Some of you might have had your head explode with this title: Is the Dodge “Made in Spain” revolutionary? It couldn’t be more traditional! Technically speaking, of course it was. But a car can be revolutionary for other reasons… starting with being a real challenge to a dictatorial regime. #cars #classiccars #dodge Become a member of this channel to enjoy benefits: / hermetic garage Eduardo Barreiros was a man of extraordinary courage and audacity who dared to do anything. For example, to challenge a dictatorial government and to compete with none other than the Spanish government itself. Let’s not forget that Pegaso, a truck and bus manufacturer, and Seat, a passenger car manufacturer, were owned by the Spanish State. And Don Eduardo, with the brand of his same name, Barreiros, competed with Pegaso. And, thanks to various agreements with the Americans from Chrysler, it competed successfully with the Seat range, from the most modest models with the Simca to the most luxurious with the Dodge… on which we are going to focus today. There will be time to talk about Simca. The Seat 1.500 appeared in 1963, a large car with 4.46 meters long and 1.62 meters wide; with a modern body with angular lines designed by Dante Giacosa himself; and with an engine for the time of 1,481 cm3 and 72 HP. The interior was not excessively luxurious, but it was the largest and most luxurious car, by far, in the national offer. It was the car, I would almost say, of the rich, of businessmen and politicians of the regime, and of the official bodies, because it was, of course, an expensive car. And I insist: By far the largest and most luxurious of the national offer… … until the Dodge Dart arrived in 1965, which crushed its rival. The Dodge was almost 5 metres long, its lines may not have been modern, but in Spain in those years it was really impressive and its 6-cylinder in-line engine, no less than 3,686 cm3 and 145 HP “crushed” the Seat 1,500 with almost three times the displacement and twice the power… And in comparison it was really luxurious and with options rarely seen in our market, which arrived very soon, such as power steering and air conditioning… Barreiros closed an agreement with Chrysler that contemplated the manufacture of the Dodge and Simca 1000. First the largest was manufactured in 1965 and a year later the small Simca. After the agreement with Chrysler Barreiros bought enough components to make 20,000 Dodges, a really optimistic figure for a car of that size and price. The first year, 1,200 units were built… and 742 were sold. The second year, 8,000 were built and 6,399 were sold… and things got worse. The losses forced Barreiros to sell part of his shares to Chrysler in 1967 and, as a result, to lose control of the company. The Dodge was briefly called the 270 when it was launched in 1965 and then the GL, GLE and GT, the most expensive and luxurious. In 1969, the much appreciated diesel version was offered, in this case with a 4-cylinder engine made by Barreiros himself, with a 2-litre and 60 HP engine… for drivers with patience, since we must not forget that this version weighed close to a ton and a half. That same year, 1969, the designer Mario Gamarra, responsible for the design of many trucks, proposed to revive sales by designing a new Dodge that, with few changes and little investment, would be perceived by the clientele as a new model. And so the Dodge Dart was born. The most luxurious versions had integrated air conditioning, power steering, leather upholstery, a 4-speed gearbox on the floor instead of on the steering wheel, tinted windows and optionally a vinyl roof, something highly valued and very fashionable in those years. But the brakes were still drum brakes, very assisted and almost abrupt by them, but drum brakes, one of the weak points of the model... and the fact is that Spanish roads had little to do with North American highways. The top of the range Dodge with the initial but renewed bodywork was the Dodge Dart GT 3700, which was intended to be not only the most luxurious, but also to have a certain sporty component, at least more dynamic. Apart from the better ones, let's say less so, this model had three distinguishing features: One, the roof was always made of vinyl; two, the engine had a new carburetor and was boosted by 15 more HP to reach 160 HP; and three, almost the most important, finally! it had front disc brakes and, a huge novelty at the time, they were radially ventilated. When the parts bought from the USA finally ran out, the decision was made to make a new car... at least new on the outside, the 3,700 GT. The "guts" were practically the same as the GT 3700, it gained 5 extra HP to reach 165, the suspensions had only received a few touch-ups and it had the new and effective ZF power steering, in addition to maintaining the automatic transmission, leather upholstery and air conditioning options.