Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

Dave Reitz drove/ tuned the Bob Banning Dodge d-dart. I race with him pretty regularly at Capitol, he had a lot of tricks to make that car as fast as it was. I was under the impression that it isn't a very competitive combination anymore? My Dad's set on building one, just not to run class legal.

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

I remember reading about those cars. Never saw one.
I think the reason we didn't see them (I see there really were a few out there) is because NHRA only went by factory advertised HP back then and those cars were overrated.
I don't think they would have been competetive in D/S.
Pretty much the same deal as the 271 HP 289 Fords.

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

David,
That engine retains its original 275hp rating... no "factor."

At 2945 pounds shipping weight for a GT 2 door HT (no post cars/sedans listed) its natural class would be SS/I, coming in at 10.71 pounds per hp.

It's also listed as a convertible at 3,055 pounds (shipping wt.), with a pounds-per-hp power-to-weight ratio of 11.11, putting it in the top of SS/J. Good luck finding a '66 GT Convertible... lol!

Seems like the good deal (if there is one) for 273's in Stock would be the recently de-factored 235hp 273, reduced to only 210 hp.

Division 6's Angela Bushmaker (daughter of Bill Bushmaker of "Willy B"-car fame) has her '65 235 hp '65 Valiant running 12.0's in K/SA. Not bad for a car that hasn't had a lot of time for extensive r & d, I think.

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

Ed Fernandez said, "The D Dart site stated that 50 cars were made.That would be interesting to see a dual quad 273 in stock."

Ed, they never built them with two carbs. I thought they had an AFB, but as someone pointed out, that AFB was a Holley... my bad.

Bill

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

Since my days of drooling over and memorizing the pages of the Direct Connection "Bible", I've always liked that package. Too bad it only came in the ugly '66 Dart. Man, there just no way I would want to show up in one of those! Now if they could sneak it by in a '66 Valiant, that might make it more aggreable. Homely but cute in a way. Of course I drive a Rambler product so what do I know about looks!
I don't think I would want to race a D Dart in SS/I against things like 340 Dusters for example. Basically in SS the D-Dart offers no more than more compression and a Holley carb over a 273/235 engine. Granted, that's significant but to be competitive it probably needs to loose 40+ HP. Could be possible, start your letter writing campaign for this winter's project!

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

This is a direct quote from a guy named "Paul Canizzaro" who say he worked on the D Dart project at Chrysler until it was finished. Paul says, "We argued that we should not produce a half-baked project, but somebody up there in the head office wanted the cars out there. Really it was cover your butt project. Though there are claims that 50 cars were produced in April of 66', the truth is about 25 or so were built. To this day, I have only seen (2) D-Darts race. "

That is from the web page that David Lee posted the URL for. Lots of imformation and pictures of D Darts there.

http://www.seriousviewers.com/D-Dart/ddart.htm

Check it out, if you're interested.

Bill

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

I thought the dual quads was a later addition.and the website did say there were 50 cars built,incorrectly.

Ed F.

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

Gents, one of the "D" Darts was sold new here in Columbus, Georgia thru Chuck Hutton Dodge. An employee of the dealership named Jackie Cadina ordered the car and ran it some at Phenix City but it was never seriously prepared. He also drove it on the street as his daily driver and eventually it disappeared intil about 1980 when I saw it in a junkyard in Phenix City, of course everything in the yard got crushed eventually.

Jimmy Parker

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

In the summer of '67 my dad bought a Dodge dealership in New Smyrna Fl. With that dealership came a "D" Dart that the sales manager used to race. I won my very first trophy with that car. I still have the trophy. I wish I still had the car. It's name was "The Lamb Charger" and on the back lid it said "Little Damn Ram". the car was a maroon '66 Dart GT with a stick. I wish I knew what happened to to that car. Jim

Re: Whither 1966 D Darts for Stock
 

The few I have seen in person or in photos over the years were all sedans. No GT hardtops.
Of course one or two may have been built.
There was one that used to race regularly at Dragway 42.