Dodge Dart

The Dodge Dart is one of Dodge’s older and newer models at once. It was first introduced in 1960 and was produced for sixteen subsequent years until 1976. After a nearly 40-year hiatus, the Dodge Dart was resurrected for a short but sweet three-year run.

History

The Dart was originally showcased at a 1957 car show with a design by Italian coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Ghia. At its inception, the Dart was meant to be a lower priced model with a shorter wheelbase. The Dart was later extended to full size in 1960 and 1961 and mid-size in 1962. The Dart would eventually go on to be featured as police cars, sports cars, taxicabs, and racing cars, and even appear in many foreign markets.

Characteristics and Generations

The first generation Dart was manufactured to essentially replace the Plymouth as the standard low-priced downsized car. The Dart did exactly what it was designed to do, and as the Dart’s sales soared, the Plymouth’s sales dropped. The dart would be the smallest full-size car Dodge offered for the year 1961. Production and sales plummeted, however, due to recession.

The second generation of 1962 brought with it several different models all denoted by trim levels: Dart, Dart 330, and Dart 440. The Dart’s were downsized that year in order to keep up with other cars on the market at the time. For 1963 and the third generation, a last-minute decision was made to drop the Lancer name, instead favoring the Dart for Dodge’s newly designed “senior compact”, a marketing term referring to the wheelbase having grown to 111in from the Lancer’s 106.5 wheelbase.

The fourth generation Dart brought with it the Plymouth Valiant and the Hemi Dart, which were all substantially redesigned for the new generation. The Hemi was essentially a racing car that was designed to meet street legal requirements. However, in order to essentially get around the rules, the cars all came with disclaimers stating they were not for street use but instead for drag racing.

1976 brought the Dart’s final year on the commercial market until 2013. 1976 was also the year that the police package was offered, which included special state of the art speedometers and dome lights. The Darts were also offered for taxicab use from 1963-1976. Many different options existed for these models, but nearly all were equipped with special order paint to the body.

Resurrected

The year 2013 brought about the “resurrected” Dodge Dart from the past. Dodge introduced it as a transverse front-wheel drive four door compact sedan. It was offered in three transmission options with electrically boosted power steering and 12 different color and fabric combinations.

The attempt to dredge up the Dart from the past was Dodge’s first attempt at a compact sedan since the 2005 Neon. In some foreign markets it was known as the Fiat Viaggio, or “journey”. The car also appeared in a cameo for the Fast and Furious 6 movie. Unfortunately, the Dart did not have a long run and was discontinued in 2016.