This looks like someone’s attempt at recreating a 1970 version of the fabled 1968 Hurst Hemi-Dart as this is how that drag-strip-only, super-stock special left the factory.
1970Dart Swinger with 340 4 speed is one of my all time favourite cars. Used to see these at our local Chrysler dealer walking to school and it always fuelled my imagination for the day! The owner had 2 tea age sons who highly influenced the inventory. Eventually they took over the dealership and did pretty good for themselves until they retired. Great memories….. Good times!
The 1970 Swinger 340 was even more of a casualty of the bargain-basement Duster 340 than the E- or B-body coupes.
For some odd reason, Chrysler priced the Swinger 340 at an additional $261 over the Duster 340 ($2808 vs. $2547). For your extra money, you got roll-down quarter windows and front disc brakes, and that hardly qualified spending the extra dough. $261 back then wasn’t chump change. In the intermediate musclecar big-leagues, $261 was enough to get some hefty big-block performance upgrades on some cars. For example, it was enough to move up to an L78 396 or 454 in the SS396.
Consequently, 1970 was the last year for the Dodge A-body hardtop musclecar when it was replaced the next year by the Duster-clone Demon 340 coupe.
The car I spent quite a few miles behind the wheel in, as an unlicensed 15 year old. It was my grandfather’s, a Slant Six, no stripes or scoops or spoiler though it had a color-matched green vinyl top 😀, but still an experience I’ll never forget. My mom wasn’t so happy when she heard about it later. What was interesting to me at the time (1972) was that my Grandpa and his wife always called it a Swinger, never a Dart. I wish I had pictures …
This isn’t a matter of right or wrong. The car was a Dodge (make) Dart (model) Swinger (submodel). Same with the Plymouth Valiant Scamp. Neither car ever shed its Dart/Valiant model-family name, as the Duster did (it was a Plymouth Valiant Duster for its first year in ’70, then from ’71 it became just the Plymouth Duster).
Exactly. I wonder if they had owned a Ford Falcon Futura, would they have called it a Futura? I think not. Even though they were a conservative couple in their seventies, to them the Swinger name seemed special. One of their younger friends had a Dart 340 4 speed, same color as my Grandpa’s, but maybe a ‘68 or ‘69, and he just called it a Dart.
The “Swinger” was the coupe version until the Demon/Duster came along in 1972. As I recall, the “Swinger” was simply a color and stripe package, and could be ordered with a “Slant Six” as the base engine. Of course, the biggest engine choice available from the factory was the 340, either with a single four-barrel carburetor or the “six-pack” option. The Plymouth Valiant didn’t give a name to the coupe version like Dodge did, it was simply a two-door Valiant. The “Swinger” name was somewhat controversial at the time, given the implications for carnal relations, but it was the “Swingin’ 1960’s”, after all, LOL!
Hot rodders often upgraded the factory power plant to a 360 for an easy swap, but some folks went crazy, and actually managed to stuff a 440 into one of these! You could fit a Hemi into one, but it took major surgery, cutting the shock towers and possibly putting an aftermarket frame into it. A 383 or 440 was somewhat easier, as it could be “shoehorned” into place without major surgery, although some hammering of sheet metal was definitely part of the program!
The “Swinger” name was somewhat controversial at the time
Oh? I’m sure there were one or two pearl-clutchers and hell-in-a-handbasketeers about it—there always are—but I don’t think there was much in the way of substantial controversy. Not like that which caused Chrysler to rename the Dart Demon the Dart Sport for ’73.
And Chrysler weren’t the only ones naming things Swinger; Polaroid did it four years earlier in 1965.
The Demon name really worked on me when I was about 10. Back then, I used to spend the night with a cousin who was three years my senior, and he had a much older friend who owned a 1971 Demon. Now, looking back, I think this was more of a young kid pestering someone he idolized kind of affair, so my tagging along probably only turned up the annoyance from a 5 to an 8.
I tended to follow in my Dad’s footsteps as many young boys are wont to do, so my vehicular tastes were pretty much limited to Chevrolet, but could wander as far as something else in the GM lineup if I was feeling adventurous. I secretly liked AMC’s and even the odd Studebaker, but Ford was a no go and Mopars weren’t very worthy either. Even with that mindset, a Dodge Demon sounded like a car you just didn’t want to mess with. While a Chevelle or a GTO was a car that meant business, a Demon was what you took out on a moonless night to shred pavement and cause mayhem, then disappear back into the darkness before the cops could show up. A Dart Sport was something Auntie Agnes drove to the salon to get her hair permed before heading to Bingo.
Correction: I forgot about the two-door coupe Plymouth Scamp, so it was a Dodge Swinger and Plymouth Scamp. The sedans didn’t get a second name, they were always just Darts or Valiants.
Great find by nifticus392. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But I don’t feel either the rear spoiler, or hood scoops, appear well-integrated. They look, tacked on. Styling, would be cleaner without them, IMO.
Back in the ’60’s, the term Swinger didn’t carry the wife swapping baggage. That would come later. It was supposed to recall the swinging ’60’s. Youthful, Mod, fashionable and fun loving. I’ve still got my Polaroid Swinger camera, it took lousy pictures. The song that went along with the commercial was really catchy.
Swinging was slang for wife swapping by 1970, but wasn’t exclusive. It was still also in general use for lively and social. It’s like how gay has transitioned from general use to a specific aspect of sexuality.
Looks like he replaced the front clip from a black car. New paint job and it’ll look pretty good.
Nice, these are one of my favorite A bodies! Great car with 340/4 speed or 225/TorqueFlite
A first glance I thought he ran out of black paint and was looking at primer…
This looks like someone’s attempt at recreating a 1970 version of the fabled 1968 Hurst Hemi-Dart as this is how that drag-strip-only, super-stock special left the factory.
1970Dart Swinger with 340 4 speed is one of my all time favourite cars. Used to see these at our local Chrysler dealer walking to school and it always fuelled my imagination for the day! The owner had 2 tea age sons who highly influenced the inventory. Eventually they took over the dealership and did pretty good for themselves until they retired. Great memories….. Good times!
The 1970 Swinger 340 was even more of a casualty of the bargain-basement Duster 340 than the E- or B-body coupes.
For some odd reason, Chrysler priced the Swinger 340 at an additional $261 over the Duster 340 ($2808 vs. $2547). For your extra money, you got roll-down quarter windows and front disc brakes, and that hardly qualified spending the extra dough. $261 back then wasn’t chump change. In the intermediate musclecar big-leagues, $261 was enough to get some hefty big-block performance upgrades on some cars. For example, it was enough to move up to an L78 396 or 454 in the SS396.
Consequently, 1970 was the last year for the Dodge A-body hardtop musclecar when it was replaced the next year by the Duster-clone Demon 340 coupe.
Love this Dart generation, those 340’s were quick.
One of the most underrated muscle cars of all time. My brother and I had a ’69.
The car I spent quite a few miles behind the wheel in, as an unlicensed 15 year old. It was my grandfather’s, a Slant Six, no stripes or scoops or spoiler though it had a color-matched green vinyl top 😀, but still an experience I’ll never forget. My mom wasn’t so happy when she heard about it later. What was interesting to me at the time (1972) was that my Grandpa and his wife always called it a Swinger, never a Dart. I wish I had pictures …
Yep . “Swinger” is the correct “moniker”!! There were “billions of them”. Less but still many of the cousin car the “Plymouth Scamp”.
Got my license in our “73 Swinger”. ((green on green; green inside))
This isn’t a matter of right or wrong. The car was a Dodge (make) Dart (model) Swinger (submodel). Same with the Plymouth Valiant Scamp. Neither car ever shed its Dart/Valiant model-family name, as the Duster did (it was a Plymouth Valiant Duster for its first year in ’70, then from ’71 it became just the Plymouth Duster).
Exactly. I wonder if they had owned a Ford Falcon Futura, would they have called it a Futura? I think not. Even though they were a conservative couple in their seventies, to them the Swinger name seemed special. One of their younger friends had a Dart 340 4 speed, same color as my Grandpa’s, but maybe a ‘68 or ‘69, and he just called it a Dart.
The “Swinger” was the coupe version until the Demon/Duster came along in 1972. As I recall, the “Swinger” was simply a color and stripe package, and could be ordered with a “Slant Six” as the base engine. Of course, the biggest engine choice available from the factory was the 340, either with a single four-barrel carburetor or the “six-pack” option. The Plymouth Valiant didn’t give a name to the coupe version like Dodge did, it was simply a two-door Valiant. The “Swinger” name was somewhat controversial at the time, given the implications for carnal relations, but it was the “Swingin’ 1960’s”, after all, LOL!
Hot rodders often upgraded the factory power plant to a 360 for an easy swap, but some folks went crazy, and actually managed to stuff a 440 into one of these! You could fit a Hemi into one, but it took major surgery, cutting the shock towers and possibly putting an aftermarket frame into it. A 383 or 440 was somewhat easier, as it could be “shoehorned” into place without major surgery, although some hammering of sheet metal was definitely part of the program!
Oh? I’m sure there were one or two pearl-clutchers and hell-in-a-handbasketeers about it—there always are—but I don’t think there was much in the way of substantial controversy. Not like that which caused Chrysler to rename the Dart Demon the Dart Sport for ’73.
And Chrysler weren’t the only ones naming things Swinger; Polaroid did it four years earlier in 1965.
The Demon name really worked on me when I was about 10. Back then, I used to spend the night with a cousin who was three years my senior, and he had a much older friend who owned a 1971 Demon. Now, looking back, I think this was more of a young kid pestering someone he idolized kind of affair, so my tagging along probably only turned up the annoyance from a 5 to an 8.
I tended to follow in my Dad’s footsteps as many young boys are wont to do, so my vehicular tastes were pretty much limited to Chevrolet, but could wander as far as something else in the GM lineup if I was feeling adventurous. I secretly liked AMC’s and even the odd Studebaker, but Ford was a no go and Mopars weren’t very worthy either. Even with that mindset, a Dodge Demon sounded like a car you just didn’t want to mess with. While a Chevelle or a GTO was a car that meant business, a Demon was what you took out on a moonless night to shred pavement and cause mayhem, then disappear back into the darkness before the cops could show up. A Dart Sport was something Auntie Agnes drove to the salon to get her hair permed before heading to Bingo.
Correction: I forgot about the two-door coupe Plymouth Scamp, so it was a Dodge Swinger and Plymouth Scamp. The sedans didn’t get a second name, they were always just Darts or Valiants.
Great find by nifticus392. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But I don’t feel either the rear spoiler, or hood scoops, appear well-integrated. They look, tacked on. Styling, would be cleaner without them, IMO.
Back in the ’60’s, the term Swinger didn’t carry the wife swapping baggage. That would come later. It was supposed to recall the swinging ’60’s. Youthful, Mod, fashionable and fun loving. I’ve still got my Polaroid Swinger camera, it took lousy pictures. The song that went along with the commercial was really catchy.
Swinging was slang for wife swapping by 1970, but wasn’t exclusive. It was still also in general use for lively and social. It’s like how gay has transitioned from general use to a specific aspect of sexuality.
I’m old enough to remember when “gay” was a synonym for happy, instead of a synonym for homosexual, LOL!