Good morning, what’s this? There’s nothing such as what it looks like, a ’70 Dodge Dart station wagon (with a ’71 grille, by the paint of it). It’s a 1970 Valiant Safari from Chrysler South Africa, from the same model range as this Valiant Charger 190 Sports Coupé:
(that’s me at about 19 years old, there in the driving seat)
Here’s a brochure pic of that wagon. Neat, eh?
It’s a North American Dart front end on an Australian Valiant VE-VG wagon body, and we can even see the white front reflectors mandated for many years on all cars in South Africa. A few years earlier, the ’68 model had an American Valiant front end on an Australian VE body:
Those taillights make me run mind-movies of metal massage sufficient to graft on a ’67-’69 Barracuda front end, and the resultant puzzlement at car shows.
Clear across the globe in Mexico came this 1970 Dart GTS:
Minor differences in the badges, but pretty much like any other ’70 Dart, right?
…No, lookit these sail-panel C-pillars!
They made them like this at the factory:
Michael image on Flickr
Hello Daniel,
Very interesting, as always.
May I add this Barreiros to the flock?
Nice day to all.
[img]https://www.imcdb.org/i399589.jpg[/img]
They’re terrific, eh! The Barreiros Darts warrant their own post. Eventually.
I’ve never really understood the demise of the 60s “compact” wagon in the US. Chrysler dropped the Dart/Valiant wagon with the ’67 redesign, Chevy dropped the Chevy II/Nova wagon with the 1968 redesign, and Ford’s Falcon wagon wasn’t really “compact” any more with the ’66 redesign. I guess they weren’t selling? Or profitable enough?
Midsize wagons weren’t much pricier and offered a lot more room, at least in the 1965-69 generation. Chevy even offered a stripper Chevelle wagon in a lower trim level than offered to the public as a sedan or coupe (the Chevelle 300 faded from the catalogs fast, the equivalent Nomad – how’s that for name debasement? – was offered into ’71-2).
Demand for compact wagons came back in the early ’70s when the midsize models got *huge* in ’71 (Mopar) ’72 (Ford) and ’73 (GM) just in time for the first gas crunch.
I’m surprised the Valiant wagon tooling wasn’t brought back to the US from Australia after the VH was launched in June ’71, Chrysler was probably already planning a return to the segment with the F-body program but they could’ve had something to offer those who blanched at the boatlike new Satellite/Coronet wagons a few months into the ’72 model year instead of waiting until ’76.
The early 1970s “Intermediate” wagons had grown to “full sized” in length with the 71 Satellites and Cornets, 72 Torinos and Montegos, and the 73 GM Chevelles, Regals, Lemans, and Century wagons. I think the reasons were compact weren’t sold in the US were because of slow sales and the fact of the Pinto and Vega wagons coming out in the early 1970s. AMC had the compact wagon to itself from the early 1970s until 1976 with the Hornet Sportabout. I like the Dart wagon and think they would have sold decently for Chrysler who didn’t have its own domestic subcompact till the 1978 Omni and Horizon. They would have been a niche market for Chrysler.
I would LOVE to have one of those Mexican Dart GTS’s to take to the local Coffee & Chrome! It would be guaranteed to eclipse ANY 69 Camaro/Chevelle/Mustang/etc.! 🙂
Those extended sail panels were called Mexicana in OZ from memory,
I had to look it up—I’d only ever seen pics of an Australian Mexicana from the front—but yep, looks like you’re right:
Yes, Mexicana! I’ve only ever seen one, wasn’t sure what to make of it. Only a couple of hundred or so made apparently, so not sure why they bothered offering it when new, but certainly an unusual find nowadays.
It is a mystery why Australia got these, I believe it may have been a supply issue, as in Chrysler Oz had access to body panels with that modification already done, and it was expedient to use those for the last of the VG Hardtops. Of course I have no facts to back that up.
Of course it was a nice stylistic lead-in the the local Charger, but surely they didn’t do it for that reason…… 🙂
Its a good point, but why on the beige vinyl roof old fogey Regal model, and not the Pacer.
Great shot of the Charger though, its best angle.
The rear end of that Valiant wagon looks like a first generation Chevy II Nova
I found it interesting with the US versions, when they started swapping front clips around, such as the Valiant front clip onto the Dart Swinger and 4 door sedan bodies, the body contour lines that run midway along the fenders and doors on to the back of the quarter panels matched up perfectly between the Dart and Valiant front fenders and bodies.
The only combination that did not look right to me was the Dart front end on the Duster body.
The shape of the Dart front wheel openings did not match up with the Duster style rear wheel openings.
All ’63-’66 A-body front ends match up to all ’63-’66 A-bodies, no matter what country the parts are from.
All ’67-’76 A-body front ends match up to all ’67-’76 A-bodies, too, except the Baccarudas (and, obviously, the ’71-up Australian Valiants, which were totally different, but still A-bodies underneath).
I see what you mean, but the ’70-’72 and ’73-’76 Dart front end works fine for me on the Duster body, despite the front/rear wheel arch (+ ’70-’71 front/rear side marker light) shape differences.
What’s interesting about the Aussie Valiant wagons from these years is that there are two completely different tailgate and taillight treatments, the Barracuda-ish one and one that resembles the ’67-69 Dart. I think they were used in that order, but it makes me wonder at what point the wagons were called off for the US market, and if they had already gone to tooling with Dodge and Plymouth versions which left Chrysler Australia with two different ready-to-implement rear variations at their use.
Yes, they were used in that order. The ’67 VE had the Barracudoid setup, and the subsequent VF and VG had a different setup—in which I don’t see much of any resemblance to the ’67-’69 Dart. But why does this strike you as unusual, or as a result of some cancelled US program or other unusual situation? The ’63, ’64, ’65, and ’66 Valiant wagons all had different rear treatments, both in the US and in Australia (AP5-AP6-VC). Same with the VE, VF, and VG Australian wagons and sedans. That’s what was done back then. Chrysler Australia aggressively began localising their Valiant designs starting in ’63, increased it significantly in ’66, and iteratively more and more as years went by.
Here’s a VF wagon:
…and here’s a VG:
Between the VF and VG they moved some trim around and redesigned the taillight split. Between VE and VF there was a new tailgate stamping. That’s what surprises me since Australia’s a small market and wagons generally weren’t bought on style.
Not sure, but I suspect the taillight shuffle only involved the chrome trim. I wouldn’t be surprised if the housing and lens were the same.
That Barracuda-ish rear end was used on all VE Valiants; wagons, sedans and even the utes. Not getting the Barracuda here meant that that was just the VE rear end to us. I always thought it looked strange with those convoluted taillights; didn’t realize where they came from until years later.
Fascinating find!
To me, if I lop of the front end and look from the A-pillar on back, it looks like a 60-something Ford product.
You’re right. That’s uncanny!
Great finds as always, Daniel. I’m probably one of the very few people here, that’s not a huge fan of the Dart/Valiant’s looks, at least once they became long-in-the-tooth by the mid 70s. My car spotting started then, and I craved fresh styling! The Valiant sedan had the more modern styling of the two, and I was disappointed they dropped it, for the Dart’s dated late 60s look. With the smaller rear wheel arches.
I think the best-looking American Valiants of that generation were the ’67 and ’69 models from the front, and the ’70 Australian (VG) from the rear. The ’68-’69 Australian VF and ’70 Australian VG (particularly the VIP with quad round headlamps) look pretty nice from the front, but major points off for those stoopid front turn signals located in the front fenders. Fine at night, but impossible to see on any kind of a bright day. If no room in the grille, then they belonged in the bumper.
The ’70-’72 American Valiant’s grille (excepting the sharktooth variant on certain Dusters) is a whole lot less attractive and more generic than the ’67, ’68, or ’69. The less said about that ugly thing Dick McAdam defaced these cars with for ’73, the better.
Interesting that you considered the Valiant the better-styled car. Me, I like the Dart a little better, mostly, though the Valiant’s trunk is more usable. But I never considered either more modern than the other.
The ’67 Dart, primarily because of the smaller rear wheel arches, roof line, and wheel arches all-around that flared backwards at their lower trailing edges, had a stronger family resemblance to the ’65 C-Bodies. Mid-60s styling cues. While the more open rear wheel arches on the ’67 Valiant, and all around wheel arch shape in general, looked more modern to me. As the 70s progressed, I found the Dart’s styling looked more dated.
Okeh, yeah, I can dig it. Doesn’t bother me any, but I see what you mean. The detail that bugs me is the compound-curved ’70-’72 Dart front bumper looks from some angles like it’s hung askew or has been hit and knocked out of alignment.
The front wheel arch on the Dodge Demon looks from the 1960s. The rear wheel arch looks like a 1970s design.
Matching Valiant wheel arches on the Duster.
…and come to that, there’s a great deal of ’64-5-6 Imperial in the ’70-1-2-3 Dart/Scamp entire rear of the car.
Good point about the turn signals, of course (considering who wrote it! 🙂 ). As a kid I thought they looked cool, but when I started driving I soon learnt the visibility drawbacks of angled, mostly-upward-facing lights on bright summer days.
The Valiant sedan had the more modern styling of the two
I can see that, thinking of the Ford Fairmont or a Volvo that airy boxy Valiant sedan body is pretty ahead of the curve as far as practical sedan design of the late 70s and into the 80s goes. The Dart isn’t half bad either, but it’s concave back glass and thick C pillars seem to be designed to mimic the hardtop lines and look somewhat compromised as a result(depending on your point of view), whereas the Valiant really owns its appearance. I appreciate the differentiation more than anything though, consolidating the bodies into one for 74 sucked the character out of both of them
I’ve shared your opinion about the ’74-up A-bodies since I was…um…14, but I’ve never seen the problem diagnosed quite that perfectly and concisely.
Interesting how the MX version seems to have a more curved, then angular, drop for the rear window.
Same backglass as the ’67-’76 US-Canada (+’67-’70 Australia; +’67-’81 Brazil…) 2-door Hardtops.
The Wagon rear end seems to emulate the 68 Satellite wagons, it’s interesting that between that and the Dart’s added buttresses and the usage of the name Charger the A bodies abroad were so strongly mimicking B bodies. Cool stuff!
Armchair quarterbacking, I know, but any one of the Big 3 would have cleaned up during the 1973 Saudi oil embargo had it kept its compact wagon in production. Wagon buyers needed four doors. The Sportabout AMC added in 1971 didn’t quite cut it because the steeply raked hatch reduced cargo volume too much.
Alternate-timeline history beckons!
I also wonder if the Australian Valiant Wagons were a combination of 1963-1966 US Dart /Valiant Wagon bodies restyled in some ways such as the front ends, rooflines etc of the 67 and later US Valiants and Darts. The white wagon in the pictures above looks like the top of the driver’s door is from a 1963-1966 US Valiant or Dart. It is more rounded above the vent window. I wonder if they modernized wagon styling but it is basically a 63 -66 US Valiant/Dart chassis. Many companies used the same bodies for the wagons in a later generation. The 1977 Ford LTD II wagon still was basically the 1976 Ford Gran Torino body with a 1977 LTD II front end. The late 1960s Falcon wagons shared the same basic body with the Fairlane wagons except for the front ends for example.
No, the ’67 Australian VE Valiant body was just as new versus the (’63 to) ’66 as the US ’67 Valiant and Dart were versus their ’63-’66 counterparts. There is no commonality, in whole or in part, to any of the doors—there couldn’t be; the ’67s were the first with curved side glass.
All A-bodies are similar in their “chassis” (they’re unit-body cars, so it’s not quite correct to talk about a chassis, but the undercar components didn’t change a lot).
Is it just me, or the “AUTOMATIC” sign in the rear gate of the white wagon is from a Mercedes?
Yes, I believe you’re right.
Chrysler Mexico blew it with the sail panels on the Dart. It would have been expensive, but a nice ‘flat’ tunnelback rear window with straight-edge buttresses identical to the ’68-’70 Charger would have worked infinitely better.
Instead, they just schmucked a couple of mildly curved panels onto the existing curved rear window and called it a day.
I don’t agree, I think it looks nifty, and it was a highly cost-effective styling tweak. exico is a highly price-sensitive market, and the cost to design, engineer, tool, debug, and build this what you describe rather than just using the same parts as in the US and Canada would likely have priced the cars uncompetitively. More, it seems to me the improvement, if there were one, would be minimal—along the lines of this versus that shade of red; this versus that style of wheel; this versus that grille variant.
I think the buttresses/concave rear window look pretty good together, not quite 68 Charger level of attractive but a good bit more attractive than the 71-73 Mustang coupe design. My only comment would be I think they looked better on the 67-69 rear end more so than on the slanted rear end, they make the body look a little shorter which is accentuated by that change
I have noticed that effect, too.
Hi Daniel,
Love that old picture of you in a Dart! When were you in South Africa, or was this another country? As a license tag nerd, I’m drawing a blank on the license tag – it doesn’t seem to fit into any of the regional or areas of South Africa, before or after 1994.
That car was in Cambridge, England, and the pic was taken on my 1994 visit to the home of a friend who’d lived in RSA and brought with him that ’73 Charger 190 as well as a very high-spec RHD ’59 Chev with what he said was a factory-installed green Connolly leather interior. No batwing rear turn signals like the Australian ones, though!
Ah, that makes sense! UK Plates – on a Yank tank by way of SA.
I know the GTS70 wasn’t the model for the Jaguar XJ-s but……
I never thought of that, but…!
Even Joe Mannix (Mike Connors) drove a Dart GTS. This was his 1969 model from the show that he apparently got to keep into his later years.
WOOPS! That is a photo of the 1968 GTS, the original Dart in the show after switching from the Oldsmobile Toronado.
I have never liked the extended roof panel Darts, or vinyl roofs in general, but I have to admit that red and black GTS is a sharp looking car, I like those 6 slot wheels too.
The South American Dart based cars seem to have a real sporty flair to them compared with the Australian models, which were quite stodgy looking before the Charger came along in 71.