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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Dodge Darts are very common on the Alameda street; we've seen a '64 coupe, a '64 wagon , a '69 convertible , another '69 convertible , a '70 sedan , and a '75 Swinger so far, and that's not even counting the Valiant siblings. By comparison, Falcons and Novas are quite rare. Clearly, that Slant Six is an engine to be reckoned with! I found this car parked between the '69 Olds Cutlass convertible and the '56 Morris (all three cars are owned by the same person), and right across the street from the '54 Ford and '47 Plymouth . Yes, it's that kind of block. Two doors, vinyl top, original black plates- great to see this car still going strong. While it most likely has a Slant Six, it was possible to buy this car new with a 383 or 440 big-block and experience the joys of zero header clearance. galleryPost...
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We saw another Dart in our "Down On The Street" series just last week , but when have we seen a Dart wagon parked curbside in Alameda? I shot these photographs during a rainstorm over the winter; I'd planned on reshooting the car in brighter light, but I think the car looks more like a tough Detroit survivor- which it most certainly is- in the gloomy lighting and raindrop-blurring of these photos. More about this Mopar kiddie-hauler after the jump. It's had a restrained rat-rod-ization, which I think always looks pretty good on a station wagon. Of course, the '64 Dart also looks pretty good dressed in unadorned beaterhood . Painting stripes on the roof is a nice touch. I haven't heard this wagon run, so I can't vouch for the presence of the lumpy-cammed V8 the paint job deserves. The standard powerplant in '64 was the 170-cube Slant Six. This car is an official Radiator Hoes vehicle! The Hoes have a strong Alameda presence, so count on seeing some more...
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For those of you who thought the last '69 Dart GT convertible we saw in this series was just too nice , here's one that's taken a much rougher route during its nearly 40 years. Looks like it already had quite a bit of Bondo-centric rear bodywork when it took some sort of impact above the left rear wheel and went from "slightly rough" to "beater" just like that. Still, it's a convertible and the top still looks intact, so it will stay on the road. Perhaps some ambitious owner will get the bodywork done at some point... or use it as a parts car for a nicer Dart convertible. The "GT" badging means this was the top trim level for the Dart in '69; the GT came standard with a Slant Six, though the dual exhausts on this example suggest the presence of a V8 under the hood. The '69 Dart GT with optional 273-inch V8 listed for $2,976 new. That was 39 bucks more than the 302-equipped '69 Mustang convertible and $330 more than the '69 Corvair...
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The '65 Barracuda won our Favorite DOTS Chrysler A-Body Poll back in March, but since that time I've found this '75 Dart Swinger. Would the Swinger, with its name conjuring up images of Malaise Era key parties, have triumphed over the Barracuda? Perhaps I'll have another A-body poll, once we've seen a few more of them; until then, we can only speculate. The Swinger was the name Chrysler put on the 2-door Dart with the Custom mid-level trim package. The Special Edition series was the priciest Dart, though the real hot ticket was the $254 "Hang Ten" package, which got you surfer-esque graphics and tape stripes. The standard engine on the '75 Dart was the 96-horsepower Slant Six 225, though you could get the Dart 360 Sport with a V8 boasting 200 horses. This Swinger is in decent condition, with all four hubcaps still present and accounted for and no visible rust. The vinyl top is bad (of course), but other than that it's weathered 33 years quite well....
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Is it really possible that it's been two months since our last Mopar A-body in this series? Like air-cooled VWs, Chrysler A-bodies are so plentiful in Alameda that I tend to lose track of when the last time I DOTS-ized one (also like air-cooled VWs, I've owned a few Slant Six A-bodies and feel much affection for them). So here comes a nice solid 4-door Dart, which lives on the same block as the Mercedes-Benz 280SEL that came in second in yesterdays DOTS Benz poll . The Dart is one of the few vintage Detroit cars in which I prefer the six-cylinder engine to the V8, but then the Slant Six makes even the 318 seem flaky. Of course, a 340/4-speed Dart might convince me to give up the Leaning Tower of Power. This Dart gets driven every day, and there's no telling how many times its 5-digit odometer has been turned over. Check out those Buick hubcaps, which actually look pretty good on a Dodge. This car parks in front of a house in which a high-school girlfriend lived back in the day...
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I've been guilty of Chrysler A-Body neglect once again, despite having quite the backlog of Dart and Valiant photos in my DOTS collection. This isn't because they weren't great cars for their time- cheap, reliable transportation, and pretty quick when equipped with V8 power- but, because I see so many of them in Alameda, I tend to forget that they're quite rare once you leave the island. Today we're going to look at an A-Body you don't see every day, even in Alameda: a Dart GT convertible. After you look at the photos, be sure to vote on your favorite DOTS car this week- Friday is DOTS Poll Day! The GT was the top trim level for the Dart in 1969, selling for more than the base Coronet 440. This one is in pretty good shape- not a show car, but a driver in fairly original condition. Too bad it's not a 4-speed car, though it might have a Slant Six. Buyers who opted for the Dart GTS got the 275-horse 340. The single exhaust suggests that this is indeed a Slant Six...
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When we saw the '73 Plymouth Scamp last week, I promised we'd try to put a dent in the unfortunate deficit of Chrysler A-bodies in this series. So, reaching into my stash of DOTS photos (I ain't sayin' how many I have, but you can count on seeing an Alameda street survivor each day for quite a while), I'm presenting this proud '64 Dart 270. Sometimes it seems that the 1964 -66 Mopar A-bodies get overlooked, being overshadowed by the wonderfully nutjob toilet-seat-on-the-trunklid styling of the early 60s Darts and Valiants and the angular look of the ones that followed. Still, they weren't exactly wallflowers. The 270 was the mid-priced Dart for '64, placed between the cheapskate 170 and the upscale GT. Standard engine was the 170-cube Slant Six, and you really couldn't go wrong with that engine choice; generally the engine was the last thing to die on these cars. Of course, some opted for the 225 six or the damn-near-as-reliable 273 V8; yes, you could get one with a 4-speed! Those headlights...
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