How many times have you read in a classified ad that a car’s air conditioning “just needs a charge”? This will not be one of those times, because the seller of this ’74 Dart says that the “air blows cold.” If the air works, I’d imagine that this is a well-maintained automobile.
The seller says it is; in fact, “everything works except the radio.” Mechanically, it’s hard to go wrong with an old Valiant or Dart. By 1974, the basic platform had been around for almost 15 years, and it was well-known for its durability. Still is.
The current owner claims that he bought it from an estate sale and that it has an actual 60,000 miles on it. He also says that it has entirely new suspension, brake lines, master cylinder, and a tune-up. The interior looks almost immaculate, and a hot summer day on that vinyl-covered bench doesn’t seem so daunting with working air.
Underhood is the time-honored 225 Slant Six. The 1974 model faced some emission-control struggles, but everything looks complete and the seller says that it runs well with no issues. I swapped a ’74 225 into my ’65 Dart wagon to replace a worn-out 170, and after some fiddling with the carburetor (in other words, trying a different one), it runs about like you’d expect a Slant Six to run. It’s not exciting, but it gets the job done.
The 225 still had solid lifters in 1974, so you’ll get to practice an occasional valve adjustment if you buy this Dart. Additionally, Chrysler’s electronic ignition system was standard, so at least you won’t have to worry about the hit-or-miss quality of modern points (pun intended).
The car has been repainted, but it has some filler work in the rear quarters, and the front floors are a little soft. Aside from that, the seller says it’s a solid car. This Dart has the durable Torqueflite, so it will probably run forever with few problems.
The collector sweet spot for Darts is from 1967 to 1970, but in reality, there’s not much of a difference between those Darts and a ’74. Sure, you get the big bumpers and pointed nose, but you can also save a few bucks. This clean-looking Swinger is for sale on Marketplace in Cleveland, Ohio, for $8200. Thanks to Bruce M. for finding it!
It looks good, but the seller is telling you there are issues with rust. There aren’t any up close pictures of rust prone areas and there are obvious areas of sloppy paint work, especially in the engine compartment. It will look good at a cars and coffee, but for how long? Any potential buyer should give this car a thorough inspection prior to payment.
Steve R
Regarding the lifters and ignition-
The lifters need more than occasional readjustment if you drive too enthusiastically (leadfoot and speed a lot). The adjustment screws didn’t come with jam nuts and the threaded holes in the lifters themselves don’t squeeze the screw threads enough as the engine ages (think of it like how locknuts are usually “crushed” to have a slightly oval cross-section, but locknuts can wear out and lose their grip).
The original Mopar electronic ignition was a good system but this vintage had one particular weakness- the run side of the dual ballast resistor. Better keep a spare one in the glovebox for the odd time that the car will start but won’t keep running. Quick fix and you hardly have to get your hands dirty. Old Mopar fans know!
:)
I owned five cars with 225’s, ’66, ’67, ’71, ’73, and ’80. They all had jamb nuts on the rockers. Is it possible you had an oddball? While a nice car, $8k seems steep for a slant six car with body work.
You know… could be.
I was still a teenager and it was my first car- I wish I’d understood what a jam nut was and just fixed the problem myself.
I still miss the car (of course!).
My 1973 Dart had the coldest air conditioner I have ever encountered in 55+ years of driving.
Chrysler’s Airtemp HVAC system was noted for durability and keeping folks comfortable.
Jim Morrison once caught a ride in a ’63 Chrysler Newport. He reportedly said “Cool air conditioning. Really blows a lot of air.”
Hey Aaron. The comment about the motor swap in your 65 Dart rang a bell. Do you also write for the curbside classic site? There is an awesome writer that talks about his fleet of curbside classics and one of them is a 65 Dart wagon that I believe has a motor swap in it’s past.
That’s me, Bill. Thank you for the compliment!
When I saw that one picture of this car with the houses in the background I thought, man that looks like Cleveland. Then I read on and yes it’s here in CLE. Too bad it’s not worth a ride to check out.
It always worth a ride to Cleveland. Cleveland rocks!
solid lifters in 1980? blows my mind! however, i do agree and have personal experience with the ridiculous ballast problem. I always kept one in the glove box of my 73(?) charger. saved me twice after being stranded the first time. by the way, i never minded adjust the valves, i always dreaded getting the valve covers back on without having them leak. New or old gaskets, only once did i get it right the first time.
Of course you can never be completely sure about a car from just the pictures and seller’s description. But from what I can tell this seems like a decent Dart to me. The seller appears to be a straight up person. He’s upfront about some rust issues and in my experience that’s a good sign. In today’s market his asking price doesn’t seem unreasonable. Big plus that it has A/C and a lot of mechanical work done. I’ve always liked these Darts and the 225 slant six and Torqueflight transmission is a great combo. You won’t win many stoplight drag races but you’ll get a dependable ride and decent comfort. FWIW, I had to adjust the valves in my wife’s ‘84 Toyota. I know we all rag on the new cars but the maintenance is a whole lot less than the old stuff. GLWTS.
Surprise, Surprise, no rust? Uh huh, I doubt it. I had a ’73 Dart Swinger with the 318 V-8 and a green vinyl roof that I bought in ’75. Around the bottom of the back roof panel it was rusting under the vinyl (ya could see the bubbles forming) and the wheel wells were starting to rust, musta been all the salt on those New Jersey winter roads. But, rust in 2 years? Oh, that 318 V-8? Once ya stuck a match book cover in the carburetor throttle plate, it might finally start so ya could watch the gas Guage go down with its 13 MPG no matter how ya drove it. Traded it for a new 78 Toyota Corolla after we moved to Florida. Could never figure out why I didn’t stick with them. Had a couple Dodge Journey’s in ’09 & ’13, but they were no prize either. Went back to Ford’s after them….
It has been my experience with the following cars I owned:
1970 Charger R/T – 440 (4spd)
1970 Coronet 500 – 383 (4spd)
1968 Chry Newport – 383 (automatic)
1972 Dodge Dart – 318 (automatic)
All of the above were hard(er) to start in the winter and midwinter in Chicago, almost impossible unless I popped open a can of starter fluid. The Charger and the Dart were both bought brand new from Grand Spaulding Dodge, the other two were bought used. Can’t speak for anyone else but it seemed to me if you bought a Chrysler product back then, you knew it was going to be hard starting below 30º
I don’t know about the big block 4bbls and cold weather or the 318 carbs, but by the mid 1970s the Holley 1945 1bbl (that is probably on this Dart) was as finicky as any carburetor when I got old. The trick to setting it was to adjust the automatic choke to be *barely* pulled off once the engine was warmed up. The ranger was you could easily flood a warm~ish engine from aggressively adjusting the choke like that, but not enough choke could result in a lot of frustration during cold weather starting.
The other gotcha was to make sure the choke pull off function worked (little vacuum actuator that would move just so much to crack open the choke when you held the gas pedal to the floor during cranking- this was to clear a flooded engine, same as most cars of that vintage).
The whole Rube Goldberg mousetrap feel to the thing was almost as if it was optimized for a mild California climate, lol, without much consideration for real winters.
Part science, part art, part magic.
Just my own observations… I’ve been wrong before! :)
I started selling these in the seventies near Lake Erie. Almost all of our ‘hard starting’ issues were fixed with a bit of customer education straight out of the owner’s manual. This has been true for Chrysler products with carbs (even into the eighties, even the over emission controlled 4 cylinders).
You simply had to depress the gas pedal to the floor once before turning the key. This set the choke and the car started.