A while back, DodgePolaraGT, from Argentina, posted pics of his '77 Dodge Polara GT, a local Argentine A-body (Great looking car by the way.) The subject of its Euro-style rectangular headlamps came up, and the (rumor? fact? out and out lie?) that the '67-'69 Dart's front end was originally styled for rectangular lamps. SSDan said it wasn't so. There was the article that said so on another website, but it's unknown where that info came from.

I remembered readin' the same thing somewhere but it coulda been the same misinformation. (misinformation has a way of getting repeated!) I dug out my issue of Collectible Autombile with the '67-'69 Dart GTS article, but it didn't say anything about it in there. I thought I'd even seen a picture somewhere.

Turned out the pic was in the book Chrysler Chronicle which I think was sold through Chrysler dealers for a few years IIRC. There's a picture of '69 Dart factory show car with rectangular lights! The caption just calls it a "Swinger 340 custom show car", and it has a slightly chopped top, a kinda wierd looking scoop on the hood, and those rectangular lights flanking a custom grille.


That at least proves somebody at Chrysler was thinking the same thing back when the car was current. As far as whether or not Chrysler ever wanted to get those lights legalized for prodution, or how seriously they tried, who knows? Not trying to start anything, I just thought it was an interesting subject- trying to piece together what the engineers and stylists had in mind all those years ago.

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Brian (Valianator)

'65 Valiant V100 170/T-flite
'82 D150 225/4-speed
'65 Dart 225 4 door
'68 Dart 225 4-door with Valiant front clip (future project)

Yeah, a show car. They made lots of 'em, most of which had the big oblong 240mm wide by 130mm tall Cibie headlamps. Mopar Action featured a '70 GTX show car with those lamps on it a few issues back, see Here. Those cars also had all kinds of other non-street-legal show-car stuff on 'em. Same as concept cars today: Most of them have "advanced concept" lighting rig-ups that don't even come close to being legal, they're just stylists having fun playing with ideas of what car lights might look like in the future, maybe, if engineering and regulation catches up to their imaginations.

This is an object lesson in how people seeing a picture, deciding for themselves what it shows and writing it up can do. That writing gets picked up and repeated, and repeated again, and pretty soon everybody's sure that the '67 Dart was designed for rectangular headlamps.

Do you have this book? Have you seen the photo? Can you scan it in for us, or maybe post the info on the book (ISBN, etc.) so I can go scout out a copy for myself? Sounds interesting!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yeah, I want to see what I need to do to put rectangular lights in my Dart!

I think I would make a grille out of steel tubing (0.25" or so) to fill in the areas around the headlights and turn signals.

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan

Dan,
Yep, got the book here in front of me.

Chrysler Chronicle by James M. Flammang and the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide.
C. 1998 Publications International, Ltd.
ISBN: 0-7853-2901-3

This book doesn't say anything about the show car's styling, just has a picture and a caption. I don't remember where I read the bit about Chrysler having originally styled the Dart's face around rectangular lights.

Patrick,
I think putting rectangular lights in your Dart is cool idea. I know alot of people are down on "Kustomizing" post-50s cars, and if you're talking about grafting an '85 Camaro nose, Mustang GT spoiler, and Ferrari Testarossa side strakes onto a Volare, than I gotta agree with them. But I dig those "what if" customs. ...

What if... Euro-spec rectangular lights had been legal for US production cars in the '60s?

What if... Chrysler had built a B-body based "sedan pick-up" to go head-to-head with the El Camino and Ranchero here in the U.S.?

What if... Dodge had sold a version of the '65-'66 Barracuda? Or Plymouth a version of the '66-'67 Charger?

What if... There had still been A-body ragtops after 1969? Darts have been built- and look good. I bet a Duster convertable would have carried over most of the inner sheet metal and top well area from the '67-'69 A-body 'Cuda, and still used the square cornered windshield, vent windows, and 90" radius side glass like other A-bodies.

I've got a 1/25 scale version of that last one going as an on again off again project.

How bout finding an extra pair of headlight surrounds and modifying them to use rectangular headlights with your stock grille?

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Brian (Valianator)

'65 Valiant V100 170/T-flite
'82 D150 225/4-speed
'65 Dart 225 4 door
'68 Dart 225 4-door with Valiant front clip (future project)

Any chance of a scan-in?
It was in the Wikipedia article on Dodge Darts. Someone read it in "Collectible Automobile", and someone at "Collectible Automobile" read it in the "Standard Catalog of American Cars". You can see the Wiki debate on the topic Here.
Grumble, grumble. Harrumph.
Well, if you gotta-just-gotta try it, I have those very lamps, with mounting brackets. But I think on a '67-'69 Dart, the 200mm x 142mm (standard large rectangular) units would fit better.
The heck with a B-body, they should've released the Australian-type A-body-based Valiant Wayfarer "Ute" up here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I'll try to figure out how and post it. My printer/copier has a scan function but I've not used it yet. I am to computers as most of my customers are to their cars- they can start it and aim it down the road. I can start my computer and aim it down the information superhighway...
That's it! That must be where I read it in the first place. I don't have a copy of "Standard Catalog..." but I've borrowed it at the library a few times.

I'd love to have an Aussie Ute too- they're cool. The reason I mention a completely different design based on the B body is because ther seems to be a fundamental difference between Austrailian and US passenger car based pick-ups. The Aussies used "Utes" as their mainstream light trucks. While they are sharp looking (I especially like the VH-CL Wayfarer), they were designed as working vehicles first; and it shows in the way their cabs are designed. They use the shorter doors from the four door sedans, and their rear cab roof areas are basically shortened sedan roofs. The US Elco/Ranchero are more of a niche vehicle, for someone who wants a stylish car that can do some light hauling. They use their own dedicated doors based on longer hardtop/coupe doors, and have "swoopier" looking B pillars, at least in their later years.

Through the longest part of their runs (mid 60s all the way through the 70s) The Elco/Ranchero were based on their makers intermediate lines, which is why I speculated about Chrysler building a B body based car/pick-up. I'll still take mine slant-powered, though!

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Brian (Valianator)

'65 Valiant V100 170/T-flite
'82 D150 225/4-speed
'65 Dart 225 4 door
'68 Dart 225 4-door with Valiant front clip (future project)

http://www.bluehaze.com.au/humour/2005_10_07.html

Look for the section "Black Tracker."

The '70 model A bodies in Australia had rectangular headlights.
http://www.hemi6pack.com/album/displayi ... m=9&pos=26

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Richard (aka Fingers)

Here is my VG coupe (245 hemi) that I just bought while over in Oz in Feb/March.. it'll be leaving for here in about 2 weeks

I found these photos online (I don't remember where) about a year ago. I need a new grille for my 69 Dart and considered just building a custom one with rectangular headlights. I have since decided I like stock better. Enjoy!



This concept Duster is pretty cool though.



The Duster is owned by Steven Juliano, but I'm not sure if he owns the Dart also. You can see more of his cars here. http://www.stevenjuliano.com/home.htm