I had been feeling like a betrayer of the Dodge Dart cause after I sold it through the classifieds. So it assuaged my guilt pangs to receive an unexpected letter from Sarah Hunt.
“Yes, I am enjoying the car very much,” said the note from Sarah, a 19-year-old from Kent in suburban Seattle. “I tried it on the freeway for the first time last week, and it worked like a dream.”
If you’ve sold a car through the classified ads, I’ll bet you’ve never received a thank-you letter. It just doesn’t happen, unless the automobile you sold is a Dodge Dart, the last of the all-American no-frills cars.
I called Sarah in appreciation. After all, I had felt as though I had sold a member of the family.
True, I hadn’t lavished a lot of attention on this member of the family, but Dodge Darts know that’s the deal.
Oh, they appreciated an annual oil change, but even that’s not necessary. “Virtually bulletproof” is what a consumer guide once said.
I asked Sarah if she had any work done to the car. She said she had bought new tires; OK, maybe I was expecting too much for tires to last 10 years. She also had dumped in a couple quarts of oil. And she had painted the ceiling, which was missing its cloth cover, to cover some rust spots. The cloth had ripped a while back, and I had never replaced it. I mean, it wouldn’t give me better gas mileage, would it?
But that was all the maintenance Sarah had done. I can see she had what it takes to be a true Dodge Dart owner: a minimalist approach to cars.
Sarah also said she was surprised and happy to learn this particular Dart had been delivered to the dealer in March 1974, the month and year she was born. She found that out when she looked through the owner’s manual, which somehow had stayed in unused condition in the glove compartment. Who needs instructions with a Dart, anyway? Turn key to right, press on accelerator. That’s it.
“I thought that was pretty cool,” she said about being the same age as her car. “You know how they call us the `Generation X’? I think I’m the Dart Generation.”
She had a point. For Sarah and those born in the 1970s, it’s tough times economically. Everybody older seems to have well-paid jobs. Maybe a $750 used car that runs is a good symbol.
It did make me feel better to talk to Sarah. I had been feeling as if I had let down my fellow Dart owners, all those who had written and called a couple of years ago after I wrote about my 17 years with the car.
(I kid you not, as I’m writing this, Eric Richardt, a Seattle architect, called to talk about his 1966 Dodge Dart. He bought it from his aunt and it now has 138,000 miles. Richardt figures his annual maintenance costs at less than $100. That’s a major topic of conversation among Dart owners: who spends the least in maintenance.)
Until then, I hadn’t realized that there is a Dart subculture out there. There is even a Slant 6 News, the official publication for Dodge Dart owners, with members as far away as Papua, New Guinea.
Chrysler stopped making Darts, and its twin, the Plymouth Valiant, in 1976. But in the 15 years after they were introduced in 1960, more than 2.5 million were sold, making it the best-selling Dodge of all time.
The car wasn’t meant to be sporty or snazzy. It was just meant to be, as Car and Driver magazine put it, “functional.”
It has been just that mostly because the engine parts were overbuilt, so they take much longer to wear out.
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I sold my Dart because, frankly, certain younger members of my family said they were “embarrassed to get in that junker.” The Dart sat idle while a newer car got all the use.
When Richardt called to talk about his Dart, I asked whether he had younger members in the family who also refused to ride in it. Yes, he said, though now that his daughter will soon be of driving age, she’s seeing that Dart in a different light.
By the way, I think Sarah Hunt fully realized what it means to be a Dart owner when she offered to mail me my Dart’s old license plates as a souvenir.
Thank you, Sarah. The torch has officially been passed.