Have you ever moved and absolutely had to get rid of a beloved vehicle? I haven’t, but I did have to sell a couple of them over the years so I could have my garage space back again. This seller is hoping that you’ll check out this 1973 Dodge Dart on eBay where it’s listed with a $2,750 buy-it-now price, or you can make an offer. It’s located in beautiful Belmont, California. Thanks to Matt W. for sending in this great looking Dart!
Hagerty doesn’t list a value for a 1973 Dart four-door sedan, but NADA shows a $2,925 average value. The $2,750 or best offer price on this one sure looks like a reasonable deal so far. This car has “little or no rust.” I don’t see any rust in the photos but there are really only three exterior photos. It sure looks great and straight, though, with its newly-designed front end and grille. They do say that the paint isn’t original, they’re the second owner and “I got a new paint job when I bought it in 2007; everything else is stock.”
The interior looks great, too. I can’t quite tell if the front seat has been recovered or if the original vinyl has just loosened up over the last 45 years. They mention that the interior is in “very good condition, carpets are worn.” The trunk looks even bigger than I remember on these old Darts and it looks clean and rust-free. The seller says that this is a “steady, reliable car: this was my daily driver (short commute) for over ten years.”
The engine compartment looks tidy and multi-blue-hued. The 225 slant-six is “maintained and regularly serviced.” This one should have around 105 hp. This car looks great and sounds great overall, but the seller does mention a few things on the next owner’s to-do list: “Heater core needs replacement; disconnected. Tires are worn. Ball joints are squeaky. Idler arm is worn.” The heater core is the biggest one on that list for me. I recently sold a car with the heater core disconnected (which I didn’t know about when I bought it!) and I took a bath on it. If it stays in southern California it may not be as big of a deal, but having a little more radiator capacity, even if it’s just a small heater core, is always nice in hot climates, too. Thoughts on this Dart?
My Grandfather bought a 71 Dodge Dart Swinger new. It was a 2 door hard top with an Automatic, 318 V8, with a vinyl top and no air conditioning. My Grandmother drove it for years after he passed away and my Dad still has it. Great car. Has less than 60,000 miles on it. Does have some rust on the quarters though.
Finally a “barn find” bargain! I’m surprised it isn’t already gone. Good MPG, easy to drive at hwy speeds, holds a lot of people and groceries, reliable. It may be a grandma car, but it will get you there without a fuss.
My offer is1600. And where is ur location Ian in Yonkers
Jacob Nasser, America’s Joker!
Fly in and drive it home through the hills of the Southwest. Just hope and pray you don’t see this in your rear window….
Fred W. – Dennis Weaver in Duel, correct? I remember watching that as kid on network TV. Steven Spielberg movie. I wonder if anyone else caught that.
Yep, its Duel.
I did. great movie.
Great Movie! I learned to drive in one of these Darts. Very easy to drive. Would make a great around town errand car.
But Dennis drove Valiant V8…
Exactly what I thought of when I saw this car!
Spielberg’s directing debut. I remember reading the short story in Playboy
Iam surprised that they even had to
“list” this car for sale..!While this may be
a boring granny car,it sure looks nice..
just like my grandma’s cars did,
and will be a reliable car for a young
family,as long as they take care of it.
Very affordable semi-classic,that will
make a great intro for someone to the car hobby.
Nice looking car. Real shame it’s a four door.
Belmont is in Northen California, it’s about 20 miles south of San Francisco.
Nice car, good price. There a lot of nice older cars like this in the surrounding area. It’s not very collectible but would make a nice driver/beater.
Steve R
Nice car, and a plus that it’s a four door.
Saw this today, https://madison.craigslist.org/cto/d/1975-dodge-dart-custom/6443129012.html
Real honest cars. So much better than getting an import trashbox. Distinctive, different and decidedly useful. Nice find.
I lived in L.A. in 2005 and 2006, and I remember cars like this, selling for a fat premium? Why? This cars are emissions exempt, which was a BIG DEAL back then. Can anyone from So Cal confirm that emission exempt cars are no longer desirable?
This car has three things against it.
1. It is a 4 door. Most people don’t want to invest into 4 doors.
2. It is a slant six.
3. It has no air.
This is a reasonably priced car for what it is.
If it stays local the lack of AC isn’t a big deal. It’s 20 miles south of San Francisco, the temperature during the summer rarely gets past the high-70’s to low-80’s with no humidity to speak of.
At that price point, Craigslist would have been a better platform to sell the car.
Steve R
For me a slant 6 is a plus.
Magnum 500’s make all the difference in the world. This is my daily driver.
Yeah, I lived in Los Angeles for 18 months. I think I used the a/c like 3 maybe 4 times, during that time.
I did hear that in the San Fernando Valley, a/c is a must, but where I lived in Culver City and Camarillo, it was simply not needed. And the slant 6 are bulletproof with lots of hi performance options, so that also is not a downer.
They are bulletproof until you get a bad one like I did.
I will take a V8 over the 6 in any car.
I drove a slant-six Volare with no a/c for 10 years. Never was an issue.
I’d love to have this car. First, fix the mechanical bits. Second, add a Super-Six set up with the Carter 2bb, or possibly change to fuel injection.
I buy nothing but 4 door cars now; much more friendly to passengers and my elderly parents.
Back to the vertical learning curve: One way rental car companies adapt quickly to changing business patterns is to lease cars or get guaranteed buy-backs. Chrysler & AMC supplied our 4-5-6 month leased cars: Cordobas, Furys, and the Valiant/Dart. One of the things we had to do when putting them in the fleet was to change the spare tire from new to a “yellow band,” or a tire that looked like a nuclear warning (theft deterrent to CEOs). Depending on the city I was in we might get a few, a few hundred, or a bazillion of these cars. Thanks to a drunk driver my physical prowess is limited to only my left arm. I’d jump in the trunk, try to break the locking nut free, resort to a hammer, and spend..the rest of the tire change imagining some little guy from Deeee-troit putting that tire in there and spinning the nut down with some sort of air impact.. It wasn’t until I jumped in a trunk once and discovered the way they do it is to put a deflated tire in there, run the lock nut down, then fill it with hernia-producing pressure and volume until it was certain I’d never have any more children trying to move a locking nut that was pressure-locked.. (That was okay, too. I have kids I haven’t even used yet.)
The heater core in my 2003 F-150 blew a leak recently. Being that I’m here in Tampa, I just by-passed it. I got on Youtube to see what would be involved in replacing it, and man-o-man you gotta take the entire dashboard out, steering wheel an all. No thanks, I’m not gonna do it.
Nice Dart, nice price.
Dear Rex,..almost All Fords since about 1980-maybe even earlier ?, have been
a really nasty job for heater cores ,our shop in northern Ca back then did many
Fairmonts /LTD’s /Mustangs/Taurus…ect.They were
expensive to do,although we were far less than the local Ford dealer.
Figure about 1-1/2 days worth of pure cussing pleasure…for sure!
Hmm, not sure what to make of your comment. There was NO easier heater core than a (non A/C) Fairmont or Fox-body Mustang. Open the glove box all the way (push the detent). Now you are looking at a metal plate. Remove the two bolts and the plate. Now you are staring at the end of the heater core. Go under the hood, disconnect the two hoses. Push the stubs flush to the fire wall. Go back inside and pull the heater core out through the glove box opening. Ten minutes, tops. Maybe A/C cars were very different? I never worked on one.
Loved that movie…..and own a 67 more door Valiant…..
In the mid 1980,s I had a1975 Dodge Swinger, 2 door hardtop with the white vinyl top, Same color blue and the 318 C I Engine. The 318 engine was a fairly quick engine even with a 2 barrel carburetor. I also had the 318 C I engine in a 1968 Plymouth Fury. Very solid good running engines.
Here again is my slant 6 story, lest there be any disbelievers…
A buddy had a 67 Valiant in high school, I think it was his grandfather’s car. He drove it for probably 6 years or more, through college in to the early 1980s, then decided to buy a newer car. Somebody came up with the bright idea to blow the car up, so they drained the oil out of the 225, and started driving it. They drove it for 3 days without oil and gave up. They put 5 quarts back in that slanty and sold the car for $300.
My aunty bought a Dart just like the one pictured here. Was a 318 2 barrel, and boy howdy did that car embarrass alot of other cars. Great fun to drive.