Copied from Cliff Guinand's write up.
The 1972 Canadian 340 Swinger Specials went
totally under the automotive radar – there was
some talk and research on the ‘71 340 Specials, but
virtually no one knew ‘72’s existed. These cars were not ordered in the
same sense of the word as the ‘71’s, but were ordered and commissioned by Chrysler Head
Office and given to both Crosstown Motors in Edmonton, Alberta and Pembina Dodge in Winnipeg, Manitoba as thanks for
selling a whole lot of inventory. It seems Head Office wanted to move over a 1000 units in the spring of ‘72 and approached these two
dealerships to undertake the daunting task.Well, they must have did it because over 50* of these ‘little hotrods’ (as Ike Vicker, owner
of Pembina Dodge put it) were delivered. From the documented survivors, 45 went to Edmonton and an unsubstantiated number went
to Winnipeg. Not a lot is know about these cars because so few were produced – they don’t pop-up every day (or decade). Also, there
is little know about them because they weren't part of an independent dealership order, but one issued by Chrysler Head Office.
Like 71’s, ‘72 Swinger 340's were ordered and built as the Dart Swinger Special which has the VIN prefix of LL23H2R (L=Dart, L=Low,
23=2 Door Hardtop, H=340, 2=72, R=Windsor, Ontario Plant). The ‘72’s – which were ordered as Specials – denoted the base or
bottom line of the Dart model. But, these came with the extra special numeral ‘9’ typed on the broadcast sheets, indicating the highly
sought after Y39 ‘SPECIAL ORDER' code.
Ordered and built primarily as a performance car at the end of the performance era -
they were all cookie-cutter, plain-jane, low option cars - equipped with 10” drum
brakes all around, HD sway bars, rubber floor mats, hounds-tooth/vinyl seats and
no rear arm rests, but you did get an AM radio, maybe. The drive train options - along
with the hi-winding 275 hp 340 – was a standard 3 speed automatic (D34), the 4 speed
manual (D21) or the 3 speed manual (D13) transmissions. They also came with the dual
snorkel hood, torque boxes and 8 3/4” 3:23 gear rear ends standard. With just 2 hi-impact
colours left – Hemi Orange and Top Banana – the colour choices were pretty much the full ‘72
line, except if there were only a few cars left on the lot to choose from. The only variation on options
was found in a 3 speed manual car which came radio delete. Broadcast sheets for the Pembina cars indicate a handwritten mark
over the moldings section to indicate an upgrade.
These cars had a late ‘72 scheduled build date, with the Crosstown cars going through on May 11 (511) and the Pembina
cars on June 16 (616) in the Windsor, Ontario, Canada plant. Like the ‘71’s, all VIN numbers and order numbers
are sequential, which means one of these cars can be identified by the VIN or the order number located on
the fender tag or broadcast sheet. All fender tags and broadcast sheets indicate hounds-tooth B1
interiors going out with X9 black or with the exterior colour carrying on to the inside. They also now
came with shoulder belts, the new cheaper cardboard headliner and a new dash face.
The 340’s in these cars were the forged crank engines from ‘71 and almost retained the performance
numbers of the ‘71 340’s – even with the slight drop in compression, the smaller 1:88 J heads
and slightly reworked ThermoQuad carb – they could achieve tire melting blasts at the drop of a
chevy. The engines were painted blue since they were from a late '71 production run (according to existing
engine casting dates). They also received the then mandated EGR system and the Chrysler electronic ignition was standard form.
The ‘72 Dart Swinger 340 Special is quite similar to the ‘70 and ‘71 models. The most noticeable differences are the full ‘swept’ front
grille, front marker light placement, flush front and rear marker lights, front split bench seat and
dual snorkel type hood scoop. Carry overs were the quad '71 tail lights, rallye wheels, with dark
argent centers and small bolt pattern with acorn centre hubs (dealer installed). The
‘Swinger’ emblem is located on the front fenders like the ‘71’s and has the ‘Special’
emblem under it. The ‘340’ emblems had been moved from the hood scoops as on 70
and 71’s to the front fender just behind the marker lights. All 50+ cars received black or
white bumblebee tail stripes even though none were coded for it (again, dealer installed).
Like the ‘71’s – rear torsion and front leaf torque boxes were applied to most (some automatics
may have just received front boxes) of the cars. They also came equipped with HD sway bars – as other 340 Swingers before them. When
the hood was opened, the immediate differences ware a large single snorkel, orange air cleaner emblazoned with a 340 4 barrel decal.
It was now attached to the new low restriction version exhaust manifolds by black ducting strung up to the air cleaner. Also, as part of the
new emissions push, a black charcoal canister was tucked into a freshly retooled inner passenger fender.
At this time, there are only 8 known documented survivors, a couple ‘possibles’ and rumors out there. Of them, six were located in
Alberta, two in BC and one in California – a Pembina car – so to all you Mopar fans from Manitoba, you better keep an eye out
because there are a possible 24 of these rare little hotrods out there to be discovered. If you have one, have seen one, heard
rumors or just want more information, please call Cliff at (403) 249.2252 or e-mail at:
guinands@telus.net.
Research & design by Cliff Guinand:
www.burnouts.net. Information and cars courtesy of Darren Sauer, Dan Mohr and Kevin Kaiser
