I wanted to add this page in tribute to my parents' old 1967 Dart. It was bought brand-new in 1967 as a replacement for our old 1964 Rambler American that my mom used to drive to work. I'm guessing that the choice of the 225 slant six was for fuel economy since the car was primarily a drive-to-work car for my mom. Nonetheless we used that car to take a trip to Kansas one year and it performed nicely. It also had a great air-conditioner which kept us cool in the Texas summer.

It wasn't too long though that my sister, having reached driving age, inherited the car and my mom started driving the 66 Polara with its 318. Not long after that, I started learning to drive, and it was in that 67 Dart that I learned. The one thing that was lacking in that car was power steering, but I didn't know it at the time. When I later had my own first car, the 66 Plymouth Fury III, I was amazed at how easy it was to steer.

The 225 slant-six power plant was great to work on, as most everything was right in front of you and within easy reach. The distributor location took some getting used to, but even that was a breeze. I was dismayed with the lack of power though. I remember buzzing along on Loop 12 in Dallas and decided to race a Ford Pinto. I punched it and nothing happened. The car started moving faster but there was no passing gear above 45 MPH. The Pinto went past me and was gone. I guess I was spoiled by the 318's ability to drop into passing gear up to 70 MPH, but still, getting whipped by a Ford 4-banger didn't feel too good.

My sister drove the car for several years and then got a new car, and my parents re-inherited the 67. They kept it for several years and I would get to drive it again a few times when my 71 Dart was in the shop. I recall having to replace the radiator at one point and the heater core at another, and the entire vacuum-operated switch box for the AC/heater controls, but nothing really major. Finally my dad sold the car around 1987. Later I wished he had kept it or sold it to me, but it's long gone now. Here's the last picture I have of that car. It's the one on the left. The right car is my ex-wife's 1974 Dart.

Click on the photo at the left to see
a bigger picture of the 67 Dart.
Photo taken in 1984.

Photo copyright © 1996 by John Cirillo. All Rights Reserved.

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