Maple Leaf Mopar_® Muscle Cars

Oh Canada, our northern friends that have given us hockey, bands like Rush and the Guess Who, actors William Shatner and Michael J. Fox, maple syrup, and that weird side dish called poutine. Canada also gave us some unique Mopar_® muscle cars back in the day that many enthusiasts on this side of the border were unaware of. While Chrysler’s reach expanded throughout North America, varying market tastes, including those pesky tariffs, created the business case for exclusive vehicles with unique content, which were marketed and sold in specific Canadian regions. Their production numbers were limited, and the lifespan was short-lived, but luckily for the thousands of diehard Mopar enthusiasts across the world, we recently learned about certain 1971 and 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger 340 models created exclusively for western Canada.

To get all the details, we spoke with Mopar Canadian devotee Cliff Guinand, who hails from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He’s been into muscle cars since he was 14 years old, when he was the proud owner of a well-used 1967 Dodge Coronet 500 with a 383 big block V8. Since then, he’s owned many other Mopar vehicles and has done extensive research on the exclusive models that we’re built and sold for Canadian consumption. He’s also been a part of the annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) in rounding up exclusive Canadian-built cars for the ‘Maple Leaf Muscle Invitational’.  

“The Maple Leaf Muscle Invitational, of which the first one was at the 2022 MCACN show, was sponsored by the Canadian publication Muscle Cars, Bone Stock & Modified magazine. I help out by sourcing Canadian muscle cars and then writing features on them. I travel mainly through the Western Canadian prairies but occasionally venture out across the eastern parts of Canada to find them,” said Cliff, who does this for the love of the hobby. “It was an honour to help out Bob Ashton and the crew at MCACN by bringing these Canadian machines for all the attendees to see!”

But for Cliff, it’s these rare Canadian Dodge Dart Swinger 340s that get his heart racing. He’s dedicated a great deal of time and energy researching these short-lived ‘Econo-Muscle Cars’ whose lifespan was only two years. Cliff gave us the lowdown on the special machines, and we were all ears. “With the discontinuation of the high-winding 340-cubic-inch V8 engine in the Dart Swinger after the 1970 model year, a dealership in Western Canada, Crosstown Motor City in Edmonton, Alberta, did something no one else did or could do for the 1971 model year. The dealer special ordered a very limited run of 80-85 hi-performance, low buck, ‘H’ code Dart Swinger 340 Specials through the head office of Chrysler of Canada over in Windsor, Ontario. Then a year later, Crosstown Motor City was able to once again convince Chrysler’s head office to build another batch of Dart Swinger 340s for 1972.”

Seeing as Crosstown Motor City was the highest volume dealership in Canada at the time, had a lot of clout. It enabled owner Zane Feldman and sales manager Bob Beveridge to approach the powers-that-be at head office in Windsor, Ontario, to build more Swinger 340s just for them. As Chrysler discontinued the Swinger 340 after the 1970 model and replaced it with their new 1971 Dodge Demon 340 (based on Plymouth’s popular Duster 340 model), these new Demon 340 models would be upwards of $300 more. Zane and Bob at Crosstown Motor City wanted a lower price point Dart Swinger 340, and they convinced Chrysler of Canada to build them. Since the dealer had a proven sales history in moving many of the 1969 and 1970 Dart Swinger 340 machines, and they sponsored a Super Stock HEMI^® Dart that terrorized the drag strips of Western Canada, Chrysler of Canada was only too happy to oblige Crosstown’s request.

While doing research on the Canadian Dart Swinger 340s, Cliff made an interesting discovery. “Crosstown didn’t get all those 80-85 Dart Swinger 340 Specials for themselves in 1971. It seems by the time the order was placed, Crosstown’s new car footprint couldn’t handle all 80-85 units, so 25 of the 1971 Swinger 340 Specials went to Crestview Dodge in Regina, Saskatchewan, while a couple of others were drop shipped up to a dealership in Prince George, BC,” noted Cliff. “Then, for 1972, Crosstown was once again the sales leader for all of Canada by selling over 1,100 cars, and Chrysler of Canada’s head office took notice. Crosstown was offered the chance to order more of these Dart Swinger 340 Specials, but that number was only 30 for the 1972 model year. Of that, five got swooped up by Pembina Dodge in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and a couple more were drop shipped to a dealership in Abbotsford, BC.”

Here are the details on these unique 1971 and 1972 Canadian-built Dart Swinger 340 Specials.

• VIN prefix of LL23H1R / LL23H2R – this denotes (L=Dart, L=Low Line, 23=2-Door Hardtop, H=340, (1=71 or 2=72), R=Windsor, Ontario Plant)
• These cars carry the very coveted Y39 ‘special’ order code as indicated on the broadcast sheets
• Built at Windsor Assembly in 1971 and 1972 due to tariffs and in sequential batches on specific days for the western Canadian dealerships
• Ordered by Crosstown Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 1971 Dart Swinger 340 Specials production, 80-85 units
• 1972 Dart Swinger 340 Specials production, 30 units
• Most cars came equipped with the (D34) 727 TorqueFlite automatic or the (D21) Four-Speed manual transmission. A few came equipped with the standard (D13) Three-Speed manual transmissions
• All cars also came equipped with the Chrysler-built 8.75-inch rear axle with a 3:23 ratio or 3:55 ratio with Sure-Grip differential

Obscured for decades, it was the detective work of Mopar folks like Cliff Guinand who discovered these rare and unique north of the border Dart Swinger 340 Specials. His restored 1972 model, which he enjoys, is a great example of a time well before NAFTA and ‘Lean Manufacturing.’ When dealers could work with Chrysler’s corporate sales division and have low-production special models built for their region.

So Canada, thank you for all your global contributions in sports, music, culture, food and these Maple Leaf Mopar Muscle Cars!