1962 Dodge Dart 440 Commercial - Art Gilmore voice over

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

A Filmways presentation, darlink

[@matthewpaulargall9102]

I love 1940s/1950s/1960s announcers! Nice looking car too.

[@spiff8862]

I can see Sylvester Marcus flying down the road, hitting the dip going airborne in his beautiful 1962 Dodge Dart 440 on his way to get his Mama from the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"

[@OsbornTramain]

Of course you can! Probably the most famous 62 Dodge on the planet!! Definitely the most seen! Not forgetting Captain Culpepper's Black Sedan too.

[@davidkastin4240]

Sylvester! I'm comin mamma! ☺

[@dimthecat9418]

I can’t believe people call this ugly

[@roylcraft]

Because it's VERY Ugly. Heads did roll over this one.

[@dimthecat9418]

@@roylcraft actually, it’s not ugly. You are objectively wrong

[@poochie49]

Well my dad bought one back in 62. I was only 13. Weird design for sure. Didn't keep it long. Sold it for a 67 Chrysler Newport. What a tank. 383 CU. Loved that one.

[@elmoreglidingclub3030]

My first car! It was an oddball look but it sure got me around and with its slant-six was easy to maintain. Sure loved the bench seats-as did my girlfriend! Would love to have another one for nostalgia.

[@OsbornTramain]

They are getting expensive, if you want one get it now, prices are going up on these 62 B bodies.

[@kitgalloway4400]

THANKS! Most wicked MOPAR ever conceived, matched up with the MOST defining narrator's voice of 50's & 60's movie trailers ever. This was a store-bought hot rod straight out of the Twilight Zone! A friend of mine has one of these in show car mint condition that is torqued up, and hot to trot.

[@RobDog65]

You get one of these with a Max Wedge 413 in it, and you’ve got yourself a Q-ship.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

@@RobDog65 Yes...I remember how most people either loved the design, or hated it!...This car exempified the risk-taking that made Chrysler very competitive during the 1960s..and the larger V8s really were potent, in such a "lightweight" vehicle! I loved the interiors of these cars...those gaudy gauges were so cool, in an age when "idiot lights" would warn the driver of problems, usually when it was too late!

[@pilsudski36]

Remember these well - looks aside, these cars handled well, were a correct size for city driving, and were peppy even with the slant six. Very popular as a Cop Car.

[@DSGNflorian]

The front and rear were understandably controversial and unlikely to appeal to "mainstream" tastes, but the overall side view shape and proportion was very attractive and clean, especially in the hardtops. It was the wrong marketing approach to sell these as full size offerings, when they should have been launched as a new intermediate class like the '62 Ford Fairlane (tellingly styled so dull and boring as to be as inoffensive as possible), with a "proper" full size car alongside. This is exactly what happened in 1965, when these were facelifted and toned down a bit, repositioned as mid-size cars and sold quite well....

[@79tazman]

That's a awesome car some say they are ugly but I think they are awesome and they are even better with the 413 in it

[@rickiemontgomery367]

I had a 63 newport typewriter transmission and a 383 ran like a top. It looked like a dart same front but a sled long body wish I still had it.

[@kingelvis7035]

Weight loss made the Super Stock Dodge what it was. I think the weirdness is Exner's to 'own.' They were a bridge too far. They cleaned it up pretty quickly for '63 though.

[@78logistics]

And especially for 1964.....the series became intermediates in 1965 and the full size Dodge and Plymouths were restored to the line up.

[@ImForwardlook]

It is sad that the man with great visions and fantastic S-Series cars, Virgil Exner, was made the fall guy for something he strongly opposed, the "plucked chicken" 62:s. But even so, I totally love the 62 Dodges and Plymouths and have a base Dart 2d sedan myself.

[@OsbornTramain]

I've never really pay much attention to this idea of Exner disavowing the design. If you look at the 62 Plymouth and dodge cars he designed, they aren't that much different looking than the end result. Sure, the curved side glass would have looked better and the longer wheelbase, but overall, his design probably would have been as mocked as these cars. I personally like the end result myself.....I just don't see that by simply "disavowing" a design, you get off....ultimately, Exner is responsible for these cars, he was in charge....so some may say, the Fall guy, but he was in charge.

[@ImForwardlook]

Well, the cars certainly looked futuristic and expensive in their original form...in the end, not so much. Ex even lost his temper in the final product planning meeting and shouted that these cars are plucked chickens, they are not competitive and styling should not be held accountable. After the great turmoil on the top, Townsend became president and he assured that Exner was safe as he knew the guilty parties. But the pressure from the dealer network got too great. And while Townsend disagreed with the direction of styling Exners 63:s proved to be a great success.

[@walterweddle7644]

I agree. I think Chrysler thought that GM was making their cars smaller and wanted to follow them. I read where Virgil was able to step down, but was able to keep a job until he retired. I never was a Chrysler man, because when my old man and his buddies went to Chrysler right after the war, they hired all but my old man. You see, my old man was injured in the Korean Conflict. Luckily he got a job with Tokheim. Naturally I never liked Chrysler for not giving him a chance. However that's the way they run their business. Now I read where Fiat owns Chrysler.

[@treeandaturd]

Loved the plucked chicken cars!

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

I remember our neighbor had a four door sedan that he pulled a scotty travel trailer all over the east coast with.

[@brianlinke1856]

The grill/ headlight arrangement still 'jars', even after all these years. It (this arrangement) was never attempted again?

[@OsbornTramain]

Look at a 1975 or 1976 Toyota Corolla Sport model from the mid to late seventies with four two large head lights and the two massive sport fog lights in the grill. It has an amazing resemblance to this Dodge. bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-toyota-corolla-4/

[@cjr3559]

‘69 Ford Mustang

[@vincewilliams5219]

I'll check off the 413 lightweight catagory on my purchase form thank you.

[@greggb1888]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You should look at your wife, then tell me that these classics are not acceptable!

[@toddbonin6926]

As unpopular as this car was, I sure remember a lot of them on the road when I was a kid. Seems like all my parents’ friends drove Dodges. The ‘63 was a huge improvement and, IMHO, the best looking Dodge ever. I think the ‘62 is unattractive now, but when I was a kid, I didn’t.

[@waynewright2886]

Well Law Enforcement Bought the 62 Dodge Darts, Despite Their Weird Look, Agencies Like... Culver City, California P.D. Illinois State Cops, & Other Law Enforcement Agencies, LAPD had the 62 Plymouth's in their Fleet. The 62 Dodge Darts Had Appearances in T.V. & Movies, Like Leave it to Beaver, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World where the Late Spencer Tracy Drove his Black 62 Dodge in the Final Climactic Chase Scene in the Movie where he Was Chased by the 2 Taxi Cabs Around Long Beach, Calif, & Got Smacked Up in the Alley by the 2 Cabs when he Ran Off with the Stolen Money!

[@robertlimestone6248]

@@waynewright2886 Fleet sales to police, taxis, military and rental agencies kept the production line going. Dodge could build them in bulk with limited options and still make a buck. As one wag said, "You could park it on main street with the keys in the ignition and nobody would steal it.

[@gcfifthgear]

I remember the jingle...unfortunately, 1962 was by no means a Chrysler year by any stretch of the word. The Chrysler line was the only one that outsold the previous model year's output...

[@curbozerboomer1773]

The design was trying to emulate the nation's fascination with Space, rockets, etc. That idea did not fly so well, but it was a cool attempt!

[@davidallen5776]

A little later in the year, Dodge had to do something bloody quick when it brought out the 880 series of models. Plymouth would straighten things out within another two to three years!

[@OsbornTramain]

Well, honestly, it wasn't the styling. Dodge Dealers screamed in anger that they only had two small cars to sell, the Dart/Polara and the Lancer. Using the former DeSoto/Newport body, they used a 1961 Dodge front end and Newport Rear end and this placated the Dodge Dealers and gave them a "Big Dodge" to sell in January of 1962 as a mid model year entry. Plymouth didn't need to do that because they were paired with Chrysler Products and had the Newport to sell which replaced basically and simplified things in eliminating the DeSoto which was what most Plymouth dealers had prior to 1962. Plymouth did get a big Fury in 1965 but they weren't screaming like the Dodge Dealers in 1962

[@TigerDominic-uh1dv]

I like the Styling 😊

[@DSRQ1]

Homely. Thankfully they had Engel at Imperial with the '64 on the way.

[@OsbornTramain]

Engel had is hand in the 63 restyle of this car.......it was restyled with the rear end of the 63 dodge and keeping the 62 front end, but he immediately ordered a crash restyle of the front clip too on the 63 Dart. There are photos of prototypes before Engle of the 63 Dodge, it looked even weirder with the 63 rear end and 62 front end.....he had a big hand in the 63 Valiant restyle too and Dart

[@78logistics]

Not well received by the buying public who stayed away in drive. Ditto for the slightly less bizarre Plymouth.

[@OsbornTramain]

Dodge sold about 310,000 Darts in 1960 and then again in 1961, about the same number, but in 1962, 150,000....Yikes! that was a dramatic sales decline. No wonder Dodge Dealer were screaming!!!!

[@78logistics]

Part of it was the wonky styling, and part of it was the ill advised downsizing of their Plymouth and Dodge lines. They realized their mistake and cobbled together a Custom 800 for the 1962 to 1964 model years, part Dodge with some Chrysler Newport trim hung on for good measure.

[@OsbornTramain]

But this ended up hurting them for years, yes, the Dart, the B platform would be restyled and prove to be an asset for years to come, but the dropping of the Full Sized dodge hurt. Even for 1962, they only sold 15,000 880 cars, that was a significant drop from the Matador and Polara of 1961. They would never recover the Big Dodge again. They lost Full Sized Car market share and it hurt them right into the 70's.

[@Nesa277]

i like the song, does anyone know who the female singer is?

[@OsbornTramain]

Jamie Silvia, from the Group, "The J's with Jamie". They did a lot of work for Chrysler but also other big companies thru the 60's. They even released some albums. You can read about them here. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_J%27s_with_Jamie

[@Nesa277]

@@OsbornTramain Thank you very much for your answer 🙂

[@SeanFlaherty]

The new Hyundais remind me of this design.

[@kascnef]

Is art still alive?

[@OsbornTramain]

Died September 25, 2010 he was 98 years old

[@douglasstark1657]

Not only a great narrator, but also the perfect authority figure in Dragnet and Adam-12 (he was in A12's pilot). He usually played at least a captain, and he easily pulled it off.

[@Suddenlyits1960]

They sure got UGLY in 1962. 57-61 were the best years

[@knowbodiesfull5768]

Not bad cars, just bad-looking cars (for that time, anyway). They should have waited until 1977; they surely would have given General Motors a run for their money!

[@OsbornTramain]

The often missed point about the Dart and Plymouth of 1962 is that although the sales were awful in 62 due to the styling, the platform was the was brand new, the B...which went on to be a gigantic Success thru 1979. Although the car was ugly and they didn't get it right style wise, it ultimately served Chrysler very well thru the decades.

[@smiddysmidton8313]

@@OsbornTramain Incorrect assumption and misconception about styling ,main reason was the downsizing - buyers got a full size for similar money in 1962 .Don't forget Chrysler sales were heavily down the year before also .

[@hcombs0104]

@@OsbornTramain I guess I'm part of the minority here, but I never thought, and still don't think, these cars were the dogs they were made out to be. I say they were an improvement over their 1961 counterparts!

[@greggb1888]

It’s just a rubber stamp now

[@bricksthroughtheages5308]

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