Car Craft Project Car: 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger
According to the seller, this Dodge Dart is a Car Craft magazine project car from 1969 that has been stored in a barn for about 20 years. The car is said to have a numbers-matching 340 engine and transmission and is said to run and drive well. At a nearly $60,000 asking price, this isn’t a purchase for the faint-of-heart or light-of-wallet, but if you’re looking for a piece of hot rodding history, you can find it listed here on craigslist in Palmetto, FL. And yes, we have featured this car before, but it’s so cool we’re doing it again!
According to the seller, this was a project car built by Car Craft magazine that was featured in numerous magazine articles and was then given away at the 1969 Winternationals in Pomona. The seller says he has title history going back to the original owner and a scrapbook of items related to the car, so it looks like he has the documentation to back up his claims about the car’s history.
The seller also mentions several celebrities from the automotive world who were involved with the car at one point, including Keith Black, George Barris and Linda Vaughn. Whatever the car’s history, it’s a great looking example of what a car built for drag racing in the late ‘60’s would look like. And while the 50-year-old mechanicals in this car probably would struggle to keep up with a modern-day Camaro or Mustang, you can’t get a new car with such a fabulous paint job or with a name like ‘Swinger.’
With an asking price of $60,000, the seller is obviously hoping for a buyer who will see lots of value in the car’s history. While the car appears to be in a good condition, that’s still quite a premium for provenance. The seller seems to have plenty of documentation to support his claims about the car’s history, but I’d want to do plenty of research before taking the plunge on this one.
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Comments
Fishing. If it was worth it, somebody would have stepped up by now. I am sure he has gotten multiple serious offers for its real market value and snubbed his nose at them. Now it has been flogged around the auction block one too many times and its value is dropping. He should have taken the top offer he had the first time he trotted it out.
Too many times I have turned down the first offer, only to sell later at a distinct loss. In the auction game it is known as prostituting an article if it is offered more than twice
@Ken Tilly … I hear you, a year ago we tried selling the wife’s 70 Mach 1 and we were asking 40K and one guy offered $36,500. I’ve done my share of buying and selling cars so I told the wife you have crap loads of Trophies and 7 years of fun let it go otherwise you will be taking less later. She refused and it’s still in the garage covered up to this day.
The Photoshop vibe is quite strong in that first pic! Welcome to the Uncanny Valley! Haha
I had to do a double take. You’re right, there is the sun in the background, shadows of trees in the foreground, but no shadow of the car. Good eye!
So the flipper “Tom” bought it at a dead guys auction last yr. for 50k and is now wanting 60. Fill in the blank here___________________________
60K and in 10 years most younger auto lovers will barely know who Car Craft is and will ask you what is a magazine. I talked to a 68 Firebird owner my age who noticed my shirt with “Arnie The Farmer Beswick “, I told him I got it signed by him at the Pontiac Nationals and to my amazement he asked who is he. Driving a 68 Pontiac Firebird and doesn’t know who “The Farmer ” is !!! I would offer 40K but no more.
I live across the river from Palmetto, Florida…why have I not seen this car anywhere? Guess I’m gonna have to call for a look-see…love these 340 Mopars….
History, documentation, yea,yea,bla bla!! No grass – green reflection in the front bumper’s chrome. Not a real picture , not a real car. No sale.
It is the world’s oldest profession
saw this car in Chicago at the Corvette Muscle Car NATIONALS
This guy has had it for a year and still hasn’t washed it? What an a*****e.
Well, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
I think the other guys have said it all – the market will determine the Dart’s real price.
I remember this Car Craft project car, which I thought was a pretty cool build, at the time.
Jimmy, your comments about Arnie Beswick cracked me up. There’s a guy who runs a blown ’66 Goat (BBC power, not Poncho, sadly) at the local drag strip, and I often mention Pontiac racers like ‘The Farmer’ and Don Gay, when he rolls up to stage. I think more than a few railbirds have done google searches, as a result, to find out who the heck I’m talking about!
Well time for my 2 cents worth. Back in the day I read Car Craft and Hot Rod magazine religiously. I was a complete motor head and loved their cars. But here is a story I can relate to you about the 69 Dart. I had one. No fancy paint jobs. It was gold kinda of like the base color on this car. I was a street racer. I put a 440 in it that had 13:1 compression (Sunoco 260 or octane booster or both) and a 4 speed. Back then I felt a 4 speed was the way to go. My only sacrifice to acceleration but I would have argued then that it was just as fast. Anyway I had to cut the inner fenders to fit the headers through. I also cut out the quarters to fit the tires. No narrowed axles and tubs on a street car back then. At least that I ever saw. That car was very fast to say the least My everyday driver but also my Friday and Saturday night street racer. When it hooked up properly it lifted the front tires off the ground! Great times and I definitely felt like king of the road or at least in the top few cars. I ran that thing regularly at Connecting Highways or The Worlds Fair Marina or Laurel Hill depending on the police activity. Sometimes Crossbay Blvd or the Conduit Can you guess where I am talking about ? If I had to build a car today to compete with someone it would be that.
I remember using a baseball bat to roll the lip of a quarter panel for tire clearance.
Ron……….Queens, N.Y.C
Been there done that. Too dangerous when a loser pulls a gun because they don’t wanna pay up when they lost. Did ya ever go to the Bronx. Bruckner Blvd ?
Have to wear my glasses loI I thought the ask was 6 grand………..and I thought..yeah maybe……….
@Jimmy. At least you still have the Mach 1, albeit under a cover in the garage, however, my learning curve came through a 1959 Studebaker pickup that I bought for 10,000 South African Rand, that I bought to flip for about R15k. I only had it for about 3 days when I was offered R12k but as the buyer wanted to rod it I wouldn’t sell it to him as it was still a totally original, now 2 owner vehicle and I didn’t want it rodded. I then decided to semi restore it and then sell it on. This I did at great expense but then couldn’t find a buyer for it, the rent was due on my premises, so I sold it to the first interested person for? You guessed it R12,000! The best part of this story is that the buyer had it professionally restored and emigrated to Ireland where it still resides, so at least I stopped it from being rodded.
I like that you kept it from being rodded.
Too many unusual, antique, rare, etc. vehicles get ‘resto modded’ or worse. The ones that really get me are the cars with super super low authentic miles and people say ‘I’d buy it and drive the wheels off it.’
Sure, be like Justin Bieber.
Vague recall that this has been offered about for a while.
Seems a high price but with restored 340 cars going for almost 40 Gs, who knows?
I remember when Car-Kraft did this car, may still have the magazines around here somewhere. I remember even then wondering why they went with the 340ci. Most people were dropping in 383’s or 440’s at the time, I even remember a couple of 426 hemi’s at the track. Personally I like the 340 as it does not destroy the handling like the big blocks did. This car appears to be over priced by about $20,000, at least in my opinion. If it’s been offered as many times as this appears to have been with no sale, one would think the seller would get the message.
This was one of 3 magazine car projects that I followed, when I was in high school. The most interesting to me was Car & Driver’s ‘Blue Maxi’. The idea that one could go into a new car dealer, plunk down your $3,200 or so (back then, that was a lot of money), and with minimal prep, qualify somewhere in the starting grid of a Trans-Am race fascinated me. At the time, you could do the same with a Dodge Hemi Daytona Charger, and the NASCAR starting grid.
The second most interesting was Hot Rod Magazine’s epic ‘Project X’ (again, recently brought to light on another thread here). That rolling test bed just covered so many subjects and aftermarket (and scratch made) parts that interested me over many years.
The third was this little Dodge Swinger. Much as the Chevy dealers pushed the Z-28 hard to the youth buyers, and Oldsmobile did the W-31 Cutlasses, Dodge and Plymouth were full-court-pressing the 340 Swingers and their various stable mates (Demon, Scamp, etc).
Mopar lost money on every Hemi that rolled off the line. L-88 Chevy’s were about the same. Most all Big Block-powered cars were more expensive and they were brutal performers. All manufacturers could read the Insurance and Regulation tea leaves (they still had no idea yet that the price of gasoline would play a major part, too). They wanted a lower-cost (read: youth market), lighter-weight, better balanced, young-generation offering, with a well-tuned small v8.
The Swinger was custom built down to the ‘Flower Power’ vinyl roof, to fit that niche. The Car Craft Project Swinger was a part of that full-court press. Dodge wanted to create the kind of buzz that the GTO had for Pontiac, and the Road Runner had done for Plymouth.
To that end, several magazines made a big deal out of demon-strating the Swinger’s quarter-mile performance to be equivalent to the Road Runner and the GTO. It was always a credibility stretch, and they would inevitably switch gears afterward and point out how much better the Swinger handled, and stopped.
This Car Craft Project Car represented a forceful attempt by Dodge marketing to help encourage the young new car buyers out there to feel that it was OK to go for this car (instead of a big block), because it was a good stock performer, AND judicious modifications would produce acres more performance.
To a certain extent, it worked.
This car arguably represented and encapsulated THE moment that the ascent of the small block (and decline of the big block) began.
P.S. The only way I’d pay $60K for this small block piece of history, is if it came with Linda Vaughn!
I grew up in that era and still have most if not all of the Popular Hot Rodding Project X series. Thanks for sharing the history of the different magazine project cars, really enjoyed reading your comments. Turned 70 this passed year and still building hot rods!
@Tort – I’m 66. You and I probably have similar interests (if not backgrounds). You have read most of the stuff that I post from time to time, (I have noticed your handle often), so I am grateful for your comment. Thank you for the correction: PopRod instead of HRM for Project ‘X’.
As many know, I was very sick in my youth. Whenever I was bed-bound for any extended time, people would bring me reading material. I read all the car magazines regularly, and most comic books, too. My home library of books was composed of 3 double-sided bookshelves filled all the way to the ceiling.
As a few examples among many, I had Spiderman 1 through about 127 (or so). Tracing him through onion skin paper was how I learned to draw. I had Daredevil, from when he wore a yellow and black costume, on. Most all the Fantastic 4, and Giantman/Antman and X-Men were in my library. I even had a lot of obscure stuff, like Blackhawk Squadron, etc…
For a while, I even kept all my school books (until times got tight, and I had to sell them back each semester. My reading list included tons of fiction and non-fiction – I enjoyed them equally.
Of all of these, though, the car / boat / and airplane magazines were my favorites. As my teens drew to an end, and I got my first car for college (a 1968 Mustang Fastback 4-speed, with which I won my class at Beeline Dragway – and still have the trophy), I noticed a strange thing. The more my experience was practical, the less interest I had in reading about it.
When I got a Mustang (for instance), I was only interested in literature that involved getting the most out of Mustangs. Same for my Hemi, 440’s, Shelby, Cobra-Jet Torino, Corvettes, etc… My reading became more focused.
It seems to me that Barn Finds (and sites like it) have broken that singleness – for lack of a better term. Now, it feels more like a community… where ideas and histories are exchanged.
As I mentioned in another thread; I just bought a true Barn Find. I will be writing about it in the coming weeks. But my inclination now isn’t to eschew literature and information on other makes, but rather to participate more in the community as a whole. I believe that this change is due both to the advent of the Internet, and the rise of communities like Barn Finds.
I bet you’ll really like what I bought.
Good for you tripowervette my sentiments exactly turned 72 this year and I’m still building and driving Hot Rods maybe some day I’ll grow up OR NOT😁
She’s probably older than your grandma. Still interested? :)
Linda Vaughn at 74 is still sexier than 1/2 of the cookie-cutter, anorexic teenagers in Hollywood.
Ron,,,,,,,,,,,,, Queens, N.Y.C
Been there done that. Too dangerous when a loser pulls a gun because they don’t wanna pay up when they lost. Did ya ever go to the Bronx. Bruckner Blvd ?
Missed opportunity—or maybe Outlaw didn’t mean the same thing in those days…if Mrs. Outlaw actually did win the thing, they should have splashed her name over the quarter panels re-naming it “Outlaw Swinger”
LD71 :D
Posting expired…hmmm….interesting time capsule. Never underestimate the power of a Mopar 273 or 340- Had a friend with a 4 dr vailaint here in NY that was a national record holder. 340 was built to go fast, 1970 they bumped it up to10.5 to 1 compression. Lighter is better–
I hope this gets a good home to someone who can appreciate it–the Projects cars really helped gearheads like me understand these great cars!!!
Correct👍 No I never ventured into the Bronx to race. I didn’t know where to go for that (no internet back then). I didn’t see any guns pulled but I did see a guy beaten with a golf club tho because he didn’t pay up !
This my car and selling at a consignment shop, I paid 50K for it and stuck more than 10K into it to get it running and driving, shipping, and for the information gathered on it so I am losing money on it, if it was something I felt comfortable driving around in I would keep it but the prominence is to rich to risk damaging the car, I can’t afford two cars so it needs to go as I like to drive them, I would hope it would go to a museum.
The color photo with the rich green grass is in fact photo shopped just to grab attention and by no means did I even think someone would think it was a real picture from 1969 or now for that matter. It was meant as a attention grabber, nothing more, nothing less.
The other photo’s that in black and white I received from the 16 year old who won the car (Son of Mrs. Outlaw) and were given to him from Car Craft back after the car was received in 1969 and are stamped with Leslie Lovett Photography on the back who is a famous drag race photographer. I have no reason to lie most of these were published in Car Craft magazine back in the day as well but I guess people have to hate for whatever reason.
I am just a regular guy who wanted the car, discovered its history after the fact and now do not feel comfortable in driving it, George Barris paint jobs do not happen anymore, I was told “not” to wash it from Galen Govier who said it was the Holy Grail” of dodge darts due to the hands that have been on it.
I have said my peace and will now bow out and leave everyone to their comments.
Thanks for the commentary, Tom.Sure clears the air a bit.Good luck!
In a thread full of conjecture and speculation, you’ve just shed a bunch of light. Good luck with it, I agree it belongs in a museum.
Here is a link to consignment shop if you like to see it
https://www.skywayclassics.com/vehicles/84/1969-dodge-car-craft-swinger
Tom you are right on that it should go to a museum as a part of automotive history, it would be a shame for it to be driven and maybe wrecked in today’s distracted world of driving. Hope it works out for you.
Just a little fight story, we were street racing some Waterloo, Iowa guys, we had a 57 Vette with a Greer Black & Prudom race prepared 327 in it. Two of us got out and their guys got out, as soon as the little Vette sucked their car into it’s lead carb, their guys, standing with us, jumped us. Our guy brought the Vette back and lit it up heading into the brawl, there guys ran off, we jumped into the Vette and promptly left the scene.
Is the Swinger still for sale? I owned that car and raced it back in early 80s and sold it in 85.
Gary are from Texas? Did you race it at Paris Drag Strip?