Crazy Barn Find: The 1969 Car Craft Dodge Dart Swinger Giveaway Car! Fully Documented, Fully Intact!


Crazy Barn Find: The 1969 Car Craft Dodge Dart Swinger Giveaway Car! Fully Documented, Fully Intact!

Now this is insane. Who would have thunk that a car given away almost 50 years ago with the exposed purpose of being thrashed on would actually survive and survive in perfect intact condition?! Such is the case with the 1969 Car Craft Dodge Dart Swinger giveaway car which was awarded to a housewife who won the drawing for the machine at the NHRA Springnationals in 1969. The car has outlasted and outlived everyone that worked on it and even the very track it was awarded at. Dallas Internationals Motor Speedway was the place and people like Keith Black and George Barris had a big hand in creating the car.

The 340ci engine was done by Black and of course the paint was done by Barris. Bill Shrewsberry raced the car for the magazine in the course of their project upgrade stories. We just cannot believe that the thing stayed in one piece and perhaps more shockingly, how the original paint stayed on the car. That’s not a shot at the quality but rather the fact that someone did not just have the whole thing painted a solid color to make it look more “normal”.

Odis E. Outlaw and her son David went to pick up the car in Dallas. We’re guessing that David was slightly more enthusiastic about this win than his mom. The car went back to Tampa, Florida where they live and we’re guessing stayed there forever because it has no rot problems at all. The machine is currently being sold by a Florida dealer, lending more credence to the idea that once the car arrived in the Sunshine state it stayed there.

Hell, it still has the original M&H Racemaster tires on it!

We don’t know what the asking price is for this one but we’re guessing “not cheap” is the most accurate description.

Link: The 1969 Car Caft Dodge Dart Swinger giveaway car is for sale!


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12 thoughts on “Crazy Barn Find: The 1969 Car Craft Dodge Dart Swinger Giveaway Car! Fully Documented, Fully Intact!

  1. KCR

    I would say the reason the car still looks like it does is.There is no mention of a Mr. Outlaw.She must have been a single mother,thats cool. Congrats to Ms. Outlaw. If she is still with us .This will be big $$$

  2. Mel Rebman

    Actually the car was won by Msg. Outlaw. He was my NCOIC in the Jet Engine shop Based in Homestead Fl. I worked for him for a little over a year. I was discharged in June of 1970 and he had the car. When I was discharged I moved back to California and lost touch with Msg. Outlaw. I don\’t think the car left Florida.

    1. Tom Ellie

      It is my car, the car was never in Florida until November of 2017 when I took it to the consignment shop to try to sell for me. Actually the 16 year old son (William) won the car but it was awarded to his Mother at the Winter nationals in Dallas Texas as his father who you mention above could not get away. I have a scrap book the son gave me just recently with photo\’s that Car Craft magazine gave him back in 1969 with Keith Black, Wally Parks, Lynda Vaughn, etc… (Multiple famous car people) when the car was given to him and his mother. At that point the car was put in storage in Texas until Mr. Outlaw could work a deal on trading it for a brand new Polara Wagon (No I am not kidding) then it was purchased \”&\” financed by its true first owner in Texas where it stayed until the middle 80\’s. I have copies of each owners titles and contact info.all sorts of history with it, 72, 73 & 74 World Record holder, it went through a few hands until it was purchased by Bob Gabeline in Iowa and he owned it for 21 years putting a total of 10 miles on it in that time frame! I purchased it from his estate for 50K like was mentioned, I have stuck close to 10K into it to get it to be a running and driving car/shipping charges/etc. I bought it to drive but I do not feel like it should be, it needs to be in a museum as I would hate to see it damaged. That is still all of the original George Barris (Batmobile fame) paint on the car, the stickers were changed for whatever reason? Fell off maybe? I mean it was a race car back then not a collector car… or simply removed. (See April 2018 Mopar Collectors Guide for a nice article on the car). It is still available and at this point I\’d be willing to deal as I need something to drive.

      1. Tom Ellie

        Sorry, I forgot to mention… the CRAGAR rims were in the trunk when I purchased it so they were put back on the car with some old tires to make it look the part.

  3. Bentvalve

    I saw it at the auction this summer. Neat car with cool history that sold for 50 k.
    If it sells for asking price nice return on investment.
    Bent

  4. RockJustRock

    The paint has been tampered with. The Cragar was originally painted on much larger as they were the major sponsor. Direct Connection of course didn’t exist in 1969. Why? Was it raced somewhere with contingencies in the ’80s?

  5. ksj2

    The car was eventually found in Iowa.I saw it race at Tulsa in 1979.One of the main reasons I own a 69 swinger

  6. Tom Ellie

    The “CRAGAR” was sticker, as all of the advertisements on the car other than the Swinger funkadelic paint job, over the years I am sure they fell off? A owner at some point in time replaced them with a smaller sticker is all, I really have no idea but you all would have to understand it was simply a drag car back then? When you purchased a Holley Carb (For example purposes) it came with a sticker and you would put it on the car. Same with Direct Connection sticker, it is on there now and I didn’t want to disturb its authenticity of “now” so I didn’t peel it off. Everyone tries to discover what is wrong with the car instead of being happy that it survived.

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