posted by Jerome Solberg
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1968 Dodge Coronet 440 – Beige
– Posted on May 14, 2023
posted by Jerome Solberg
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68 seemed to be a watershed year for mopar styling. Echoes of classic charger styling even in humble sedans. After escaping exner fantasy early 60s and transitioning from plain engel boxy mid 60s mopar hits a sweet spot in flowing lines and elegantly subtle details. The 69s added a little bloat but by 70 the beauty was hidden by loop bumpers and exegerated hips and roly poly fenders. GM a bodies followed the 65. Full size formula of svelte curves and the whole ford line also seemed to have found a unity of design language that left behind the rectangular plainess of the 65 line up and the awkward 67 attempts to migrate away from it. Not until the 77 gm b bodies would detroit find its way back to classic styling in a unified design language
After all these years I still have a Jones on for these cars. And that beige – so many Mopars got sprayed that color (including my 68 Newport). At least this one has the proper copper/brown interior with it instead of the green I got stuck with.
I liked the Satellite better. Looking at these shots, this car has an almost Soviet-style level of execution of the details. This is not svelte or smooth like the Charger. Look at the straight-on rear shot – this looks like something someone cobbled up in a backyard. These (harsh) criticisms aside, I would drive this all day every day.
When that car was new there were several car dealerships along that stretch of University Avenue in Berkeley, though not Dodge. Now, not one. Also, closer to the time these were new, young dman was confused by the model naming. Surely that plain Dodge doesn’t have a 440 under the hood? It was obvious a Galaxie 500 didn’t have a 500 cubic inch engine, ditto Chrysler 300, but Dodge made it confusing. I guess the 440 model name pre-dated the engine and they didn’t bother changing it.
440 was just a trim level, above Deluxe and below 500. 225 slant six or 273 V-8 is probably under the hood. In Boring Beige (TM), this four door sedan is a survivor probably because it was grandma’s last car, purchased new.
Chrysler doing one of their all-time best impersonations of General Motors styling.
Beautiful, rust and all .
When these were new I got to ride in them and they handled far better than GM or Ford’s cars straight off the lot .
I still like the styling .
-Nate
Thanks for posting these photos, Paul!
Apart from the Dodge Charger, you see way fewer of these than the corresponding full-size cars, probably from the “Grandma’s Last Car” effect, which is probably more of a thing for the full-size cars. I think their styling is pretty good. I believe that you could order as an option most/all of the performance bits also offered on the Charger, so this could have been configured as a “sleeper”, though this particular car is probably just sleepy. This is always parked in front of an apartment dedicated to senior housing, so it may actually be Grandma’s or Grandpa’s last car.
“This is always parked in front of an apartment dedicated to senior housing, so it may actually be Grandma’s or Grandpa’s
lastfirst car.”Just imagine.
17 years earlier, my Grandfather on my Mom’s side bought his first (and only) car, a new Chrysler Windsor with semiautomatic. Not clear who learned to drive first, but my Mom learned around that time, though she’s never been comfortable with anything but an automatic (she stopped driving 2 years ago). In ’68 my Uncle would have been driving it as an undergraduate before it blew a head gasket in ’69 right before he graduated, not having time to deal with it he bought a new ’69 LTD 4 door coupe with 302 and drum brakes (he’s owned many cars since) as my Grandfather passed away of black lung in ’66 (couldn’t get out of the mines soon enough).
Neither of my grandmothers ever learned to drive.
The rear door`s coke waistline underprivileged the essential cute clean waist line of its predecessor the Plymouth Valiant IV .
Anyway there`s an improved and corrected design which was exclusively made in Argentina , designed by American designers yeah , and it`d may ilustrate how Chrysler can do it better then : just search for the neat Dodge Coronado who doesn`t mean the same of a Dodge Coronet . Coronado and Coronet are just like playing with similar names, but the Argentinian one Dodge Coronado (built until 1980 ! ) was the correct direction by which this US Coronet 440 could be updated
Are those orange things on the seat some sort of speaker frames?
Not the neatest-looking window sealing, but if it works it works.
I wouldn’t kick it out of the driveway.
I think those orange things are miniature cones, like someone might put out on the street next to one’s car if one is working on it. Not sure, tho.
Minus the Charger I think Plymouth was the real benefactor with the 68-70 design, the coronet carried over almost every styling element from the 66-67s that were deliberate attempts to make the inherently boxy design less boxy, but applying those same elements to a new bodystyle designed from the start with genuine swoopy coke bottle hips made that exaggerated sculpting a bit too contrived. Those over the top elements worked well on a Superbee muscle car, but look strange on a plain sedan.
The body rot is surprising for a lifelong California car, that’s how the survivors around here look, it must have lived near the ocean
The car and the color kind of speak for themselves. Boring.
Phil ;
I’d say more ‘plain vanilla’ .
If you’ve ever driven one you’d think differently .
-Nate
I like this, but I do prefer the Plymouth version.
The Dodge from the B pillar back seems to be different just for the sake of it.
The Plymouth is a much more cohesive design, matching the front door.
And those wheelcovers do this car no favours at all.
A fair comment Jonco but, this is why we used to have different styles across various brands : someone liked these enough to buy them, now we’re saddled with jelly bean mobiles almost everyone hates the -looks- of no matter how good the car may actually be .
-Nate
The way it could look.
This car reminds me of the blue would-be getaway car in “Dog Day Afternoon”, but in checking I see that was a ’69.
In 1986 I dismantled one of these for use as an street-stock car (for dirt track racing). It was a used car for anyone else, but it was the perfect platform for our race prepared 440 cid Chrysler V8. We tore out the interior, smashed out the glass, cut off the roof and welded in our homemade roll bar and (slightly illegal) chassis stiffener. We welded the roof back on, installed our fuel cell, electric fuel pump, race seat, five point harness, gauges and rock screens. Out of an eight race season that year, we finished third in our division. The Coronet served us well.
I did drive the car before we turned it in to a race car, it was a nice driver with the 318 and automatic trans; it reminded me very much of my 1969 Torino GT. A fairly large car, but very good room inside and in the trunk, comfortable to drive and maneuverable in parking situations. I like to think that the midsizers of this era were fairly practical cars, not unlike the mid 50’s Chevys, a good size that could handle a lot of duties.
I’m glad to see this one is still on the road and providing service to someone. I hope they appreciate it as this kind of car is long gone and not returning anytime soon.