Swinger rarity...

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73dartswingerlover

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I have been keeping an eye out and in about 8 years i think i have seen 2 and one was in a parade.

Anyone live somewhere where they see them often? (Not counting your own obviously lol)

I also never see one getting fixed on the tv car shows.

Fast and Loud was gonna do one but turned it into their “shart” drag car....

Wish id known because my wife hates my swinger and i called her over for that episode to see how awesome darts were and she couldnt stop laughing at their joke....sigh

Edit: it was pointed out to me that dart sports and demons were more popular but I dont see any old darts either.
 
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I do not think it is a matter of Swingers being rare. I think it is more about the Dart Sport being more desirable. Do to this, many more swingers probably made it to the crusher. Just like Dusters being more common than Scamps. I do not know the actual mfr #'s but I would imagine the swinger had a descent percentage built in a 4 door configuration and a modest # built in a 2 dr, where as the Dart Sport was always a 2 door. I believe most people thought of the Dart Sport/Duster as performance oriented and the Swinger/Scamp more family friendly. My 2 cents.
 
Duster_71 said:
I do not think it is a matter of Swingers being rare. I think it is more about the Dart Sport being more desirable. Do to this, many more swingers probably made it to the crusher. Just like Dusters being more common than Scamps. I do not know the actual mfr #'s but I would imagine the swinger had a descent percentage built in a 4 door configuration and a modest # built in a 2 dr, where as the Dart Sport was always a 2 door. I believe most people thought of the Dart Sport/Duster as performance oriented and the Swinger/Scamp more family friendly. My 2 cents.
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That is an excellent point.

That being said i have not seen really any darts 2-4 door and im not counting the remade ones.

Ill edit it.
 
Think of this, 69 383 roadrunner production was what? 95,000?? (Typo corrected LOL) yes many saved due to being a muscle ar, but look how many were wrecked! Take the swingers, mostly mundane, not so many hot-rodded and wrecked, but not many saved period.
 
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They made tons of swingers. Yes, the Dusters sold much better but not sure if that is true with the dart sports. Not many left on the road these days if that is what you are referring to. Its a rarity to see any old mopars on the road in my area.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
They made tons of swingers. Yes, the Dusters sold much better but not sure if that is true with the dart sports. Not many left on the road these days if that is what you are referring to. Its a rarity to see any old mopars on the road in my area.
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Swingers were like 4 doors, they made millions and crushed damn near every one.
It is rare now days to find anyone that drives these cars regularly or as daily . Sad. Who can find their *** without gps and how many people under 40 can read a road map!? LOL
 
The 1967-1976 A-body in general are all pretty much right on par with one another, the 67-69 Darts still haven’t caught on like wildfire, the few Dart long bodies that had 383s, 440s and 426 Hemis will always be high dollar cars even the 340 cars bring some fair money. But as time goes on the 70-76 Darts, Demons, Scamps, Valiants and Dusters will continue to rise in desirability as the Bs and Es are bought up and become more scarce. I will always love my 74 Swinger and 74 Duster.

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mopardrt said:
The 1967-1976 A-body in general are all pretty much right on par with one another, the 67-69 Darts still haven’t caught on like wildfire, the few Dart long bodies that had 383s, 440s and 426 Hemis will always be high dollar cars even the 340 cars bring some fair money. But as time goes on the 70-76 Darts, Demons, Scamps, Valiants and Dusters will continue to rise in desirability as the Bs and Es are bought up and become more scarce. I will always love my 74 Swinger and 74 Duster.

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Great car!!
I agree. The higher $ cars always drive up the value of the one considered to be "lesser" cars. I think were have the best of all worlds, our cars are generally affordable , look cool, fun to drive, work on,.... Any 340 A body is always good property, but with all the others we can make them anything we want, do the work ourselves, and have a great and fun, affordable car. More smiles per mile and more giggles per $.
 
barbee6043 said:
Swingers were like 4 doors, they made millions and crushed damn near every one.
It is rare now days to find anyone that drives these cars regularly or as daily . Sad. Who can find their *** without gps and how many people under 40 can read a road map!? LOL
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Yea my swinger is 2door hard top. I see old mopars around about every other day here but never a dart.

Just didnt know if it was only me. Honestly i was probably in my 20s before id ever heard of one.
 
My sister had a swinger when we were kids. 2 door, Powder Blue, Dark Blue vinyl top, /6, auto. Ran great! Wish I had it now too.
 
They're not any more rare than any of the other Mopar's of the era. Quite the opposite in my experience. A "swinger" is just a 2-door hard top from '70 up, unless it had a higher option package. Like my '71 GT's, they're 2-door hardtops but NOT swingers. I did send one to the crusher myself, a '74 with a 318. I bought it for the roof skin to fix one of my '71 GT's and all the 73+ V8 parts- K frame, disk brakes, etc. It had been hit hard in the back, and the chassis up through the doors was bent. After I stripped all the good stuff I sold it to pick-n-pull, it got stripped down even further there. Was a shame, it was a good rust free California car, but the chassis work needed to get it straight again would have cost more than the car.

Heck, there's like 9 of them that show up on a craigslist search for the greater Sacramento area.
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I just dumped an alarming amount of money into resurrecting a 74 beaker that was swiss cheese rusty.

I did send a second 74 swinger to the crusher though.....it was collision damaged and worse rusty than what I had.

My car is officially street legal this year and if spring ever comes I will drive my girl as much as she'll let me
 
A black 1970 dart 340 swinger 4 speed with a good driver and headers and an ld340 intake was 1 of the fastest cars in town back in the day, turned me on
 
72bluNblu said:
They're not any more rare than any of the other Mopar's of the era. Quite the opposite in my experience. A "swinger" is just a 2-door hard top from '70 up, unless it had a higher option package. Like my '71 GT's, they're 2-door hardtops but NOT swingers. I did send one to the crusher myself, a '74 with a 318. I bought it for the roof skin to fix one of my '71 GT's and all the 73+ V8 parts- K frame, disk brakes, etc. It had been hit hard in the back, and the chassis up through the doors was bent. After I stripped all the good stuff I sold it to pick-n-pull, it got stripped down even further there. Was a shame, it was a good rust free California car, but the chassis work needed to get it straight again would have cost more than the car.

Heck, there's like 9 of them that show up on a craigslist search for the greater Sacramento area.
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Oh they made millions but i just dont ever see the driving by.

Thats what im getting at. I see almost everything but darts.
 
When I was in high school there were dusters and darts all over still on the road. That was in the early 90's.
Im building a 72 swinger and I plan on driving the wheels off it. I also have a 73 340 sport that I drive at least 3 days of the week. It looks rough as hell but drives like a dream. I had forgotten how much I enjoy driving the old cars.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
When I was in high school there were dusters and darts all over still on the road. That was in the early 90's.
Im building a 72 swinger and I plan on driving the wheels off it. I also have a 73 340 sport that I drive at least 3 days of the week. It looks rough as hell but drives like a dream. I had forgotten how much I enjoy driving the old cars.
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Thats awesome. Wish my grandma bought a sport instead of this /6.

Honestly id not have ever had one had it not been a “family” car but i saved up for years what i could and cant wait to have it as my daily driver.

Putting in a 360 amd just basic stuff but it should be fun as hell imo. Especially compared to my /6.
 
Its funny, most everyone you talk either had a Dart way back when, or knew someone who did. there were so many on the road.
 
Well truthfully 99% of A bodies weren't looked at as cool cars. They were actually kind of a joke that you didn't want to be seen in. Basically the K car of the 70's. In the 80's and 90's they were a car that a high school kid got for free and was embarrassed of. I saw millions of them and only a few we're like the eye candy on this forum.
 
Thats awesome.

Mine is deffinantly not eye candy.

They made millions back in the day so if you are old enough to remember them im sure you have seen plenty.

Glad to hear some are still daily drivers.
 
barbee6043 said:
Swingers were like 4 doors, they made millions and crushed damn near every one.
It is rare now days to find anyone that drives these cars regularly or as daily .
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Let's be real here, how many similar vintage of any brand do you see regularly on the street? Certainly not as a daily driver. Other than Mustangs, it's rare to see ANY Ford from that era, even at shows. Yeah you see quite a few old Chevys, but they sold a lot more of them too.
I probably see more Darts than any other A on the road, but that's not saying much...not many owners are going to subject an antique auto to the abuses of everyday use. I drive mine, but it's strictly a fair weather ride. Maybe it's different where you live.

Pascamp said:
Well truthfully 99% of A bodies weren't looked at as cool cars. They were actually kind of a joke that you didn't want to be seen in. Basically the K car of the 70's. In the 80's and 90's they were a car that a high school kid got for free and was embarrassed of.
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I'll agree that the early A's were more something your parents or grandparents would drive, but the 67-72s especially were sharp looking cars IMHO. I was 21 when I bought my first and only new car...a '71 Duster and I was pretty damn proud of it.
I gather you're quite a bit younger than I am, but hand-me-down cars that high school kids get for their first car are what they are. I'd be hard pressed to name any cool cars from the mid 70s/early 80s, period.
 
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Oaktree said:
Let's be real here, how many similar vintage of any brand do you see regularly on the street? Certainly not as a daily driver. Other than Mustangs, it's rare to see ANY Ford from that era, even at shows. Yeah you see quite a few old Chevys, but they sold a lot more of them too.
I probably see more Darts than any other A on the road, but that's not saying much...not many owners are going to subject an antique auto to the abuses of everyday use. I drive mine, but it's strictly a fair weather ride. Maybe it's different where you live.



I'll agree that the early A's were more something your parents or grandparents would drive, but the 67-72s especially were sharp looking cars IMHO. I was 21 when I bought my first and only new car...a '71 Duster and I was pretty damn proud of it.
I gather you're quite a bit younger than I am, but hand-me-down cars that high school kids get for their first car are what they are. I'd be hard pressed to name any cool cars from the mid 70s/early 80s, period.
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If u bought a duster new im a fair bit younger.

My first car was around 1999 and was a 79 ford courier truck lol. It was horrible in the desert with no AC.

I live in a small town near some larger ones and there are quite a few old cars i see regularly.

Locale car club during the summer does a show what seems to be once a week for a few months downtown.

I have a neighbor with i believe a 70 duster but even at the shows (which are small maybe 100cars) i never see darts.

I was really just wondering if it was a regional thing or possibly like you said they dont want them outside in the elements.

Mine is going to be my daily driver and will never be a show car.
 
the freakin thing rusted to nothing most of the time. there was nothing left to "restore"
 
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