I’ve always been more of a fan of the Dart GT and GTS, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the Dart Swinger for the bargain that it was.
Prices of everything were up, the world was supposedly running out of fuel, and as a by-product, it had actually run out of horsepower. I might even be generous; it might be closer to around 1974. Regardless, by 1980, it was over. The Camaro and Firebird looked tough as nails but performed lacklustre at best in stock trim. The fox-body Mustang had made its debut, but its potential was nowhere near recognized that early out of the gate. Chrysler was going broke, so you know they weren’t reinventing the wheel and trying to make it go faster. The Corvette wasn’t affordable, and it also wasn’t fast. I wasn’t alive yet, but what a bummer of a time to reflect on nowadays.
Speaking of nowadays, what was the last affordable performance car? The SRT-4 and Cobalt SS were a decent middle ground, but you sure didn’t see a lot of them on the road, telling me they weren’t that great of a deal. Honestly, I see more Novas and Darts than I do of those two combined. Ford sells an affordable Mustang, but it doesn’t perform like a Mustang. It just looks that way. Back in the day, companies would let you get the V8, and nothing else, to get you into the car at your price, such as the Dodge Dart Swinger.
6000rpm for $3000. That’s a deal you can’t get today on just the engine. Forget wrapping a car around it. A camshaft, intake, and a set of decent cylinder heads will put you over budget in most cases.
Dodge was fairly ingenious when it came to getting you into a fast car for a good price and making something that young people wanted to buy. What did three-grand get you for a Swinger? The best of the basics. A 340 backed by a Hurst-shifted four-speed manual and a Sure Grip differential with your choice of three civilian gear ratios. There was also a performance hood with die-cast louvres, a bumblebee stripe, and hubcaps that resembled mags.
Inside, you would have been rowing that Hurst shifter through the gears in the space between the bench seat and the dash without worrying about hitting your knuckles on the air conditioning switches. There weren’t any. Nobody needs AC when the windows crank down manually, anyways. The Dart Swinger also featured heavier suspension; although there’s no mention of them, it was also equipped with brakes. Slowing down doesn’t sell cars. Going fast does. Talk about the important stuff. I’m sure if I sat down with a spreadsheet, the Chevy Nova and Ford Fairlane were a similar deal, but they didn’t have the marketing Dodge had. Hard to believe they were broke only a decade later.
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk
