Canadian cars?

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bumpus

bumpus

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Hey guys, i have a 73 dart swinger. According to the vin it was built in windsor Ontario. I was just wondering if there are any differences because it was built in canada. Ive already discovered it has 72 brakes... Anything else i might encounter?
 
Yep no ac, it has the pointed front end and the quad tailights. No rear defrost. So far the brakes are 72 for sure. On a side note can i put 72 doors with wing windows on the 73? Really want wing windows...
 
No, the last year a US A-body was substantially different from a Canadian A-body was 1966. Canadian-built '73 Darts are the same as US-built '73 Darts, front to back and top to bottom, with only very minor details differing; for example a Canadian-built car will often have a Transport Canada decal that looks like this in the driver doorframe area not far from the US Vehicle Safety Certification Label.

Quad taillights aren't indicative; those were on all '71-'73 square-body Darts, though there is a minor difference between the '71 lenses with metal inner deco rings and '72-'73 lenses with cheaper silver paint instead.

The '73 car probably did not come with "1972 brakes" (what is it you have in mind when you say this?). Yes, you can directly swap on '67-'72 doors with vent windows if you want them, though you'll lose the side impact guard beams built into '73-up doors.
 
When you talk to your car, you need to slip in a few "eh's" now and then.... Eh...
 
When he says it has the '72 brakes, he probably means that it is small bolt pattern (4'') instead of big bolt pattern (4 1/2'').
A lot of people don't know that when you ordered a slant 6 from '73 till Jan 1, 1976, you automatically got small bolt pattern wheels and drum brakes all around, this is unless you ordered power brakes on a slant 6 car, or a V8, then you got the good big bolt pattern brakes with discs by default.
Starting on Jan 1, 1976 big bolt pattern and disc brakes were standard no matter what you ordered for an engine.
All A-Bodies had small bolt pattern before the '73 model year.
Seat belt warnings and emissions stuff was different sometimes than Canadian sold cars versus U.S. sold cars on cars built in Canada for the U.S.market, depending on the destination.
A little known fact is that all '70 340 Swingers were all built in Canada despite there destination.......
Slant six Dan is 100% right in his post above as well.
The only A-Body cars after '70 that were available in Canada only were the '71 and '72 Swinger 340s that were sold in Canada to a couple of dealerships in limited quantity........
 
Dartnut said:
When he says it has the '72 brakes, he probably means that it is small bolt pattern (4'') instead of big bolt pattern (4 1/2'').
A lot of people don't know that when you ordered a slant 6 from '73 till Jan 1, 1976, you automatically got small bolt pattern wheels and drum brakes all around, this is unless you ordered power brakes on a slant 6 car, or a V8, then you got the good big bolt pattern brakes with discs by default.
Starting on Jan 1, 1976 big bolt pattern and disc brakes were standard no matter what you ordered for an engine.
Click to expand...

True and correct on the bolt patterns, but small-bolt 9" (with front wheel cylinders newly enlarged to 1-1/8") and small-bolt 10" drums all around, with or without power assist, were available on A-bodies through at least '74. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for brake performance and pedal effort were tightened with effect from 1/1/76, which is why front discs became standard and boosters became more boost-y. There was a 2-stage upgrade in the standard-equipment brake system on the A-bodies; stage one was in late '75. My "Chrysler Corporation Vehicle Engineering Changes for 1976" book is in storage; if anyone still cares the next time I'm near it I'll post the specifics.

Seat belt warnings and emissions stuff was different sometimes than Canadian sold cars versus U.S. sold cars on cars built in Canada for the U.S.market, depending on the destination.
Click to expand...

Sometimes, but not always, especially on the cheaper cars (6-cylinder cars, A-bodies...). Many or all Canadian-sold '74 Slant-6 A-bodies got the seat belt/starter interlock system that was briefly mandatory in the US, for example, even though it was not required in Canada. And although Canadian emission standards were not as strict as US standards until the mid-late 1980s, and some Canadian-spec Chrysler-built cars had less emission control equipment than their US counterparts (e.g., '81-'83 K-cars equipped to run on leaded gasoline), often the Slant-6 cars had US-spec emissions even in Canada.
 
The brakes are 10 inch non power drums. The wheel cylinders for a 73 were wrong had to use all 72 stuff. And yea i know its small bolt pattern as its a slant car. Thanks for all the info in the canadian cars! Crazy eh? Haha
 
bumpus said:
The brakes are 10 inch non power drums. The wheel cylinders for a 73 were wrong had to use all 72 stuff
Click to expand...

Most likely explanation is that sometime in the last 43 years, somebody swapped on '72 or earlier front brake backing plates. The rear wheel cylinders are same in '72 and '73 anyhow.
 
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