MEV’n Up, Final Round: ’69 Dodge Dart GTS

Some people think that Dodge Darts are dull cars. Those people are not Mopar fans. I’ve always admired the looks of the 1967-69 Dart; I think it’s a great looking car. The designers at Chrysler did a fine job integrating some of the styling elements then being used for the full-sized “fuselage” designs into their mid-sized family model, so even the average 4-door 6-cylinder Dart sedan is pleasing to the eye. What surprises me is how few people who profess to be muscle car fanatics are even aware of the Dart GTS. Though the GT model was available starting in 1964, it was more a trim package than anything, and while there are plenty of those earlier GT’s with small block 273 V8s, finding one with big iron is rare. In 1969, however the GTS changed the game: the most “mundane” of the GTS models came with the very impressive 340 small block under the hood, no slouch that, but a few dollars more would give you an upgrade to the big league: finding the 383 under the hood of a GTS was not uncommon. But if that wasn’t enough-if you were truly suicidal, that is-you could get the 1969 GTS with a 440 Magnum under the hood. Shoehorning an engine that size into a car designed for an inline-6 meant there was no room in the engine bay for a brake booster, so this near-400 hp compact came with manual drum brakes and slow, unassisted steering: a recipe for disaster for all but the most skilled drivers, but a budget rocket ship for those who could handle them. And yet, today, only the most dedicated Mopar fans even know they exist.

I am one of those fans. And while I will certainly never obtain one of the handful of real ones that were made, this MEV body does it some justice! I ordered it with one of their extra cost 2-tone paint schemes and specified black with a red tail stripe, and the pictures you’re seeing here make it pretty clear why I made that choice. I had a very special chassis set aside for this occasion: one of the rare brightly colored Dash Motorsports Thunderjets I bought over a year ago for a hefty sum and never used because I never thought I had a car that was right for it…until now.

So…think it came out OK? 😀

In a way I’m almost sad I didn’t add this one to the Auto World muscle racing fleet, but because MEV always makes their bodies small, it wouldn’t have been possible to mount it on the AW Ultra G chassis without a great deal of grinding and cutting; something I just wasn’t willing to do to a custom made body that looked this good. With that red chassis and those chrome 5-lugs, though, this is now damn near the best looking car in the Road Crew, rubbing shoulders with its Mopar linemates beside the Model Motoring track, waiting to do some street racing under cover of darkness.

This is my homage to a one-year-only muscle car; a car that is a snapshot of a moment in the distant past when it must have been almost heaven to be alive…

“Said welcome to the spirit of 1956
Patient in the bushes next to ’57
The highway is your girlfriend as you go by quick
Suburban trees, suburban speed
And it smells like heaven, I say
Roadrunner once
Roadrunner twice
I’m in love with rock and roll and I’ll be out all night
Roadrunner…That’s right!”