1975 Dodge Dart Sport by MPC

[stavanzer]

Ah, I did not know that. Thanks.

[1972coronet]

Would be nice if they dumped those stupid custom wheels from the 1975-1976 annuals , and restored the wheels included in the  Smokey Chaser issue ; those were Ansen Sprint types . Even better would be the Spyders from the 1974 Duster and the 70's Trans Am kits .

[Dave Darby]

On 11/5/2019 at 9:32 PM, 1972coronet said:

Would be nice if they dumped those stupid custom wheels from the 1975-1976 annuals , and restored the wheels included in the  Smokey Chaser issue ; those were Ansen Sprint types . Even better would be the Spyders from the 1974 Duster and the 70's Trans Am kits .

You mean those Pontiac Honeycomb wheels? I agree.

[Slick Shifter]

On 11/5/2019 at 2:54 PM, Casey said:

The Pontiac style honeycomb wheels included with the '75 Dodge Dart Sport kit are neither of good quality, nor the same as the honeycomb wheels originally included in the MPC Trans AM annual kit(s).

Wow! I don't recall seeing Honeycomb wheels in ANY of the MPC Trans Am kits!

[Casey]

2 hours ago, Slick Shifter said:

Wow! I don't recall seeing Honeycomb wheels in ANY of the MPC Trans Am kits!

You're right. I should've only mentioned the MPC '76 Monza kit. I have at two different/distinct 1/25 scale honeycomb wheels, and I mentioned earlier they don't match those in the reissued '75 Dodge Dart kit, so let us know which other kit they were included with, please.

On 11/5/2019 at 8:32 PM, 1972coronet said:

Even better would be the Spyders from the 1974 Duster and the 70's Trans Am kits .

I'm wondering if they are in fact one and the same. They last appeared in the MPC 1974 Duster kit, and first appeared in the MPC 1975 Firebird kit, and still exist in the MPC 1979 Firebird kit. 

[1972coronet]

Those fugly custom wheels included in the 1975-1976 Dart Sport annuals and the 1976 Monza look more like a non-stock-to-anything wheel than their ostensible Pontiac Honeycomb or Snowflake wheels . The first time I saw (and purchased, in 1989 ) those wheels was in the '76 Dart . At that time I "dismissed" them as being representative of a dartboard , which was in line with the nomenclature of the subject (and in line with Dodge's T.V. commercials of the era) .

Never-the-less... They're fugly , and they need to disappear . 

[Slick Shifter]

Well, the haters are out in force about the Pontiac Honeycomb wheels. I'd bet that none of them have ever seen a 1971-76 'bird Honeycomb wheel in the flesh, so to speak.

But i have. And when this Dart Sport was reissued i hunted down an eBay seller who was parting these kits out and i loaded up on these wheels, because they're actually pretty good.

I can use them on MPC 1971-76 Formulas and also 1971-72 GTOs & 1971-72 GPs ?

 

Edited November 9, 2019 by Slick Shifter

[catpack68]

I have several of these kits and while it was good to see it released again,I would love to see round 2 do a modified version of this kit using 73-74 grille and tailight panel to do a 73-74 Dart Sport.Lots of Chrysler backed pro stocks used this body style back in the day.Heck a resin conversion would be cool too.I have the Keith Marks Hang 10 decals also and the Slixx Landy decal sheet to do the 76 Pro Stock Dart too.I also like the Pontiac honey comb wheels the come with the kit as I plan to use them on other pontiacs I plan to build

Edited November 9, 2019 by racer X

[Dave Darby]

3 hours ago, Slick Shifter said:

Well, the haters are out in force about the Pontiac Honeycomb wheels. I'd bet that none of them have ever seen a 1971-76 'bird Honeycomb wheel in the flesh, so to speak.

But i have. And when this Dart Sport was reissued i hunted down an eBay seller who was parting these kits out and i loaded up on these wheels, because they're actually pretty good.

I can use them on MPC 1971-76 Formulas and also 1971-72 GTOs & 1971-72 GPs ?

 

I don't hate them, but ones that came in the 76 Monza kit are nicer. And they are pretty out of place on a Dodge Dart.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Dave Darby

[Slick Shifter]

18 minutes ago, Dave Darby said:

I don't hate them, but ones that came in the 76 Monza kit are nicer. And they are pretty out of place on a Dodge Dart.

That doesn't make a lot of sense to cut that mold section twice when MPC was already in the habit of moving wheel sections around from mold to mold.

So i just looked at the Honeys on a  Monza tree and compared them side-by-side to the Honeys in the most recent reissue of the 1975 Dart Sport.

What do you say is so much better about the Honeys in the Monza kit?

[Dave Darby]

I've had these since I was a teen in the 70s, so it's possible they from a different than the Monza. But look at the wheel lips. Non existent on the Dart wheels, nice and crisp on these old ones (I did strip the old chrome and paint off.]

[Slick Shifter]

43 minutes ago, Dave Darby said:

But look at the wheel lips. Non existent on the Dart wheels, nice and crisp on these old ones (I did strip the old chrome and paint off.]

Yep, that's the only difference on the show side. 

Either way, the detail on the reissue Dart Sport Honeycombs is more correct.

There is no raised ring on the outer edge of real Honeycomb trim rings.

 

[Mark]

On 11/5/2019 at 9:32 PM, 1972coronet said:

Would be nice if they dumped those stupid custom wheels from the 1975-1976 annuals , and restored the wheels included in the  Smokey Chaser issue ; those were Ansen Sprint types . Even better would be the Spyders from the 1974 Duster and the 70's Trans Am kits .

Be careful what you wish for.  I recently picked up an original Convoy Chaser; the slotted wheels look like either four-lug wheels with extremely large fasteners for the center caps, or eight-lug wheels.  I had one of the RC2 reissue Convoy Chaser kits, it had the same wheels, and I wrote those off thinking they were tooled by RC2.

[Casey]

24 minutes ago, Mark said:

Be careful what you wish for.  I recently picked up an original Convoy Chaser; the slotted wheels look like either four-lug wheels with extremely large fasteners for the center caps, or eight-lug wheels.

Ugh, that's terrible. I think I have a few loose wheels like this, and I always assumed they were from a Pinto or Mustang II kit. Here are the chrome parts from an original issue MPC Smokey the Convoy Chaser kit:

 

And for comparison, the same parts from an original issue MPC '76 Dodge Dart Sport:

[Mark]

The MPC Pinto kits (all stock sedan and wagons) have four-lug slotted wheels.  There is only space for one set of wheels on the plated tree in those kits.  But those wheels are well done, much better than those in the Convoy Chaser.  

[1972coronet]

4 hours ago, Mark said:

Be careful what you wish for.  I recently picked up an original Convoy Chaser; the slotted wheels look like either four-lug wheels with extremely large fasteners for the center caps, or eight-lug wheels.  I had one of the RC2 reissue Convoy Chaser kits, it had the same wheels, and I wrote those off thinking they were tooled by RC2.

I agree --- I haven't had the Convoy Chaser ( or whatever its name is ) kit since it was new (1977 , IIRC) , so I wasn't aware of the tooling-gaffe ( at age 7 , I paid little attention to the wheels other than they looked like the 'real' cars I'd see every day ).

Never-the-less... Those ugly custom wheels in the '75-'76 Dart kits must go .

Additionally ; there's a marked "core-shift" in the chassis of the MPC A-body annuals ( et al. ) --- the wheelbase is off from side-to-side . While the AMT '71 Duster can provide a much-improved chassis , etc. , I just wish that the stock chassis was decent enough for an OOB build . 

[Casey]

On 11/4/2019 at 4:20 PM, Casey said:

Gotta be this box art, right?

Yup.

[stavanzer]

I wish that Round2 would put this Hood Scoop Back in the box.  I've bought two of the Purple kits, just for that Scoop.

[Casey]

On 12/4/2013 at 9:00 AM, drodg said:

I used the MPC Dart kit to build a Dodge Dart Hang Ten about three years ago.

Well, Round2 snuck some extra decals inside the re-issued '76 Dart kit, including decals to build both a Hang Ten Dart and a Spirit of '76 Dart:

[stavanzer]

I'm both old, and a bit of a Novice with Darts. Which decals are for the Hang Ten? I see the Spirit of 76 Logos.I assume the Red/White/Blue stripes are for that version.

[1972coronet]

2 minutes ago, alexis said:

I'm both old, and a bit of a Novice with Darts. Which decals are for the Hang Ten? I see the Spirit of 76 Logos.I assume the Red/White/Blue stripes are for that version.

The Hang 10 was offered in 1974 and 1975 ; all engines were available , but only a console-shift automatic (no 3 nor 4 speeds) .

The decal sheet offers the exterior decals only ( a welcomed addition ) , but is "lacking" the interior setup ( Keith Marks sells those ) .

The Spirit of '76 decals are great , too !

I could swear that Dart Lite decals were included ( yes , I bought this issue of the kit for its decals primarily ) , but ostensibly that's not the case .

[stavanzer]

Thanks, John.  But, Which stripes are for the Hang Ten?

[Bucky]

Third and fourth side stripes from the top are Hang Ten. Bottom left for the hood stripe.

[1972coronet]

2 minutes ago, alexis said:

Thanks, John.  But, Which stripes are for the Hang Ten?

The thin ones , 2nd row from the top ; and the "spear" type , lower-left .

The bold stripes are for the Spirit of '76. 

Note that both examples shared the same seat upholstery pattern . 

 

 

[stavanzer]

Thanks! Great Looking Darts!