Mike Hayes continues to find some of the most genuine curbside classics, like this dinged-up ’69 Dodge Coronet sedan. These were most commonly seen as taxis and police cars; who would want to spend their hard earned money in exciting 1969 for this? Aunt Mildred, or Grandpa Joe, perhaps. Despite its bulging hips, these were pretty dull in their day. But here it is, to brighten up our day all these decades later.
The camera lens makes its hood look endlessly long, but then it wasn’t exactly short either. These Dodge and Plymouth B Bodies were always bigger than the mid-sized Chevelle and Fairlane/Torino, given that they started out back in 1962 as “full sized” cars. At 207″ long, this one is a good seven inches longer than the Chevelle or Torino. And it’s even a tad longer than the Lexus LS we saw the other day, and only one inch shorter than a current lwb Mercedes S Class.
I know I sound like a broken record, but these old school three box cars had very mediocre space utilization. The back seat would feel like a penalty box compared to a lwb S Class back seat, purely in dimensions alone.
I see it has two straight exhaust pipes. But the “440” model designation has nothing to do with what’s under the hood. That was standard on the Coronet R/T, but not even an option on the lesser models. I realize that the dual exhausts might suggest a 383, but in reality, these sedans most commonly came with the 318. And it is of course a popular modification to put duals on any old V8 engine car. But I could be wrong…
It’s actually a 1969 Coronet.
Of course it is. Just checking to make sure you all were awake this morning. 🙂
Fixed now.
Big car, poor space utilization. Standard late ‘60s Detroit fare. Aunt Mildred or Grandpa Joe didn’t set out one Tuesday morning to buy this car. The old Dodge got more expensive to repair than it was worth, they were told by the dealer service department, so Auntie or Gramps ambled over into the showroom next door to find out what was available. They got a “deal” on that four door Coronet that the dealer had to take, in order to get a Charger or two from the district to put on the lot. Some salesman got an extra couple of bucks for moving that back row car off the lot. Decades later, here we are.
I find it interesting that I have seen these around in this condition my entire life, now
approaching half a century.
Cars of this vintage, in the right climate, seem to reach a stasis point that can extend for
decades. Not true of plastic intensive later models which dissolve at a metered rate
unless carefully stored.
In the wrong climate, they rust like they were made of compressed Alka-Seltzer.
Corners is right, this is a 69 Coronet. My dad had it’s cousin a 68 Plymouth Belvedere, had it about 8 years and was as dependable as the sunrise
Nice car. One of my uncles had a 69 Coronet in white, he took me for a ride in it once and told me he was constantly asked if it had a 440 in it. It was a 318.
Before mid-70s desmoggification the 318 was quite a remarkable powerplant. In 1970 I was assigned as a summer-health-project car a State-owned 1970 Plymouth Belvedere with the 2 barrel 318. It was very noticeably quicker than the same agency’s 1968 Plymouths. I joined with some of my cohorts in impromptu drag races on country roads on weekends. The 318 acquitted itself amazingly against 327 Camaros and 351 Mustangs. We were amazed. It didn’t have the loud, air-sucking roar of a Mopar big block with all barrels wide open but it was STRONG.
To Moparlee: the 1962 shrunken B-body actually survived to the 1981 full-size R-body Chryslers, Dodge St. Regis and Plymouth Fury, with clean-burning, much slower 318s.
Oh, I agree – the LA 318 of 1967-71 (or so) was a strong engine. Even the 70s versions seemed stout compared to the 302s and 305s found in the Fords and Chevys of the Volare/Granada/Nova LN era.
It was very noticeably quicker than the same agency’s 1968 Plymouths.
So what engines did the ’68s have?
Never did look but they were V8s, not Slant Sixes. Could tell by the sound. State of tune could always make a difference. Set the points a little different, or the spark timing…
My mother had a 68 Satellite station wagon with the 318. It performed quite nicely. While I drove my 68 Cougar and my father drove his 70 Olds 98 455 my mother had the Plymouth. Actually I would almost give anything to have those two cars in my corral, with the Cougar, as they were both great cars from my 16 year old vantage point.
Our neighbors – who, at the time, were not senior citizens – had one of these, in medium metallic blue. They drove it until the early 1980s.
They were Mopar loyalists. In addition to this car, they owned a white 1962 Dodge Dart wagon, and a loaded 1973 Plymouth Sport Suburban wagon. The latter was equipped with everything – wood-grain siding, deluxe wheel covers, power windows and power seats.
Meanwhile, the mother of our next-door neighbor was in her late 60s during the early 1970s. She drove a 1969 Coronet 500 hardtop coupe in dark blue, with a black vinyl top and the styled wheels. That was a sharp car!
ChryCo used the ‘dumbell’ grille for a long time in the sixties, with varying degrees of success, vacillating its use between Dodge and Plymouth models. For me, the 1969 Coronet is peak Mopar ‘dumbell’, with the best one being an unadorned Super Bee 440 Six-Pack (the Road Runner was labeled ‘6 BBL’). Sadly, the arguably better-looking (but more expensive) bargain musclecar Dodge never sold as well as the Plymouth.
Then, Pontiac cribbed the scowl for a time on the Bonneville until that GM division went belly-up. The most recent incarnation was the first couple generations of the Charger sedan, only lately being supplanted with LED headlights.
The Dart had about as much room inside, as this much larger Dodge. It was also available with a 318 V8. Carried a lot less weight, handled better, and a much nicer package.
I know Ford didn’t have a decent sized compact until the Fairmont in 1978, so although the Torino wasn’t space efficient, at least Ford didn’t have another car in a similar size.
GM had their small car bases double covered too. The Nova and the Chevelle were also similar interior-size.
So I never had an interest in any intermediate sized offering among the Detroit offerings during this generation.
In the case of the Chevelle, the 2-door model used a shorter wheelbase from 1968 to 1977 with a wheelbase of 112″, one inch longer then the X-body Nova.
Btw, I saw a photo showing the dimensions of the Coronet sibling, a 1968 Plymouth Belvedere vs a 1968 Fury in taxi versions. http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/United%20States/Plymouth/1968%20Plymouth/1968%20Plymouth%20Taxi%20Brochure/slides/1968_Plymouth_Taxi-09.html
My Grandpa Jim bought a Belvedere II four door sedan with the 318. Traded in a Studebaker Lark, same dealer, different brand a few years later. Grandpa cars for sure.
Back when I was in college, I had a house mate who had a car that was almost identical to this one. At first glance, I thought it might be the same exact car. But my old roommate’s car was a poverty spec stripper that he bought at a government auction. His car had a straight 6, 3 on the tree, and no radio. For a radio delete panel, he used an old cribbage board. That guy could pinch a penny enough to make Abe Lincoln beg for mercy, a good trait to have when you’re putting yourself through school. I imagine he’s probably a millionaire by now.
By the way, that’s not the sun in the upper left of the profile shot… That’s my left thumb. I’ve ruined more than a few photos that way.
Could pinch a penny enough to make Abe Lincoln beg for mercy. I instantly thought of Paul!
The 440 trim designation is about as confusing as certain modern day alphanumeric model designations that ostensibly denote displacement but not really. I remember finding one of these at a junkyard when I first started going to them and telling my friends I found a 69 440 engine there! I’m just glad I didn’t try pulling what was probably a 318 before I knew any better.
I love me 3 box styling, fits my personal logic perfectly – box 1 is propulsion and maintenance, box 2 is occupant space, box 3 is storage space, all neatly separated. These weren’t the most attractive though,I think I prefer the more honest lines of the 4 door Plymouth B bodies to the more stylized Dodge lines that really beg to be part of a coupe, the 69 front end in particular looks so disconnected from the rest of the body it reminds me of Porsches that tack the 911 nose on some generic SUV body
440 was used on the Ford Cortinas we looked at recently in Aussie 4 doors 4 cylinders 0 comfort or something.
“given that they started out back in 1962 as “full sized” cars”
Now you’ve gone and done it. I never made the connection that the B bodies started out in 1962, and survived all the way up to the 1979 Corinthian Leather Cordobas. I have learned something new today. Even Allpar.com seems unclear on this discussion.
One question- in 1968, they seemed to have redesigned the chassis for the Charger. I wonder how significant those changes were. Better suspension, drivetrain improvements, etc. is what I would expect.
Fascinating.
To Moparlee: the 1962 shrunken B-body actually survived to the 1981 full-size R-body Chryslers, Dodge St. Regis and Plymouth Fury, with clean-burning but slower 318s…and even Slant Sixes if you really wanted s-l-o-w.
I’m not sure how much 68 differs from 67 as they seem pretty similar but 73 the B body got its most substantial running gear related change, isolating the K member, torsion bar crossmember, and leaf spring mounts from the body. the 71s for hat matter seemed to derive a bunch of changes originally made for the 70 E bodies
One question- in 1968, they seemed to have redesigned the chassis for the Charger.
What do you base that on? The Charger was just a Coronet with some relatively minor external body changes. The Charger had the same suspension as the Coronet. They even sold it with a slant six.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1968-dodge-charger-six-rarer-than-a-hemi-charger/
“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Charger_(B-body)” and “The entire B-body lineup for the 1968 model year was redesigned and the Charger was further differentiated from the Dodge Coronet models. ” from wikiworld. It seems now rereading it, in the context of what you wrote, just body changes were made.
I thought I had read these on allpar.
I will do some more homework on your reference. Thanks much.
I never made the connection that the B bodies started out in 1962, and survived all the way up to the 1979 Corinthian Leather Cordobas.
Where have you been all these years? 🙂 Better re-read this:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/automotive-design-history-1962-plymouth-dodge-brilliant-blunder-or-suddenly-its-1977/
You actually left a comment at that post. The end of it clearly spells out how these are the first of the long series of B Bodies.
This was one of those cars I always figured I would own at some point when they were ordinary used cars. Old Mopars were not worth much in the 1975-1985 period when there were still a lot of nice ones around (thanks to those grandpa owners). In the mid 80s there was an elderly lady who lived in the apartment building next door who still drove one of these – I never had occasion to meet her, but I would have offered to buy the car had I managed an introduction.
My only firsthand experience with these was when I delivered pizzas in college – the guy who owned the shop liked to buy these as “shop cars” for temporary use when one of the drivers had car trouble. I never got the white 68 or 69 sedan, but oh man, the yellow 70 Coronet Crestwood wagon with the 383 was a mighty satisfying drive. One of the other guys named it The Rocket Sled.
Did the successor fuselage intermediates have better space utilization?
No.
“Only the Green survive!” Mopar offered so many shades of green in the 1968-1976 era that the likelihood of a nice original survivor being green is high. This can give you the impression that Mopar had cornered the world’s supply of green pigment and was outdoing Henry Ford himself…”Any color you want as long as it’s green.” I once spent some time examining Mopar paint charts and the variety of shades of green offered is astounding.
And these green Mopars showed often in movie like that 1968 or 1969 Plymouth Belvedere in “Cotton Comes to Harlem”.
https://youtu.be/CcfeVA18p58?t=65
And a 1969 green Belvedere chased by a Cadillac and a 1973 Chevrolet Impala in McQ with John Wayne the Duke himself behind the wheel.
You got that right. Below my mother’s car exactly.
When I was a kid, close family friends had a 1968 Plymouth Satellite, pretty much the same car.
I remember driving from Montreal to Ottawa in it. By 1974, the car was completely rusty. The tops of the front fenders were they met the front the car were totally rusted out and there were holes along the bottom of the fenders, too. This created a banshee scream that made it impossible to talk.
My dad always mentioned that Mr N was a cheapskate and after three hours of this did, I knew what dad said was true. Soon after this, a rear leaf spring tore way from the rusty floorplan, relegating it to the scrapyard. A car bought new in 1968 was junk just six years later.
Hmmmm, the car is in Seattle.
I had a co-worker when I was working is Seattle back in the ’90’s (don’t remember his name), who drove the exact same car. It had become a rarity even then. Gotta wonder – is it the exact same car???
I remember these, they were not flashy but were solid and reasonably good drivers to boot .
Thanx for the movie chase links, brings back memories .
-Nate
Me and a buddy of mine used to race the street stock division at the local dirt track. We had a series of C- and B-body Mopars that we campaigned. We had the 1968 version of the Coronet 440 for a couple of seasons, which served us well. When we finally retired our previous year’s C-body Newport, we installed the roll cage, fuel cell and our “383” and 727 trans in the car. The “383” was actually a 440 motor, but from the outside it appeared the same as a 383. There were some other cheats we used, but everyone had something up their sleeve…
The car did well for us, but in two seasons, we never took home a win. About the same time, that type of racing became very popular in the area and we would face starting fields of up to 40 cars (on a 7/16 mile race track). Just surviving the heats was a major accomplishment. After those two seasons, the car was so beat up we moved on to our next B-body, a Satellite Sebring.