Dodge on TV – Al Bundy Edition
Growing up in the 80′s I had to beg my parents to let me stay up and watch Married…with Children. They felt it was too racy for me to watch, with all the dirty jokes and Kelly Bundy cleavage that even FOX wouldn’t get away with in today’s overly FCC’d world. One of the series’ best running gags was the beat up Dodge Al Bundy drove (or pushed) into his driveway each week. It was a bit of inside humor for me, since both Mom and Dad had Chrysler-produced vehicles (K-Car and Acclaim respectively). And it was always hilarious to hear Al yell “No Brakes, No Brakes!” when he slammed into the garage.
“Love and marriage…”
But there’s some controversey in the Bundy Clan. The “Mighty Dodge” was believed to be a 1974 Dodge Dart. However, DodgePedia is here to break it to all the Bundy Dodge fans: Al’s car was in fact a 1972 Plymouth Duster!
1972 Plymouth Duster, Al’s “Mighty Dodge”
If you want to be picky, go ahead. Both Plymouth and Dodge logos are under Chrysler’s flag, and honestly “Dodge” rolls off the tongue much easier. “It’s a name that speaks power and glory…Dodge.” Married…took many liberties mocking the Dodge name over the shows 200-plus episode run. In one episode, they paid homage to the “Dart” by finally cleaning her up. The Bundy family takes their vehicle to a car wash, where their car is quickly lost. Owners at the establishment offer up a newer automobile as replacement, but Al wants nothing to do with their offer. Later, a red Dodge is found parked behind the wash. Due to his copies of “nudie” magazines in the trunk it’s revealed “Dart’s” brownish-bronze color was actually 20+ years of dirt. Al and car are together again, and the clan jumps behind to give the reunited couple a push home. The true make of this TV car is a minor point, because thanks to Al Bundy proclaiming its name on various episodes Dodge has gone down in sitcom history as a great comedic device.
1974 Dodge Dart – the Real Bundy-mobile?
I remember when Al almost won a “Dodge Viper” but they really called it a “testica” or something combining testicle and tesla lol
Actually the testica2000 was a rebadged mustang, not a viper. I remember watching that episode, the seat warmers malfunctioned and burned him towards the end.
Are you sure it wasn’t a Viper? I could have sworn it was a Dodge…maybe I’m getting two different episodes mixed together.
I own a1974 dodge dart sport. I need the wheel the wheel well chrome trim. I hope you could tell me where i might find some.
It was a dodge viper. It was the episode that the “dodge” rolled the odm over 99999. Because one of the family members (I can’t rember if it was Peggy or Kelly)let the car roll down the driveway and the odm rolled over. Poor Al.
I Love ALL BUNDY!!!!
hi there!
you talking about two different episodes!
1. the dodge viper was in that episode with the 999.999 miles…
2. the testica was the car, al wanted to buy with the 5000$ he expected in a shoebox…
al’s car WAS a dodge dart from 1974, but a sport version.
if this 1974 dart for sale please call me 00965-99612960
it was a mustang and called it a testica on the eposode tthe dodge died. they almost won the viper wen the ” Mighty Dodge” reached 100,000 but lost it.
im redoing a 1968 dart 270 so far i have a 340 with x heads. new 518-a trans with overdrive, new drive line 83/4 pozy new exhaust now working on paint-interior long proses. but worth every scraped nuckel.
In fact you are wrong, his car is indeed a Dodge… And it’s a ’74 Dodge Demon … Check it out
al’s car is a 72 plymouth duster easily identified by the side marker lights and the front fender wells.the dodge demon was only made into 72 after that it was called a dart sport untill 76.
“The Dodge-type Duster was given a name of Demon, with a little cartoon character that looked like a little devil with a trident. The religious coalitions went wacko about that. The rest of the car was essentially a Duster clone, with engines starting at the 198 slant six and moving up to the 340; the front end was taken from the Dart, while the rear had vertical cuts in the metal for tail lights”
(from http://www.valiant.org/duster.html) The car you can see in Al´s garage is a Duster, but maybee folk´s called both cars Dodge in the 80´s wether it is a Duster or a Demon.
i love american clasic vehcle espicialy dodge dart because of i had on of them could you please send for me their pictures
ok morons. here we go from a mopar man who knows his mopars. look at the brown car in the pic. it has 70 71 marker lights on the fender so that narrows it down. it says valiant on the emblime on the fender
so its a 1970 plymouth valiant 2 door. they were remnamed in 71 to duster. if it was a 71 it would have a duster emblime on the fender and not a rectangle valiant emblime. so technically it is a 70 valiant.. if you dont believe me, google it…
ok due to the fact that most of you dont know your mopars … here you go … its not a dodge wrong side markers wrong tail lights and wrong front clip!!! and then never made a 74 dodge demon it was called a dodge sport and it had a pointed nose … now as for it being a 72 duster … your close .. but again it has the wrong side markers ( 72 all chrysler products except for trucks and vans all used the same marker lights they are a rectangle shape that are not flush with the body metal they protrude out) and as you can see the ones on Al’s dodge are flush so that means it is either a 70 or 71 duster and now to clearify on that its a 70 duster due to the fact it has the valiant emblem on the front fenders … 70 has them where as 71 the duster was a stand alone model … ok record straight and trust me ive had many of these cars !!!
Bud called the car Frankendodge as it was made up of the parts of many dead cars. Looking at the picture it looks like a 70 valiant duster, but look at the front bumper, its a 73-76 style, as you cannot see the rear taillights in that shot who knows what it really is. I also remember the episode where they took the car to a car was and couldn’t find it after as the car turned out to be red under all the dirt, anyone got a picture of that car?