1970 Dodge Dart Swinger giveaway car

By: Scott Murray, Photography by: Chris Thorogood & Scott Taylor

Date: 08.12.2014

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

The 318ci V8 will soon gt some pep in its step. The target is 11 sec 1/4 mile

A shorter tailshaft will come when the longer TorqueFlite 727 gearbox goes in

Rear brakes have new lines and 285mm VT Commodore rear discs and the handbrake cable has been modified to suit

Alex from McDonald Bros Racing welds up the axle tube with great precision

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

The 318ci V8 will soon gt some pep in its step. The target is 11 sec 1/4 mile

A shorter tailshaft will come when the longer TorqueFlite 727 gearbox goes in

Rear brakes have new lines and 285mm VT Commodore rear discs and the handbrake cable has been modified to suit

Alex from McDonald Bros Racing welds up the axle tube with great precision

It could be your name on the rego of our stunning Dodge Dart Swinger giveaway car, but you need to be in it to win it!

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

When picking a muscle car to offer on a silver platter to the good readers of UC, bold brash green isn’t usually the colour choice that immediately comes to mind. But, thanks to the sourcing legwork of our brothers Scotty Taylor and Povi Pullinen at Street Machine, the lairy Dart is growing on us too!

Yes, those rowdy rascals at Streety love their cars loud and proud, but finding the loveable lout was no mere scroll-through of the Trade Unique Cars
classifieds - though that did whet the appetite!

We initially thought Aussie: Ford, Holden or Chrysler. Something 60s or 70s, with a good body, that wasn’t asking stupid money. It seemed the harder we looked, the more apparent something different was in order. We branched away from scarcely numbered, good condition, and reasonably priced ‘Strayan steel to something from the States. Deciding that Dodge was the brand to fit both marque nuts and those either side of the Holden/Ford fenceline, we then started homing in on Chargers and Challengers. We found a few potentials in South Australia and the inspections began. One Charger, with a geared up Hemi six-pot, got the boys hopeful…but was almost a guaranteed nightmare with shabby paintwork. We realised even tatty ones were stretching the budget, so
we ditched the square, and thought outside it. "How about a Dart or a Demon?"

Before long, Scotty and Povi found that handsome Dart front end poking out of a garage in Adelaide. It was tidy enough, cheap enough (to allow decent work to be done within budget), and the test flog around the City of Churches had the Street Machine boys confident. Despite a leak here and a touch of pinging there, she was the one.

In 1970, the Dodge Dart Swinger had evolved into a two-door hardtop designed to replace the old two-door sedan which was dropped in ’69. Our Swinger was given styling tweaks which helped accentuate the demonic look of its lineage. The Dart donk is the 318cubic-inch (5.2-litre) LA V8 which was good for 230hp/434Nm off the factory line; it’s got a three-on-the-tree TorqueFlite automatic changing cogs; and four-wheel drum brakes. Good, but not quite good enough.

On the VCM Performance dyno we found a good few ponies had escaped the corral. Okay, even compensating for driveline losses we reckon a paltry 128hp at the crank, but McDonald Bros Racing are working on a custom nine-inch diff with Truetrac centre, 31-spline axles and a 3.5-inch gear set before we add more cubes to the street ‘n strip recipe. They’ve had to fit a Mopar offset spring relocation arrangement which have inset the springs by three quarters of an inch either side and give room to move around the full factory wheel tub.

Some of you may be scratching the noggin as to why we’ve gone with a nine-inch diff over a traditional Chrysler/ Dodge 7 ¼ -inch job. It seems more the Unique Cars style to keep it stock, but Scotty Taylor and Uncle Phil made the sensible call to go with the more reliable and easily-sourced parts option of the old faithful Ford nine-inch. Especially if we’re handing it over to one of our loyal readers. For this reason again, we’ve gone for a 3.7:1 mid-range gear ratio to give a good balance of standing-start geddup-’n-go and fairly low revs on the highway cruise. Punchy enough, but usable in the real
world.

Cosmetically, that vibrant Sublime green is in decent nick, it must be said. Those who made it to MotorEx may recall the Dart glistening pretty well under lights, thanks to some TLC from The Detailing Pros and their Meguiar’s product demonstrations. And in fact, we’re going to leave it green (pardon the pun).

So get on it folks! We were blown away by your enthusiasm for the ’64 (and a half) Mustang and the Dodge Dart Swinger, worth a snug $38,000 grand, is dripping with cool. Fill in those entry forms and get them in – competition closes on December 30th, 2014. Someone’s going to see in the New Year very happy indeed.

1970 DODGE DART SWINGER

Engine: 5210cc V8
Power: 230hp @4400rpm
Torque: 434Nm@2000rpm
Transmission: 3-speed auto
Suspension: Torsion bar (f), leaf spring (r)
Weight: 1400kg (kerb)
0-100km/h: 7.8sec
Top speed: 179km/h

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