Bud Lindemann Dart Road Test

[adriver]

Cool road test. Dig the surf music.
He does a lot of them.
It looks like 7 years since someone posted this and their link is dead now anyway.

 

[mbaird]

Ive watched that many times... Never gets old. The old video sure makes the red paint look ratty.....
I like to pause it and check out the detail on the car.
Watch the Hemi Charger 500 one!

 

[adriver]

Ive watched that many times... Never gets old. The old video sure makes the red paint look ratty.....
I like to pause it and check out the detail on the car.
Watch the Hemi Charger 500 one!

Yes.
Funny all those Panther Pink cars.
I don't see a Road Runner one.
Which seems odd for 69 "Car of The Year".

Close but no cigar.

 

[HemiSSDart]

That is one blinged-out Swinger! Rocker molding, wheel well trim, bumper guards, woodgrain steering wheel, power disc brakes, fender turn signals, and BLUE engine! Also noticed no color keyed reflector bezel under the stripe?

 

[MopaR&D]

Interesting how the 4-speed one is quite a bit quicker than the automatic, goes to show the 727 was a bit overkill for the little 340 (as opposed to maybe a beefed 904?)

I've watched all those road tests too they're so fun, gives a young person like me an idea of how terrible tires were back in the 1960s lol

 

[mbaird]

That is one blinged-out Swinger! Rocker molding, wheel well trim, bumper guards, woodgrain steering wheel, power disc brakes, fender turn signals, and BLUE engine! Also noticed no color keyed reflector bezel under the stripe?

Probably could have had a GTS 383 car for what it cost.

 

[MopaR&D]

That is one blinged-out Swinger! Rocker molding, wheel well trim, bumper guards, woodgrain steering wheel, power disc brakes, fender turn signals, and BLUE engine! Also noticed no color keyed reflector bezel under the stripe?

Probably an early production model I'm guessing? Was it even an option to choose your engine color, I thought that was just a corporate thing depending on year?

Now I want to paint my 318 blue once it's built lol

 

[Dartswinger70]

Thanks for posting this. I have never seen these before, I will check them all out.

 

[ocdart]

Brought back memories of my '69 Dart Swinger. Same color, but mine just had the rocker moldings. No wheel well moldings and no bumper protectors (or whatever you call those ugly rubber things attached to the bumpers). No wood-grain steering wheel and no fender-mounted turn signal indicators. Oh, and the rear reflector housings on mine were white to match the stripe.

 

[Vs29H1B]

The engine shot taken from the drivers side fender shows turquoise engine color which is the correct 1969 340 engine color used by the factory. My 1969 R4 Bright Red 340 Swinger was an original car when I bought it in 1998, and had the turquoise engine color and was unmolested. My 340 Swinger was unusual in that it was equipped with a load of options, including 727, fender turn signals, Light group with Map lamp, trunk lamp, and glovebox lamp, P/S, Power discs, Mag style full wheel covers, simulated wood steering wheel, AM thumbwheel radio, factory air conditioning, white vinyl top and white bumblebee tail stripe.

The 0 - 60 MPH specs show that these cars in factory trim would have trouble keeping up with many 2017 V-6 base cars, including the 2017 Challenger V-6.

Both test 340 Swingers were missing the full wheel cover from the driver front wheel, so they both must have hit the same rut in the track!

 

[ocdart]

The 0 - 60 MPH specs show that these cars in factory trim would have trouble keeping up with many 2017 V-6 base cars, including the 2017 Challenger V-6.

I don't know about 0-60 times because I didn't care about them back then and still don't.
I just know my '69 340 Swinger ran the 1/4 in 14.23 @ 98+ mph at OCIR in 1970 with a non-SureGrip 3.23-geared rear and 727 transmission on less-than-optimum-traction Goodyear Polyglas tires.
The only other performance I was interested in back then was stop light action where I routinely beat up on big-block Chevelles, Camaros and Mustangs. They were no match for a quick-revving 340 in a light-weight Dart over a short distance. Yeah, the big block could get you at the end of a quarter mile but not short stop light to stop light action.
And now? Just this morning on my way to work one of my neighbors pulled up alongside my '09 Ram 1500 in his '57 T-bird while I was stopped at a red light, revved his mighty 312, rolled down his window and said, "That thing can't get across the intersection before me!" Funny thing is, I know that intersection very well and know that the my light turns green just a short delay after the cross-traffic light turns red. If you hit the throttle right when your see the cross-traffic light turns red, you're moving right when your light turns green. It looked like I hit a .000 light at the drags and he was admiring the shade of green on the signal. I didn't even squeal the tires or break the posted speed limit.

 

[Pascamp]

I don't know about 0-60 times because I didn't care about them back then and still don't.
I just know my '69 340 Swinger ran the 1/4 in 14.23 @ 98+ mph at OCIR in 1970 with a non-SureGrip 3.23-geared rear and 727 transmission on less-than-optimum-traction

Just for perspective... that's on par with a v6 Toyota Camry. Things seemed way faster back then. I highly doubt that in 50 yrs Camry owners will be posting about how scary fast their cars were though.

 

[Dartswinger70]

Just for perspective... that's on par with a v6 Toyota Camry. Things seemed way faster back then. I highly doubt that in 50 yrs Camry owners will be posting about how scary fast their cars were though.

I was in a bar talking with a friend about the performance of my 86 Fox body 5.0 Mustang. Another fella started butting in about how his Nissan had more horsepower. It got on my nerves after a beer or two, and I said to him very politely " we don't want to hear about your Nissan, there is nothing cool or neat about it". Point is, yes his newer Nissan Altima had more HP than my 86 Fox body, but the Mustang is the cooler, more fun vehicle to drive with an almost perfect power to weight ratio. I believe the 340 A bodies also has this perfect power to weight ratio. Also, you cant compare modern street car performance to 50 years ago street car performance, its apples to oranges, and modern technology will win.

 

[Dartswinger70]

I was in a bar talking with a friend about the performance of my 86 Fox body 5.0 Mustang. Another fella started butting in about how his Nissan had more horsepower. It got on my nerves after a beer or two, and I said to him very politely " we don't want to hear about your Nissan, there is nothing cool or neat about it". Point is, yes his newer Nissan Altima had more HP than my 86 Fox body, but the Mustang is the cooler, more fun vehicle to drive with an almost perfect power to weight ratio. I believe the 340 A bodies also has this perfect power to weight ratio, and were neat little cars to drive. Also, you cant compare modern street car performance to 50 years ago street car performance, its apples to oranges, and modern technology will win.

Crap, I did something wrong with my edit.

 

[ocdart]

Just for perspective... that's on par with a v6 Toyota Camry. Things seemed way faster back then. I highly doubt that in 50 yrs Camry owners will be posting about how scary fast their cars were though.

And you know what? I don't care about V6 Toyotas now either.
I never said my 340 Swinger was 'scary fast'. But it sure was fast for the time and sure was fun to embarass big-block cars with it 48 years ago.
It's simply a matter of the "cool factor" as stated by Dartswinger70.
My "new" '69 Dart - when finished - will be much quicker than my old Dart was. And be even cooler than my old one, especially to me. And that's all that matters because I'm building my Dart the way I want it to be.