Howdy Dart People,

My 15 year old wants a Dart for his first car. I'm pretty versatile with mechanicals from that era, and like the idea of something we can actually work on together but I'm concerned with safety of course. Originally, he wanted an aircooled VW but I had to nix that for safety reasons.

Anyone know where the Dart stands re. crashworthy-ness?  Obviously it's a 70's vehicle, but any known defects or does it have a bad reputation?

Also, how available are the parts?  Mainly concerned with basic driveline stuff, not so much resto parts.

Thanks for any input.  

Darts are completely safe and was my first car.
71 and up as far as I remember had shoulder belts that are clipped to the roof/headliner.
Safe heck yea, I remember rear ending a foreign driver that would not turn on a green light for over half the light he just kept inching & inching, so being an angry pissed off 20yr old I floored it and smashed him out into the street ,that woke him up!  & the car was fine.
Turns out that same foreigner drove through some one's living room that evening, it was on the news.  

merlin I have the perfect father son car for you and your son, its a flat out gorgeous 1974 duster with non power disc brakes, the ol slant 6 is tiring and the trans is leaking ,the only exterior item it needs is an antannae mast. .its a 8 out of 10 body and the paint scheme is super shart, just what a kid needs to pick up chix, it has no rear seat front bench, I have mint period correct hiback buckets for it, an A body 8 3/4 rear and any engine trans combo you would like. personaly I would rebuild the 6 and trans and go another 33 yearsall the lights work, horn did but doesnt now, im sure its nothing but i havnt had time to look , for $3300 for the car as it sits is an outright steal, the underside and frame are like brand new and never seen rain, the interior floorpans still have their factory painted color and their so clean you can wash them up good and wax them, guarantee you will never find a duster this nice this cheap. and it being for a kid a may throw in a few extras for you guys.rebuilt 6,rebuilt trans. bucket seats install nice black dash pad and new vents I have and a mint back seat out of a 73 74 dart or duster this car will bring minimum 10k its that nice. call me if your interested, don 772-807-9009 and ill have the wife email you the pix of car as im too dumb to do it lol, also have a 9.89 1971 dart if the kid likes to go fast, 340s 400s 440s 8 3/4 rear 70 date code never been apart 340 short block minus the x heads which I can get and I also have a new pro built small block 727 with 3500 converterand new pro shift rolled aluminum b&m pro shifter. me? I would rebuild the matching # 6 and trans  

this car also has the shoulder type harness and its located in s fla 34953, ya snooze ya lose  

LAST YEAR i WAS HIT IN THE BACK OF MY 75 SPORT AT 35 MPH BY A 80'SPONITIAC TOTALLED HERS CAR NO INJURY TO ME OUR MY DART EXCEPT A SMALL DING IN THE BUMPER
IVE BEEN RUFF WITH MY DART FOR 12+ YEARS AND IT HASN'T LET ME DOWN. PARTS ARE EASY TO GET AND EASY TO FIX.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR VENTURE'S  

Don't know about any official crash ratings -only what I've observed. The whole era is wrought with metal monsters and generally can take a hit from most modern vehicles.

My 1973 Dodge Dart Swinger got crunched pretty good from the rear end driver's side while parked in front of my house and moved about 15-20 ft from its original parking spot. Looking from the side opposite the hit, you wouldn't know that there was damage to it. Its leaf spring suspension even is still relatively intact on the side of impact which is to me, amazing.

Go for the Dart but perhaps limit the power available in the thing. I've heard lots of good things about the slant six, particularly about its reliability but for a little more get up and go, maybe a 318 is a good choice.

There're generally lots of driveline parts available for Darts, particularly for the V8's that came in them. As for interior and exterior parts, Dart Sports seem to have prevalence over the Swingers.  

The thing we all need to remember is that for a car to be safe for the passengers it needs to absorb the energy of the impact. Back in the 70's manufacturers did not yet understand this, they were beginning to but not like they do now. Therefore when you hit a late model with a Dart or other 70's and below car the late model car crumples like a tin can and the older car will likely come off with minimal damage. However the passengers of the late model car are less likely to be injured because the car absorbed the energy of the impact by crumpling. When you hit something with a older vehicle like say, a tree the driver takes the full brunt of the impact, If you hit the same tree in a newer car the newer car crumpling will absorb the impact for it's passengers.  All I'm really saying here is while on the surface it make appear to be a good thing to hit something with your classic car because it stands a better chance of surviving the crash but the passengers of the car pay the price by having all the energy from the accident transferred to their body. That said unless you get hit by a dump truck or train you will most likely sustain less injuries in a modern car with built in crumple zones and safety features like anti-lock brakes and air bags than in a classic car. The most important thing to do in any car though is to buckle up. All the crumple zones and air bags in the world won't save you if your not properly buckled in. As for the Dart having known defects or a bad reputation, no it does not, but by modern safety standards in sure would fail miserably and would have never been approved for sale in the U.S.  

ive got a 70' dart and its been through hell. id trust it in a collision over anything new. and as for parts you can get most basic parts through your local parts store.  

My Dart is my first car and I think its plenty worthy for a teenager. I put mine thourgh hell with jumping train tracks and mashing into the occasional curb. As for parts, if you choose a car with the factory kelsy-hayes disk brakes, take em off and put them on the shelf. They are good brakes but you cant find any parts for them.  

I learned to drive with a 69 Dart /6 with three on the
tree and we bought my youngest daughter a 72 Swinger
/6 auto for her first car.I personally can't think
of a more durable car ever built and the maintenance
is very basic.