Back in the ‘70s, Chrysler’s marketing gurus had a lot of marketing gimmicks up their sleeves. They were always coming up with special trim packages, especially for cars like the Dodge Dart. In 1976, when the Dart was on its last legs, they came up with the Spirit of ’76 edition in honor of our Bicentennial. Production numbers are uncertain, but they couldn’t have been that many. This one, located in Tustin, Michigan, is available here on craigslist for $10,000 OBO. Thanks, Gransedan, for your patriotic tip!
Back in 1976, it was hard to miss all the hubbub going on with the celebrations around the 200th birthday of our country. While Dodge was not the only auto manufacturer to capitalize on the action, they may have certainly done it up more than most. While the Dodge dealer had you signing on the dotted line, this is some of what you got with the Dodge Dart Spirit of ’76.
- a fully-decked interior striped in red, white & blue
- “Spirit of ’76” decals on the rear quarters and a banded side stripe in the profile of an American eagle
- 225 Slant-Six or 318 V-8, 3-speed manual or Torque-Flite automatic transmission
If you recall, 1976 was the year that Dodge introduced the Aspen to replace the Dart, but they would run parallel for that one year. It’s puzzling why Dodge decided to deck out the old car rather than the new car, and Dart Sport sales would be anemic and less than 14,000 cars. That was down by half from the prior year, no doubt because of the Aspen. We can’t pinpoint how many of these Darts were Spirit of ’76 editions, but the numbers are likely just in the hundreds. Thanks, Dodge Garage, for the skinny on this special line of cars.
The seller’s 1976 Spirit of ’76 is in nice shape overall, so it might be hard to find another one unless it’s been hermetically sealed up in a tomb for 44 years. This one came with the 225/6 and a floor-shifted manual with overdrive (to save gas; it was the middle ‘70s!). The car has accumulated 85,000 miles, so its annualized use has been minimal. It’s a one-owner car that’s ready for a new home. With routine examples, these ‘70s era Darts are considered used cars and fetch used car prices. It’s rare that a nice grocery-getter would go past four significant digits, but given the likely rarity of this car and condition, the seller’s asking price doesn’t sound like mad man money.
Ooh, I like this a lot! And I’m a GM guy. You had me at floor shifted 3 speed w/ overdrive.
It’s all about the torque…
I like the car, and although rare, I don’t care for the graphics package. Wonder what’s going on with the fender mounted Dart plaques? I’d add a set of OEM trim rings to the wheels and cruise! GLWTS!! :-)
I noticed that weirdness around the fender badges, some kind of backyard custom paint treatment?
Dart Lite emblems were stickers ; reproduction emblems weren’t always available and it looks like someone masked them off before painting the car . Theres a lot of overspray on , a buyer should really check this one over .
The lower quarter panels look odd to me ,kind of bowed out- maybe they have Bondo in them It looks like the quarters ahead of the wheels have bubbles of rust/Bondo
The lower half of the car appears to have had major surgery for rust issues, probably at least 5 pounds of bondo in the rear quarters, both front & rear of the wheel openings, as well as the bottom of the front fenders.
If you take a look at the right rear 1/4 panel behind the wheel arch, follow the ridge, and you’ll see it wanders, when it should be straight. That means either a lot of rust repair, or it was in an accident and the quarter panel was not replaced.
Also rusting along the L door hinge and A pillar. Michigan plates. – She’s seen some action with sodium chloride.
Just my preference, but I am not investing 10 grand in a car with a 6 cylinder. Myself, I don’t want anything less than a 340. It is a nice car though and if you can live with that 6 cylinder, go for it. Looks to be well taken care of. I myself wondered way back when why Dodge made these bicentennial cars on the Darts and not the Aspen! Never really made sense.
The Aspen didn’t come out till this Dart/duster body style was dropped in ’77, I think that’s when the Aspen came out.
At least part of the reason they made bicentennial edition of the Dart was because they already had the red/ white/ blue/ gold seat pattern from the Dart Hang 10 edition. They knew they were running these cars out, use up as much inventory of parts we already have. All they needed to do was make a new set of decals for the sides and rear. To do the same with the Aspen they would have had to make all new parts and those would have only been used for one year.
Almost bought a Hang 10 Dart back in the day. What a rarity those are!
Believe me…there was NO spirit in any vehicle made in the USA in 1976.
If not spirit in the USA, then where?
Spirit, yes. Get-up-and-go…not so much.
Can’t tell if original or repaint but if original, I would be interested since these cars oxidized badly. I do like the paint scheme too. Modern hemi and 6 speed manual makes it’s a no brainer.
Parts of it have been repainted , the door light switches have been painted over
The stick w/overdrive should make a fairly fun driver (by 1970s standards). At least it’ll give the six a little more pep.
I don’t remember seeing chrome fender & quarter panel moldings on dusters & cousin cars – in the tire areas. Must be rare option.
Thin seatbacks to maximimie rear seat room.
Looks like it needs nothing.
It may not be cheap, but it’s turnkey ready to drive & show!
What would it cost to restore a somewhat rusty one or 1 needing paint or interior?
The chrome wheel moldings were available , a lot of high line A bodies had them. This , being a last hurrah of the body style may have had them to use up old stock
Pretty sure that overdrive wasn’t available with the three speed stick. There was an optional four speed (A-833) stick with overdrive in top gear.
Morgan Winter,
Chrysler was marketing the new [introduced in early 1975] 4-speed trans with an overdrive 4th gear, as an actual overdrive.
Also forgot to mention, the gearshift knobs I saw showed OD on the shift quadrant instead of the number 4.
Yes, this was just the A-833 with revised gearing. Very durable trans. https://www.allpar.com/mopar/transmissions/four-speed-manual.html
If this had a better engine and transmission combo it would be a whole lot more attractive. A slant 6 with a 3 speed does nothing for me!
The slant 6 does fine by me. For this car, I’m not impressed with the bright color scheme. Either paint the car a more subdued color or put a bigger power plant in it. The aforementioned 340 will do just fine. Yet, with all the comments about the probable body work, I’m really turned off on this one. In the ad, there are no underside pics or engine bay pics. “If ya wanna sell it, ya gotta show it!”
Hyperpak makes 280 hp
While described as a three speed with overdrive, the transmission in question is a version of Chrysler’s A833 four-speed, but with a 1:1 third gear and an overdrive fourth. It may even have an aluminum case, as many of the mid-’70s overdrive A833s did.
I had a ’76 Dodge Dart sport just like this, with the exception of decals. Loved that car with the slant six & 4spd. The only car that I put !00k on.
All looks good to me. But the price is way to high.
I was selling Dodges at Glass City Dodge in Toledo when we had a whole bunch of these parked out back. Back then it was a factory owned store so guess who got more than our share of these? They all got sold, if memory serves me, they were priced in the mid $3000 range for the 6 with 3 spd. It was a great time.
Dave
Nice car I own one just like it and mine has been in 2 different magazines with full 3 page story on car with pictures . Good luck with the sale.
Do you know how many of these were made by chane?
My stepfather had one in 76 I liked it but couldn’t get past that 1973 pointed front nose even made it even more difficult to replace parts after that one year color combo
I found the fleece blanket and vinyl zippered packaging for this model at a yard sale. I wonder if anyone would want it, or even know that promo item existed.
Sure she sold for much more than my pops got mine for in the 80s! He paid $300 for a rundown rust bucket that I drove til the early 90s when it was finally put to rest by a garbage truck debacle 🫣 If that hooptie could talk she’d have some tales to tell!! 😂