Dodge added the Swinger 2-door hardtop to the Dart lineup in 1969 to add some pizzazz to the otherwise stodgy compact. A couple of years later, the Swinger Special came along, a stripped-down version of the car for those on a strict budget. The seller’s Swinger Special is from 1975, the year before the Dart was discontinued in favor of the new Aspen. This one appears to be an original survivor with just 58,000 miles and shows some wear. Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, this Mopar cheapie is available here on eBay, where the current bid is $1,136 with no reserve.
The Special shaved a few bucks off the Swinger MSRP by using rubber floor coverings instead of carpeting, poverty hubcaps instead of full wheel covers, and so forth. This example has at least two extras: a TorqueFlite automatic transmission and factory air conditioning (still mounted under the dash). A 225 cubic inch Slant-Six was the standard engine, and the original buyer was happy with that powerplant instead of opting for a 318 V8. If you’re going to keep adding extras, why get the Special?
By 1975, the Special wasn’t so special. Dodge built 9,300 of them that year vs. 45,500 regular Swingers. Buyers were more interested in saving money on gasoline as prices had risen to more than 50 cents per gallon after the OPEC oil embargo (gadzooks!). This Dart is being sold out of an estate, and the listing implies the owner may have had this Dodge for a long time. As such, the mileage is low, and it has been sheltered for much of its 50+ years. There is a little rust in the rear quarters, and the factory Frosty Green paint is fading and thin in a few places.
We’re told it’s a good running car that may be fine mechanically. The front seat covers don’t match the ones in the rear, so we assume they succumbed to the elements at some point and were redone. The seller points out NADA prices for these autos, which can range from $7,200 to $12,500. So, we assume the car will get closer to the first number than the latter. If you’re a fan of plain and simple cars from the 1970s, would you scoop up this little Mopar?
At the end of the auction you will see what someone is actually willing to pay for a drivable rough around the edges Dart with a slant 6, with cold AC.
Steve R
And the seller is a BF regular who seems to come up with halfway decent vehicles.
I usually prefer all original but this one has sleeper written all over it. $4k ish sounds about right
Aren’t those hubcaps called
Dog dish hubcaps too?
I was pretty broke when I had them on my battered Dart but I did not know I was advertising my brokenness.
I was upwardly mobile when I got a lovely set of Baby Moons which were stolen in a week, so back to the Dawgs went I.
Not a bad looking Dart. A little rough around the edges, but a decent project. Do a little body work, give it a fair paint job and do a little work on the engine (hopefully just a tune-up) and you should have a good daily driver.
Oh, and you’ll feel a whole lot safer from getting rear ended, with the third brake light in the back window!
Those are not the right hubcaps, maybe later Dodge van or truck caps? The right dog dish caps look better and can actually be dressed up with beauty rings for a clean look.
As a college student in the 1990’s I drove an ‘80 Aspen with dog dish hub caps and a set of old beauty rings I salvaged from a wrecker. Looked good and I kept it clean. Funny thing about that car it had power steering and brakes, and no other options – except one, a delay wiper system that was the best I ever had to this day. It had like 10 different settings. And being that the weather people here have more ways to describe rain than anywhere else I’ve been, it came in handy from intermittent dribbles to heavy showers!
I love the sound of a slant 6 . . . when it hits the bottom of the dumpster.
Blasphemy!!! The Slanty is the most durable engine (well maybe the Ford 3
00 CID six as well.) ever built!! And back in the day there were a number of aftermarket (And Mopar) hot rod parts for them. I will wager the 225 six is far more reliable that anything built today.
But everyone can be wrong at least once. ;-)
Somewhere the front seat has been replaced or recovered, not matching the rear seat.
I had 272,000 on my plain Jane ’74 2-Door Dart (198ci, no air, no radio, 3 on a tree) when I traded for a ’74 Valiant with 54,000 miles (225ci, air, radio and an auto). Just married, I thought I hit the big time. Sold that car to my sister with 150k 35 years ago and it is still running around Radcliff, KY.
Let’s play the Mopar shuffle: In ’69, Dodge discontinued their 2-door Dart coupe with the hardtop they called the “Swinger”, but if you wanted a high trim hardtop, you got the “Custom.” In ’71, the “Swinger” became the high-trim hardtop and the “Swinger Special” became the low-trim (There was also a low-trim Scamp Special if you were a Plymouth loyalist). Along with the rubber floor, the Swinger Special also lacked some exterior brightwork, a plastic wood grain dash, a fancy steering wheel, and in ’75, Special buyers couldn’t opt for a nicer front seat and had to go with the basic one seen here. But, why pay all that extra for trim when all you want is a Dodge? I love these plain Janes.
The shuffle came between divisions too, in ’71 the Plymouth Scamp was the dealers’ with the blue signs consolation prize for the Dodge Boys getting the Demon which was their version of the Duster that Plymouth had developed for itself the year before and was a huge hit. That led to an odd situation where instead of Darts having a 111″ wheelbase and Valiants 108″, that applied only to 4-door sedans with both divisions having a coupe on each wheelbase, which continued through ’73 since the Valiant sedan moved to the Dart sedan body for ’74.
I like the styling but I can never get past the oh so ugly 5 mile/hr mandated bumpers.