Watusi Theme Today

The Watusi Theme exists in the same space as the Hawaiian-shirted Tiki bar and the faux-Polynesian "Aloha" trim on station wagons. It is a whitewashed fantasy of the "other." For a modern collector, appreciating the Watusi requires a double consciousness: You can love the design, the colors, the audacity of the wavy stripe, while also acknowledging that it was a clumsy, commercial extraction of African culture.

It’s not a place. It’s not a tribe. In the lexicon of American nostalgia, “Watusi” is a vibe. Specifically, the “Watusi Theme” refers to one of the most peculiar and beloved automotive aesthetics of the early 1960s: a factory-custom trim package offered on the 1963-64 Dodge Dart. But to understand the trim package, you have to understand the dance, the fear, and the frantic search for identity that defined pre-Beatles America. Watusi Theme

So next time you see a wavy stripe on a car, a shirt, or a logo, give a quiet nod to the Watusi. It may not have sold well in 1963. But sixty years later, it’s still dancing. The Watusi Theme exists in the same space

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Teenagers loved it. Parents were confused. Dick Clark put it on American Bandstand . For a few golden months, everybody was doing the Watusi. Enter the Dodge Dart. By 1963, Dodge had a problem. The Dart was a sensible, economical compact car—a box on wheels designed to sip gas and haul groceries. It was reliable. It was boring. And in the early 1960s, boring was a death sentence. It’s not a tribe

And that scarcity is why you are reading this post.