The return of the Dodge Dart has more than a twinge of nostalgia for me. I grew up in a Chrysler family. Our first car was a 1970 Dodge Dart (pictured below). It was our first days of freedom and the last days of public transit for us.

The Chrysler Corporation, which was itself on death’s door not too many years ago, found a Sugar Daddy to save it, in the form of Italy’s Fiat. Now on somewhat solid road, the car company has brought back from the dead one of its most remembered nameplates, albeit this time on an Italian chassis.

The return of the Dodge Dart has more than a twinge of nostalgia for me. I grew up in a Chrysler family. Our first car was a 1970 Dodge Dart (pictured below). It was our first days of freedom and the last days of public transit for us.

Though only 12-years-old when this car came into my life it was almost entirely my choice of vehicle. I loved the Chryslers of my youth, enjoyed the sport model of the Dart that was driven by TV’s Mannix, and had major sway on my Dad who really knew nothing about cars (and truth be told, knew very little about driving them too).

But five years later we traded up to a more mid range 1975 Dodge Dart. Again, I had complete say on this deceptively fast family sedan with a .318 V8 under the hood. However, once again Mom picked the colour. Not wanting to beat around the bush with a choice that could look somewhat green (unless it was cloudy or dark outside), she went full bore with her favourite colour, which is green. (For the record, green is NOT my favourite colour. On the contrary, it is a colour I do not like at all).

This car was my baby. I got up early in the morning to drive my father to work, then took the car to school. I picked my Dad up after work, then went to my job as a theatre usher after that. On the weekends, once I made sure to take Mom to the supermarket for groceries, I was free to roam the world in that Dart.

That car, which was affectionately known as “Betsy” was everything to me. And I put her through a lot. In the eight years I had her, she saw almost 300,000 miles (long before the days when we counted distance in kilometres). At the time of her death I was living in Brockville, Ontario working at a small radio station (two and a half years of my life I will never get back. I went there to cut my salary in half and double the Black population. A story I may or may not share another day).

During my Brockville days, I drove Betsy home every weekend. It was a two hour plus drive to Brockville, but only a 90 minute drive back to Montreal (I told you, I didn’t like Brockville and the Dart did have a .318 V8).

That car had been through a lot, least of all my adolescence. I can truly say that with all the car had endured, it stood up to the challenges. And at the risk of sounding old, they don’t make them like they used to.

To say I was distraught at the loss of my beloved vehicle might not be too far off the mark. But I got through my grief by placing an obit in the Brockville daily newspaper, The Recorder and Times (apparently they would let you write anything in the classifieds as long as they saw the money . . . . again another sad story for another day).​

THE OBIT (PICTURED BELOW) WAS ENTITLED GOODBYE DEAR FRIEND. IF YOU CAN’T READ THE ACTUAL NEWSPAPER CLIPPING, WHICH I STILL HOLD NEAR AND DEAR TO MY HEART, HERE’S WHAT IT SAID:

What can I say?

We all grieve in different ways. So in this millennium, as a once venerable automotive giant looks to its past to try and rebuild for the future, with ad campaigns and much hype over the return of a treasured nameplate, I will quietly applaud them for their attempt. But I will also look back fondly, with a smile, (and maybe a tear) knowing that the glory days of my youth were truly enhanced by my relationship with that 1975 Dodge Dart.

And I hope that out there somewhere is another teenager, with or without a sense of history for the name, who might fall in love with a Dodge Dart of his own and begin the journey on the highway of memories.

That’s the Stuph – the way I see it

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My First Car – 1979 Beetle Convertible

by Peter Hehm

As a teenager growing up in the eighties, films and movies had a tremendous influence on my friends and I when it came to “cool cars”.

On TV, there was Miami Vice with Crocket’s pseudo Ferrari Daytona and then a real Testarossa.

Knightrider was a talking Pontiac Trams-am! (see above)

The Dukes of Hazzard had a Dodge Charger named the General Lee.

In the movies, we were teased by all the exotic cars chasing Aston Martins in the James Bond movies!

My friends ended up buying Honda Accords and CRXs, Volkswagen Jettas and GTIs and Chevy Camaros and Firebirds!

What did I end up buying?

An old Beetle!

For today’s generation, that’s a Beetle with the engine in the back!

I remember reading in the classified ads of the Gazette in the spring of 85 (that’s how you shopped for a car back then), a low mileage Karmann Beetle Convertible. I asked my friend Eugenio to come and see it with me since he had a car.

Before I went into the dealership, I asked him to go inside first and tell me the condition of the car. When he came out, he smiled and said nervously:

“Don’t go in,

unless you really want to buy it”.

So I went in.

Right next to the Beetle was a 1957 Thunderbird for sale for the same asking price!

I looked at both cars, same asking price, 14,500$.

One was in showroom condition with 11,000KM, the other a multiple car owner with reliability issues according to the (honest?) salesman!

Both convertibles, so a winter car also needed to be calculated into my budget.

The decision from a “car guy” prospective was a no-brainer, go with the flashy looking car to get the girls!

But then as a first time car buyer, realistically you have to be rational about what you will buy as you first car.

Is it because you need a car to travel to work, mobility because you want freedom or because the vehicle is an extension of you?

My Italian friends ended up with Camaros! My other friends Hondas or GTIs. All great cars but none really had any “personality”.

At the end of October of that year, I took possession of the 1979 Beetle Convertible!

Countless stories and history has been written about Beetles, more that any other car, and for good reason! It truly has a personality that is undeniable.

Just ask Walt Disney!

Prior to his death, he wanted to make a movie about a car with a soul! The story goes that Disney asked his employees to pick a car in the parking lot on their way home. Among the dozen or so “casting cars” chosen, the overwhelming favorite was the Beetle!

My car was named “Alyson” for no other reason that the name just came to me! Alyson the Beetle! She became an extension of me. She was the queen where ever I went! People would start a conversation with me, tourists wanted a picture with her, everyone wanted a ride! She had trouble keeping up with buses but everyone’s eyes were on her!

Alyson was always the star! Among all the Corvettes, Porsches, Alfa Romeos, she out-shined them all! I had one gentleman in a blue Ferrari pull up to me and ask if the car was for sale because his wife sitting next to him wanted the car because the color matched the Ferrari!

A “his” and “hers” in the garage!

She was so beautiful, Alyson was cast in two movies shot locally in Montreal. One movie called “Green without Envy” a Harlequin made for TV romance and the other starring James Brolin (Josh Brolin’s father) called Back Stab.

Alyson was also the car chosen by Eugenio for his wedding, as well as 4 other friends and countless strangers who requested her! As the saying goes…Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! She was all that!!

My Beetle is the most reliable car ever made! I have replaced the alternator once, brakes pads, spark plugs and oil filter regularly and that’s it!

Since 1985!

For those that are not familiar with Beetles, the engine is air cooled!

There is one belt and fan! That’s it!

I will never sell her!

I have a Mercedes-Benz as my “daily driver”.

A Porsche 911 as my “stress relief” car and

a BMW motorcycle as my “freedom vehicle”!

After owning her for 33 years, she is about to get a heart transplant! Not because she isn’t reliable, on the contrary, her next heart, like the rest of her, will require no maintenance at all! In fact, all I will need to do is change brakes pads!

Alyson, like all cats and Beetles that have nine lives, is going electric!

-Peter Hehn

Peter Hehn has been an automotive enthusiast his whole life. He fell in love with cars at 10 when he first saw a picture of James Dean in a Spyder. Peter also enjoys riding two wheels, motorbikes and bicycles! When not obsessing over “wheels”, he works as a recruitment and branding consultant. He began his career in commercial real estate and is still a managing partner in developing resort properties in Tremblant. He is now obsessing over acquiring a VW Westfalia!

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