When I see a Coronet sedan, I just can’t help but see a taxicab. I worked for a small cab operation in Towson in 1967, in their service station, and it was wall-to-wall Coronets. The sound of all their tired slant sixes starting up on a cold morning with their distinctive mechanical-lifter clatter, and then churn away down York Road is seared in my auditory memory banks. But obviously, they weren’t all taxis, as this high-trim 440 proves.
image IMCDb.com
This is what I see when I think ’68 Coronet sedan; right down to those distinctive extra-small diameter hub caps.
This 440 sedan showed up recently in my neighborhood, and it’s obviously not slant six powered. And the odds that its trim level corresponds to the displacement of its V8 aren’t good either. Most likely, a 318.
Needless to say, Chrysler B-Body four door sedans had a bit of an image problem. They were very much favored as police cars and taxis, and there were certain hard-core Mopar fans (often miserly old guys with a mechanical slant) who bought them. But these just couldn’t compete with GM’s barrage of mid-sized sedans that generally had more flair, if not always perfect styling either.
Well, the late 60s through the early 80s was the era of coupes, and that’s where the money and styling effort went. The sedans went…to taxi fleets.
Nice car, although the oversize 5-spokes are a bit of a clash with the 4-door look. I’d have gone for black steelies, dog dishes and redline tires, but that’s just me. Of course everyone wants a 2-door Coronet but I still think the B bodies were quite successful no matter what body style.
Many years ago an uncle had a Coronet 440 with a 318, and was constantly getting asked if it had a 440.
It’s funny. I grew up in the late 60’s-early 70s, and MoPars were *never* on my radar. I grew up in a GM-loving family, and all my friends and relatives were GM folks or FoMoCo folks. With one exception.
The Dart/Valiant A-bodies were everywhere, like cockroaches. Most everyone who wanted a “cheap” car bought one. Ford was out of the race. The Falcon was tired, and its replacement, the Maverick, was too small. The diehard GM folks bought Novas (and the 250 I-6 was indeed stout as a stovebolt, unless compared to a Slant6) but the majority of low-end buyers had a Valiant or Dart. Almost all of them were either 6s or 318s, the latter having such fancy touches as vinyl roofs and a/c.
But other than those A-bodies, I rarely noticed anything from MoPar. Sure, the numbers say they sold plenty, but nothing besides the compacts were prevalent enough for me to take notice.
I love how a Coronet 440 couldn’t be actually had with a 440.
And the Ford Galaxy 500 couldn’t be had with a 500 CI either.
Reminds me of the surprise of finding out 1990s Caprices and 2006-2016 Impalas are actually privately owned.
I’m on Impala #9 since ’00 (all company fleet cars). They are ‘just good enough’, and a high value if you buy them by the pound. Our small company has had about 30 of them total.
Only the ’00 with crappy fuel system and the ’08-’09 with the cheap rear suspension components had problems. We get the LTZ trim levels, they hold their value pretty good, and get good mileage.
The cheap rear suspension was only for two model years? So, did they try to reduce costs after the 07 model year and by the 10 model year realize that was a bad idea?
I’d always noticed from movies and TV that the Coronet seemed to be the dominant NYC taxi in the late ’60s/early ’70s. Six Coronets and one Checker in this pic…
What is the octagon silver thing on the hood? The car to its right rear has it as well.
I believe it’s the medallion showing the taxi license. Somebody else may have more insight.
Ok that makes sense. But on the hood not the window? Odd
I believe they’re attached with some sort of large rivet or tamper-proof bolt.
Maybe not so odd. Think about it; what is solid enough in the interior to keep someone from breaking a window and making off with it? There’s a finite number of those medallions so I would imagine they’re rather valuable.
So, they attach it to the exterior sheet metal in a place that’s both readily visible and the most difficult to vandalize and pry off. I would imagine that the attachment bolt(s) for the medallion don’t just go through the hood’s sheet metal, but through one of the underhood reinforcement beams.
Even now they still put them on the hood, with a big rivet/fastener thing in the middle. The yellow cab medallions auction for over a million dollars a piece!
In this day and age, I can’t imagine stealing one would actually mean anything, though… there’s too much other information tied to them. No way someone could just make off with one and start their own cab business. Although I’m sure replacing a damaged/vandalized one is a big hassle and downtime for the owner.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Something along the lines of a turf war between cab companies where they would steal/destroy each others’ medallions. In fact, something exactly like this was referenced in ‘Goodfellas’ when some hapless immigrant decided to open a cab stand just around the corner from some mafia dude’s location. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before the interloper was put out of business.
I see a 72 Ford Custom Taxi on the left side of the photo towards the the top.
Coronet cabs are prominent in the opening of TV’s “Odd Couple”. Felix throws his back out trying to open the rear door, and Oscar is nearly run over by one.
Close.
In the opening, Oscar steps out of a ’70 Chevy Biscayne or Bel-Air taxi.
In the closing, Felix hales a ’70 Coronet cab and throws his back out when leaning to open the door. Oscar nearly gets run over by a large dark colored station wagon that is a bit tricky to identify. I think it is a ’70 Mercury full-size.
I never took it that Felix threw his back out with the taxi. It looked more like the cab didn’t stop ‘exactly’ where Felix expected it to.
Don’t forget its Plymouth twin, the Belvedere/Satellite/”small” Fury. Also dominant in taxis and police cars in reality and movies.
Chrysler had a strong taxi business dating back to the 30s with DeSoto 8-passenger sedans. New York mandated all taxis had to seat 5 in the rear, which left the market to Chrysler products and Checkers, with the odd Packard in the late 40s. They dropped the requirement in ’54’ and Chrysler dropped their 8 passenger sedans, but they had a strong in with fleet buyers.
I also suspect that GM especially, but also Ford, didn’t compete that hard for the business, lest they be accused of stomping on the No. 3 automaker. Police cars were another matter, but again, Chrysler seemed to work well with big forces like the CHP that tended to set the pattern for local departments.
I do like these B-bodies. As noted above, they feel like a logical evolution of the ’66-7 GM intermediates which have much more appeal to me than their successors.
That explains the reason why we stopped getting these Desotos in Israel on or about this time. Chrysler replaced them with the Coronado which was actually a stretch done in Belgium of all places (if I am not mistaken) but they were not as popular as the checker. All these cabs were diesel-engined, almost always 4 cyl Perkins with paltry 80 hp, but then there were very few places in Israel where you could go faster than 60 MPH safely back then…
Here’s another one (as the previous pic, taken by Isaac Saád)…
… and the last version ever sold in Israel – after that Chrysler lost interest in what was a very small market and left it to Checker, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot and Fiat.
Fascinating. There was a ’70 or ’71 Coronado in my neighborhood when I lived in Amsterdam in the mid 90s – have to look through my pics to see if I captured it.
The thing was, in Israel the fact that a certain model was popular as a taxi did not reflect badly on it. Any US-made car was thought of as luxurious and the Coronet was the kind of car bought by a successful industrialist, being higher up on the pecking order than Darts and Valiants (theses were for generals, mayors and lawyers). New Yorkers were for the filthy rich…
Of course my first thought seeing this Coronet is my 68 Coronet 500 that I owned fresh out of high school.
It was decked out a bit fancier, with 318, automatic transmission, bucket seats and floor console.
Though it was only a 318,it was quite a lively car, as my 19 year old foot proved time and again.
I much preferred my Coronets bright red body,with black vinyl top and its wedge shaped taillights over the offerings at the time from GM and Ford.
I always thought these looked better as Plymouths.
It’s interesting the way consumer trends have changed- for example, the presence of 4-door Dodge Chargers. Granted, they see Police use, just like the old Coronets- but I haven’t seen any of them as taxis, even with the base model’s available V-6. Maybe that is different in larger urban areas? In 4-door guise, the Chargers remind me more of a modern-day Polara. Aside from the current Challenger, there are no 2-door variants of other models that where once popular as coupes. Guess they just weren’t selling. . .
I think the taxi business has changed quite a bit. Some areas have very specific rules requiring specific cars or types of cars. Even in areas that don’t specify, a fair number of cab companies have adopted different models: either hybrids for better fuel economy or minivans for greater versatility and easier entry/exit. Around here, the Toyota Prius is probably the single most common model I see in taxi livery.
In some areas it is difficult to buy an ex-police Ford Police Interceptor (Crown Victoria) because taxi companies have been buying them up.
New York City, the biggest taxicab market in the country, has specified the Nissan NV200 microvan to replace the Crown Victorias and 6,000 hybrids (the NV200 is NOT a hybrid) over the next few years. The Nissan won the selection over the Ford Transit Connect and Karsan V-1. But advocates for the handicapped sued the city, because the NV200 is not wheelchair-accessible. New York City was forced to allow 4,000 different, wheelchair-accessible taxis.
I think that whole thing has been rendered basically meaningless. It seems like Bloomberg himself really championed the NV200 program and there isn’t much support now that he’s gone… plus there’s tons of conflicting legislation in it’s way between the hybrid requirements and accessibility requirements. By the time the courts sort it out, the NV200 will be an entirely different vehicle and the city’s agreement with Nissan will be irrelevant.
As of right now, plenty of other vehicles are still approved for yellow cab use (most of these are actually on the roads, too): http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/industry/taxicab_vehicles_in_use.shtml
Damn! That base Impala with black steel wheels looks absolutely sick as NYC yellow cab. Makes me wanna take a trip over to the city just to see one. Like a modern day ’65 Biscayne!
Since I heard about the NV200 regulation a few years back, I’ve generally ignored the NYC taxi scene because the idea of those dominating the city-scape depresses me (having grown up in the sea of big yellow Crown VIc sedans being the definitive NY cab). So it’s good to hear that might not be the future after all. The Camrys I’ve seen in TV/movies lately also look surprisingly good in NY taxi livery.
Isn’t it? I really like the Impala in general, but it might look most badass as a yellow taxicab. First time I saw one I had the same type of thought, that it looked really classic and formidable like an old Biscayne or full-size Plymouth.
There’s a more diverse array of cabs on the street right now than there’s ever been in my lifetime, and a city full of NV200s makes me really sad. I’m always excited when I manage to snag something different.
Here’s one you’re pretty familiar with – there’s one company that owns a bunch of these, mostly TDIs (both sedan & wagon):
That Impala sure looks sharp, maybe I will be daft and buy a used one.
Have not been to NYC for years and I kind of miss it especially with all the new positive developments.
That Jetta is a Hybrid. Not many of those around. Must be brand new with that pristine front bumper. The license plate looks beat up, Maybe NY transfers plates between vehicles.
A Jetta Hybrid, who would have ever imagined? I’m loving all this diversity – I’ve wanted to plan a trip over there again soon but now I definitely have to sometime this spring or summer. NYC taxis have always interested me and the streetscape has never been this interesting (when I visited in 2007 it was 90% Crown Vics and 10% Toyota Siennas – nice, but a bit boring)
Call me old school, but I’d prefer a car like the 1966-68 Dodge Coronet, than a Toyota Prius. I’ve ridden in a Prius as a passenger, and while it was comfortable as small cars go, I would be embarrassed to be seen driving it. It’s simply *ugly*! 🙁
Not a bad looking 4 door. I don’t care much for the oversized wheels on the blue one. Would look good with 15″ Cragar S/S or aluminium 5 slotted wheels
? What was it a Poster called it ? ‘ The Hamtramk Hummingbird’ ?? or something like that .
That sound was ubiquitous in the 1960’s & 1970’s decent cars ruined by a stater you could hear two blocks away .
Hardy and hard to kill these were .
-Nate
And if you paid attention, you would hear almost all brands of cars portrayed in the movies, when they started you heard this Chrysler gear reduction starter motor sound.
Oh yes , this ! .
And the sound of a ‘ dieseling ‘ gas engine whenever they want you to know the vehicle has run out of fuel…..
Sounds for the Hoi Polloi I guess =8-) .
-Nate
And there were a few shows that had the engine ‘Dieseling’ after they were shut off, just like some of the 70’s emission equipped cars would do. Sometimes they would ‘run’ for a long time in real life. The ones I also remember were the early Mazda rotary engine cars with the ‘thermal afterburner’ or whatever it was called and after the engine was shut off it would backfire and sound like a gunshot.
You really had to have been there to understand how bad those Malaise Era Cars were with the constant knocking & ~ pinging when running and the clattering of the engine dieseling after shutoff ~ in 1984 or so I was waiting outside a buddy’s house in the awful area of the Mt. Washington & Highland Park border when an old lady (like in her late 70’s) rattled & wheezed past me in a ’74 full size Ford sedan , went up the block , U-turned and parked it at the curb . it rattled & dieseled as she gathered her purse , got out and locked it up , walked (really more like hobbled , the poor old thing) across the street to her house and came out several minutes later with the stereotypical folding metal basket on wheels thing , hobbled back over to the car , popped the trunk and began unloading a large quantity of groceries , said Ford all the time rattling and clattering , I was a block away and heard it over the AM radio in my VW Beetle , she ignored it’s painful death rattles and made two leisurely trips to the house and back with the groceries then disappeared inside , the car still clattering away . by this time my curiosity was piqued as I’d never seen anything diesel this long so I shut off the radio and looked at my watch and began timing it .
_45_ MINUTES later by buddy finally came out and said ‘ let’s go ‘ ~ I told him to look at the old Ford still rattling & smoking away up the block and said ‘ it’s been over 45 minutes and still it’s dieseling ! ‘ .
He replied ‘ so what ? it’s a crappy old Ford who cares ‘ and off we went….
Three decades later I remember that vividly .
Things like this are why I studied hard to learn proper tuning techniques .
-Nate
My dad is a retired Chicago cop and to him, a Dodge was ‘better’ than a ‘cheaper’ Plymouth. This may have been a common opinion with fleets, too, which is why Dodge cop cars and cabs seem* to have been more common. See “Blues Bros”.
*It just “seemed” that way, at least in Chicago or movies/TV. Not factual data.
With the A and C bodies the Dodges had a longer wheelbase – the big Dodge met the 122″ minimum wheelbase requirements on a number of police departments’ request for bids (especially state police), while the Dart was 111″ compared to the Valiant’s 108″. Both of the latter survived to the end but the distinction was blurred in ’71 when both divisions started selling both coupes and lost in ’74 when the Valiant sedan migrated to the 111″ wb Dart shell (Can anyone confirm that was done because the Valiant sedan dies were worn out?)
I’m guessing it was just cheaper to use one basic body shell.
Yep, especially since they had to retrofit 5 mph bumpers front and rear – Valiant lost its vertical rear , and by then the overlap model-wise was pretty complete. The shell was always the same, the WB difference was ahead of the firewall.
When I think of the cornet 440 I go one year later and two doors. I had to sell my 69 when I received orders to SE Asia. 318 with auto.
Btw, had a friend with the 68 model. His was a 273 and 68 was the last year for that. They were as likely in a base model as a slant six and more likely than a 318. Don’t have numbers and think it was discontinued (like the 289 and 283) in good part because of smog requirements. Just going on a memory that is somewhat more fragile than prior years.
Chrysler missed some opportunity with its late ’60s mid-size cars. While GM offered some decent looking four-door hardtops in the category, their sedans were quite awkward beginning with the ’68 models, lasting through ’72. The Mopar sedans may be the most handsome mid-sizers available from ’68 – ’70.
Chrysler needed to begin offering a Chrysler branded car, doing a better job of differentiation between the brands, get their AC better integrated, and offer higher end interior options to keep up with GM, and to some extent with Ford as well.
Now then you mentionned the 4-door hardtops. I founded strange then Chrysler didn’t attempted to offer a mid-size Coronet/Belvedere/Satellite 4-door hardtop. Ford didn’t offered one in 1968 for the Fairlane/Torino/Comet/Montego but they decided to step on it in 1970.
Chrysler needed to begin offering a Chrysler branded car,…
And they arrived in the market in 1975 with the “small” Cordoba but at the expense of Dodge and Plymouth. However, I wonder what if DeSoto was still around in the late 1960s-early 1970s? Could had been a possible B-body DeSoto who would had see the light of the day?
Particularly ironic since the “full size” ’64 B bodies had a 4door hardtop body already engineered.
Good point, but I think it came down to sales potential. Only about 30,000 of 230,000 mid-size 1967 Oldsmobiles were four door hardtops. People willing to pony up the premium price for a four door hardtop tended to go full-size.
For the Chrysler brands, this was even a bit more complicated. Mopar buyers were generally more conservative, and their ratio of hardtops to sedans tended to be lower. Dodge sold about 162,000 Coronets in 1967, so they probably would have anticipated sales of under 10,000 four door hardtops – perhaps too little to worry about – but perhaps also an error. A halo luxury hardtop could have increased the prestige perception of the brand.
’75 was very late to the mid-size game, which had pretty much sorted itself out by ’65. Buick and Olds were selling mid-size cars at a relative premium price in large numbers. For example, Olds was sold about 230,000 mid-size cars in 1967. The entire Chrysler brand sold about 265,000 cars in ’67. Chrysler was completely missing in action in what had become a very important segment – the premium mid-size.
Yes, “no junior editions” was a great example of short-term thinking, although at the time those 200,000+ sales were at or near all-time highs for the brand.
The time to move would have been ’65, or ’66 at the latest. But Chrysler tended to think of itself as the premium mid-market brand, slotted between Buick and Cadillac, and Cadillac was full-size only. The other challenge would have been pricing, especially with Plymouth in the same dealership – I could see a mid-sized Chrysler cannibalizing lots of Satellite sales.
Or even more earlier, instead of developping the Valiant as a stand-alone division. They made it as a Plymouth right from the start with Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler having some “senior compacts” built on a stretched version of the Valiant to go against the Mercury Comet (and later the mid-size Fairlane) and the BOP senior compacts evolving into mid-size/intermediate during their run and avoiding the plucked chicken disaster.
From the mid 1960s through the late 70s, most of the 4-door B and C body Dodges and Plymouths ended up being either cop cars or taxicabs. Many cab operators and law enforcement agencies love the Mopar drivetrains. During that time, the Mopar loyalists who wanted a big car bought mostly the Chrysler C-bodies. Otherwise, they bought Darts and Valients. During the 80s when the M bodies were sold, Consumers bought the Chrysler New Yorker/Fifth Avenue while the Dodge Diplomat and Plymouth Gran Fury were cop cars/taxicabs.
Just what I was thinking–all the way through to the M-bodies, the mid-size and large Dodge and Plymouth entries seemed to have a very distinct police/fleet image. Might have carried on even farther had the K-cars and their derivatives been suitable for police use; a fair number of them still ended up as fleet vehicles.
I’m not sure about your thoughts on the percentage of the Mopar business going to fleets.
Approximate sales of the ’67 Coronet series:
Deluxe: 28,000 made up of 14,000 6’s and 14,000 V-8’s.
440: 93,000, 8,600 6’s and 84,400 V-8’s.
500 / RT: 40,000, of which only 400 were 6’s.
Only about 17% of the ’67 production was in low end trim, some of which went to consumer sales. So, maybe 10% to 15% of production went to fleets. Plymouth numbers work out about the same, 19% of about 106,000 mid-size sales were bottom trim cars, maybe 15% ended up in fleets.
I had a 68 Coronet 4 door for about a year. I was gong to put a 440 in it but sold it when youngin 4 showed up to help pay pay the OB bill.
Yeah. I can see the 1966-68 Dodge Coronet being used as a taxicab. Whether it’s a 4 door sedan like those in these photos, or a station wagon. 🙂
The family of a classmate in my senior year of high school had a new Coronet 500, a 69 though. That car looked better than the 68 IMHO even though it had a lot of “ginger bread” on it…compared to the 68s. To me, the 2 door hardtops aren’t quite as attractive as the 4 door sedans. The 2 doors look a tiny bit stubby.
A buddy of mine had a green ex-government fleet ’68 Coronet 4-door that he got at an auction. This would have been the early 80s. When he first showed it to me, I was expecting it to have a Torqueflite and at least a 318… No way! It had a slant 6 and three-on-the tree. This car was the ultimate stripper, with a smelly, battered bench seat. He used a cribbage board as a makeshift radio delete panel. Needless to say, he was a college student, and money was tight. He was a long, lean and lanky fellow, with sharp and pointy elbows. I have nothing but pity for anyone who had to sit in the front center of that car when his shiftin’ arm got to flappin’ around. I always hugged the door when I rode in that car…
I think that blue Coronet 4 door’s styling is much more attractive and better proportioned than the current Charger, which has never impressed me.
I don’t think its any more attractive…but its much more honest. The current Charger is a blatant misuse of that nameplate Even if it does pack heat under the hood, a 4 door painted in bright colors with blackout trim is NOT a muscle car. They should’ve kept it toned down in the looks department and called it the Polara, Coronet, Monaco, Satellite, or some such. Save the flash and attitude for the coupes where it belongs.
I agree. I prefer Mopar cars of the mid to late 60s than that of today’s Mopars. I find the Charger the least attractive, from every angle of all of the Dodge cars.
Compared to their 2-door brethren, the sedans definitely look more dowdy, I think the 1971 restyle was kinder to the 4-doors. Still a good looking car in its own right and great to see its still on the road. Most sedans have been turned into parts cars by now.
4 doors always do look dowdy compared to the 2-doors, that’s just how it is. And I think that’s how it should be. Sedans are the workaday basic ‘bread and butter’ cars. 2 doors are the style and performance leaders…the ‘halo’ cars. In other words, the car you ‘want’ to own instead of ‘have’ to own.
I like 4 door sedans, 2 door hardtops and station wagons. 2 door hardtops have the style, and 2 door sedans are great if you have children between 2 and 8 yrs of age. But 4 doors and station wagons are more for work.
In the opening; “Those tired slant sixes with their mechanical-lifter clatter”! Well, that is exactly why the taxies were largely Dodge Slant 6 powered. Taxi companies are enharently CHEAP! No other engine would run hundreds of thousand miles in stop and go traffic with virtually no maintenance of any kind except a slant 6. Los Angeles ran Plymouths both as taxies and police cars. California Highway Patrol had mostly Dodge in the 70s through the 80s because they were virtually indestructible. Emission laws killed the 440 and the other ‘B’ engines and the slant sixes soon thereafter.
Man, oh man do those wheels look goofy on that car. As bigger rims go, theyre a nice design but ONLY on a modern car with the curves and big fenders to properly house them. Also, the track is WAY to narrow. It comes off looking like a rail car. Whoever owns the car clearly loves it, and made it his/her own…that’s commendable. Still, its a 4-door. A much more muted color would suit it better, and 15×8″ chrome smoothies with halfmoon hubcaps would sit just right on this. For what this car is, a mildly warmed 318 is PLENTY for a comfy cruiser.
I agree. Even on more modern cars, they look ugly.
I think that chromed steel wheels with baby moon caps don’t look right on any 60’s (post-fin era) cars.
My beef with 5-spoke mags on new cars is that EVERY car seems to have them. Even lowly minivans and CUVs come with aluminum wheels, and they’re usually either 5 or 6-spoke style, which are totally wrong on those types of vehicle.
Someone was selling a Cornet 440 in the local paper several years ago. They didn’t give much detail, just “Cornet 440 for sale”.
The next week in big letters it said
“Cornet 440 for sale, 318 Engine!” The guys phone must have been ringing off the hook with people asking about the 440 engine. One of the most confusing car names!
That would be confusing.
Having 440 as a trim level name seems quite confusing. It’s almost as if the Dodge marketing guys intended it to be so.
Maybe was meant to mean “1/2 of a bigger Custom 880”? 😉 JK
The trim name preceded the engine – though why they didn’t change it once the 440 came out is beyond me.
What a difference a few details make…
No question the 4-door B-bodies aren’t anywhere near as attractive as their 2-door brethren, but looking at these pictures above, I’m amazed by the difference between the blue 440 and the imcdb.com screen grab of an old cab. Less is more definitely applies here.
A HS buddy of mine and I went street stock (dirt track) racing with one of these. He got it from a aged aunt, and we took the 440 out of another aged relatives Chrysler Newport. It was our initial effort and we didn’t place very well the first couple of years, but we learned a lot. By the time we decided to race the Newport, we had our poop in a group and were contenders.
Another HS buddy of mine had a Coronet 500 two door as his first car. IIRC, it was a 383/TQ setup. It was quick car, with lots of torque down low. It was really a nice car, a gift from his grandmother. However, as with many gifts, it was wrapped around a tree in less than a year…
Nice to see one of these sedans survived. Agreed with others that the Budniks or Coddingtons or whatever those wheels may be, are out of proportion… A set of American Racing 200 SS wheels would look good on this…
Dodge Coronets are swell cars ~ .
In the early 1970’s when I was new to So. Cal. , my best bud had an affinity for them and bought one or two a year as he ruined them rapidly not only by hooning them to death but by touching under the hood when he really needed to leave tools alone .
Most were ’65/’66/’67 , all were V8 and from Arizona , high mileage cars that need engine work he couldn’t afford but for $150 he’d run them until the died , he almost never wrecked them , then he’d appear with another one , usually beige .
Roomy , sturdy and passably fuel efficient , they made good young man’s cars , able to carry 8 people anywhere in a pinch .
Oops ~ time to go on the clock ! .
-Nate
I always thought that the 5 spoke Magnum wheels were a perfect visual upgrade to the four door sedans. I would LOVE to get hold of the Mexican Dodge variant. They came with the concealed headlights of the 66-7 Charger! See link below! 🙂
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAUQjhw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbringatrailer.com%2F2014%2F02%2F27%2Fnever-seen-one-mexican-market-1967-dodge-coronet%2F&ei=JMGiVOu9I4XegwSrjYKgAw&bvm=bv.82001339,d.eXY&psig=AFQjCNFcldNqw1g41ofu1B9jy9TWayH4Ig&ust=1420038819176031
I saw that “Charger-ized” Coronet. I’m not sure but I think the hidden headlights was available on the Coronet 500 coupe and convertible. Imagine what if the 1968-70 Coronet sedan and wagons was available with the Charger grill. 🙂
These were perpetually on my short list of cars to buy back in the late 70s-early 80s when they were dirt cheap cars that nobody wanted. In addition to cop cars, a lot of them were owned by elderly retirees ( these cars seemed to always be dark green with a green vinyl roof). These were nowhere near as common as Darts, but more common than the Dodge C bodies.
I drove a 70 Coronet wagon a couple of times at a college pizza delivery gig. With a 383/Torqueflite, that thing would move. Tight, solid structure, too. These cars always felt so much more solid than the post 1970 versions.
Everyone talks about how great the GM A body cars looked, but those 1968-72 4 door sedans were just ugly. The 4 door hardtops were the only ones that were attractive. However, anything built by GM sold in the bazillions back then.
Hey that’s my old car. Those wheels came off a mustang and are used with spacers. 318 with a 4 barrel headers dual exhaust.