We like the fact that the photos of this car were taken at night and they aren’t all that super fantastic because it totally adds to the mystique of what would be a super bitchin’ sleeper to get your mitts on. The paint is chipped and there is some little surface rust stuff happening in a couple of spots. The 1973 Darts are cool but by ’73 they had started to look a little less tough than their older brothers (like everything else) and performance was really fading fast. The factory 340 in this car was one of the last hold outs of performance respectability though. In 1973 it would have been rated in the mid-200s as far as power went and coupled with the lighter Dart, it would be able to fight up a weight class or two as compared to other factory offerings at the time. If you had a 1973 Chevelle with a big block in it and it was bone stock, that Dart would have given you a bad time.
Now, this car is not stock but it looks close enough to draw unwitting victims into your web of deceit. The engine is a 408ci stroker based on a 340 so outward appearances are intact. The car even runs 340 exhaust manifolds on it and dyno testing had the little mill making 450hp at the flywheel. The only real tip off from above that something may be askew with the engine is the six pack style induction but even that is something that a lot of guys like to swap on because of looks and stuff. No one is going to see the three deuces and think, “Ah HA! This is a 450hp stroker engine with exhaust manifolds and not even so much as an ignition box!” The ruse is totally on.
There is a TCI built 727 transmission that is backed up with a freshly built and installed Dana 60 rear axle with 4.10 gears. Both of those pieces are ready to get busy on the street and the 4.10s are a perfect way to get the car up and moving out of the hole. If you really wanted to work on the traction end of things, a new set of rear meats would be the first move we’d make. Nothing huge, but a nice 275 radial back there would fill out the wheel well a little, not raise too much suspicion, and those babies would grab asphalt a lot harder than what is on there now.
We love this car and it is exactly how we would have done it given the time, resources, and ability. Sneaky and quick!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE PHOTOS OF THIS COOL 1973 DART AND THEN HIT THE LINK FOR THE FULL LOAD OF INFO AND PHOTOS ON RACINGJUNK –
Racingjunk link: A perfectly sweet 1973 Dodge Dart sleeper
I remember when one of the young guys at the repair shop next door to mine, got a new 340 Duster (’70, ’71 not sure) with a 4spd. The first thing he did was install headers and a 4:56 rear gear. We thought he was nuts. Not many could keep up with it until it would run out of motor around 95 mph or so, and that happened quickly!
~ correction: I just talked to one of my old mechanics, and he said the guy installed a ‘5:13’ gear set, in that Duster 340, and the car was a ’70. It was white with black top and stripes and was a sleeper.
Never trust an old ratty looking car. Those are the ones that will blow ya into the weeds.
Bangshift just gave me a flashback of my first car, a 1973 Dart Sport, only mine had the 225 leaning tower of power in it.
This reminds me of my second car, a ’74 Dart Sport 360. Originally yellow w the hood scoop, black buckets/console/Tuff steering wheel like this one, it had been painted a steel-blue color. A complete rust bucket after only 7 salty Cleveland winters, when the K-member rotted out, I sold it for parts.
The carcass went to the junkyard with a whopping 48k miles.