The Dodge Dart was built between the years of 1960 and 1976 by the Dodge Division of the
Chrysler Corporation. The Dodge Dart was built to be a lower priced full side model of the Dodge 1960/61. The Dart would eventually become a mid sized car in 1962 and then a compact family of cars between 1963 and 1976.
In 1960 Dodge Dart Pioneer four door hard top was the first that hit the market and was intended to be direct competitopn for the Chevy Impala, Ford Galaxie, and the Plymouth Fury. The first of the Dodge Darts were fullsize cars that were meant to take the place of Plymouth as the low priced car dor the Dodge dealer network. Dodge dealers had been working with Plymouth since the 1930's but in 1960 restructuring broke the dealer network. The Dart was smaller than other Dodge vehicles and was based on the Plymouth platform to truly fill the void Plymouth had left. The Dart line was eventually broken into three sub-series which were the Seneca entry level, the mid-range Pioneeer, and the high end Phoenix. The Dodge Dart was a good idea short term, but long term it would prove to be a disaster. At first sales were great, but eventually the Dart provided in house competition for the Plymouth division.
Engine choices in the early models started with the Chrysler's 170 horsepower Slant 6 engine, and the 318 horsepower V8 engine. All Darts in every sub series were available with three speed manual transmissions with Chrysler's Torqueflite automatic as an option. Dodge had changed the body design of the Dart in 1961 and as a result Dart sales dropped by 53% and the Darts that were sold were usually the least expensive Seneca model.
In 1970 the Dart was totally made over with a front and rear end change that brought the Dart vehicles closer to the design themes found in the full size vehicles. The new Dart had rectangular tail lights which gave the rear a whole new look. In an attempt to get some more sales the Swinger name was attached to the two door hardtop and the base model of the hardtop was called the Swinger Special. In 1974 Dodge offered a Special Edition of both the sedan and the hard top. Sales would never climb to meet expectation, so the Dart was phased out and replaced by the Aspen in the early summer of 1976. Though sales were never spectacular after the first year of production, the Dart was known as a very dependable car.
