I was born a couple years after the last Dart rolled off the assembly line but all of my life I have loved these cars, knew I wanted to own one by the time I was about 8 years old...and just assumed that they were the best of their breed....but is that right?
As I understood it, the A-body cars (and that covers a lot of ground, obviously) were superior to the competition by most measures- better 6 cylinder engines (with astounding reliability), better top of the line small block V8 engines, generally lighter than the competition (Duster 340; ~3200lbs, Nova SS 350; 3400lbs) excellent weight transfer and had generally superior suspension (by most measures)...and though it's subjective, they looked better too.
Granted, with the exception of Barracudas, some convertibles, etc, these were budget cars..but how were they regarded in their day? I assume that Novas and Mavericks, etc. sold better...but was that simply a branding issue?
Did any of you guys buy them new? How did you make your decision?
Any insight regarding the Abody's place in history would be very welcome.
The A bodys were really good street racers and as I remember it, a 340 '68 or '69 Dart was about 2-3 tenths faster (quicker) in the quarter than a '69 383 Road Runner.
That was a surprise to me because Mopar's advertising always was heavy on touting the 383 RR as a quick piece for the money. The A Body 340's had it beat by several car-lengths in showroom form, and were cheaper.
I am an old guy, and was working as the Stocker tech guy at the local drag strip from 1960-1968, so I well remember how these cars ran.
The only intermediates that gave the 340 cars much grief were the 350 horsepower '66 Nova 327s (which were a 1-year-only car) and the 390cid Rambler "Scrambler" 4-speed cars.
The Chevys were a little lighter than the Darts, and had a good engine, although the carb was way too small. (585cfm Rochester.)
But they
were faster.
NHRA classified them into A Stock where Bill (Grumpy) Jenkins campaigned one nationally, giving Jere Stahl (the header guy) fits with his A/S Street Hemi, B-Body, 4-speed car. I don't think Grumpy EVER actually outran Jere's Mopar, but he was very close. That's how fast those cars were... but, as I said, they were a one-year-only deal, so they weren't much of a factor on the street. In '68, Chevy used what was basically that same engine with a 750 Quadrajet in the Nova and they were fast, but a LOT heavier than the '66's. never saw one... that'ss how rare they were, while there were 340 cars everywhere.
The Mavericks never got anything more powerful than a 302 2-barrel, but the Nercury earlier ('65 and '66) Comets were avalable with a hi-po, solid-lifter version of a 289 in '65 and '66 (271 hp) and they ran good, but were still, no match foir a 340 in an A Body.
The only real challenges for the 340 A Body cars in '67-'71 were the 396 big block Novas and Camaros, and the 428 Cobra Jet Mustangs.
Both had monumental traction problems and had to deal with that on the street, particularly, but were both well-cammed, had high compression and lots of carburetion. They were fast, given a decent chassis setup.
What was needed was so simple, I can't imagine why Mopar didn't do it, but I imagine that the brass at Mopar didn't want the A Body cars ourtrunning everything else in the Pentastar lineup, but that's exactly what would have happened if they had only made a couple of changes:
They need to have made the 340 available in a '68-'69 Valiant 2-door sedan, installed W-2 heads on ALL 340s, bumped the compression to 11:1, and delivered all 340 cars with a set of Doug's headers in the trunk and installed the 1968 340 stick-shift cam across the board (it was a lot more radical.) The Z-28 Camaros had the tubing headers in the trunk for eother dealer installation or installation by the original buyer.
The driver's side 340 exhaust manifold, although a definite improvement over a 318 manifold, is horrible, It kills a bunch of power.
If they had offered a Valiant like that (or, a Dart) nobody else would have stood a snowball's chance in Hell of beating these cars. Not even the big block Novas or C.J.'s. (now, of course, you can build your own.):cheers:
The stock 340 heads were okay, but the reciprocating assembly of a 340 is a LOT heavier than a 327 Chevy's and a 302 Ford's, so they needed a way to get around the horsepower eating parasitic drag caused by that weight.
The W-2 motor with headers would have easily done that.
Big block Chevys and Mustangs would have just been a speck in the rear-view mirror!
Even as it was, there were damned few G.M. or Ford cars that would do much damage to a 340.
I put the complete powertrain out of a low-mileage '71 340 into a '64 Valiant 2-door sedan in 1972 as a street fighter; only car I ever owned that was
never outrun! You gotta love a car that never lets you down... It was a dead heat for a 900 Kawasaki in the quarter on the street (yes, I drove it on the street with 7" M & H slicks and 4.56 Sure Grip,)
340s forever!!!! :cheers:
