You don’t have to be cheap, I mean, frugal, to have purchased a Dodge Dart, but their advertising touted its value: “Dodge Dart… more than one million sold to the economy minded.” This 1973 Dodge Dart Custom Sedan is posted here on craigslist in Levittown, New York, and the seller is asking $8,850. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Zen for the tip!
What a great-looking car! I’m a wicked huge fan of the Dart sedan, as in the notchback design with the concave rear window. I like the fastback version, too, but make mine a two-door or four-door sedan every time. This one appears to be decked out in some sort of law enforcement garb, but I think it’s just for show as it isn’t shown in some of the photos. Speaking of photos, the seller hits a homerun for photos, very well done!
There’s my favorite view of this era of the Dart sedan, with the very cool concave rear window and big, flat trunk. This one gets extra points for being a pre-1974 car with the beautiful rear bumper. The front bumper was already regulation’ized, but the 1973 cars had a nice, small rear bumper. That wasn’t the case in 1974. It also gets extra points for the black steel rims and dog dish hub caps. Sadly, points are deducted for rust being hidden under both sides of the vinyl top at the C-pillar, and general vinyl top issues.
Ripped and worn seats are often easy to fix if a person can find the exact matching vinyl color and pattern, or fabric. The seller uses a blanket cover over this one in another photo, and that would work for a while. The rest of the interior looks pretty nice from what I can see, both front and rear. These are optional fold-down center armrest seats in front, a very cool feature, with high-back seat backs.
The unusually painted engine is Dodge’s 225-cu.in. slant-six with 105 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque, and this one doesn’t have the preferred three-on-the-tree, but a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic. It also has power steering, a very nice feature, and you can see the air-conditioning compressor there, and the seller says everything works except the parking brake. I love this one, but the rust under the vinyl top gives me the shivers. Any thoughts on this Dart?
I agree Scotty theses are one my favorite of the Darts also.
If I was going to buy it I’d put it to daily driver status. as for the vinyl top issues I’d remove it fix the rust and if I wanted the vinyl top look I’d probably spray the roof with a texture coat like Raptor then paint it gloss black.
You know Scotty I didn’t think much about those rear windows back in the 70’s other than the cool curve and how big they are. The visibility out of these is great. Who would’ve thought that style and safety could go so well together. I agree too that the roof needs some love. And hope it’s not too bad under that vinyl top. Gerry has a fantastic idea about using a texture paint. Probably a lot less expensive and you don’t have yo worry about rust rearing its ugly head again. I know I’ve said this like 58.373 times already on here, but yet abother example of a car we all saw EVERYWHERE and now so few and far between. These need to be saved too. We didn’t all drive muscle cars back then. ( I think I’ve said that at least 38.7924 times before on here too). It would be neat to see the front seat redone. Nice write up Scotty!!
At $8,850 it’s priced for perfection, which it’s not. It may be rarely seen today, but that can be said about most 4 doors from that era. The pictures don’t show rust prone areas up close, which should be considered a must from places like New York. Unfortunately this car lives in the segment if the market that competes on price, half the asking price, at most, is more realistic.
Steve R
A little overpriced for the condition, with the rust issues being expensive to fix, particularly under the vinyl top. The vinyl top has to come off as part of the rust repair process and should not return, IMHO. A nice two-tone paint job, with a white top and blue body would look sharp, IMHO! The Federal “Bash Beam” Bumper in front can go away if one can find a pre ’73 car with smaller bumpers to bolt on in its place. Note the use of LED headlamps to replace the sealed beam headlamps these would have been born with!
Looks like the emblem for the New York highway escort service for big trucks with wide loads. Probably a ton of miles.
True, but there are miles and then there are miles. A highway escort car gets mostly highway miles, with little brake use, constant speed driving and the car is thoroughly warmed up, so those are “soft” miles. A car driven on short trips, with lots of stops means that the oil doesn’t fully warm up, so water and acids in the oil never boil off and wear is much harder, as lots of starts and stop & go driving wear out brakes and engines much faster than long, easy highway trips!
I may be alone here but these LED headlights look like socks on a roster.