reprinted from February 1960
 |
THE
DODGE DART |
"A - threat to the Big
Three Leaders"
says Tom of this all-new,
highly roadable rig.
By Tom McCahill
The
Dart is an entirely new American automobile. In some models it utilizes
the power plants of its big brother, the full blown Dodge, but in
the economy version the car is original even to a freshly-born six-cylinder
engine which it will share with Plymouth. It is installed at a 30
degree angle from dead center, similar to the Valiant and Plymouth Six
engine mountings--a practice used by Studebaker at Indianapolis more than
a quarter century ago and also by that most famous of all Kraut buckets,
Mercedes Benz. In addition, the Dart employs Unibody construction
and is vat-dipped in a series of pickling solutions to stave off rust and
corrosion.
| According to the publicity releases, the new Dodge Dart "is the first car in 31 years to enter an entire new line of automobiles into the low-priced American field." Well, maybe so--if you have forgotten such names as the 1960 Falcon, Corvair or Valiant and the somewhat older Rambler and Lark. The publicity boys will undoubtedly argue these other cars are all compact jobs whereas the new Dart is on a 118-inch wheelbase, which is almost as big as today's Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth. |  |
However, let's ignore the "first" claims and take a look at the Dart for what it really is. It is a - threat to the Big-Three leaders. The Dart is not likely to blast Chevy, Ford or Plymouth from their present positions in the industry. But, as they say in Costello's Third Avenue Saloon, the Dart could very well "whip a lot of froth off the head of the beer." Where it will rank in the industry a year from now depends on a lot of factors such as strikes, sales outlets and, most important of all, public acceptance.
Back in the 20's before Plymouth got off the rock, Dodge was comfortably nestled for many years in the Number Three slot later held by Plymouth. The chances of dislodging Plymouth from its current perch during this model year are about as likely as a blizzard at the Panama Canal but the Dart may cut deeply into Plymouth's sales because of its unique size. It might be described as a giant compact car, or a compact Big Three car. It is about an inch shorter than Plymouth in overall length and several inches scantier than Ford. Overall height of 54.8 inches and the interior dimensions of 34.5 inches headroom and 63 inches of tail room make it a big car on the inside.
On the road, due to its size,
the Dart is effortless to drive. When coupled with the optional big
Dodge D-500 engine displacing 383 cubic inches and two four-barrel carburetors,
it should be able to chew around the race course with enough stuff to turn
the humidity into steam. When I tested the Dart at the Chrysler Proving
Grounds my test car was the 318 cubic inch small V8 Phoenix model with
a four-barrel carburetor. This job can also be had with a two-barrel
carburetor for slightly more economy. With this comparatively small
mill, it banged out 0-60 mph in 9.8 seconds and 0-30 mph in 3.9 seconds.
So you won't need the imagination of Jules Verne to figure out that with
the big 383-cubic inch stroker and two four barrel carburetors, plus higher
compression ratio, a Dart should make a helluva ridge-runner for the moonshine
boys.
| The interior is loaded with a lot of nice little goodies including
a foam rubber headliner to cradle your cranium if you do any driving upside
down. The legroom both in front and back is on the comfortable side.
Our car also had a pie-plate clock right off a rocket's instrument panel.
Even the speedometer had a see-through feature, mounted high and
easy to read. The styling is trim and, in my opinion, good-looking.
In fact, the entire package seems to contain all the ingredients to make
it an attractive and reasonably-priced buy. Add the fact that it
utilizes the Chrysler torsion-bar suspension, best in the industry, and
you have a lot of reasons for looking deeper into what the Dart may prove
to be.
I have been an automotive consultant to DuPont for some years. About two months after my Dart test, I got a phone call from the company one day when I was on my boat. The said they were looking for a car to use on a rugged run from Seattle to Alaska and the Arctic Circle to test out some anti-freeze. They asked me to pick out a new car for them to run. |
 |
Considering the rugged terrain to be covered, which might include some snow, rough dirt roads, and just about everything you wouldn't expect on a turnpike, I knew suspension had to be an absolute must. Since DuPont wanted a full-sized car without oversize, the Dart was my selection. A couple of weeks later, Bill Carty, Advertising Manager of DuPont's anti-freeze division, picked up a Dart and headed for Seattle. Here are some of his findings (and if you read the papers regularly you must know that DuPont doesn't own any Chrysler stock--in fact, they own roughly 23 per cent of General Motors).
On the open roads where speed limits are only a suggestion, he kept the Dart running between 75-80 mph wherever possible. Despite this hard break-in, when the Dart arrived on our northern West Coast it had averaged 17.8 mpg at the highest cruising speeds possible. The only complaint the DuPont boys had was that the windshield wipers lifted away from the windshield at speeds above 60 mph.
After the trip to Alaska started, over open gravel and dirt roads before
the AlCan highway was reached, speed was held to around 80 mph. It
was on this gravely dirt road that the advantages of the new Unibody construction
became apparent. As stated earlier, these body-and-frame units are
dipped, not only to seal against corrosion but to fill any seams as well.
There were three cars in the caravan: two almost new '59 cars and the '60
Dart. All the clothes, duffel, camera equipment, etc., carried
in the two '59 cars were covered with a layer of fine, whitish gritty dust--even
in the trunks. The Dodge Dart, with its sealed Unibody, remained
absolutely dust-free.
| The test trip was an entire success and the Dart made
it to the Land of the Eskimos without a balk. The best way I can
show you how Bill Carty felt about the car is to tell you the first thing
he did on his return
home was to order a brand-new Dart for himself. I understand one of the other DuPont boys on the run did the same
thing. To say the least, DuPont was thoroughly satisfied with
|
 |
One thing this Dart is going to do is to show us all pretty quickly whether or not Americans want smaller, easier-handling cars. During the course of a year I get many letters from readers who claim they need lots of interior room but want to know why our standard cars must be so big on the outside with such ramp-like overhangs. Well, if they really want a car with ample interior dimensions but not too much bulk on the exterior, this Dart with its large choice of engines from an economy six to a wildcat double-barreled V-8, should provide a pretty obvious answer.
In summing up, the Dodge Division of Chrysler has had a few good years and a lot of lean ones. The full-sized car, right in the middle of the medium-priced field, has had to face competition that was the roughest in the entire industry, from such makes as Mercury, Pontiac, Olds and all the deluxe models of the Big Three. Dodge has always been a good car. But so have some of the others. The Dart is actually unlike anything Dodge has built in many years. ( editor's note - in Canada Dodge produced a line of smaller cars for years - based on the Plymouth body with Dodge front sheet metal bolted on). It is a car with a medium-price name selling in the low-price field and ready to undersell all but the panic models of the Big Three. If the boys keep screwing them together right, the Dart should once again put Dodge among the five top selling cars in the world. If it doesn't then you can discount all that talk about "what we want is a small car with lots of room" as just so much heated air.
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