1966 D/Dart

-

ddartdude

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
680
Reaction score
292
Location
Port St. Lucie, Florida
Looks like my old D/Dart is going back up on the Mecum Auction block this Saturday, October 3rd. Any guesses as to what it might bring? It looks as though they put a set of ceramic coated headers on it and set of small bolt pattern Cragar S/S mags. The last time it was on the block the bidding stalled at $40K. My guess is $47K.
 
Looks like my old D/Dart is going back up on the Mecum Auction block this Saturday, October 3rd. Any guesses as to what it might bring? It looks as though they put a set of ceramic coated headers on it and set of small bolt pattern Cragar S/S mags. The last time it was on the block the bidding stalled at $40K. My guess is $47K.


Economy may be a factor given that it's not a high profile car. If it reach es 40K he should take it and run.

Well went and looked at the pics. Looks like he's cleaned it up a bit. Looks like some big tube headers, maybe 1 3/4". At least they didn't cut out the inner fender. Still has the late model M/C and prop valve. I would have lost that Edelbrock aircleaner and the mondo battery. Didn't they come with the hipo exhaust system? Some of those simple things would of made the car more correct. He sure likes to throw GG's name around like it's going to get another 10K.
 
Economy may be a factor given that it's not a high profile car. If it reach es 40K he should take it and run.

Well went and looked at the pics. Looks like he's cleaned it up a bit. Looks like some big tube headers, maybe 1 3/4". At least they didn't cut out the inner fender. Still has the late model M/C and prop valve. I would have lost that Edelbrock aircleaner and the mondo battery. Didn't they come with the hipo exhaust system? Some of those simple things would of made the car more correct. He sure likes to throw GG's name around like it's going to get another 10K.

I think the people that would spend the money for a car like this don't have to worry about the market or the way the economy is. They have the money to spend on their toys.

I think the headers on the car now are the Doug's ones. It does make it look better. It did come from the factory with the hipo exhaust system on it. The headers, y-pipe, and hubcaps were shipped in the trunk. The carb and air cleaner are the hardest items to find for the car. I had a couple leads on them but they didn't pan out.

I like the Cragars. Last fall, I took the ones that I had on my '64 Belvedere and put them on my D/Dart just to see what it would look like --- and I liked it.

I have pictures of the car from 1998 when I bought it, however, I'd rather not post them. It's not my car and I wouldn't want to discourage people from buying it. All I would say is, I had owned this car for about 7 years prior to selling it. If I had the money, I would be interested in buying it again. I brought it up to "The Wife" the last time it went up on the block and she gave me that funny look and said "NO", and said that I have to finish my other two projects first. She's a great wife. She let me buy the second D/Dart knowing that we were moving down to Florida in 3 month and would have to ship 3 cars down here instead of 2. We also had to sell the house in Michigan. Now that's going out on a limb.

I've always regretted getting rid of it. It's a real solid car. I think it's worth the money.
 
I had never heard of a 66 D-Dart so I had to look.......Beautiful car and 1 of 50 built....WOW 8)

Why are there whitewalls on the front and blackwalls on the rear, or is that factory also?
 
I had never heard of a 66 D-Dart so I had to look.......Beautiful car and 1 of 50 built....WOW 8)

Why are there whitewalls on the front and blackwalls on the rear, or is that factory also?

When I talked to the guy that I sold it to, he said that he put the whitewall tires on because he had them.

This is what the guy sent me in an email..................The tires on the car are NOS 6.95-14" Goodyears on the front and NOS M+H RaceMaster Cheater Slicks on the rear....I believe the M+H's are 7.50-8.00-14's and they look wonderful on the little Dart.

It looks alot better then when I had it. I would have went with blackwalls all around.
 
I think the people that would spend the money for a car like this don't have to worry about the market or the way the economy is. They have the money to spend on their toys.

I think the headers on the car now are the Doug's ones. It does make it look better. It did come from the factory with the hipo exhaust system on it. The headers, y-pipe, and hubcaps were shipped in the trunk. The carb and air cleaner are the hardest items to find for the car. I had a couple leads on them but they didn't pan out.

I like the Cragars. Last fall, I took the ones that I had on my '64 Belvedere and put them on my D/Dart just to see what it would look like --- and I liked it.

I have pictures of the car from 1998 when I bought it, however, I'd rather not post them. It's not my car and I wouldn't want to discourage people from buying it. All I would say is, I had owned this car for about 7 years prior to selling it. If I had the money, I would be interested in buying it again. I brought it up to "The Wife" the last time it went up on the block and she gave me that funny look and said "NO", and said that I have to finish my other two projects first. She's a great wife. She let me buy the second D/Dart knowing that we were moving down to Florida in 3 month and would have to ship 3 cars down here instead of 2. We also had to sell the house in Michigan. Now that's going out on a limb.

I've always regretted getting rid of it. It's a real solid car. I think it's worth the money.

I agree on the people wanting their toys. I'm banking on that premis when I take my 71 Charger down to Phoenix in January for the Russo and Steel auction. I think the guy really doesn't understand what he has and that it probably would do better had it been taken back to a more original configuration. Almost looks like a duck out of water. I have found in my research on the different auction houses is that Mecham tends to sell off a lower quality of cars in terms of their looks. That's not to say that the dart is low quality. What I mean is that they are not as picky as Russo and Steel. Anyway it's still a nice car. I'm still working on trying to get into see the local D dart we have here. The owner is a bit of a grouch but I have some friends that know him personally. I'd like to get some pictures as well as some of the racing heritage on the car. I do know that the car was campaigned in NHRA Divison 6 in SS back in the 60's and early 70's and did a few national events such as the Winter Nationals
 
I'm glad I didn't sell him my carb, spacer, air cleaner, and manifold. I almost broke down since I was pretty well sold on dual quads at that time...whew!. I'm no longer interested in duals.
 
I've always regretted getting rid of it. It's a real solid car. I think it's worth the money.

I think it is worth the money as well; moreso than alot of other cars that trade for even more coin than that (T/A-AARs for example). From the pics you sent me, it was a honey that was just missing some of the original pieces.
 
I'm glad I didn't sell him my carb, spacer, air cleaner, and manifold. I almost broke down since I was pretty well sold on dual quads at that time...whew!. I'm no longer interested in duals.

Describe the stone guards. I may have a pair
 
I think the people that would spend the money for a car like this don't have to worry about the market or the way the economy is. They have the money to spend on their toys.

I think the headers on the car now are the Doug's ones. It does make it look better. It did come from the factory with the hipo exhaust system on it. The headers, y-pipe, and hubcaps were shipped in the trunk. The carb and air cleaner are the hardest items to find for the car. I had a couple leads on them but they didn't pan out.

I like the Cragars. Last fall, I took the ones that I had on my '64 Belvedere and put them on my D/Dart just to see what it would look like --- and I liked it.

I have pictures of the car from 1998 when I bought it, however, I'd rather not post them. It's not my car and I wouldn't want to discourage people from buying it. All I would say is, I had owned this car for about 7 years prior to selling it. If I had the money, I would be interested in buying it again. I brought it up to "The Wife" the last time it went up on the block and she gave me that funny look and said "NO", and said that I have to finish my other two projects first. She's a great wife. She let me buy the second D/Dart knowing that we were moving down to Florida in 3 month and would have to ship 3 cars down here instead of 2. We also had to sell the house in Michigan. Now that's going out on a limb.

I've always regretted getting rid of it. It's a real solid car. I think it's worth the money.

Which aircleaner did the D Dart have?
 
How numbers matching is the car? How original? As what I would call ultra-rare car I'd think the money is strong at $40K. It's been hot rodded. For top dollar I'd need to see matching numbers on block and trans (or in the case of these earlier cars year-wise consistent production dates for components), the right gearing, the factory headers and Y pipe, stock wheels with something like period tires, and the stock engine compartment and components. Otherwise it's someone else's interpretation of what the D Dart should have been and not the factory one. Just my opinion of course... I like the car and would love a charity donation :D but I wouldnt drop more than $30K on it assuming I had it to spend. I would think with average desirability (comparing to TA/AAR/SS Dart-Cudas/Hemi cars) this will fetch bids around $30K tops. If the car has no reserve I think it could be stolen for less than that in this market. The people that have the cash will be looking for top investment quality and this one needs work to really be that quality looking quick and IMO. I'm also not a car dealer...lol.
 
How numbers matching is the car? How original? As what I would call ultra-rare car I'd think the money is strong at $40K. It's been hot rodded. For top dollar I'd need to see matching numbers on block and trans (or in the case of these earlier cars year-wise consistent production dates for components), the right gearing, the factory headers and Y pipe, stock wheels with something like period tires, and the stock engine compartment and components. Otherwise it's someone else's interpretation of what the D Dart should have been and not the factory one. Just my opinion of course... I like the car and would love a charity donation :D but I wouldnt drop more than $30K on it assuming I had it to spend. I would think with average desirability (comparing to TA/AAR/SS Dart-Cudas/Hemi cars) this will fetch bids around $30K tops. If the car has no reserve I think it could be stolen for less than that in this market. The people that have the cash will be looking for top investment quality and this one needs work to really be that quality looking quick and IMO. I'm also not a car dealer...lol.

Given that the guy that owns the car didn't drop his reserve on a high bid of 40K at the last auction I'm sure he probably won't let it go for 30K. The only thing that makes this car rare and collectable is the LO23. I didn't see that he had any racing heritage provided with the cars description. if I'm not mistaken ddartdude stated that the car didn't have the original engine and that he made mods to the car to make it streetable when he owned it. It wouldn't be hard to build a 273 to D/Dart specs.
 
Given that the guy that owns the car didn't drop his reserve on a high bid of 40K at the last auction I'm sure he probably won't let it go for 30K. The only thing that makes this car rare and collectable is the LO23. I didn't see that he had any racing heritage provided with the cars description. if I'm not mistaken ddartdude stated that the car didn't have the original engine and that he made mods to the car to make it streetable when he owned it. It wouldn't be hard to build a 273 to D/Dart specs.

It was raced occasionally when it was new. I think it was raced in the DC area. He was stationed there back in 66. From there, the car went to California and then to Oklahoma.

I shipped the original D/Dart engine along with the car. I'm assuming that it will be included in the auction.

The engine that was in the car when I shipped it was a 273 with an MP cam, hydraulic lifters, aluminum intake, 4160 carb. I was building the car as a driver. That came to a hault when a Mopar collector asked me if it was still for sale. As you know, just about everything is for sale for a price. I told him what I wanted for it and he sent me a check the next day. Bought it sight unseen - except for a bunch of photos I emailed to him.
 
Wow.I think she will pull some good money. I would go 35 to $40k if I had it. Have always loved the d-darts & want to build a clone one day. Got to see one in person as a kid at the old capital raceway go up against my neighbors 66 cuda. Here is a cool site with d dart info. http://www.seriousviewers.com/D-Dart/ddart.htm

Oldschoolcuda
 
It was raced occasionally when it was new. I think it was raced in the DC area. He was stationed there back in 66. From there, the car went to California and then to Oklahoma.

I shipped the original D/Dart engine along with the car. I'm assuming that it will be included in the auction.

The engine that was in the car when I shipped it was a 273 with an MP cam, hydraulic lifters, aluminum intake, 4160 carb. I was building the car as a driver. That came to a hault when a Mopar collector asked me if it was still for sale. As you know, just about everything is for sale for a price. I told him what I wanted for it and he sent me a check the next day. Bought it sight unseen - except for a bunch of photos I emailed to him.

Turned out the guy is a flipper. My guess is that the bidding will stall between 28K and 32K. Lioke I said before he would do a lot better if the car were more original. It would be too bad if the winning bidder didn't get the original engine with the car. If you read the description on the Mecham site he implies that the 275HP is in the car.
 
I had a feeling the guy was a flipper, and that is probably why I didn't sell him my parts...even though it would have been nice to get the real carb/ect on the real car. The carb package I have came in the trunk with other stuff, and I had a fabbed up tall throttle cable bracket attached to the motor for a med rise dual quad intake and carbs. Never got that stuff.
I think the car is worth some good coin for what it is. IMO however THE performance parts that made a D/Dart, a D/Dart have to be there. Original numbers matching engines don't mean anything in old race cars. 99.9% of all original drag cars are missing their numbers engines and transmissions, and buyers are fine with that. For example, THE most famous S/S Hemi Dart has a 23-spline 4-speed in it. It has the correct shifter and lockout, but the tranny is just to move it around. Its race Hemi is exactly correct in build and build dates, but not matching. That car still traded for BIG money, and it is a very nice car. The seller had plenty of Hemi S/S transmissions and parts, but didn't need to put them in to move (sell) the car. It sold on it's own provenence.
I think D/Darts and the B/FX Mercurys, and the other factory junior stock cars are just as interesting as the big Hemi S/S cars, and even moreso. Those classes were more competitive due to the amount of people and cars in them. A/FX, Factory S/S and match race stuff was the big draw, but the meat of racing was the lower classes.

Dart4forte, the stone guards are the ones that are attached to the '66 rear wheel molding. I have a pair, and the molding is good, but the guards have damage. I could even make use of damaged moulding if the guards are OK. I'd combine with what I have.
 
The original Holley Carburetor for the 1966 Dodge D/Dart 273/235 HP

Chrysler Part # 2843 944
Holley Model #4160, List #3778
700 CFM w/vacuum secondaries
1 11/16" (Primary and Secondary Openings)

* Factory modified carburetor.

Biggest misnomer. That the D-Dart engine had an aluminum high-rise intake manifold.

It was, in fact, a stock cast iron intake, that was factory modified 'free-flowing'.
 
The 1966 Dodge D/Dart fell into NHRA Classes,

1966.........D/Stock
1967.........C/Stock
1968.........F/Stock
1969.........G/Stock
1970.........H/Stock
1971.........H/Stock
1972.........SS/J (Super Stock)
1973.........SS/J (Super Stock)
 
-
Back
Top