Lot #

7426

Location

Bettendorf, IA 52722

Seller

Dealer

500

440ci V8

3 Speed Automatic

Red

Black

LS23M9B348239

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Asking Price: $95,995 Questions

Fully restored Dodge Dart M Code Tribute featuring a 440/375 HP V8 engine built to stock specifications. Equipped with the correct 727 TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic transmission, this vehicle honors the legacy of the original 640 M Code Darts, of which only 57 are currently known in the registry. It is estimated that only about 100 of these cars are still on the road today.

This tribute model includes a factory vinyl top and factory tachometer. It also features the factory exhaust manifolds, which are extremely rare and valued between $5,000 and $6,000 per set. These manifolds were produced only for one year, specifically for these cars. The torque box, unique to big block cars, is present, as well as a big block A body radiator, another rare component. The car’s build date is indicated as March 29th, 1969, and it is said to have originated from North Carolina.

All original M Codes were automatics, as four-speeds were not an option for both the Darts or Cudas. Additionally, power steering and power brakes were not available. The history of M Codes began with Mr. Norm’s initiative to fit a big block into an A body after Chrysler claimed it couldn’t be done. Mr. Norm’s success led Chrysler to start building them.

This car has only 500 miles since its restoration in 2021. It comes with the build sheet and a visual inspection report from Dave Wise.

Barry Kluczyk of Motor Trend (March 22, 2019) writes: “As muscle car historical narratives go, the one for the M-code, 440-powered 1969 Dodge Dart GTS is familiar: To keep up with increasingly quick cross-town competitors in the Stock Eliminator classes, a larger, nonproduction engine was shoehorned into the engine compartment. The caveat, of course, was that the specialty model had to be built in sufficient quantities to satisfy the sanctioning bodies, with NHRA being the 800-pound gorilla wearing the tech inspection patch on his jacket.

To give credit where it’s due, the 440-powered compact Dart package was originally conceived and executed in 1968 by Chicago dealer Norman Kraus (Mr. Norm) and his Grand Spaulding Dodge dealership. He was the Don Yenko of the Mopar world and had already raised eyebrows and helped lower e.t.’s in 1967 when he installed a 383 in a Dart and dubbed it the GSS, after the factory’s insistence it couldn’t be done. When he proved the folks in Highland Park wrong, they launched the Dart GTS with the same, impossible-to-fit RB big-block.

The next year, he doubled down with the 440 in his Dart GSS, with at least 50 produced to make the cars eligible for NHRA Super Stock competition. Again, Mother Mopar followed suit and offered the factory-official, M-code, 440-powered Dart GTS in 1969. Total GTS production for 1969 was 6,285 hardtops and 417 convertibles. Only 640 of the hardtops were M-code equipped.