What do you get when you let legendary custom car builder George Barris — who also built vehicles for Batman, The Munsters, and The Beverly Hillbillies — work his magic on a 1968 Dodge Dart GTS? The answer is a truly one-of-a-kind Mopar car with unique, handmade components. However, unlike many of Barris' other wild creations, this Dart was a bit more subtle and understated. It fit perfectly into its role as the personal ride of Detective Joe Mannix, played by actor Mike Connors on the eponymous TV show Mannix.
The Mannix Dodge Dart
Jay Leno met with the current owner of this '68 Dart, automotive reporter Dave Kunz. The pair discussed the fascinating history of this car. By the time it was selected, Mannix had already debuted with the main character driving another one of Barris' custom creations, a 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado that was chopped into a roadster.
For the second season in 1968, it was decided that Mannix would drive a vehicle that came from the factory as a convertible, namely a Dodge Dart.
In contrast to many TV and movie cars, this was truly "one of one" without any identical stunt-double cars or camera cars. George Barris built it based on one of Chrysler's studio fleet vehicles, a red convertible Dart with a 340ci V8 and automatic transmission.
Since bright red didn't feel like a good fit for Mannix's style, Barris repainted it British racing green. He also added custom hood scoops, powerful Lucas Flamethrower spotlights in the grille where the park lamps would've been, and a dramatically different rear end with new taillights and an integrated spoiler.
The car went through a few different wheel setups, one of which was a classic set of Cragar S/S wheels, as seen on the car in its restored form.
The interior was also modified with custom upholstered bucket seats and a Barris Kustoms name plate below the gauge cluster. Barris emblems were also affixed to the outside of the car on the front fenders.
One more modification was a piece of technology that was far ahead of its time in the '60s: a Motorola car phone. Even with a rotary dial, this felt like space-age tech back then, and was remarkably expensive.
According to Kunz, this car was almost lost entirely. After the show moved on, it ended up sitting outside near a hiking trail in California, with its green paint flaking away. A hiker noticed it and realized based on the grille lights and spoiler that it must be the famous Mannix car. That lucky hiker bought it, authenticated it, and it was eventually restored inside and out.
Above: If you're interested in learning more about the other custom cars featured on Mannix, read our previous article, The Cars of Mannix: A Stylish Ride Through TV Detective History.
Check out the full Jay Leno's Garage video below to learn more about this very cool custom Dodge Dart:
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