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Wim Janson wrote: I am from Amsterdam, Holland. Five years ago I bought a strange car from Madrid: a silver four-door sedan with black vinyl top. Me and my girlfriend bought one-trip train tickets in the believe that it would start. Arriving in Madrid of course it did not. To cut a short story even shorter we bought and drove it back to Amsterdam. Here the love-haterelationship started that exists to these day.
Why? "The Hard-core Troubadour", a Dodge 3700 GT is built in Spain in October 1973. The chassis is definitely American, it looks very much like a 1969 US model, including strips and bumper. Electrical parts, including gauges, appear to be French. Major differences with the US models are double headlights and vertical backlights, instead of horizontal backlights.
I've had enormous problem getting spare parts, because in Spain they really don't want to know about this beautiful car and I don't have the right specifications. Until this day I don't know which exact type the car is based on and nobody seems to know anything about its origins. The only thing I know is that they assembled this type and the regular Dodge 3700 from 1972-1974 at which date the line collapsed. I hope to send a picture in the near future.
I send you this message, because of the similarities with the production set-ups in South America, particularly Argentina and Brazil.
The 1200 Series was made by Simca, and titled accordingly; it was available with 52, 65, and 85 horsepower engines. (thanks, John Predgen)
Courtesy Steve Trice
The first time I saw a 3700GT was on vacation in Portugal in 1987. It was in a dark alley at night, but what I thought was a regular Valiant or Dart, turned out by investigation of the emblems to be a 3700GT. At that time I didn't notice any more apart from the fact it was red and was fitted with a vinyl top.
As it happens, at the end of last year I had a phone call from a guy who said he had a Chrysler 3700GT - did I know what it was and could I help him with parts - even better, he only lived on the other side of town!! I took the opportunity of getting him to pay a visit to get a better look at the car.
To start with it does look overall like a regular Dart/Valiant, although the front grill and headlamps are different and the tail lights have an Amber turn signal (as required in Europe). I guessed these may well be the same as those fitted to Aussie Valiants which used to be very common in England and with which I am quite familiar, but on closer inspection they turned out to be of European manufacture - branded Hella.
Once again, the car had a vinyl top - which may well be standard on all?? - and a circular emblem on the rear quarter panel with "3700GT" across the center.
The interior is trimmed in Leather - apparently to a high standard - and the instrument panel was wood with round gauges - made by Jaeger (a French manufacturer). The car also had a woodrim steering wheel which looked original.
Under the hood, it was pretty much like any other slant 6 I have seen, although it had a Bosch alternator which may or may not have been original. The windshield washer was not of Chrysler origin either.
Finally, the car even had the original owners handbook but not being fluent in Spanish, it didn't help me gain much information. According to other paperwork that came with the car, it had supposedly been made in 1972, but the publication date on the handbook was 67 or 68 so far as I recall.
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