A Bodies have come into their own. Here are several from the Mopar Show at Bristol Dragway in late 2006. The 1968 Dart (left) won Best Paint.
By 1970, when the Swinger in the feature this issue made its formal debut, the big-block action was focused on the new Challenger. The 340 was now the highest-displacement engine combination on the A-body platform, and so-equipped Swingers with a scat stripe
were the ‘grade A’ package that year. The success of the Plymouth Duster led Dodge to create a similar fastback-type model for 1971, which it called the Demon. The Demon, soon to be renamed Dart Sport, would carry on with 340/360 power until the debut of the new Aspen line in 1976.
While there would still be tens of thousands of Darts sold by the company every year, when it came to muscle, the performance packages were and are considered to be a pretty neat properties. Those 440 street cars, ill-handling and frankly uncomfortable as they were, are quite rare and pricy today (the Barracudas are north of 100K). The 383 versions, also scarce, rest in the market shadows, while the 340 versions maintain their reputation as good all-around cruisers. If you’ve missed out on the growing ‘muscle Mopar market madness,’ solid A-bodies may be a great place to start making those car dreams come true, even it’s just as a project.
 Darren Josten laying down a little rubber. See why this car is elsewhere in this month’s issue. |
You know, I had a ‘72 Swinger myself back in the day, whose demise came to an upside-down end on a country road in Pennsylvania two weeks after I got married (it was either that or eat the grille of a Ford LTD that was straddling the center line on a blind hill). Now, if I were to do it all over again, the way to do this right would be to get one of those new stroker Mopar small block Six Pack engines and find a nice solid donor body, and a six speed, and four-wheel disc brakes, and….don’t get me started….
Recent Stories
