The Dodge Dart is a 4-door wagon / 4-door sedan / 2-door sedan / 4-door hardtop / 2-door hardtop / 2-door convertible from Dodge, built from 1959 to 1976, at the height of the post-war boom. Under the bonnet: 225 cuin slant-6.
How it came about
The Dodge Dart is a line of passenger cars produced by Dodge from the 1959 to 1976 model years in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The production Dodge Dart was introduced as a lower-priced full-size model in 1960 and 1961, but became a mid-size car for one model year for 1962, and was then reduced to a compact for two generations, from 1963 to 1976.
Chrysler had first used 'Dart' name plates on two Italian styled show cars, in 1956 and 1957, before it became a Dodge model name. The Dart nameplate was resurrected for a Fiat-derived compact car that was introduced in 2012.
The hardware
Power comes from 225 cuin slant-6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1582-1814 kg. It shifts through a 3-speed manual / 3-speed Torqueflite automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 118 in / 122 in (wagons). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Dodge Coronet (for full-size version) / Dodge Lancer (for compact version) / Simca Esplanada (Brazil); its successor was the Dodge Aspen / Dodge Diplomat / Talbot Tagora (for Barreiros models/Spain); assembly was at United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Nissan Patrol, the Mini Mini, the Jaguar E-Type — show what else the money bought that year. Its Dodge stablemates include the Dodge 1500 and the 1955 Dodge.
What it costs now
The money question first: $7,000–$12,700 is the typical asking range today, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $4,117–$7,859 a year. Insurance sits around $1,020–$1,580 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.