Cheers or Jeers: 10,000 Mile 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

[wildmanjoe]

Cheers or Jeers: 10,000 Mile 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

Link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-ORIG-10K-MILES-CALIF-CAR-TRUE-BARN-FIND-ORIG-TIRES-LAST-REGISTRATION-1971-/180884131360?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a1d88ce20

West Coast Classics are proud to present an absolutely exceptional and beautiful example of this true barn (garage really!) find of an original southern California 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger 2 door Hardtop with it's original matching # 225/145HP Slant 6 cylinder engine with only 10,900 original miles and recently discovered in its original deceased owners garage in Sylmar, California still boasting its original 'Light Green Metallic' (Code F4) factory paint and all original matching interior, original factory wheels and tires and with factory power steering, air conditioning and power brakes.

This particular car would seem to have been always garaged with no sun damage and no history of any accidents and absolutely no rust whatsoever! The car was built in March of 1970 and the last year the car was registered on the road was in 1971 and the car still boasts its original California registration tags which expired in 1972! It also has a California Highway Patrol inspection sticker from 1971 and none newer!

This is the history of the car as we understand it:

The car was purchased new by an elderly lady in the spring of 1970 from 'San Fernando Valley Motors' and she drove it for approximately one year before passing away and the car will be sold with her original owners manual. The owner passed away at around this time, in 1971, soon after her husband, and both of their cars sat in their home garage in Sylmar, California until the year 2008 when the property was sold by her family and everything was removed from the garage and subsequently sold. At the time the Swinger had been sitting for close to 38 years in the garage! The car was still sitting on its original tires and was 100% original! It had a little over 9K miles on the odometer. Upon removal from the garage by its new purchaser the only items that needed to be replaced to make it roadworthy were the battery, the radiator and the master cylinder. The tires still held air and pressure with no problems. The A/C was recharged and blew ice cold at a measured 34 degrees. Every other component of the car worked perfectly well including the radio, lights, gauges, switches and horn. At that time a new set of radial tires on original A-Body (4" bolt pattern) Mopar rally wheels were installed along with an original set of 340 Swinger hood scoops and hood pins to give the car a more sportier and high performance look but please note that we have since removed the wheels and tires and replaced them with the cars original wheels and tires for posterity.

This car must be seen to be appreciated - the car been driven only sparingly in the last year and now boats only 10,900 original miles! The original 225 slant 6 engine runs flawlessly and has excellent oil pressure and no noticeable oil leaks, the transmission shifts smoothly through the gears and the engine temperature always remains cool. All the factory tags and markings are still present and the car still retains its original crimped on fuel filter, hoses, clamps, plugs and ignition - everything is 1970 original including the interior!

This is a obviously a very rare find and a stunning example of a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger and will no doubt prove to be one daily appreciating, daily driving and daily head-turning all time classic American car with it's original matching # engine and with it's original specifications 100% intact! Perfect for the Mopar enthusiast or simply any American classic car collector!

[Robert Hall]

Neat...that looks very similar to the '71 Swinger my brother had in '78...same color, same vinyl top. It was his only Mopar amongst the 50 or so cars he's owned over the last 45 years.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[SAmadei]

TGIC (Thank God Its (a) Coupe)... Very nice and I'd say the Buy It Now is a fair price. If someone doesn't BIN before it hits the reserve, I could see it going over the BIN price, once it starts to get attention on eBay.

[ocnblu]

A sweet little runner.

[Drew Dowdell]

Gosh, it's an inline 6 but the A/C compressor looks like it is a V2.

[A Horse With No Name]

This car is sweeter looking than anything Audi, Nissan, or Hyundai builds today...

Cheers!

[Camino LS6]

Gosh, it's an inline 6 but the A/C compressor looks like it is a V2.

It is.

Older Mopar A/C compressors looked prehistoric even in their own time. My '66 Dodge and '73 Duster both had that same unit.

[Drew Dowdell]

Was the purpose of slanting the 6 just to accommodate a lower hood height?

[Camino LS6]

Good question.

I've never heard a definitive answer on that.

[Robert Hall]

Was the purpose of slanting the 6 just to accommodate a lower hood height?

Could be...the slant 6 came out I believe the same year as unit bodies at Dodge and Plymouth (1960), so it may have been part of an effort to make the cars lower...also was used in the new-for-60 and painfully ugly Valiant.

[SAmadei]

Was the purpose of slanting the 6 just to accommodate a lower hood height?

That's what I always heard.

Wiki also cites that the water pump could be laterally offset, so the engine was shorter, as well... and that there was more space for intake and exhaust manifolds with long runners of equal length.

[balthazar]

^ Also what I've read.

In '60, it had a very tall (sure looks to be oil bath) air cleaner, but even later when the air cleaner slimmed down, the cars it was in still weren't any lower-hooded than their competition.

I believe the lowness of hood never quite came to full realization AFA the necessity of the 30-degree slant.

IE: Pontiac worked their OHC I6 into the Banshee concept (yea it had a hood bulge, but it fit) pretty well- a car much lower than any Dart.

Edited May 23, 2012 by balthazar

[Drew Dowdell]

I've wondered for years why manufacturers insisted on driving the water pump from a belt/pulley instead of driving off the front of the camshaft like GM did with the LT-1. It always seemed to be one of the easiest points of failure to eliminate. Now, I guess they're all electric today....

[G. David Felt]

A sweet ride from the golden age.