The 1968 Dodge Dart convertible from the hit TV series “Mannix” vanished for decades. Here’s how this Barris–built icon was rediscovered and restored.
A Custom-built, 1-of-1 by George Barris for TV’s toughest private eye, the lost “Mannix” Dodge Dart was found and restored.] Before Jim Rockford and Thomas Magnum were even a gleam in the eyes of their TV creators, the most famous television private eye was Joe Mannix.
Tall, dark, and two-fisted, Mannix was an old-school negotiator. He’d just as soon throw a bad guy off the roof as wait for the cops to arrive. Factor in numerous car chases and booby-trapped warehouses, and the occasional ride up a rock quarry’s conveyor belt during a prolonged gun fight, and it’s obvious whyThe star of the show for its eight fast-moving seasons was Mike Connors. With the look and demeanor of a harder-edged Sean Connery, Connors brought a new type of class and deportment to the hard-boiled private investigator genre established by film noir characters such as Bogart’s Sam Spade. But some things carried over: chain smoking, the bachelor life, a bottle of Scotch in the desk drawer—and a leggy secretary in the outer office. Incase, it was Peggy Fair, played by Gail Fisher, the first African-American actress to costar in a dramatic TV series. Joe Mannix may have been old school in his interrogation methods, but he was modern in his social ideology.fans will point out that the inaugural season of the show had Joe reluctantly working for Intertect, a high-tech detective agency where computers solved the crimes. But that premise didn’t resonate with viewers. Ratings were mediocre, despite Mannix wheeling around in a wild George Barris “Kustomized” Olds Toronado with the roof cut off and even a hidden console for his gun. When the show was retooled for its second season, Joe was on his own as a P.I., working out of a classy office villa at 17 Paseo Verde, with Peggy behind her desk and a dark green 1968 Dodge Dart GTS convertible in the carport.was a top-rated show, with all the high-speed action and beautiful women anyone could ask for. Combining quality writing, highly styled directing, and spectacular theme music penned by Lalo Schifrin had to make do with a single 1968 Dart GTS. “Originally it was a red car, and Geller said that’s too bright, let’s make it a racing-car green. I think this car, underneath, still has some red paint on it,” Connors remembers. Although Barris was given a relatively free hand in creating the Dart’s special features, he knew it was not to be a gimmick-laden machine like the James Bond Aston Martin. After all, Joe Mannix was a regular guy working for 100 bucks a day, not a British secret agent. “They left it up to me as to what would be a trendsetter to follow the concept of the show,” George Barris told us. “The Toronado was a one-of-a-kind expensive-looking vehicle, like slipping a private eye into a Rolls-Royce. We wanted the Dart to have a performance look, but we played it down to make Mannix’s visibility as a private eye not so luxurious.” Barris also removed all the car’s name badges. “If we left the emblems on, the product placement would be too obvious,” he explains., this Dart is rare in its own right, being one of 271 ’68 GTS convertibles built with a 340 V-8 and TorqueFlite automatic. The 340 sported 10.5:1 compression and churned out 275 horsepower at 5000 rpm and 340 pound-feet of twist at 3200 rpm. With a curb weight of 3350 pounds and a 3.23:1 ring-and-pinion, the GTS ragtop was a strong runner, turning 0-60-mph times in the low sixes and quarter-mile runs in 14.7 seconds at over 95 mph. The Dart appeared on screen as Mannix’s sporty convertible in 1968 and 1969 episodes. In mid-season ’69, George Barris was asked to create a duplicate of the ’68 car with a 1969 Dart. However, for reasons unknown today, the ’68 car continued to be featured in the show even after the ’69 Dart was introduced. That’s where the mystery begins.were finished with the ’68 Dart, it was reportedly sold to a secretary at Paramount Studios. Then it was lost for decades and assumed destroyed. Not even hard-coreThen a hiker came across what first appeared to be just an abandoned old Dodge in a remote part of the Southern California mountains. Although partially buried under years of fallen foliage, the Dart was identifiable as something special by its unique Barris-created hood scoops. The hiker, afan, knew he had stumbled upon the find of a lifetime. He located the owner, bought the car, and began the restoration. The Dart’s condition was rough, but amazingly straight and rust-free. Even more good news arrived when one of Barris’ painters from back in the era was rediscovered. With his expert application of a new metallic dark-green finish, the Mannix Dart convertible began coming back to life.). Krzastek took the restoration quality up several notches, worked with Barris to reproduce the unique Barris Kustoms fender badges, and even recreated Mannix’s detective identification card and the original “NMO 918” prop license plates. Ol’ Joe would be proud. Because the ’69 Mannix Dart was destroyed in a wreck while being transported to the wife of a studio executive after its final scene, that makes this ’68 the one and only surviving Mannix Dart.from 1994 to 2001. So, almost as if we have a time machine, we’re reuniting the car with Mike Connors, George Barris, and legendaryMike Connors gets reacquainted with the Dodge Dart he drove in the highly popular television series, “Mannix,” which ran for eight seasons.like they’re greeting a long-lost friend. Connors climbs in, starts the engine, and pulls the vintage phone’s handset to his ear. George Barris walks around the car, pointing out all his detail work. Both men, now in their 80s, recall things about the Dart as though it’s 1968 again.series,” Barris remembers. “They didn’t have any animation like we have today, where they put cars in front of a blue screen for all the action.” “Car chases became an integral part of our show,” Connors tells us. “I loved it. I was able to do a lot of the stunts. But my stunt double, Dick Ziker, had a lot of close calls. We really beat those babies to death.” Indeed, the Dart still retains some scrapes to its undercarriage from doing all that action. It was a different era. Ziker wasn’t even wearing a fire suit in one stunt in which he accidentally caught on fire. Now 71, he still works regularly. “I’ll do anything,” he says. “I can still hit the ground; I just don’t get up as easily.”is still so popular, 40 years later? “That was a great era in television. I think there was an integrity to the show.The tire-screeching action of this 1968 Dodge Dart GTS convertible no doubt added to the show’s popularity and has been etched into the memories of millions of television-watching baby boomers. The comments and thumbs-up the car still receives on each drive confirm that lasting impact like a Joe Mannix right cross to the jaw.Replacing the round front turn signals with rectangular units and mounting them behind the grilleInstalling a racing-style gas cap and side mirrorInstalling a Motorola car phone Painting the car dark green TV series. To now own the actual car I longed for as a kid is almost beyond belief. The recognition it gets from people of all ages is remarkable.”“This is a one of one certified Mannix/Barris creation, guaranteed to have chased TV bad guys all over Los Angeles for two seasons. Fortunately the bullet holes weren’t real, but the driving stunts were.”“There’s no mystery to restoring a ’68 Dart. Plenty of resto parts are available and seem a bargain compared with restoring a ’57 T-Bird or ’60 Corvette, as I also have done. This car is also shade-tree simple to maintain.”A Dart GTS ragtop is a pretty nice piece to have and drive in any case. Given this example’s history, it goes straight from cool to “highly collectible.”Suspension: control arms, torsion bars, anti-roll bar; live axle, leaf springs
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