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'A sporting car, a fun car, a thoroughbred* one side to the other, eliminating the central blind area left by most wiper systems. A second feature is the reverse airfoil shape of the wiper arms, which traps air and forces the blades hard against the glass. The all-vinyl interior is plush and expensive-looking, with wall-to-wall carpeting backed by polyethylene for moisture control. The new flat roof and squared-off rear window design provides additional rear seat space. There is room to seat five six-footers comfortably. Matching the overall design, the dash is simple and uncluttered, with a padded cowling shading the instruments in sunlight and preventing the panel lights from reflecting into the windshield at night. A.U controls are within reach of the driver, with washer and lighting knobs and transmission pushbuttons on the left, and cigar lighter, ignition, radio and heater controls on the right. Power for our test car was supplied	TRAIL INTO CALIFORNIA'S Chocolate Mountains was supposedly passable only to vehicles with four-wheel drive. Rolofson found the Dart GT handled it without difficulty.
	by the famous Slant Six engine, equipped with the optional 225 power package. Young Bob was fascinated by the compact engine accessories— the alternator (pioneered by Dodge), replaceable air and oil filters, sealed spark plugs, and generally "neat" engine compartment. Performance-wise, the 145 horsepower mill propels the GT at speeds comparable with heavier machines equipped with large V-8 engines. On the freeway at cruising speeds, the Dart Six has enough in reserve to give the driver a wide margin of safety for passing. As usual with my road tests, I try to subject the test car to heavy traffic, wide open freeways, and rough, off-beat roads. After a week-long huddle with my test crew composed of three adventuresome teenagers: my daughters Tita Ann and Bina Kate, and young Bob, we decided to visit Mexico's Baja California. We threaded our way through rough Los Angeles traffic, and onto the San Diego Freeway, a wide ribbon of concrete stretching due south. Crossing the border into Tijuana requires merely the formality of slowing down. "Tee Jay" is a wide-open vice and gambling town, no place for teenagers, so we crossed town, and picked Up the highway south to Ensenada. The paved two-lane road winds through the foothills like an angry snake, with the distant Sierra de Juarez ranges on the left, and the broad Pacific beaches on the right. This excellent highway proved the Dart GT to be a true Grand Touring machine. The car took difficult curves with ridiculous ease. The torsion bar suspension gives it ride and handling qualities that few cars, priced higher or lower, can exceed. As a matter of	fact, we goofed the signs marking curves at 30 and 50, and speed limit signs warning a top speed of 80. We took the 30 mph signs at 50, the 50 mph signs at 70, and pretty well averaged the 80 mph overall limit . . . only to discover later that the signs were in kilometers, making us speed demons of the first water! Ensenada is a modern town of 23,000 situated 63 miles south of the border. It is a place to relax and enjoy living in a moderately warm climate with cool evenings. Our base of operations was the Bahia Resort Hotel, hosted by Sr. Raul Ramirez Funcke. His hotel is on a par with any first-class U. S. motel, with 73 rooms and suites, a large swimming pool and the Bahia Dining Room, where the nightly floor shows are good, clean, family entertainment. The shows feature the native dances of various States of Mexico, performed by lively, handsome couples in authentic costumes. A trip to Ensenada is not complete without a drive to the top of Chapul-tapec, a huge hill north of town. The view looks out across the town, harbor and bay, toward Todos Santos Island, which inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island", much of which he wrote in Ensenada. With an extra weekend still open, the test crew decided to take the long way home. Reaching Tijuana, we refueled the Dart with tax-free regular, and headed for Mexicali, over Baja Route 2. At Mexicali, we caught Route 99 north, through El Centre, Brawley, and Westmoreland, to Sal-ton City on the Salton Sea. This 40-mile lake has become one of California's greatest recreational areas, with opportunities for fishing, hunting, water skiing, boating and
BOB ROLOFSON rates in the top echelon of America's popular automobile writer-experts. He is a former car-test editor for Motor Trend magazine and is the author of four books on automobile evaluation. He long ago lost count of the number of cars, domestic and foreign, that he has put through his testing procedures. Bob is also regarded as one of the nation's leading automotive photographers. His career with a camera goes back to World War II when he covered 37 foreign countries for the airborne troops. Along with all this, Bob has acquired diplomas from six universities and service schools.