On Jan. 14, 1974, Dick Harvey walked into Len Derin Dodge in North Olmstead, Ohio, and placed an order for a new 1974 Dodge Dart Sport Rallye after seeing an advertisement for the Dodge model in the November 1973 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. Just 21 years old, Harvey eagerly anticipated getting behind the wheel of the Dart Sport Rallye, which would be his first new car.
The yellow-and-black car Harvey ordered was a visual match to the car advertised in Hot Rod Magazine with the headline: “Dart Sport Rallye—If you understand what happens when you couple a 2.94 rear end to a wide ratio 4-speed...you’re the one we’re after.”
Verbiage in the ad further sold the car by saying, “Dart Sport Rallye wasn’t made for those who buy on cubes alone. A super car with a super price, it is not. But boring, dull, or commonplace, it isn’t either. The power-to-weight-ratio works out to a shade over 20 pounds per horsepower. The 318 V8 is still the same tractable mill even your maiden aunt could learn to love, but coupled to a new wide ratio 4-speed, it shows a rather refreshing tendency to quickness. The low numeric rear end ratio offers a bonus in quieter super highway travel. Everything you need is here, the things you don’t, aren’t. If the list of what you get stirs your interest, hustle down to
