Tidy Survivor: 1973 Dodge Dart Sport
One of the outcomes of the OPEC oil embargo of 1973 was that buyers began flocking to smaller, more economical cars. Cars with six-cylinder or small-block V-8 engines that would be thriftier on fuel than the land yachts they were driving with big-blocks and four-barrel carburetors. This 1973 Dodge Dart Sport could be one of the cars that found a home after gasoline went to (gasp) 40 cents a gallon and higher. It’s a beauty and sits on a dealer’s showroom floor in Mundelein, Illinois and available here on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $15,950. The Make An Offer feature is there, too.
The Dart Sport began life in 1971 as the Demon, Dodge’s version of the highly successful Duster that Plymouth had come out with the year before. It was something of a fastback that helped breathe life into the sales of the Dart compact line. As was the case with most Dodges, they were usually a little better equipped and had a few more amenities than their Plymouth counterparts. The seller’s 1973 edition appears to be as original as they come and has many of the options common in the day, i.e. the 318 thrifty V-8, automatic transmission, power steering, fold-down rear seat, Rallye wheels and a canopy vinyl roof with the wraparound stripe.
As a dealer car, we’re not privy to background on the car other than it’s said to have originated in North Carolina and has about 62,000 miles on the clock. The body and trunk look solid as do the floors, according to the seller. The paint and top appear flawless as does the striping. If all this is original, then someone has babied this car for 47 years. If it has been repainted, the workmanship is particularly good.
The matching interior is just about as nice as the exterior, however, the dash pad is an odd color compared to everything else, so it has likely been replaced. Also, there is some tape applied to the bottom of at least one door panel, which suggests it may need further attention. Sitting behind the wheel and turning the key, the seller says the car starts up and runs great. We’re told the Sport has an aluminum radiator and we’re not sure why that’s an important item to mention unless it’s new.
NADA suggests that top dollar for a Dart Sport (non-340) is under $10,000, but it would be hard to find another as nice as this one. Perhaps the asking price for this car is above market value, but it would cost considerably more to restore another one. These were economical cars and not thought of as future treasures, so most of them have been in junkyards for years.
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Comments
PPI an absolute must. Midwestern volume special-interest dealer with mixed reputation
Compared to earlier versions of this car, I’ve always felt that the grille design on these is uninspired, and a “phoned in” effort. Curious as to why the inner fender wells and trunk were painted black, as these should be body color. Front and rear bumper guards have been removed, as well as the seat belts; aside from these issues, it looks to be a solid car. GLWTS! :-)
Well mopar man with those things changed it really isn’t a survivor after all!! Or it could be one of those survivors with a different engine, different transmission, different paint, and other parts are from his parts car!!
Can’t you just spend the extra $100.00 or so, and at least make all 4 tires match, or would that cut into your profits too much? Pet peeve……..
Especially at that price they should.
The black engine and inner fenders look out of place and are somewhat off putting.
The dealer is on a fishing expedition, no matter how nice, this model of Dart isnt particularly sought after. With summer nearing its end and with the troubled economy, I’d want to clear out cars like this to make sure I had enough cash to weather any downturn or take advantage of deals on more desirable cars that might pop up.
Steve R
90% positive feedback on E-Bay? That’s pretty low.
Engine compartment looks wrong in black, many traditional drip mouldings missing, rust around edge of rear window. I had a ’73 Dart Sport with a slant 6 and a 3-speed on the column. Lots of fun, but the body flex would make you seasick after a while.
Why does the engine appear to be black with only the valve covers painted the correct color…..
Yeah… There’s a lot alarm bells going off in my head about this one, not the least of which would be that trunk floor. Looks to me like it’s seen the dreaded ‘poke through’ from the rear spring shackles and had been repaired somewhat.
Historically speaking, the 1974 cars were in the showrooms when the first Arab oil embargo took place in the fall of 1973. Seen in that light, this car is just an early Malaise-era example of what the Big Three were selling…cars designed with outmoded technology while slowly being strangled by ever-increasing government regulations. Shadows of their former selves, if you will.
The dash pad’s color is distracting. The poor alignment of it, the heat and ventilation controls, and the glove box door makes for a visual nightmare. Not a Mopar guy but weren’t the fender tags screwed in place and not pop-riveted?
After reading all the comments and really looking at the pictures. This Dart was in a accident. The engine looks like a replacement. The valve covers are from the original engine. The fender inner covers are new not painted. The left door tag was removed and replaced telling me repaint. The carpet is brand new I guess they were lazy to reinstall the seat belts. And I don’t remember seeing on a V8 the exhaust tip on the left. Always on the right. The holes in the bumper means the big black rubber guards are missing. The dash color why?This comes down to. Walk away from a headache.🐻
There are many red flags. That tape job on the bottom of the inside driver’s door alone says a lot. Seems like that money should buy a pristine or decent older restored version.
Its definitely had work ; the engine has been pained black for some reason , and of course my personal Mopar pet peeve , the horrid black inner fenders ! Its also missing the trunk dress up kit which came with the fold down back seat. Early 73s had folded cardboard around the quarters and tail panel, and later ones had plastic. It should also have carpeting over the trunk floor. and a black vinyl bag for the jack to go into. Looking at the seam around the speaker deck, it looks like an early 73 .
Actually, when it comes to these A bodies, both Plymouth and Dodges had the same options available – The only difference would be the stripe design; Plymouths ran down the side of the car and Dodges looped over the roof . Since its just a Duster with a different front clip and tail panel , it wouldn’t make any sense not to offer the options for both car lines
Trunk painted, engine compartment painted, dashpad replaced… whatever someone did to the radiator. Who knows what else has been done to this car, but I would not classify it as a “survivor.”
I don’t know – it ‘survived’ the atrocities done to it…
What Mike Adams said.
Black engine compartment is a total show-stopper for me (unless the car is black) as it’s a huge job to make it correct with a repaint to body colour. I don’t care how nice the rest of the car is.
I can’t wait for greedy dealers to walk away from older cars so we enthusiasts can afford to play with them again.
Why didn’t they go one step further and add air conditioning, would make it very desirable well to my mind anyway although a nice Vintage Air under dash would realy suit this car
By the time I got to check this out on Ebay it had ended but, the add still claimed clean original condition. Well, from many of the previous BF comments it seems the BS was called out on that claim may times addressing several points. I wonder it that’s the reason the add has ended.
A sham…..any mopar person knows everything is body color inside and out. Period. About 10gs over priced…. sad.
A lot of discrepancies listed all over vehicle add to the list the missing radiator over flow tank that should be mounted on the passenger side of engine compartment. Radiator yoke should be body color and missing Mopar Decal Red white and blue and yellow Antifreeze decal mounted on top surface of radiator yoke
Raised white letter tire in back & none on front plus inner wells, trunk painted black tells me to stay clear!!!