Attention all CC Cohorts: If you want to be almost guaranteed to have your finds end up on the CC home page, this is how to do it. I have a major thing for two-door sedans, which pretty much guarantees it’s from the mid-seventies or earlier (with a few exceptions). And this is the kind of condition I prefer: original, with some honest sign of long use.
This ’66 Coronet two-door sedan posted by LeSabretooth Tiger hits all the buttons, even more so since I’m intimately familiar with them, having driven a ’66 Coronet taxi, although of course that was a four door. Two door sedans in this size class were getting pretty scarce by the mid 60s, and I haven’t seen one in way too long.
Who bought cars like this? We’ve had some very logical explanation about the benefits of two doors in the pre-seatbelt/kiddie seat ear, as a way to keep the spawn from spilling out an accidentally-opened rear door. But by this time, that was more likely to be a proper hardtop coupe than a low-end sedan.
The family resemblance to the full-size Polara is pretty evident, especially from this angle. Elwood Engel new rectilinear look first appeared fully on the big ’65s, and then on the mid-sizers in ’66, and then on the compacts in ’67. I bet that kick-up in the rear hips was hastily added when he saw where GM went in 1965.
I can almost guarantee you this has the 225 slant six under the hood, like the taxi I drove (illicitly, before I opened the gas station where I worked in the morning). No shot of the interior, but I’m guessing TorqueFlite behind it, although a three-on-the-tree is reasonably likely too.
The Coronets were beloved as taxi cabs, both because they were so tough and because their interior room was practically full-sized, thanks to the legacy of their 1962 “full-size” progenitors. The seating was more upright, and as a result, no one ever felt compromised in the back seat. Just made to order for taxi use, and they dominated the market for years, eventually driving the Checkers out altogether.
So who was the likely original owner of this? I’m guessing old folks. The kind that were done with kids, and had developed a taste for Chrysler products going way back, and for whom a thrifty Coronet six two-door sedan would do just fine. Of course, it could quite readily have been a neurologist like my father, who drove an even cheaper and more stripped ’68 Dart two-door sedan to Johns Hopkins every day for over ten years. Naw…this Coronet was too big, and had a gaudy chrome spear on its side. Way too flashy.
Now if someone could just find a ’68 Dart two-door, in baby-shit brown, I’d finally be able to write a long-missing chapter of my Auto-Biography.
Long live the stripper two door sedan!
Finally, a 1966 Dodge Coronet. I’ve always liked the 1966 and 67 Coronet. 🙂
Love it – especially in the unmolested original condition
If this lower weight 2 door has the 318 V8 engine and TorqueFlite automatic transmission; it is still capable of Peppy Performance.
Shipmate of mine had a 66 with a 426. Talked about 4mpg in a derogatory manner.
I had a 69 model with 318 and slushbox. Sold it with low mileage when I went for an extended vacation in Southeast Asia. Torpedoman that I sold it to wrecked it. Lost a little of my carefree attitude when I returned to the states and needed a lawyer to prove I had sold it. Youth is, indeed, squandered on the young.
The Dodge was an impressive car IMO. Cruise all day at the (sane) speed you chose and would pull 20+ mpg. I had a number of trips from Phillie to New London and it was always much kinder to me than the 66 VW that I had previously. It all depends on what you want but this type car pushed the right buttons for me at that time. Two door post and all that would have improved it would have been a hatch.
Nice car! The 2-door sedan was our family’s car of choice when I was growing up. We had a series of Chevys in this body style, the last of which was a ’67 Bel Air in a similar shade of turquoise. This photo from Google Images is close to the one we had, minus the wide tires and black-painted wheels (body color was standard back in the day).
While the Checker is an icon, any picture of NYC from the late ’60s through the mid ’70s will show that the Coronet was the dominant taxicab.
When we lived in our previous house, a place that we could see from the freeway had a C-body 2-door sedan – either a 65 or 66 Plymouth – in that same color sitting out beside the barn. Since I had either three or four drivers and two parts cars at the time, I didn’t try to figure out the roundabout way to get to that place, and of course one day the old 2-door was gone….
Now THAT’S a very special find.
As much as I love pillarless hardtops, yet have never owned one, the two-door sedan was my preferred style in the late 1960s, perhaps because they were the most affordable!
However, even though the stylists had pillarless rooflines in mind, and most of the cars back then looked for the most part downright dowdy in four-door sedan form, the two-door models looked remarkably nice and wore the B pillar well.
The only thing this car is missing is that beautiful V-shaped C-pillar!
A *very* nice car to see , not many left .
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Interestingly , in the Mid West , folks (older ones I assume) are beginning to fix up these old un wanted Dodges ~ a Buddy of mine is a Stone Mo-Par Man and whenever we’re out Junkyarding in the middle of no where California , he grabs all the little things and trims etc. from these and sells them easily to his Mo-Par Club Members .
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I’m no big Mo-Par Fanboi but I remember working on and driving these and they were damn good cars , just not my style.
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-Nate
One of the great things about the ’66 Coronet (or Belvedere) 2-door post sedan is you could get a Hemi in one with the only way of knowing would be the two, small fender emblems. It would otherwise look just like this one. Talk about a sleeper.
I had the chance to buy one of these in high school for $500. Poly 318, yellow with black interior, bucket seats console and floor shift. That would have been about 1982 or 83. I still regret not buying it, even though I’m a Ford guy at heart.
Shot one for the cohort years ago it was ignored, was that due to the NASCAR signwriting all over it?
This body style was also reputed to be the strongest structurally compared to sedans or hardtops. So if you wanted a hardcore drag car, you went with this configuration and checked off only the performance options.
Interestingly, the ’67 WO23 factory race Hemi Coronets (and RO23 Satellites) were all pillarless hardtops
That ’66 is a fine automobile. An honest car. A friend of mine owns a 273-powered ’67 Plymouth cousin to that Dodge. He bought it to build into a race car about 20 years ago and hasn’t moved since.
here is a pict from internet i have—-reason i saved it was my dad bought a new 66 deluxe in the same color—–4dr sd auto 273 ps—–first car he ever had with auto trans–I was 16 at time and loved racing 283 chevies and the like—car came with those simulated mag wheel covers and they stuck the blacked out grill from the 500 on it at the factory so it was a good looker
Nice find from the days when you had a choice in body styles. A two door sedan then was like a regular cab pickup is today. They are still available but few people buy them. I love these old Mopars, as my parents bought a new ’65 Belvedere II hardtop with a slant six and a 3 speed. It was the car I did a lot of my early driving in. It survived me as a teenager so I know it was tough.
Did you get any photos through the fence of the red ’63 Catalina in the background of the first picture?
Are the doors and side windows shared with the Valiant / Dart ? Vent windows look exactly the same.
I don’t think the whole door, but the vent window may well be the same.
I have zero memory of a 2door Coronet that was not a hardtop. I wonder if the rear windows rolled down?
I don’t know if it is the angle of the photos or the similarity to the 67 Valiant two door roofline, but the front and rear overhangs on this car seem huge. No wonder almost every engine in the domestic inventory was offered. Wasn’t this year the 318 still the poly while the 273 the LA.
I guess with the R body, it essentially made it into the eighties. From wildly styled full size in 62, to conservative mid size in 67, to aircraft inspired mid size in 72, to conservative big midsize in 77 to conservative big full size in 81. To bad no Exner like freestanding headlights at the end of the line to honor the long winding road traveled.
This ’63 showed up in my neighborhood a couple days ago. You can’t tell from my crappy photo, but it’s not actually a strippo Custom; it’s a Galaxie with the side trim removed. Haven’t heard it run yet.
It’s not out of place here. This one block now contains: this ’63 Ford, a ’65 Mustang convertible, a ’66 Chev two-door, a ’60 El Camino, a ’66 Caddy limo, a ’61 Chev panel truck, and a late ’60s Chev pickup.
The 66-67 B body was a favorite of mine, but I never had the right one cross my path. I can’t say that I share the 2 door sedan love. In fact, I’m having a hard time remembering anyone throughout my family or neighborhood that owned one back when. I guess I lived in a world of 2 door hardtops, which made these 2 door sedans odd cars for odd people, like the sour old lady who was my second grade teacher.
This is a nice looking car and I like the character lines on the hood.
I knew someone who drove a nearly identical car, except it was white. I think they bought it new. I was always surprised they kept it after the wife was kidnapped by two creeps and raped. She was working late at a dept store, and one of them was in the back seat waiting for her when she got in to go home. She was missing for over two days, and my parents said when it got into the second day, “She’s probably dead!”, but she was found, almost naked, wandering around some farm in S. Michigan, hands cuffed behind her back. They found the car at the Detroit airport, in the long term parking lot. They never found the two guys. The car came back home and she continued to drive it for almost 10 years. She was, and still is a mess since it happened, and I wonder if driving that car and being reminded of what happened every day was part of why she’s the way she is.
I don’t remember many two-door, intermediate sedans when they were new. Everyone bought either the two-door hardtops or four-door sedans. Living in a small, rural town, I remember the Coronet four-door sedans as being popular with older couples who wanted something reliable, comfortable and not too expensive.
The 1966 Coronets always remind me of the “Dodge Rebellion” advertising campaign that was launched during this year model year. The ads featured a very attractive blonde starlet draped over a line-up of no-nonsense, almost square-jawed cars. The campaign must have worked, as these cars sold well – better, in fact, than their Plymouth sibling. Dodge, as a whole, had a really good year in 1966.
I`m not really a fan of strippo two door post sedans, but thanks to CC, I`m starting to like them!
Thank you for all of the interest. This car belongs to my sons and I. Our mechanic, Stuart of Patterson Brothers in Farmingdale, just got it running with only a new coil, battery and some ether. It’s amazing how reliable and resilient these cars are. For me, the no nonsense look of the drag cars that were packaged in the bodies is what drew me to it. It’s a slant 6, automatic and I figured my kids could afford to maintain it while slowly restoring it. It really is a complete and unmolested 49k car that some little old parked when she started losing her vision and started hiring the walls of her garage. It seems to be fairly solid other that the obvious rusty parts. The torque boxes, trunk and floors are incredibly solid except for the driver’s side front floor where a window must have been left open and water got in. The factory undercoating where it’s coming off shows the original green paint in incredible condition underneath. We’re excited. We plan on fixing the rust, putting it into good mechanical condition and upgrading to a dual master cylinder with power disc brakes up front so my boys are safe. Thank you for your appreciation of our classic.
This article hit the mark for me! Bought my 2-door 1966 in the early 90’s and she made a loyal Mopar fan out of me. Like one of the posters said these double pillars are strong – still rock solid and arrow straight.
First of all I like all 60’s 2 door post cars!
The good news is; I am now the owner of one of my all time favorites; 66 Coronet 2 door sedan, built 318 with a s.sweet cam, 727 tranny, 3.23, 8-3/4 open differential. It’s a big car but it’s fun to drive, easy to drive, and I get lots of thumbs up!
The first 2 door post that got me hooked was the 1964 Pontiac GTO. It’s still one of my favorites.
The bad news is I am getting ready to put my 66 up for sale. It’s a “great” car. Not because it’s my car, because it is a great car
Looks great. Mine has come a long way since posting these pics. I’ll try to post some current pics