ads for these convertriples were kind of fun. I’ve seena few Dart Sports/Dusters with the folding rear seat or the sunroof, but i don’t remember having seen an actual convertriple before. Nice find!
Wow! Flash from the past! I had one like it- down to the color, stripe, sun roof, and fold down rear seat. Mine had a a 318 V-8. It had some power, but not a car to pull hole shots (spin the tires to make ’em smoke). The winters in Pennsylvania were hard on the body and frame. I put three paint jobs on it. Mine also had the bucket seats and automatic shifter on the floor. Oh yeah, there were issues with the radiators. Drove the car to Texas and ended up buying a re-cored radiator in Midland, Texas. It got that I could change out a radiator in 5 minutes or less. Sold it to a kid in Norfolk cheap, the kid was good at restoring old cars as he drove a 1936 Ford.
Looking for a 1973 Dodge Dart Sport Convertriple.