Dodge Dart 270 Barreiros
Barreiros was a Spanish manufacturer of engines, trucks, buses and automobiles. It was a Chrysler Europe subsidiary from 1969 to 1978.
The company was founded in 1954 as “Barreiros Diesel S.A.” by Eduardo Barreiros and based in Madrid. Established initially as a producer of diesel engines, at Ourense the company then expanded to make commercial vehicles, reaching licensing agreements with French Berliet (truck cabs), British AEC (buses and coaches), and German Hanomag (agricultural tractors) and Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werke GmbH (light vans and trucks), all of them driven by Barreiros’s own engines. Additionally a pay-in-kind contract with Polish Star was active in the late 1950s, by which engineless Star chassis-cab trucks were exported to Spain, while Barreiros engines were sent to Poland; the whole resulted in Barreiros-engined Star tractors being sold in China (and Polish trucks in Spain).
From 1965 to 1970, a Spanish version of the Dodge Dart based on the original from the United States was manufactured in the Barreiros Villaverde factory in Madrid, using the same 111-in (2,819 mm) wheelbase, but with different sheet metal; the Dodge 3700 (commonly known as the Dart) was produced from 1971 to 1978. A total of 17,589 units were manufactured of both models in Spain, they were produced as a knock-down kit imported from Argentina due to the protectionist Spanish regulations of those years.
The Dart and the 3700 were the largest national production cars available in Spain during all production years. It was an expensive luxury car with very low fuel economy by Spanish standards. The GL designation was a luxury model, while the GT was the sportier version.
All gasoline Dodges had the biggest engine ever mounted into a mass-production car in Spain, the 225 cu in (3.7 L) Chrysler Slant 6 engine. The “3700” number is a reference to the 3.7 litres of displacement. No other six-cylinder engine car has been produced in numbers as numerous in Spain. A diesel Dart (named “Barreiros Diesel”) was also produced. These models were very basic and very slow, and used the round tail lights from the first-generation Simca 1000.
Model of the 1966
Made in Spain (Madrid) under the licence of Chrysler
Power: 145 HP
Engine: 3687 cc; 6 cylinders
Fuel consumption: 20 l/100 km
Max. speed: 170 km/h
