[Citation84]

I had a 1968 Dart 225 908 auto. After putting on a Holley Economaster, and jetting one step rich, I'd get 25 highway or city in good weather.
Also had radial tires on 14x 5.5 steel wheels.
The car weighed in at an honest 2750 lbs. Bench seat. AM radio. Manual brakes and steering.
Was a nice car for the $600. I paid. Had 95,xxx miles on it when purchased. Also, lashed the valves - huge improvement in power!
I had it for about 3 years in the early 80s.

Bottom line: you don't always need a manual trans for decent mileage.

Later, I had a 74 Dart, 198, 3 on the tree. I could not top that 68 for power of MPGs. The 74 weighted a lot more! (400+lbs.)
Power steering and brakes, door side beams, bigger bumpers.... All adds up

Plus the 68 didn't have the Rube Goldberg smog contraptions Detroit was using customers to beta test for them.

 

[Citation84]

The percentage of 225s with four speeds in my part of the country was quite high when I was selling them in '64. Valiants were probably 60-40, automatics to 4-speeds, while V100 manuals were mostly 3-speeds on the column. Actually, I don't recall us ever ordering a V100 4-speed. We didn't get any Barracudas with 3-speed manuals, but that first year, we were rationed in the number of Barracudas we could get from the factory.

Of course, now that it's been so long since either the car or the engine have been in production, the enthusiasts have gathered up most of the A-body slant 4-speeds, but you still see them for sale now and then.

The '63 Signet I bought in '66 had a 225 with TorqueFlite, but otherwise pretty short on options, but I loved it! The '64 V200 convertible I own now has been upgraded to Signet trim and extensively modernized and improved mechanically.

They were probably V8s as 64 was the first year for both the 273 V8 and 4 speed manual

The percentage of 225s with four speeds in my part of the country was quite high when I was selling them in '64. Valiants were probably 60-40, automatics to 4-speeds, while V100 manuals were mostly 3-speeds on the column. Actually, I don't recall us ever ordering a V100 4-speed. We didn't get any Barracudas with 3-speed manuals, but that first year, we were rationed in the number of Barracudas we could get from the factory.

Of course, now that it's been so long since either the car or the engine have been in production, the enthusiasts have gathered up most of the A-body slant 4-speeds, but you still see them for sale now and then.

The '63 Signet I bought in '66 had a 225 with TorqueFlite, but otherwise pretty short on options, but I loved it! The '64 V200 convertible I own now has been upgraded to Signet trim and extensively modernized and improved mechanically.

I wonder what the national take rate for the 4 speed was, six and V8 for 64 given they were both new for that year.

Ford offered the 4 speed for the Falcon and six with very few takers.

Having the three speed manual, that fourth gear would be nice. But I'd still like it on the column to show you how sick I am.

Did the 225 & manual use a different rear axle ratio over the 170 with the same ? Perhaps that's why it feels like it's just working too hard in third in mine.