I spotted this Dodge A100 van, the first I’ve seen for a LONG time, on yesterday’s dog walk. It was a Sunday, the surf was good and the surf vans were out in force, but this one stood out among the Sprinters, Promasters and the occasional Astro and Japanese minivan.
I snapped a few pictures, intending to just send them to Paul, whose own A100 has been featured here at CC. As I looked at them more closely after getting home, I noticed the White Bear Dodge sticker on the right rear door window. Not the usual dealership sticker, so naturally I looked into it a bit more.
Here’s that sticker in more detail, a sticker that (today) can be bought from several online sites, including eBay and even from MoonEyes in Japan. I’m assuming that it hasn’t been on this van since new. But White Bear Dodge, near St. Paul Minnesota, is still in business, now as Barnett Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/RAM. They claim to be under the same family ownership as the original White Bear Dodge. I learned that White Bear Dodge has a long performance history that’s well-documented online, but I couldn’t find any dealer ads with A100’s, or even any Dodge trucks, in my search. Just Chargers and even Dart 440 Magnums. All with some pretty wild artwork.
I did a double-take when I read this ad copy: “The Northwest’s largest volume Dodge dealer”. Minnesota isn’t in the Northwest US, at least not since the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and St. Paul isn’t even in northwest Minnesota. Oh, but in those pre-Internet days, this ad would only be seen by Twin Cities locals, so I guess the dealership was in the northwest part of that. So I checked a map, and indeed the dealership is still at the same location on Highway 61, the route made famous by Minnesota’s own Bob Dylan. But it’s north EAST of the cities, so it’s either a typo of northeast, or perhaps midwest. I’ll never know. But back to cars …
For only $300 less than a Superbee, I assume those Dart Swingers weren’t Slant 6 powered.
Their ads touted their muscle car and racing activities, even a chassis dyno. In the last ad, you can see the same “Scat Pack” decal, only $1 back then, which also got you a performance parts catalog. Today, that decal costs $5 – 10 on eBay, 2100 yen or $14 US dollars in Japan. And the Swinger is explicitly described as a 340.
In addition to the Challenger funny car shown in the last ad, they also sponsored this Charger funny car, with the same driver, Tom Hoover. Some of their sponsored funny cars were available as plastic scale models, and later as Johnny Lightning diecast miniatures.
As seen in this poster from 2021, the dealership – or at least the brand – is still active in the Midwest muscle car scene.
The Twin Cities were also home to Northwest Airlines. I never quite got that, although I suppose their original prime market were destinations in the PNW.
Yes, Minnesota was rather seen as the gateway to the Northwest.
Ii’s also possible that Chrysler’s sales zones included MN in their NW zone.
One explanation I’ve heard is that several generations ago Americans considered everything west of the Mississippi River to be “The West”, and therefore Minnesota would have indeed been part of “The Northwest”. The Midwest was considered to be the region between the Appalachians and the Mississippi.
To me, that thing has some soviet vibe, somehow. Bolt some steel rims on and you may call it “Nikita”.
Nice vintage adverts .
I miss those A series vans .
-Nate
Something about the “Northwest” and big Dodge dealers? Dave Smith Motors in Kellogg, Idaho is the world’s largest Ram/Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealer.
For some reason those wheels are a particularly good fit for that van.
I wish I had an old A100 dodge van as that! A slant six and a three speed on the tree? Nirvana! I of course would use the speed shop at White Bear Dodge to massage that six…
I am approx. 70 miles, plus or minus, from what was White Bear Dodge.
If you ever go to the Twin Cities, a trip to White Bear Lake will probaly amaze you as the city looks like one GIANT car dealership of varied makes.
Sadly the names from the seventies of so many dealers has changed but the dealerships are still there.
White Bear Dodge was the main drag racing dealership of the Twin Cities, where Jay Kline Chevrolet on Lake Street in Minneapolis was involved in road racing.
Since the turn of the Century, the Twin Cities is a sad shadow of what it once was.
Dealerships got a lot of name recognition from drag racing sponsorships in the Sixties and early Seventies. I still remember the Tasca Ford Mustang and the Melrose Missile Dodge. Melrose Motors was local to me, but Tasca was on the opposite coast yet its name has stuck with me for 60 years.
I like the face of these vans – this one was a part-time resident in my ‘hood a few years back.
I’d guess the Northwest reference is because St. Paul was part of the original Northwest Territory (Google it, friends. Ever wonder why Northwest University is in a Chicago suburb?).
And I’d love to find an original Slant-6 Dart. Offenhauser had some great manifold and carb kits which added mucho horses.
My ’66 A-100 was also white, with the same windows in the cargo doors option. 273 V-8 and Loadflite trans made it surprisingly quick. These first generation American vans were not that heavy.
White Bear Dodge may have been the MSP-area Lotus dealer at one time. Saw their dealership emblem on a Europa about a thousand years ago. I suppose they might have sold that one, used, and merely put their logo on the thing.
White Bear Lake is also the home to famous high-end loudspeaker manufacturer Magnepan.
As a Minnesotan it was explained to me years ago that the Mississippi River is the natural demarcation of East and West in the US. In the map you can see the Mississippi’s origin lake Itasca is smack dab in the upper middle part of the state so we are kind of half and half and also the reason why in the Minneapolis St. Paul Metro area we have a mix of radio station identifications starting with W for West and K for East. Similar to how rivers and lakes are often the natural demarcation that separate states. Although no states are entirely bounded by waters.
Just don’t ask about the Northwest Angle up in Alberta that is separated by water yet still part of the state. I still haven’t figured that one out. It’s probably because most Canadians are chill and didn’t see the need to fight over it as long as they can drive down to the MOA and buy kids school clothes tax free. Lol!
But isn’t White Bear Lake east of the river? And Hawaii is bounded by water 😀
dman you are 100% correct about White Bear Lake MN and 1000% correct about Hawaii.
Doh! That’s me alright.
Thank you for the interesting scoop on White Bear Dodge’s awesome Mopar history. I’ve lived in MN my whole life about 30 miles opposite of White Bear Lake and this is the first I have heard about them. It’s always great to read a CC article from around my neck of the woods.
Much to the amusement of our Canadian readers I would like to correct one other glaring oversight that only proves just how geographically challenged I am. Minnesota’s NW Angle or Quadrant borders the Canadian provence of Manitoba.
I need to get my 69 A-100 340 c.i./727 restored and back on the road again. This pix is from back in the glory days! 🙂
I had read quite a bit about Mr. Norm and Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago, but this info on White Bear Dodge was new to me. And I love a good A-100, although I have never been able to shake the association I got in a case where an unbelted passenger went through the right half of the windshield of one in a collision.
To think..My A/C repair boss offered his 69′ 273″ A/T A-100 to me for $700-ish back in the 80’s, but the motor put out blue smoke, so scared me off.(I had no garage to work on it!) I ended up w my first van as the B-100 “shorty” that looked like a cliff roller beater, but that SWEET runin 225 slant 6…for $200! Take note..the stock Holley 2bbls notorious for the float hinge pin boss defective..allowing unhinged float=flood out!