Dart Lite

I had 2 Feather Duster's back in the 80's. The Dart Lite and Feather Duster were built in 76, approx 1500 of each were sold mostly in the Midwest. These were an early attempt at fuel economy, they came with the Super Six and the 3 speed overdrive std and were available with the automatic. They used a 2 1/4 inch exhaust as well to help the engine breath better. The 2.76 ratio was used behind the automatic and the 2.94 behind the overdrive, this is why you see 2 different ratios. The hood and trunk lid were brace with aluminum, they used a primitive pinch bonding method for the hood and it was pretty flimsy, the trunk skin was attached by crimping the metal over the aluminum and caulked and it was pretty good. This is probably why you see trunk lids for sale from time to time but not many hoods. Other features to lighten the car were aluminum bumper braces, 4 leaf springs and D78 14 tires. Most of these came pretty bare bones but I have seen a bucket seat automatic with factory rally wheels but never one with A/C to date. Disc brakes were std equipment an all A-bodies in 76. The one I had that was a driver had the overdrive and radio, I got 31.2 on a trip from Madison, WI to southern IL running 70-75 on the highway and it had 112K on it at the time. They were rated at 36 mpg highway on the sticker from the factory, don't know if anyone got that but 31 was impressive for the size car and the date is was made. One thing that was a real drawback was the lack of power in top gear, anything more than a slight hill required a down shift. Hope this helps anyone curious about these cars. JB