Cargolex
The GT from '63
Looking straight out of the sixties - the building helps - is this 1963 Dodge Dart GT.
Though we think of the Dart today as having always been a compact, 1963's market would have seen the Dart name on full-size cars for the previous three seasons, during which time Dodge's compact was the Lancer, a very lightly reworked version of the original Plymouth Valiant (or, in it's first stages, "Valiant by Plymouth").
The downsized Dart replaced the Lancer and was instantly more successful - the Lancer has many merits but it was always second fiddle to the Valiant, and it's styling was very polarizing. The Dart came at the tail end of the Virgil Exner era at Chrysler and represents a far more restrained look than Exner's original intent.
The GT, of course, presaged the coming of the pony cars, which would arrive in earnest in 1964. Back in '63, performance options were still focused on the full-sized cars, and while the Dart GT could be had with Dodge's 273 V8, it didn't have the explosive performance of a 413-wedge powered '62 full size Dart or a Sport Fury. But it was lighter and more nimble.
Unlike the other Darts, the GT came only as a two-door hardtop.
©2015 A. Kwanten.
The GT from '63
Looking straight out of the sixties - the building helps - is this 1963 Dodge Dart GT.
Though we think of the Dart today as having always been a compact, 1963's market would have seen the Dart name on full-size cars for the previous three seasons, during which time Dodge's compact was the Lancer, a very lightly reworked version of the original Plymouth Valiant (or, in it's first stages, "Valiant by Plymouth").
The downsized Dart replaced the Lancer and was instantly more successful - the Lancer has many merits but it was always second fiddle to the Valiant, and it's styling was very polarizing. The Dart came at the tail end of the Virgil Exner era at Chrysler and represents a far more restrained look than Exner's original intent.
The GT, of course, presaged the coming of the pony cars, which would arrive in earnest in 1964. Back in '63, performance options were still focused on the full-sized cars, and while the Dart GT could be had with Dodge's 273 V8, it didn't have the explosive performance of a 413-wedge powered '62 full size Dart or a Sport Fury. But it was lighter and more nimble.
Unlike the other Darts, the GT came only as a two-door hardtop.
©2015 A. Kwanten.