While perusing old pictures for another article, I stumbled upon this. What a visual delight – a Chrysler Newport R-body and a 1972 Plymouth Fury coupe. It’s almost hard to believe there is only seven years difference between these two cars.
That Ford pickup is likely still running around somewhere and my non-calibrated eyeball thinks that may be an Opel on the far left. I’m certain somebody here can set me straight if I’m wrong.
Found at www.66postcards.com.
Nice! Looks like there’s an Opel Manta behind the Fury.
I blew the photo way up… looks like a big bumper with black impact strip? Therefore a ’74 or ’75 Opel Manta A-body.
Looks like a Manta A.
What a great shot! It really shows that seven years was a huge amount of time for development and advancement back then. I often think of my Mom’s ’72 Toronado and her ’79 Riviera. What a difference!
Almost even more if imagine a 78 Toronado and a 86 Toronado. 8 years, big difference.
Compare a 48 Lincoln to a 61. They don’t even look like they’re from the same planet. Sometimes progress moves in leaps and bounds and sometimes it barely moves.
So true isn’t it? I think we have reached the point where styling is now just evolutionary vs. revolutionary. Back in the 60’s and 70’s the changes were so drastic that a few years made all the difference. Not so much anymore.
So much so that when Mom’s ’79 Riviera was totaled in 1985 and she was looking to replace it she looked at the new Riviera and Toronado. Mom laughed at them. They were simply too much of a shock to be taken seriously.
Great photo! That era of F Series is what I picture in my mind when I hear Ford truck. And this one looks like Uncle Jesse Duke’s truck.
The F100 in the pic is from the 1967-72 generation of F pickups….Uncle Jesse’s pickup on the Dukes was from the restyled 1973-79 generation……However, the pictured truck does look similar to the truck in Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” moviem
The Newport looks a little out of place between the Fury and the Ford pickup. Personally, I’ll take the Ford. The kid in me that remembers them as new trucks still smiles at the sight of an old one – there’s a well-preserved Ranger of that vintage tooling around our neighborhood.
Looks to me like a movie set. Cocksure FBI agents in their brand new 225 R-Body (oil is running out, last we heard)
roll into generic Billy Bob town, circa 1980, asking about god knows what..
Hope they don’t piss off the locals too much, because they are not outrunning anybody in a Slant Six St. Regis.
That’s what I was thinking, but not even in depths of Malaise would a Bucar be that gutless. Hell, the least Ma Mopar could do to say thanks for the bailout would be to give Uncle a nice price on some watered-down 360s!
That is an earlier Opel Manta (before ’74), as it doesn’t have the bigger back bumper. My first car was a ’73 Manta inherited from my mom.
It would be hard for me to roll the dice on a Chrysler at that point. Now if either one of those cars survived to the present day in running condition then it would be worth the effort.
I still say the R-bodies are highly under-appreciated and one of the best looking designs of the late-1970s, early 1980s.
Agreed. To me, they are much more visually appealing than any B-body of that era.
If Chrysler couldn’t keep a good design studio, they would have run out of business. A good exterior design is a way to offset the limitations on the mechanical side.
Thanx for this glimpse into the past .
-Nate
Great photo which inspires fantasy…
One day when I win the jackpot, I will have an R body: I will buy a spanking new XLT-Lariat-King Ranch-Whatever F-450 with matching tri-axle fancy car trailer, a Jeeves-grade chauffeur and living “Siri” on standby when I’m bored driving/need company, and travel to the eBay seller’s house after online purchase and settlement. When my Rolls-R is safely home, I will then toss the truck and trailer unit and watch the children’s movie, Despicable Me.
Jeeves can stay.
***
Who needs an S class? Hardly exclusive…
(source: http://www.carsforsale.com/1980-chrysler-new-yorker-for-sale-C1070276)
Who needs an S class? Hardly exclusive…
The level of quality control at Lynch Road in the early ’80s (whose workers knew they were about to be permanently laid off) and Sindelfingen today seem to be about the same.