Plenty Of Possibilities: 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger
It doesn’t quite stand out to the extent of Hemi Orange or some of the other High Impact colors Dodge was offering not long before this 1974 Dart Swinger was born, but nonetheless, the E5 Bright Red finish sure earned its title in the record books for being just that, and what you’re seeing on this car here on Craigslist is the original paint still making a decent splash nearly five decades after it was applied at the factory. There are several possibilities with this one, all good, and at $4,700 it’s affordable no matter what route the next owner chooses to follow. Plan on traveling to Los Angeles for pick-up if this Dodge is a must-have for your future needs list.
Tony Primo, thanks for the cool tip here! What specific details we get about the Swinger can be summed up fairly quickly, which includes the seller telling us this one’s been a Southern California car since new and recently came out of long-term storage. It’s said to be a completely stock original and unrestored example, with the mileage listed at just under 95k. The paint’s got a few flaws and the vinyl top is a bit baked from being in that warm California sun, but I’m not spotting rust anywhere and the most serious body flaw on the driver’s quarter looks like it could be repaired even by an amateur in one afternoon.
Three ideas come to mind for this one, with the first being to simply leave the car alone and let it soldier on just like it is. The motor under the hood is the larger of the two 6-cylinder choices for ’74, coming in at 225 cubic inches, and the three-on-the-tree manual shifter is one of those cool remnants from a bygone era that’s sure to start a conversation with every passenger that gets inside. Another option is to put a V8 in the bay, or a more radical idea would be to turn the entire car into a restomod.
Surprisingly the front bench seat here looks a bit better than the rear seating area, so maybe it got reupholstered at some point, but for the car’s age things inside still look decent overall. We aren’t provided with any pictures from the undercarriage, but considering the climate this one’s been in and judging from areas like the door jambs I’m guessing it’s still solid down below. Less than five grand seems reasonable for what we’re seeing here, and my biggest concern would be what to do next, preserve as-is or take the Dodge to a higher level. What would you do?
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Comments
Wash it, wax it, drive it.
Our driver’s ed class had one with dual controls.
We would do brake torques when the instructor had his foot on the passenger side brake.
Drove him nuts.
No way to fail us because it was a paid class at a driving school.
These Darts (and Valiants) were everywhere in Chicagoland for $500 back in the day.
Change the fluids and filters, plugs and wires and you are good to go.
I had a 1969, same car but the cheap version, didn’t even have a radio. I put rally wheels on it and lowered it and drove it everyday. Finally passed on to my 16 year old son and he did the same. It was a great car!
I grew up with an almost identical ‘73. Great memories for our first new family car. Im not sure if the link will let the photo come through, but here is my brother and me digging out from a snowstorm (possibly the blizzard of ‘78) in Philly.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/00e2zdRJkI38VibtJVe-PFzXQ
Neal, LOL! I remembered this picture being posted here as soon as I saw this car.
Just a little bit of snow!!!!! WOW!! Memories are awesome, looks identical. N I C E❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️thanks Neal!!
Here’s a stylish ride for your quest to El Segundo.
Is that where you left your wallet?
I wouldn’t want to know a swinger that drove a dart
I see what you did there! LOL!
Neat to see one, most rotted away. I’d clean it up and enjoy it for what it is, although it would be boring with only a slant six 1bbl and no A/C. I think it’s reasonably priced, and I hope it finds a good home.
A set of rally’s,a 340 and have lots of tire burning fun with that 3 on the tree..
This one is surprisingly appealing. I never liked the look of them when they were everywhere but most were 4 door that I recall . I used to get paid to just get them out of yards and parking lots . Many were just abandoned .I will say the 318 was a good motor for these if you wanted to do a 1 wheel peel . Never came across too many posi trac. And scamps seemed to be really popular maybe a Canadian thing
I liked the low mileage Plymouth Valiant with A/C in last week’s Barn Finds a bit better. That one was in better shape and the A/C helps, even though it was a four-door example. Again, this one isn’t bad, but the Federal bumpers are not visually as pleasing as the 1970-72 examples. The three-on-the-tree would take some getting used to, I’ve never actually driven one of those. I think I’d lose the vinyl roof, and just have the roof painted white. I’d be sorely tempted to drop in a Mopar V8, either a 360 or a 383 to make it a real sleeper, maybe with 727 Torque-Flite slush box and a Dana rear end.
stay with the small block. for what you have to do to stuff a big block in, you wind up strangling the big block. in head to heads the 340 a-body walked all over the big block a-body. never saw a head to head with the 360, but i bet it would produce similar results.
this one looks nice though i prefer the older ones with fly windows.
drove my a-bodies everywhere (till they rotted to death) and loved them
Keep it all original, including the 225hp Slant 6 and the 3 on the tree shifter.
Compound paint and put some different wheels on it and enjoy it
I am wondering if the play in the linkage on this car is normal.
The shifter looks to be down at a 4 o’Clock position aiming downward rather than a 3 o’Clock position.
My Dad had a ’65 Impala with the 283 and 3 speed manual and I don’t seem to remember the shifter angling down that low in first or 3rd gear.
It’s probably in 1st gear, instead of neutral, lot’s of people parked them in gear, especially without a working parking brake!
You mean more like 125 horsepower, by 74 even the 440 single exhaust was down to 230 horsepower!
I think 105 net by then for the 225. I like the three on the tree, used to be pretty common. You think a stick is a good way to keep kids from stealing your car, a stick next to the wheel would really confuse the young punks.
I always enjoy seeing any car with a three-speed column shift. All of the comments about upgrading this and that are fine, but for me the most desirable thing to do would just be to clean it up and get it running and dependable, and then enjoy it for what it is– an example of an economy car of its era.
I had a black one like this with a 318when I was a teenager. It was a fun car till the front end collapse. I should have fixed and kept. Being young and stupid is what that is called. Hope the next owner leaves as is and enjoy cruising. The engine will never wear out.
My buddy had a 71 Dart with 3 on the tree and the leaning tower. The tranny was weak but much more fun than a slush box auto. Drive it and have fun. The 225 outlasted the body here near Phila PA.
The car may be cheap enough, but far from original…as the owner claims. I believe this is a Swinger Special, the entry level model (no chrome roof rail, rocker, or wheel lip moldings). I’m guessing the vinyl top was added somewhere along the line, and I also believe it’s a repaint. The front seat is not the original seat, either.