When first spying this 1968 Dodge Dart GTS, I was skeptical that it was a genuine GTS. Let’s face it, muscle cars, Mopar or otherwise, get messed with, and you don’t always know what you’re looking at. In this case, the VIN checks out, though the exterior is a bit questionable looking. That said, I think there may be a decent project here, so let’s investigate. Clifton, Colorado, is where you’ll find this very orange A-body, and it’s available here on eBay for a BIN price of $14,500. There is a make an offer option available.
I’ve followed these ’67-’69 Darts pretty closely, so when I caught the price, I thought, well, that seems reasonable. Being a GTS, it’s placed at the head of the Dart table with the GT, 270, and standard Dart residing sequentially below. Production was slack with just 8,100 GTS editions, both hardtop and convertible, making the scene. This was the right car at the right time, as its only real compact muscle car competitor was Chevrolet’s Nova SS. Ford stayed with performance options for its Mustang while Plymouth did the same with its Mustang competitor, the Barracuda. Then again, Dodge didn’t have a pony car entry, so hot-rodding the Dart was logical.
The guts of the Dart GTS were Mopar’s 275 gross HP 340 CI V8 engine. The seller tells us, “Has a strong running 340 with a 727 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic. Great oil pressure. Engine has Eldebrock (sp) manifold, appeared to have performance pistons, Has New: Electronic Ignition and wires, New Edelbrock Performer Carburetor, Headers, Magnaflo Dual Exhaust electric fuel pump. Has new Aluminum 3 core radiator, new water pump, hoses.” A strong running 340? They all were, right off the showroom floor. If you’ve never had the experience, you’re missin’ something special. My thought has always been that this Mopar nugget of an LA series engine was substantially underrated – you know, round it down to the nearest 50 HP or so – they pack a punch!
The exterior of this Dart has gone the dechromed route – not that it was overly endowed in the first place. The finish is OK, but something tells me a close-up review would be in order. The blacked-out hood is a matter of taste, as are the shaved door handles. Beyond that, the body is straight and there’s no evidence of rust – a notable nemesis for these A-bodies. The bumpers look unbumped, but the plating, especially on the rear one, is weak.
Inside, we find a white vinyl upholstered bucket seat/center console environment. The seller informs us that the upholstery and headliner are new, and they show well. The dashpad is missing, and there’s some weirdness with the door/upholstery panels – orange and white for the doors, black and white for the back seat. The carpet seems fine, but the instrument panel has become a little dingy – all pretty minor stuff in the scheme of things.
At $14,500, I’d rate this GTS a good buy. Sure, it needs some work, but it’s mostly cosmetics along with inoperative wipers, speedometer, and power steering. The heavy mechanical and exterior lifting, however, has been completed. I like it, how about you?
The quality of work leaves a a bit to be desired, the trunk is more than a little scary. Potential buyers need to bring an objective, knowledgeable friend with them and go over it with a fine tooth comb. The entry price is heavily discounted when compared to nicer examples, so it shouldn’t be dismissed outright by someone who really wants a GTS.
Steve R
Yes, what is up with that trunk? Is that a terrible lap-weld or a peeling strata of Bondo? I suggest applying the magnet test all around this one.
Install a 3.91 sure-grip out back and surprise many 😲🏁
I’ve said it before on here, Stan, but I was one of those surprised by a 340 Swinger in my big block Olds. That small block smoked me! Like the author stated, if you’ve never experienced a 340 Mopar, either driving, or getting dragged by one, you’re in for an education in small block power.
I had a good friend in highscool who had a ’69 Dart GT, canary yellow with bumblebee stripes, white vinyl interior, that thing had the 340/4 speed setup, and I well remember riding home from school in it one day, 4 of us in the car, and my friend Bobby was going up a long hill passing 3 busses and a couple of other cars, I peeped over the back seat and the speedo was reading 140! What a gorgeous little monster that car was..
Orange isn’t the original color (not available in ’68), and it’s missing almost every single GT$-specific piece if you wanted to restore it to factory. That’s not the correct seat upholstery or door panels, and you’ll have to find the GTS door panel emblems (not reproduced, and can be pricey), and a GTS trunk finish panel, and the hi-po 340 exhaust manifolds (they were reproduced but now are hard to find original or reproduced, and expensive either way). The rest of the GTS parts (emblems etc) are available aftermarket.
That’s not to say it’s not a good starting point, if it’s solid and is a real GTS (the main VIN checks, so if the rest do, great)… I have that much into my car just in the body, and it has no paint on it yet. The buyer should just know they’ll need to buy a lot of parts to make it right. OR, don’t worry about restoring it, and just keep it as a hot rod… plenty of non-original GTS’s out there like that, and they’re still cool.
I agree with you. Too much to restore, but a fun car to drive daily. Not all cars need to be restored, just road ready.
I also just realized, it has a convertible rear seat, rear panels, and package tray for whatever reason, so you’ll have to source all that, plus the 4 branding irons for the seats.
I’d do like Stan says, swap the rear, fix the wipers, and enjoy it!
This car needs a lot more work than you think 14,500 is absolutely crazy the car suspension doesn’t even look right something else is going on with this car? The dash pads missing?,hhmm, I would pass and take my 14,500 and put it towards something else
What’s wrong with the suspension? And these dashes cracked if you looked at them too long, so removing it doesn’t seem that unreasonable if it was bad. This looks like a decent car to me.
I miss the 340 4 speed ’68 Dart that I had for a few weeks before it was stolen. (Beat the wrong guy?) And never got another.
An yes it was something special. I sincerely think that Chrysler under rated the HP quote on these. The car before the Dart was a 1955 Chev convertible with a hot cam and a .030 over 283. And the Dart was so much faster and handled better. And yes I realize the weight difference.
Yes, we know factually it was really over 300hp factory, maybe even 10% above that. The 275 number was pretty absurdly low. Just think, if actual was 325, then the rating was around 20% lower than actual.
I really miss driving a 72 340 Duster. I was faster than any Z28 that I owned. Just what I would call brute force.
Could Dodge build a modern equivalent and succeed? I don’t consider the Second edition Challengers to be an equivalent.
Very questionable choice to shave the door handles on this.