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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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