1966 Dodge D/Dart ~ 'Mystery, Myth and Misconception'

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SSVDP said:
Thats a really weak description if they want to get the most for this car. There's no specific history of that particular car, like who raced it and when. You can have a 300 year old axe or you can have a 300 year old axe that George Washington used as a kid.
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I've never told the story of the car to any of the owners. So nobody knows.

So here is a brief history. The original owner, we'll call him "Andy", was in the service and stationed in the DC area. He bought the car from Banning Dodge (#3 of 3 the Banning received). Andy put the headers on the car and built himself a set of "stinger" header extensions for the occasional trip down the 1/4 mile at Aquasco Speedway. He was later transferred to a base in California where the car was relegated to daily driver status. He drove it over 70,000 freeway miles with the 4.86 gears in it, and no radio. He did remove the original headers (which I still have) because of the noisy exhaust leaks. In 1975 the car was registered in Oklahoma where it resided until I saw it in a Nov 1998 Hemmings Motor News. I bought it and kept it until June of 2007.

So added cash for race prominence? I doubt it. I can tell you this. It was one of 10 cars shipped on May 13.
 
RustyRatRod said:
@toolmanmike I wonder if maybe we could give Paul some kind of cool avatar? Just the question mark isn't good enough, IMO for all that he contributed.
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Maybe Yoda with a hat that says Mopar Guru. He was a very knowledgeable man. I do miss him. It's tough finding D/Dart info without him. Got leads on 2 but no definite info.

I just noticed that I'm a question mark too. It shows that I haven't been on this site much lately.
 
ddartdude said:
Maybe Yoda with a hat that says Mopar Guru. He was a very knowledgeable man. I do miss him. It's tough finding D/Dart info without him. Got leads on 2 but no definite info.

I just noticed that I'm a question mark too. It shows that I haven't been on this site much lately.
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You need to post a picture of your old D Dart. That would be good.
 
Comments from Westlake T/A D-Dart

Factory Lightweight Update: 1966 Dodge D-Dart

Mar 5 at 10:19 AM
John M 1,066

To add a personal note to this conversation, the sponsor of the this car as indicated on the flanks was Westlake Dodge. This was a small dealership in Daly City (at the Top of Hill…some may get that reference).
My father bought our 1970 Dodge Polara sedan from that dealership and I can still remember sitting in the backseat of the car with my 2 brothers as he drove it out of the showroom lurching to a stop as he got used to the power brakes. I can still smell the vinyl.
Made me a Mopar man for life.

The dealership became a Pontiac franchise and today is a big box pharmacy.

11/21/14 at 6:28 AM
tle426 1
Drag Raced one of these in 1966…Honestly don’t remember any ‘lightweight’ options, just the 273/275…there is a D-Dart website..
Raced Bill Tanner’s “Lil Ramcharger”…

1 Flag as not constructive
tle Terry Ellis
Longtime Mopar Racer Bill Tanner Passes
Bill was the South's premier Mopar racer, beginning with a slant six Lancer. His 413 '62 "Ramcharger" was virtually unbeatable until the Hemi came along. He briefly campaigned a rare 1966 "D" Dart, named the 'Lil Ramcharger', while assisting Larry Lawrence on his former Ramcharger owned '65 Hemi Dodge.
Billy Aiken, owner of
 
Clroads said:
Comments from Westlake T/A D-Dart

Factory Lightweight Update: 1966 Dodge D-Dart

Mar 5 at 10:19 AM
John M 1,066

To add a personal note to this conversation, the sponsor of the this car as indicated on the flanks was Westlake Dodge. This was a small dealership in Daly City (at the Top of Hill…some may get that reference).
My father bought our 1970 Dodge Polara sedan from that dealership and I can still remember sitting in the backseat of the car with my 2 brothers as he drove it out of the showroom lurching to a stop as he got used to the power brakes. I can still smell the vinyl.
Made me a Mopar man for life.

The dealership became a Pontiac franchise and today is a big box pharmacy.

11/21/14 at 6:28 AM
tle426 1
Drag Raced one of these in 1966…Honestly don’t remember any ‘lightweight’ options, just the 273/275…there is a D-Dart website..
Raced Bill Tanner’s “Lil Ramcharger”…

1 Flag as not constructive
tle Terry Ellis
Longtime Mopar Racer Bill Tanner Passes
Bill was the South's premier Mopar racer, beginning with a slant six Lancer. His 413 '62 "Ramcharger" was virtually unbeatable until the Hemi came along. He briefly campaigned a rare 1966 "D" Dart, named the 'Lil Ramcharger', while assisting Larry Lawrence on his former Ramcharger owned '65 Hemi Dodge.
Billy Aiken, owner of
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Here's the Westlake car as it was raced back in the day. Taken from the D/Dart web site

d dart.jpg
 
This is interesting:
2/14/15 at 5:55 PM
Lotus14 17
I worked on a ’66 Dart that was one of the factory prepared Early A-sedan and Trans-Am cars.
These cars were not D Darts, they were made from the 270 GT model, and the cars were acid dipped by Mopar, and the panels were brazed together rather than spot or seam welded. I don’t know how many were made, but it was probably less than 5.
When the car came, it was a white shell, withe the removable parts a dark brown green prime. The cars also ran with light weight bumpers. The cars had FIA Homologation papers and in their original form had a very light weight listed. That was the reason for all the lightening work done on the cars. In fighting trim the car was something like 2700 lbs. The hood would sag when you lifted it. Later when the rules for the Trans Am came in; the cars could weigh no less than 3200, but they were allowed to run a 5 liter engine, so the de-stroked 340 was the choice.
The 273 was built originally by the factory, and had a Racer Brown cam, and a special aluminum intake manifold. The exhaust was a strange setup as it was assembled from a bunch of pieces so it could be tucked into the engine compartment. SCCA did not allow cutting any holes to route the exhaust, so it was all wrapped around inside.
The car had massive torsion bars and rear springs as well as oversize sway bars. An interesting note is the brakes were made from Mustang and Lincoln parts. There are other details but too much to go into here.

17

I believe there is the Tullius car in the Sebring Museum in FL. 1966 270 Dart? Would love to see a brazed chassis/ body (unibody). I wonder if he has one of these in the museum?
 
When were these few cars built? The 340's came out in late 67 so they weren't available until close to then.
 
I read through most of this thread again. Quite a Mopar history lesson here.
 
oldkimmer said:
There was an old D Dart rotting away in Saskatchewan Canada. I haven seen it since the late 70s or early 80s. Kim
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Not sure if any were shipped to Canada. It would be cool to find it. Chrysler did make 50 for US distribution. I have info on 45 of the cars. At least what dealerships were supposed to get them and shipping dates.

Damn......I miss Paul.
 
ddartdude said:
Not sure if any were shipped to Canada. It would be cool to find it. Chrysler did make 50 for US distribution. I have info on 45 of the cars. At least what dealerships were supposed to get them and shipping dates.

Damn......I miss Paul.
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Hey Alan, what's your DDart website? I can't remember it and can't find it in my favorites.
 
ddartdude said:
Not sure if any were shipped to Canada. It would be cool to find it. Chrysler did make 50 for US distribution. I have info on 45 of the cars. At least what dealerships were supposed to get them and shipping dates.

Damn......I miss Paul.
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I miss Paul too. Way too young. He was a wealth of information......and one that had actually BEEN THERE and DONE THAT unlike some others who just spout from books.
 
ddartdude said:
It’s no longer in existence. The other Alan decided to let it go off into the computer info black hole. It was too much maintenance and no traffic.
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All the info was saved I hope.
 
I was curious, I thought I read that they used late 50's hemi valves in the 920 heads because they were slightly bigger. In 66 the 273 was the only LA engine so there were no 1.94 or 2.02 valves. Just wondering.
 
ddartdude said:
Fact #1
The owner of this D/Dart (entry #104 and it is real) contacted me about the locations of the Body Code stampings on the Darts. I told him they are on the Radiator support and on the driver side of the package shelf between the speaker hole and the back glass. His doesn't have any numbers on the radiator support but the ones on the package shelf are 6242700235. This means the body was scheduled to be built on 4-27. The Body Codes stamped on another D/Dart are 6241771152 which means it was scheduled to be built on 4-17.

Fact #2
The dates that are hand stamped on the engine of the 2 D/Darts that I've owned are 4-26 and 4-27 which put's them being built after the scheduled 4-17 date.

Fact #3
Ted Spehars D/Dart was the first car shipped. It was shipped on 4-29 to Riverview Dodge in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.
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00235 would be the S.O. number on the fendertag.
 
toolmanmike said:
I was curious, I thought I read that they used late 50's hemi valves in the 920 heads because they were slightly bigger. In 66 the 273 was the only LA engine so there were no 1.94 or 2.02 valves. Just wondering.
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The hemi valve thing was in a magazine article on hopping up the 273. I've got it somewhere around here.
 
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