So as many of us know the American car industry was made by the motto race on Sunday sell on Monday. American muscle back in the day was at the top of the charts and a few still are. Every company tried to beat each other by stuffing the biggest engine in the smallest vehicle they made. I don't know how many people here like or care for American vehicles but it was a huge front runner on our nation.

So getting to the point growing up my uncle had a 70 Chevy Chevelle with a 396 it was curvy with the grunt to throw you in the seat. I fell in love with it. Just the same as we love our cars we have now. But being a car guy or like my friends like to call me a grease monkey. So yes I love cars and what they stand for and what we make them. So seeing American companies coming out with re-takes on old classics that acually stood for something back in the day.

Ford never let the mustang go away they always had there ups and downs with it but they all ways tried to stay true to what the core values of what they designed it on.
Chevy always tried to take the dream of the camaro and push it to the next step and always will. They always follow what the public wants but never looses sight of there goal.
Dodge on the other had hit it huge with the challenger for the most part but overall they did it good on it. On the other hand they ruined what the dart stood for and F***ed everything up. How could you take one of the best names from the 60's and call this new mid sized green car called the dart. Nothing about the dart was about mpg. It was about door panel grabbing power when the car took off.

So being a car guy it pisses me off and I posted this thread to see if anyone else feels the same way.

 

For what it's worth (and to play devils advocate). Most consumers Dodge is trying to target with the Dart were not around in the 60's. To them it is a completely new car.

For me some nameplates should be resurrected and some left to rest. One example is the Thunderbird, more recently the 2004. It was retro cool, but still lacked the presence of it's fore bearer. The GT however was an amazing reincarnation of the timeless GT40.

I'm not the biggest Chevy fan (Blue Oval guy), but I give credit to them trying the HHR and SSR. Neither have a historic nameplate but they were retro body styled with modern sheet metal. Yes they failed but they did have the b*lls to make them for a short period.

 

Daily400, the new Dodge Dart is very true to its roots. The Dart back in the 60's/70's was Dodge's economy offering, the car for people who wanted enough space for their family, wanted very minimal operating costs, no luxury frills, and a cheap base price.

Dodge did shove some hot motors in a select few Darts, but I'm betting 90-98% of the entire Dart production run came with either a slant six or a very mild 318 v8 under the hood.