1968 Dodge Dart GTS

I like the wheelbase I like the size it's very easy to drive every day if you can pay the gas bills I think well I like this thing it does like a big go-kart big engine a lot of horsepower a lot of torque it's a fun car for getting on and off man you know just running errands when you wanna lay down some rubber once in a while welcome that episode with Jay Leno's Garage the car we're featuring today 1968 Dodge Dart GTS with the 383 and of course four barrel carburetor on there this was well the carb my youth actually I thought these were the coolest things around people like the Road Runner and the Super Bee but why carry all that extra body work around you know the longer body it's heavier when you get the same motor and the lighter Dodge Dart and this is one of those supercars that I don't say it got overlooked but it's not like an overshadowed by the road runners and all of those things you know this is a car that sort of fit in size wise with the fiber and the Camaro and the Mustang I I just like them because they they look like sleeper cars you know with this big block engine they made a couple with 440s but those weren't quite as prevalent the 340 was a sportier one and this was the big block the 383. this car was ordered by a couple of Pauline and John these they were a couple they walked into a Dodge dealer in Wisconsin she ordered the Dodge Charger RT for herself and he ordered this to go street racing with the four-speed 355 rear end no power steering no power brake make it as light as possible what happened was uh he then got drafted in the service when their cars came in they realized with him going in the army they couldn't afford two cars and since he was going to Vietnam they kept his car the GTS this one here they never did get the charger uh although I understand Pauline is still looking for it I hope she finds it as so often happens kids come along things they got divorced she kept the car all these years she ran a trucking company which she still does today and the car kind of got a little neglected got a few dings and they decided to have it professionally restored and you can see they did a wonderful job it's 100 stock they had put some headers on it they went back to the factory setup the factory manifolds so now it's exactly as it left the factory with the exception of the Cragar mags this is the hot Magnesium Wheel when I was a kid Cragar SS's uh everybody uh especially guys in New Jersey with Camaros oh they love these these big craters I just like the look of this car it's clean it's a nice simple design it's a two-door and the cool thing about this when I acquired it as I said it's a one owner vehicle from new that's a hundred percent documented it never uh sort of fell out of favor by that I mean it didn't like disappear to three other buyers and then turn up again it's been the same family the whole time uh I've got every bit of paperwork I've got the build sheet I'll show you in the trunk every oil change slip everything that was done to this car uh Pauline really loved this thing and she wanted to go to a good home and I was glad that you chose me to be the buyer but I will show you all the paperwork in just a second I I love this color I'm not sure what the exact name of this color is in in the turbine car from the 60s they called it turbine bronze but it's kind of like that the only other accessory is an aftermarket tachometer which is mounted right there on the steering column but other than that it's exactly a hundred percent as it left the factory well here let's open the hood we'll show you that 383. all right it's amazing how clean engine compartments were back in the day although I imagine 1968 this might a little complicated but everything is fairly easy to very accessible it got distributed right here there's your coil four barrel carburetor uh as you've got dual braking system which was mandatory by 68 washer bottle uh yeah alternator everything is exactly as it was I'm running Evans Cool on this one Evan's cool is that non-water-based coolant so you don't it doesn't allow any rust you know this is life of the car coolant you put this in you never have to change it again it doesn't boil until it's well over 300 and something degrees so it's perfect for someone who stores cars if you don't yeah this gets taken out about maybe once or twice a month so it's perfect you're not going to promote any rust you know I've told the story a million times out of Packard and the water pump had some problems and I thought oh boy so once you got the water pump up I thought this thing's going to be locked up it wasn't it was beautiful inside it looked great it just the seals it deteriorated and it was leaking but the uh the Evans really worked well there that's about it that's the factory radiator everything here is exactly as it would have been in 1968. this is one of those cars if you like muscle cars this is what you want to find something in this condition because most of these were jacked up and just beaten to death you know in every stop light from one McDonald's to the next guys doing burnouts and everything else this one has been nicely maintained it's got all the original sheet metal uh let me show you what I was talking about with all the paperwork in the trunk this is really pretty cool as I said beautiful restoration even the trunk was all done properly here you've got the original build sheet this is always in the back seat of the car uh I mean every I'd show you some photographs of the car but since we don't know who the photographer is we can't get uh you know the rights to the picture so I'm sorry about that but this time Eclipse there's a certificate of title I mean everything is here over the years every every car show all the trophies that won pictures of John and Fort Bragg is the other build sheets there's this on Jason's graduation 1995. I mean this is a car that really was a family heirloom you know uh her children will come by the garage here to see the car I've always told her if I ever decide to sell it I will would sell it back to her again I'd be more than honored to do that I just love the fact that they've saved every piece of documentation and in here it's been in all the Mopar magazines what we got here these are all again more you know just all the factory stuff let's see if I got the just just as I said just every piece of documentation necessary I mean this is what uh guys die for you know just just to find all this kind of to find a one owner car which is exactly what you're looking for because most of the time you'll find a Dodge Dart from the 60s it's going to be a slant six or a 318 or an automatic transmission to have a four speed with the 355 rear end and Pauline herself used to race this thing what else we got here just magazines all the little little cup beer holder I don't know what that thing is well you get the idea you know it's fun to do this because when you find muscle cars now can't hold a candle I mean modern muscle cars just blow the doors off this stuff that was fast back in the day really it's not fast anymore I always tell a story of my friend Tim Allen on the General's garage we used to do on our old TV show we got a 67 GTO tri-power the whole bit one of the most more powerful cars today and we raced it against the four-door V6 Altima Nissan and the Nissan fluid stores off Tim and I were like oh man it's so depressing but it seems so fast so fast back in the day and this this is you'll you'll you'll see in a minute it's three or three it's got power it's got torque it moves out pretty good I mean it can't hold a candle to Modern uh Ford GTs and I mean I think this is about three and a quarter horse which was huge back in 1968 for a small car like this and first of all it's not even a small car but by 1968 standard it was and uh you know compared to Challengers and stuff today with you know eight 900 horsepower this new demon with a thousand horsepower it's crazy and plus you got no power steering no power brake you got Drums all the way around yeah but there's still a lot of fun to drive and it's a nice solid car it's a car that's easy to work on easy to maintain come on let's take a variety show you what I'm talking about why I like this thing it does like a big go-kart big engine a lot of horsepower a lot of torque it's one speed transmission I know the drum brakes are fine I know discs are obviously much better but it's not like a car I'm flying through the hills in you just kind of it's a fun truck for getting on and off the exit ramps and you know just running errands when you wanna lay down some rubber once in a while you know it's a pretty light car I don't miss the power steering linkage is a little clunky but that's the way that Factory units was you always put a Hurst four speed that was sort of a way to go back in the day but that being said it's I just liked the Nostalgia of this is exactly what I would have gotten when I graduated from high school and of course that that hood those hood vents are purely ornamental they don't they don't do anything because you got to stick your hand out the window with just the mirror as God intended I said I liked it's better than the super B of the Roadrunner no goofy BP porn or cartoon characters you know just uh just everything you need and those Crager mags are a real throwback to the error as well that was the Hot Wheel ER brands are good too but the cragars were sort of the ones everybody got you know you got an AM radio that's all you need don't have to look at the screen just reach over hit some buttons there you go I always liked on when you bought a regular Chrysler product like a Dodge or Plymouth it would say ashtray when you bought a imperial it would say Ash receiver oh who is excuse me you get a full complement of gauges when you bought one of these back in the day you don't even get an oil pressure gauge you just got an oil light though when you add oil the light would come out well that's very convenient thank you I think the seasoning of the engine would let me know that uh rather than the light never quite got why they did that kinds of salt I forgot to check the build sheet to see how much this costs brand new I think it was about probably what thirty four hundred dollars something like that you want to improve your mileage I suppose you could drop a five or six speed tremeck in here but this old Chrysler Rock question would be nice ah look at that little trip huh oh it's fast I think it's fast by monitor stand but you don't make in Horsepower you make up in lighter weight I wouldn't be surprised if this was under 3 000 pounds probably 28 2900 something like that of course the other yeah brand new 19 cars got new rubber seals everything they really did a nice job Pauline thank you Pauline was glad that I bought this car because I didn't try to flip it you know I talked to a lot of people that they just want their vehicle to go to a good home it's something they loved and cherished and then they sell it to somebody and then two weeks later they see it on Bring a trailer for twice the money or three times the money yeah it's a little disingenuous you know but whenever I buy them because I don't sell anything people know they come by and visited Pauline as I mentioned has come by with her family and it's it's nice and they tell me stories about the car and because that's really what makes it you know I mean you have bad experience with the car yeah you're just not interested in that car anymore whereas something like this where the family loved it your mom went racing with it and that's hilarious I always thought that was the most bizarre sort of put you know because it's not functional just looks kind of that's different I guess you know the great thing about driving these cars is no splitter to rip off when you're going to a low driveway or something I've got a nice normal ground clearance clear on speed it almost feels like it's power steering you know it's funny getting a modern Dodge like a challenger a Hellcat and then in Top Gear you're turning 1100 RPM or something at 60 or 70. girl with just four speeds instead of six seven eight nine ten in some cases you're always around thirty four hundred thirty five hundred watching the gas gauge like watching the hands of the clock you know especially the men in hand yeah well I've got a 66 uh Hemi cornet which is feels a little like this but it's got way more power that Hemi is a pretty powerful motor that was the most powerful production engine of its day and uh yeah I think it would blow the doors off of this this is still quick the Hemi was an expensive engine to produce and by expensive I mean it was only five dollars an engine more you know but when you're making you know hundreds of thousands automobiles five bucks is a lot of money different between profit and loss that's why the 440 replaced the happy because the 440 could have made five dollars left a pretty good horsepower the 440 truth be told was probably a better Street engine but the Hemi could really breathe and if you got it to breathe properly boy you could really uh make some serious horsepower I like the wheelbase I like the size it's very easy to drive every day if you can pay the gas bills I think I think you guys it doesn't get great mileage yeah man one complaint with this car would be the shift linkage it really is kind of like churning butter a little bit you know it's uh you're kind of all over the place but maybe that's just an adjustment maybe I'm not that being fair and it's not really that bad I can live with it but you see why people switch to the Hurst shifter back in the day because that was just the way to go Pauline for uh preserving this car and saving it you know it's a piece of mopar history it's a little unusual with the 383 and four speed the 350 rear end you know all the delete options to make a little bit faster a little bit more so it's Unique and I I like that and I love that they saved all the paperwork and I I promised her that I would keep the car and I wouldn't flip it and that's what I've done I love this thing it's fun to drive Paul Laney anytime you and your family are in town you can come by and check it out so all right hey thanks again and you at home thanks for watching I hope you enjoyed this little piece of mopar history see you next week

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 342,050

Keywords: Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, cars, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, dodge, MOPAR, Dart, Dodge Dart, GTS, Carporn, Manual Transmission, American Car, Vintage Car

Id: JBbdu8rlcAo

Length: 18min 34sec (1114 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 03 2023