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Frank Williksen is the veteran in the Broom editorial team. He has worked as a car journalist for over 50 years and has tested a large number of cars at home and abroad.
He remembers some cars better than others. Now Frank shares the memories with all Broom’s readers. This group is about an American from the early 1970s: the Dodge Dart.
Dodge is an American car brand with a long tradition. The first car arrived in 1914. Today the brand is part of the Stellantis bouquet, but when I started a test drive with a 1974 model Dodge Dart – a four-door sedan – it was as American as any brand from ‘over there », and part of the Chrysler group.
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Current for taxi owners
In 1974, it was already beginning to be a while since American cars had their heyday in this country. A few cars were still driving, and many of them ended up in taxi traffic. There were several good reasons for this. American cars were often large and roomy, had a lot of space for luggage and offered good comfort during “normal” driving. Naturally, the good rear seat space helped here – here it was actually possible to stretch your legs a bit.
At the same time, petrol was still fairly affordable, and then an American car was still a relevant option for many taxi owners.
Scaled down
The car I tested in 1974 still had a bench seat in front, although there was admittedly a fold-down armrest. I don’t remember now if this car was registered for five or six people, but the latter was quite common for full-size Americans with a bench in the front. Much can be said about this type of seat from a safety point of view, but the fact that it had its romantic advantages cannot be denied!
The model name Dart lived with Dodge from 1959 to 1976. Initially, the car was launched as a low-cost full-sized American – full size – but after only a few years it was scaled down to the middle class – and from 1963 until the end of production in 1976 it was defined as “compact” .
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Although I did not experience the test car in 1974 as very distinctly compact. After all, the car was 5.12 m long and 1.77 m wide, which were really generous external dimensions at the time. The wheelbase was otherwise 2.82 m, and the empty car weighed 1,420 kg.
Heavy at the time: No more than a normal small car weighs today. The safety revolution has cost a lot in terms of weight, but it is of course a very reasonable price to pay for fewer fatalities and serious injuries in traffic.
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Electronic ignition
Typical of the 1974 model of the Dodge Dart was that the American provisions for bumpers – which should withstand collisions at up to 8 km/h – now also applied to the rear bumper. It had thus taken on quite different dimensions than before. At the same time, the rear lights had been changed, and had been given a slightly less vulnerable position.
More important, however, was that three-point safety belts of the rapid type had become standard equipment, instead of the rather cumbersome hip and shoulder belts the models had until 1973. All Dodge models had received better and more efficient air conditioning systems and electronic ignition systems.
A little fluid…
On the road, the Dart was clearly different from the smaller and lighter European and Japanese cars we often drove. Flowing dimensions and relatively high weight gave very good comfort when driving at normal speeds, one almost dove majestically away. It got worse if you wanted to go a bit harder on twisty roads, the 1974 Dart didn’t like it that much, and the rear tended to come quite easily.
It should be added that the car was also quite kind and easy to correct, so it was with the offers of driving in ditches… The steering was also not what can be described as sporty power and precision, it was rather of the slightly flowing kind, with little feedback through the steering wheel.
Comfort was also prioritized during the development of the car, the sporty aspect made the Corvette, Camaro and other muscle phenomena stand out!
Good traction
But not for that. My test car then had a 6-cylinder in-line engine of 3.7 liters with 106 hp and a maximum torque of 244 Nm which came at 1600 revolutions. Of course, this produced no rocket effect, and the Dodge Dart in this configuration needed 14 seconds to reach 100 km/h from zero. The top speed didn’t scare anyone either – 161 km/h. But underneath lay a pleasant amount of in-line sixes with good traction, so it wasn’t completely boring.
The automatic gearbox was also pleasant, a 3-speed TorqueFlite with soft, seamless shifts – and with a quick response to kickdown.
Thirst!
American full-size models had a notoriously bad reputation for fuel consumption, and the Dodge Dart was not able to correct this as a “Compact” either. The factory stated an average consumption of just under one and a half liters for mixed driving – quite adult, by today’s standards.
Even in what is often called highway driving (up to 100 km/h), the Dart would have between 1.1 and 1.3 liters per mile, and in the city it was downright bad: 1.84 to 2.21 l/mile! And if you drove on the motorway at a speed of up to 140 km/h, you had to settle for sweating through up to 1.7 liters per hour. miles.
Perhaps it is not so surprising that the sales figures remained moderate, in the shadow of an oil crisis that had just gone through.
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Dodge Dart 1974 – some tall ones:
Engine: 6 cylinders in a row, 3.7 liter displacement, 137 hp
Drive: 3-speed automatic transmission, rear wheel drive
Length x width x height: 5.12 x 1.77 x 1.37 m
Wheelbase: 2.82 m
Net weight: 1,420 kg
Luggage compartment: 436 litres
Acceleration, 0-100 km/h: 14.1 sec.
Top speed 161 km/h
Fuel consumption in mixed driving: 1.49 l/mile
Fact: Click to change text
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Video: We rarely speak American here