Swinger rarity...

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Oaktree said:
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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Any Mopar was a rarity... period. I probably am younger than you, but certainly remember the back end of the muscle car era. A bodies we're a joke. They are in the same category as Mavericks, Novas, ect. I'm not knocking them. It's just the truth. There's a million stories on here of bad *** A bodies back in the day...not in my world.

I remember one. A 70/71 swinger 340 that was brown with an *** stripe and twin scoops. It lost it on a corner chasing a 70 Camaro and wiped out about a half dozen parked cars. His girlfriend's body landed about 10' from me. That's the only cool A body I remember from "back in the day". Had the twin scoops, black stripes, 340 emblems, ect. Only cool A body I ever saw outside a car show.
 
When I was a little boy my oldest brother bought a brand new 69 swinger 340, 4 speed car. He's 14 years my elder. He still talks about that car but I don't remember him having it for very long. I do remember putting down the quarter window and it starting to rain. when I tried to roll it up it wouldn't go. He yelled at me like it was my fault and pulled over for my other brother to get out of the passenger seat and help me. It was broken and wouldn't go up. Damn he was mad.
Not sure about the fitnfinish back then but the marketing for "A" bodies seemed more towards Moms and kids or as an economical grocerie getter with some cool factor...thus swinger.
My dad swore by the slant 6 and we had a few valiants...the last being a 76. The Chrysler reputation as a strongly reliable family based auto for the majority was it's staple IMHO.
 
I drive my 71 daily

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This is a great topic.
We live in a city of 100,000 and there is a few Darts and Valiants around here that are driven daily. They are all '74 to '75 vintage.
All are 4 doors, no two doors.
There are however a couple of Chevy Impalas that are driven daily here in all seasons, one is a '69 and one is a '67. Both are 2 doors to boot.
Until about 8 years ago, i drove a '69 Valiant 4 door slant 6 year round.
Before then, it was Coronets and others............
I drive my '74 Dart Sport a lot in the spring, summer, and fall but not the winter.
I just don't trust other drivers in the winter.
With the cam etc. it isn't a great cold weather car anyway..............
I do have plans to drive the '69 Valiant again year round in the future, i just have to fix the brakes and install another engine. The car was worn out mechanically, but the body is still good though!
 
Mopar Tim said:
the freakin thing rusted to nothing most of the time. there was nothing left to "restore"
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Yeah, welcome to the world of living in New England. :BangHead: They use so much salt (and nowadays brine) on the state/US roads cars didn't stand a chance in those days. For US brands, Fords were the worst, GM the best with Chrysler somewhere in the middle. You were lucky to get a Japanese car home from the dealer before it started rusting away.
 
You guys got that right. Here in the north east all the Mopar muscle cars were rotted away by 1980. The GMs and Fords definitely lasted better. To this day it holds true. Rams, duranagos, ect are held together by duct tape after a couple years.
 
Dartnut said:
This is a great topic.
We live in a city of 100,000 and there is a few Darts and Valiants around here that are driven daily. They are all '74 to '75 vintage.
All are 4 doors, no two doors.
There are however a couple of Chevy Impalas that are driven daily here in all seasons, one is a '69 and one is a '67. Both are 2 doors to boot.
Until about 8 years ago, i drove a '69 Valiant 4 door slant 6 year round.
Before then, it was Coronets and others............
I drive my '74 Dart Sport a lot in the spring, summer, and fall but not the winter.
I just don't trust other drivers in the winter.
With the cam etc. it isn't a great cold weather car anyway..............
I do have plans to drive the '69 Valiant again year round in the future, i just have to fix the brakes and install another engine. The car was worn out mechanically, but the body is still good though!
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Thanks and yea i see more of other vehicles but since apparently A-bodies were the scarlet letter back in the day maybe its just not a huge market.
 
I see lots of 4 door ones listed for sale in my area, have one as a parts car ourselves. I think the more rare version is the Plymouth valiant 2 door. My son daily drives one that I bought for him. And almost 100% of people that see it call it a dart. Then if we correct them and say its a valiant. There standard answer is. "Oh, isn't it the same thing" and "my parents had a dart swinger when I was a kid" go to the mopar nationals and 99 out of a 100 are swinger darts and 1 is a valiant. Maybe 98/2
 
My first car was a 78 volare wagon, never put it on the road. Ran great and had working AC. It donated its engine later on.
My first real car was a 72 dart 4 door. Paid $250 for it in 1990 and it was mint like it came off the showroom floor. I abuse the hell out of that car and it kept on going.
At least once or twice a week someone calls my dart sport a duster. Happened today actually.
 
MOPAR is well represented in NW PA. There is a fairly large club in Erie, Pa and a large MOPAR swap meet in June at Albion, PA. B bodies are more prevalent than A bodies but of the A bodies a good portion are Darts from 67 on up. The local Applebee's host cruises every other Tuesday and when the theme is anything MOPAR it is common to see a dozen or so Darts in every configuration. My favorite, other than my 70 Swinger 340, is a 68 Dart 383 auto, 1 owner car. I just wish it would quit snowing.
Jerry
 
Shenango said:
MOPAR is well represented in NW PA. There is a fairly large club in Erie, Pa and a large MOPAR swap meet in June at Albion, PA. B bodies are more prevalent than A bodies but of the A bodies a good portion are Darts from 67 on up. The local Applebee's host cruises every other Tuesday and when the theme is anything MOPAR it is common to see a dozen or so Darts in every configuration. My favorite, other than my 70 Swinger 340, is a 68 Dart 383 auto, 1 owner car. I just wish it would quit snowing.
Jerry
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A good friend of mine has not 1 but 2 70 340 Swingers......I hope he shows them more love than his other cars he never drives.
 
The swingers and scamps were all 2 door cars. 69 was the first swinger and known for the base model . No bucket seats absence of frills. In 1970 they were available with all options. The 1969 model was the real swinger. Plymouth never made a true light weight 340 model like the 69 340 swinger. I had several 1969 340 swingers, GTS's and GT's . The 340 Swingers reminded me of a mini 68 roadrunner. No frills all go. They were my favorite factory sleeper.

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Oldmanmopar said:
The swingers and scamps were all 2 door cars. 69 was the first swinger and known for the base model . No bucket seats absence of frills. In 1970 they were available with all options. The 1969 model was the real swinger. Plymouth never made a true light weight 340 model like the 69 340 swinger. I had several 1969 340 swingers, GTS's and GT's . The 340 Swingers reminded me of a mini 68 roadrunner. No frills all go. They were my favorite factory sleeper.

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So plymouth never made a lightweight version of the scamp or swinger? This is it right here.
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3 paragraphs....


... and the fender tag.
 
Penstarpurist said:
So plymouth never made a lightweight version of the scamp or swinger? This is it right here. View attachment 1715163644
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That is not a factory 340 car. Wake up and smell the coffee. The 69 340 swinger was only available with bench seat only, plain jane. in 70 you could get them loaded with options. Plymouth never had a plain jane 340 car only . The cuda was all they had and you could get them with all options. 69 340 swinger was base only. If you wanted options you had to get the GTS. If you ever had a 69 340 swinger you would know. Mine was bench seat 340 4 spd. 391's manual brakes and steering. I added the wheel covers from my GTS.

I also had several 70 340 cars and 68 GTS's. When someone comments on a swinger to me I always think back to the roots of the model 1969 340. Scamps were wannabees. I had them too and stripped them.

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Oldmanmopar said:
The swingers and scamps were all 2 door cars. 69 was the first swinger and known for the base model . No bucket seats absence of frills. In 1970 they were available with all options. The 1969 model was the real swinger. Plymouth never made a true light weight 340 model like the 69 340 swinger. I had several 1969 340 swingers, GTS's and GT's . The 340 Swingers reminded me of a mini 68 roadrunner. No frills all go. They were my favorite factory sleeper.

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So swingers were all 2 door?

I keep seeing people say they saw 4d ones but werent they called dart customs or something?

At any rate it took me about 15 minutes one day to get mine started in a grocery store parking lot and a guy walked over from all the way on the other side to watch.

I thought i was going to get some unwanted advice but instead he just smiled and said something along the line of “i thought that sounded just like the swinger i used to own! Mine wouldnt start either” haha. He just waited till i got it started and then he said thanks for the memories and left.

Only car ive ever had covered in rust that people keep trying to buy off me.
 
73dartswingerlover said:
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.
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I drive this thing all over the place and everywhere I go.
We have taken it on scenic drives as long as 17 hours in a day.
Mild 5.9 Magnum, A500OD trans.
The first pic is over by CA on part of Route 66.

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