1962 Dodge Dart 440 Sedan lot of (3) original vintage advertisements.
DESCRIPTION:
’62 DODGE - “THE MOST RESPONSIVE FULL-SIZE CAR ANYONE HAS MADE YET!"
Last summer we asked nine of the nation’s top automotive experts, drivers and writers, to Detroit to pre-test our new Dodge Dart 440. We wanted their frank reactions. Here was the car, there was the track, go ahead, fellows.
We knew the car had punch; we had engineered dead weight out. A couple of laps around the track proved that. But that wasn’t all that impressed the experts.
“That Dart is real stable on the high speed stuff,” said Rodger Ward, famed Indy driver.
“I was as much pleased by the stability as anything,” reported Buck Baker, twice champ on the hot NASCAR circuit. “In my profession I notice the handling. I made some swerves on the straightaway at high speeds and there was no indication of getting out of control.” Max Muhleman, of the Charlotte News, commented: “I’ve never driven a car like it. You’d think this is the way a perfectly set up race car might handle. You don’t have any trouble cornering or correcting. This car doesn’t trick you. It’s just right for the tight corner or long bend. You can hook around with it in town and it’s great on the highway too.”
Dart 440’s most rigorous test, perhaps, came from Walt Hansgen, internationally known sports car driver. On a cinder track, Walt whipped the car through a set of dazzling maneuvers that made you dizzy to watch. He was zig-zagging, putting the car in a slide this way and that — going from lock to lock. He was braking, cornering, digging out, the works.
“Didn’t give me any anxious moments,” he shrugged. (It did us to watch, however.) “The car is very stable. Corrects very well coming out of a turn.” He was particularly impressed the way Dart 440 took a railroad crossing in the test area. “Didn’t pitch and heave.” Frankly, we weren’t surprised by all the praise. When you eliminate dead weight, when you put in a new low-friction steering gear, when you keep and improve the best production suspension system in the world (torsion bars, rear leafs) . . . when you do all these things and a hundred more besides, you know you’ve got a car that will out-handle, out-ride most anything on four wheels. Max Muhleman put it pretty well: “Dart 440 is by far the most responsive full-sized car anyone has made yet.”
DRIVE THE NEW LEAN BREED OF DODGE.
“I HAD NO IDEA DART 440 WOULD ACCELERATE LIKE THIS. IT’S AN AMAZING MACHINE.”
That was Buck Baker talking. He had just taken his first drive in a 1962 Dodge Dart 440. The place was Utica Proving Grounds in Michigan. The time: July 27,1961. We asked Buck to test Dart 440 and give us his reactions.
Buck calmly stepped into the car. Started it up. (Dart 440’s new, quiet high-speed starter kicks over an engine about as fast as you can snap on an electric light.) Buck tromped on it. Dart 440 dug out. Socked Buck back in his seat as it leaped off the line. Even an experienced driver like Buck Baker, twice champ on the hot NASCAR circuit, was astonished.
“I had no idea it would accelerate like that,” he said. But Buck’s a goer. After a couple of orientation laps, he buried the needle. “It handled beautifully,” he said. “I could drive with two fingers and an arm in the door.” And that’s just what he did!
FROM ZERO TO SIXTY IN 8.1 SEC. Ace dragster Don Garlits, current holder of the “1320” record, is no stranger to high speeds.
But he was likewise amazed. “Quite a bomb!” he remarked.
We asked auto authority Bill Carroll to put the watch on Garlits. That particular Dart 440 was hardly geared for dragging — 3.21 standard axle and 3-speed automatic with 361 cu. in. V8. A 4-door hardtop, with radio, heater and power assists, equipped for street use. Under these conditions, you can see that the test was pretty much informal. Just the same, Garlits popped from zero to sixty in 8.1 seconds — ate up the quarter mile in 15.4 seconds.
“Very good power-to-weight ratio,” Garlits observed enthusiastically.
It’s 11 to 1, in fact. That’s because we engineered out dead weight. Left only the muscle in Dart 440. With less dead weight, there’s more live action. More mpg, too. We call Dart 440 the first of the Action-Economy cars.
More guts, less gas.
“Anyone would have lots of fun in this car,” Garlits said.
We think so, too. We also think you’ll be seeing a new set of wheels on the poles this year, a new challenger on the lines. Dart 440. “An honest car,” Bill Carroll describes it.
You’ve got to drive what’s happened to Dodge. It’s an enthusiast’s kind of car all the way.
DRIVE THE NEW LEAN BREED OF DODGE.
“DART 440 HANDLES LIKE A PERFECTLY SET-UP RACE CAR”
That’s what Max Muhleman, of the Charlotte News, told us. It was just after his first test-run in a new 1962 Dodge Dart 440. “The car doesn’t have any trouble cornering or correcting.” “You don’t get the mushiness you feel in most passenger cars,” observed Rodger Ward, of Indy fame, who with Max was among a group of several auto experts we invited to Detroit to try out our new Dart model. “When you go into a turn hard,” Rodger added, “she’s with you all the way. I ran it flat out and that Dart 440 really storms. It’s real stable on the high speed stuff.”
NASCAR favorite Buck Baker was equally enthusiastic. “I drove it with two fingers on the wheel and with the other arm in the door,” he remarked. “Dart 440 will be a good performer on the tracks this year. It’s amazing how it performs and handles.”
“It’s an interesting kind of acceleration,” reported noted auto writer Bill Carroll. “Pushed me back against the seat.”
“It’s quite a bomb,” agreed dragster Don Garlits, current holder of the “1320” record. After popping Dart 440 from 0 to 60 in 8.1 seconds, he observed: “It’s got a very good power-to-weight ratio.” (It sure has: as much as one horse for 11 pounds.)
Our guests agreed that the handling and acceleration of Dart 440 were outstanding. We’ll go along with that. We engineered dead weight out. Got rid of excess sheet metal and useless overhang. And when you throw the dead weight out, you put more action in — especially when the engines are as hot as Dodge’s. We also put in a new low-friction steering gear. This together with less dead weight on the front wheels and an improved Torsion Bar suspension makes Dart 440 the best handling production car you’ve ever tried. And its new size — 116" wheelbase, 202" overall length — makes it remarkably maneuverable on any road.
“You could win a trophy in a ¼-mile run and then drive home a crate of eggs without breaking them,” said Max Muhleman.
Could be. But you will never know until you’ve tried Dart 440. We’d like you to be our guest for a trial run, too. The place: your dependable Dodge dealer’s.
SIZED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BIG AND LITTLE-DODGE DART
SPECIFICATIONS:
Black & White
Photo
Size -
Size -
Full Page - 8
inches x 11 inches -
20 cm x 28 cmALL SIZES ARE APPROXIMATE DUE TO CROPPING
Country - USA
Grading - Excellent, normal toning (yellow-copper tint due to age.)
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