Well, I tried to pick nice sensible cars all this week. The trouble is, that’s just not in my nature. I love weird cars and old cars and unpopular cars, and I just can’t bear to look at another ad for something entirely practical. So I’ve found two very cool older cars that both run and drive well, so in theory you could actually use them as transportation. Is that cheating? I don’t care.
Yesterday’s hatchbacks generated more comments, and more votes, than I’ve seen in a long time. I guess you liked them. The Honda Fit in particular seemed to have a lot of fans in the comments, and that did translate to a win in the votes, but it was closer than you might think. I think the Chevy Sonic being half the age and having a bunch more options gained it some followers.
I really like that little Sonic, and I think it would be the more entertaining to drive of this pair, but I think the Fit would be the better car to own. Honda is still Honda, after all, and nobody knows more about building good small cars. I confess I’ve never driven a Fit with a manual, nor a second-generation one like this, but I can’t believe it’s anything but pleasant – if not quite as much fun as that turbocharged Sonic.
Yesterday’s cars demonstrate just how good modern cars are, and that’s also reflected in the fact that the average car on American roads is now damn near thirteen years old. I guess that makes me above average, because the average age of the cars in my household is over thirty. I clearly like my vehicles older, and I’m not afraid to put them to work, either. Yeah, things can and do break, but they’re also a lot easier to fix. The daily-driven old-car life isn’t for everyone, I realize, but if you think it might be for you, take a look at this pair.
1972 Chevrolet G20 Beauville – $4,500
Engine/drivetrain: 350 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Dripping Springs, TX
Odometer reading: 52,000 miles (probably rolled over)
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Full-size vans have never been at the cutting edge of any automaker’s designs; after all, how many different ways can you style a box on wheels? But General Motors has been especially stubborn when it comes to designing new vans. Since 1971, there have only been two body styles of full-size Chevy van: the G series like this one, which lasted all the way until 1996, and the Express, which is still in production. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.
Of course, even though the basic body style stayed the same for years, there were dozens of configurations available. What we have here is a 3/4 ton van, in the medium 125-inch wheelbase, equipped with a 350 V8 and a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 transmission. It’s the Sportvan passenger-type van with windows, in the high-end Beauville trim, and it has such fancy options as power steering and air conditioning. It runs and drives great, according to the seller, and it recently had the fuel pump and water pump replaced.
Although it was a pretty fancy van when it was new, it shows some age now. The vinyl upholstery is rough, and the headliner is completely absent. The seller calls it a “great starting point,” and I think that’s probably the best assessment. By the way, it also has what looks like a propane heater installed in the back, which is a good start towards a camper conversion.
It’s not too rusty outside; the only trouble areas the seller mentions are the drip rails around the roof. The paint is worn and faded, but it’s not unattractive, and the mustard-yellow color is perfect for the era. You could leave the exterior pretty much as it is and still turn heads.
1975 Dodge Dart Swinger – $4,900
Engine/drivetrain: 225 cubic inch overhead valve inline 6, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Kent, WA
Odometer reading: ad says 100,000 miles, probably not correct
Operational status: Runs and drives well
If a van isn’t quite your style, but you still want something 70s, may I suggest a nice Dart? This two-door hardtop, equipped with the “Swinger” package, is about as 70s as it gets, with its brown paint, vinyl top, and Rallye wheels. These cars were absolutely everywhere even when I was in high school in the late 1980s; I had several friends with Darts and Valiants. But they’re getting thin on the ground these days, so seeing a decent one for a fair price like this is a treat.
Darts were available with some wild powerplants during the muscle car era, but the vast majority of them, even then, left the factory with the “Leaning Tower Of Power,” Chrysler’s famous Slant Six. This is the 225 cubic inch variant, backed by a Torqueflite three-speed automatic. It’s a combination known for reliability and durability, and the seller (a small dealership that appears to specialize in classics) says it fires right up and runs well.
It’s a little scruffy inside, but not terrible. The front seat needs reupholstering, and someone cut holes for speakers in the door panels. I don’t know what happened to the speakers, but I like to think they were Sparkomatics ordered from the Crutchfield catalog and were blown out sometime in 1986 by blasting Night Ranger. If you were planning to restore the whole car, you’d probably want to find replacement door panels, but it’s probably easier to just stick some speakers back in there.
It has some rust in the rear quarters, and the clear coat is failing, but I don’t see any rust peeping out from under the vinyl top, where so many cars this age rust out. The white-letter BF Goodrich tires are a nice touch, and the seller says they’re in good condition.
Yes, you’re absolutely right – life would be a great deal easier with a nice silver Camry than with either of these. They won’t be nearly as economical, safe, or comfortable. But if, like me, you just can’t bring yourself to do that, either one of these should be a reasonably reliable way to get around. Or, if you already have a boring everyday car, they’d make wonderful weekend toys without the daunting prospect of a full-on project car. Which one grabs your attention?
(Image credits: sellers)
The slant-6…the powerplant that will run forever and outlive all of us. Saying that, I’ve driven plenty of these in my time and can attest that “running” and “driving” are not exactly the same. Oh sure, if it runs it will “drive” but it wont *DRIVE* – this is a slow powerplant, and the fact that they’re loaded into iron that is better suited to a 318 becomes evident very quickly. I respect them, but don’t care for them.
The van isn’t exactly my thing either, but it offers some interesting possibilities. Even with the general scruffy-ness, that yellow paint exudes happiness. Bonus: ample windows throughout mean that you should escape any “free candy” scrutiny.
Give me the Dodge. It just looks more complete and ready to run as is.
Just realized the average of my fleet is 16!
I have to go with the Dart, I took my drivers test in its sister a 1974 Avocado Gold with black vinyl top Plymouth Valiant that my Grandfather bought brand new a few weeks after I was born. It was also the car I got to borrow the most until I was able to get my own car. (81 2 door Malibu with a 350) Funny thing even though it was “only” 17 years old in 1991 it seemed ancient where now a days something from 2007/08 makes it hard to believe its 17 years old.
I know, modern cars just don’t seem to age the same. A 10 yr old car from the ’70s or ’80s used to have one foot in the grave from rust or whatever other malady. By the ’90s reliability and rustproofing was so much better across the entire industry and cars just seemed to start running forever without issue. I think also, by that point a certain equipment level just became common and accepted (PW/PL/AC/OD Trans) making the older models seem hideously out of date.
I now daily an 11 yr old car and it still seems modern, the 11 year old car I had in college (carburated) just seemed worn out.
Ten? try six. six years elapsed from manufacturing (1981 -> 1987) to being “gifted” to me as my first car. Swiss cheese floorboards and exhaust (from manifold to muffler), gnawed rockers and wheel arches, seized brakes, cracked head and radiator, deinsulated distributer cables, sparkplugs that looking like pencils, dead starter, loosey-goosey carb, and i’m probably forgetting way more from that horrible summer of shadetree wrenching. if i wasn’t a cheapskate masochist, i’d never have picked up a wrench again.
Car manufacturing took a quantum leap in that period (yes I know the term is inaccurate but in common usage). Compare a Fox body LTD sedan to a Gen1 Taurus. You could ask, were they built by the same manufacturer only 1 year apart??? My old 1984 LTD sedan had a carbureted 3.8 and a 3 speed auto. It had power accessories but you could tell they were just tacked on. The window switches literally covered the window crank holes. An ’86 Taurus was a spaceship in comparison.
I had a first year W body GM when I graduated college. It was a nightmare in some regards, but still somewhat modern and not hopelessly outdated.
I’d go for the Dart, but DT has probably already bought it and has in the Galpin lot.
These are both great. I already have a ’74 Buick Apollo that is more or less the same car as the Dart, except my Buick has a V8. I dig the color scheme of the van, and I love the early tin front ends on these. A window Beauville with a 350 and likely a turbo 400 trans is the sweet spot too.
Van me!
You had me at Apollo!
Back in the old world, my father was hoping to find a newish Pontiac Ventura II, but it never came to fruition. He passed from this life owning a ’67 Chevy Caprice, 327, so it was a happy ending.
He sure liked that Ventura II though, in brown.
Next time.
I’ve actually owned this Buick twice. I bought it from a body guy in 2007. He had purchased it about 5 years earlier, from the estate of the proverbial little old lady, with under 20k miles on it. Because it was a Chicago car, it still needed new quarters and floor patches, but it was otherwise a clean solid car. He did that work, repainted it the original brown, but with extra metallic for an additional pop, drove it for a while, and sold it to me with a whopping 23k miles on it.
I put 5k miles on it over the next 8 years, doing nothing but an annual oil change, and having the trans rebuilt for the princely sum of $600, before deciding to sell it. I never regretted selling it. I did other things with the money and garage space. I had a Roadmaster wagon for a while. Rallycrossed a Geo Metro. Got into riding and flipping scooters, etc.
Smash cut to 2022, and I got the urge to get an old car again. I began perusing FB Marketplace for old iron. Kinda focusing on 4-door GM A-bodies, because I had kids now and 4-doors were in my price range, but really open to anything under $5k that wasn’t a complete pile of shit. That’s when the weirdest thing happened, I found an ad for my old Buick for sale, from the people I sold it too.
Catch was though, it was now in pieces. They had taken it apart to fix the few flaws it had developed under the new paint job. The lead joints at the A and C pillars had gone bad, as had the joints where the new quarters met the rockers. Had I kept it, I would have let those areas be, but they wanted to make it perfect. Scope creep and paint jail had gotten the best of them. The car had been apart for most of the time they owned it. I bought it back for less than half of what I sold it to them for. And they had spent a lot of money on the thing in the interim. They really got screwed.
The car is running and driving, with a rebuilt suspension. I still need to reassemble the interior, as well as the glass and window mechanisms. In the spring it’s getting new tires and an alignment. It’s still wearing the same BFG Radial TAs it had on it when I bought it the first time in 2007. Then bumpers and the grill.
Thank you for the story.
To me, it’s kind of like a good mini-mystery. And I know other readers must feel the same way.
Good luck with the Buick, it’ll be fun I’m sure.
Thanks! It’s already been fun, and I’m sure more fun is coming.
This is tough. I like to collect cars that have legendary engines and here are 2 I don’t have. The Swinger is speaking to me today so something with a Chevy 350 will have to wait for another day.
I just realized the average age of my on-road fleet is 25 years. If I included the off the road projects it goes way up…
My average is also 25 years, if I include my scooter. If I take that out, the average jumps to 32 years.
Just a-swingin’
Aw, yeah, now, I was swingin’
Yeah, little Darty she’s as pretty as the angels when they sing
I can’t believe I’m out here on the front lawn in this thing
Just a-swingin’
It would be fun to manual swap the Dart and try my hand at upholstery to give it a hilarious, over the top 70s vibe
didn’t they offer paisley or flowered cloth upholstery on these for a few years?
that Dart with a 4 speed would rule, but otherwise I think I’d take the van
The Dart would bump the average age of my fleet to 28 from 17, and it’ll be more fun to cruise around in IMO. Plus we’re the same age!
From single moms to single guys/chicks, the Swinger did it all.
The pre-73 models sans tow-truck bumpers were also pretty easy on the eyes. I’d even take a 4-door!
And they ran and ran and ran.
My most memorable Dart adventure: four of us longhairs on the way to Roosevelt Stadium for an Eagles concert (NJ, circa 1975) when a plainclothes detail pulls up next to us @ a light hanging his badge out the window:
“Pull it over.”
The four of us got out, we each leaned over a fender, took a patdown, and after a cursory glance through the interior, the plainclothesmen pronounced us “OK” and off we went.
Things were a little different then. Keep in mind this was an era when long hair could pull an ass-kicking, maybe not at an Eagles show, but the prejudice was out there, and sometimes pretty strong (See Peter Cetera story @ Cubs game). Now we have different bogeymen to rail against, but things were not always peace, love, and live for today.
P.S. This was a 4-door granny-spec Dart–we still managed to draw “the fuzz.”
As soon as I saw the Dart had a Slantie in the engine bay, it was all over.
Those things will outlive our great-grandkids.
The rest (apparent condition) is frosting on the Dart.
You finally feature a vehicle in my town and I want the one that is 2000 miles away.
If/when I get an old van, I want a windowless cargo van. On the exterior, the windows get in the way of the Frazetta/Vallejo-inspired mural that will go on it. In the interior, they get in the way of the shag-carpeted walls.
The Dart just looks like a cool old car that you could drive to your local cars-and-whatever-beverage meet this weekend (and living in Drippin’ the weather will be perfect for a car meet this weekend).
If those were Sparkomatic speakers in those door cards, my bet is they were bought at a K-Mart Blue Light Special.
A girlfriend in the 80s had a Dart Swinger. ‘Nuff said.
That van looks like the perfect tow rig solution for one of your other writers. I would love to read a road trip story of getting that from Texas back north.
Throw a map at a dart, stick a pineapple on the dash, a fishbowl in the trunk, and go on a swingin roadtrip!
Looks like it’s time for me to try the swingers lifestyle.
Leaning tower of power!
I realise the van is more practical. But it looks rougher, has a thirstier engine in a less air friendly shape, and the seating position of most cargo vans makes my knee scream for mercy cause they’re always sky-high and I have no way to straighten out my leg.
I’d prefer the long box version, but I’d take the van.
The dart has the unkillable slant 6 and is generally less skeevy-looking.
dart all the way, that van just looks gross lol
I’ve been watching WAYYY too much Dead Dodge Garage (check it out if you haven’t- Jamie is the perfect balance of skilled and incurable) to not pick the Dart.
Storage units are so expensive these days, I think sometimes it might make more sense to just buy an old van and park it as a mobile closet. Don’t store anything too valuable, just maybe your out of season clothes and those yearbooks moms ditched you with when she remarried and moved into the townhome with the great schools they won’t be taking advantage of while you squeeze into a spec home with a tiny backyard and your best bet to score the kind of medicine that makes you feel like a little kid is asking your son’s buddy’s older brother. But maybe that’s just me.
I clicked each box several times before settling on the van and hitting send. AC put it over the top for me.
Same here. AC is critical.
Get Dart, find mobile home 440, engine swap Dart – profit in tire smoke and brain melting torque…yet similar power lol
DEFINITELY the Dart.
I can still hear the ticky-tappy sound of the solid lifter Slant 6. Those late ones are total cockroaches. When I was a kid, lots of old, retired guys had meticulously kept ’75-’77 Darts because they wanted a car that was as reliable as an actuary as what might be the last car they bought.
Besides, this one looks great with its white-letter tires, and it’s a 2-door.
And a 340 (or modern Hemi) fits. Just be prepared to pay the Mopar tax: they’re an expensive hobby.
Also, the rear torsion bar mounts break a lot.
I believe the rear suspensions were factory leaf spring.
So are you referring to the front torsion bars? Or the front mounts for the torsion bars to be mounted? Just a bit confused here. Thanks.
Front torsion bars, but the rear mounts for the front bars.
Thanks.