HAND-ME-DOWN DART

STEVE HINCKLEY RESTORED THIS 1965 DART THAT HAS BEEN IN HIS FAMILY FOR THREE GENERATIONS

- JOHN MACHAQUEIRO

People often say that there are certain things in life that you can’t put a price on. While we can’t always know what material things will be bestowed with that significance, automobiles often end up in that category, and Steve Hinckley’s 1965 Dodge Dart embodies that sentiment. However, it took a long and crooked path to reach that status. His story started in 1965, when his grandmother, Lois Hinckley drove her 1957 Dodge Lancer to the ironically-named Hinckley Dodge to trade it in on a brand new 1965 Dodge Dart. Purchased as basic transportation, the Dart was decked out with a white exterior and white and gold interior and had a 273 small-block backed by a 904 three-speed automatic. It was used as a daily driver, and it served that purpose well until 1969, when she decided that a new replacement was in order.

She once again went to the same dealer to buy another daily driver, which unsurprisingly ended up being another Dart. It was a GT model—also in white with a gold interior. Unlike the Lancer, the 1965 Dart was not used as a trade-in. It was instead given to Steve’s mother, Jean, to use as her daily transportation. Shortly after changing hands, Steve’s father, Michael, took a liking to his wife’s car and installed a dual exhaust system with glasspack mufflers, which didn’t exactly go over too well with Jean. Loud mufflers aside, she endured its noisy rumble for almost 10 years until the time came to pass it along as well.