Let’s delve once more into the world of Mopar with this gallery of Plymouth drivers and riders from the ’60s and ’70s. Predictably, a good number of Barracudas make this collection; from the very Valiant-ones to the now cherished models from the ’70s. That, and a few other Plymouths appear; from Road Runners to Dusters and Furys.
There’s some fun in seeing the cultural transition on these, starting with some rather traditional drivers in the 1960s, to the spontaneous and relaxed feel of later dates. Finally, the photos are kind of arranged by years of fashion rather than model year.
Wow, these are amazing photos! I’ll take that roadrunner convertible please and thank you.
That’s a GTX. It is sharp, the matching blue accents in the turbine wheels is a nice touch
And the driver’s tux matches the interior!! WOW!
Have to wonder if any of these vehicles survived to today. The 62 2dr post in the first pic might not have. Only 3 or 4 years old and already bearing scars. I imagine it ended up a teens first car in the late 60s. Just how many made it past 3rd owners?
Perhaps it was “lucky” enough to become a 413 Max Wedge clone?
My first thought was “maybe it’s a more recent photo of an old car” but upon looking at that shot quickly realized all the other cars in the background were from the same era. But even without them there are several clues that the photo wasn’t taken in 1979. I’m oblivious to clothing fashions, but everything they’re wearing (especially those hats) looks prehistoric to me, as does the purse. But also, the relatively wide-white-stripe tires are period-correct for 1962. It looks like the rears are snow tires – it was common back then to put snows only on the driving wheels; if that’s the case here I’m impressed with how closely the front and rear whitewall widths are matched.
That shot appears to have been taken in 1965-1966, based on the cars in the background. So the ’62 Plymouth was already a bit elderly. I suspect it was a company car, given its bottom grade specs. Six cylinder, almost undoubtedly.
It looks like the photo of the woman with the green Sport Fury was taken at a US-101 overlook at Lake Crescent, Washington. The overlook is still there – below is a then-and-now comparison from StreetView.
StreetView link here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r1yG3NVYUKgg5KQTA
How do you DO that?!?!?!
I’m impressed Eric.
I guess your theme song is Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere (Man)”. 😉
I’ve actually never been there – I’m just sort of a geography enthusiast, so I love figuring this stuff out.
I had an identical Sport Fury to the one in the picture; I think the Magnums really enhanced its’ looks!! My nephew owns it now. 🙂
WOW! What a refreshing change: seeing good looking cars that are made more appealing by simply applying COLORS! Wow, wottah concept vs. the WGB (WhiteGrayBlack) of todaze vehicle’s!!! 🙂
Thank you WEF for the current meh look. 🙁 Gee, even my ho-hum ’92 Camaro RS had COLOR! DFO
That pic of the brown Duster in front of the “Game Room” makes me want to dig out my “Boogie Shoes!” Get down Tonight!
Me, I was just fantasizing about walking into a room full of electro-mechanical arcade games and vintage pinball machines clanging away.
That flag holder (or whatever it is) makes it look more like “game vroom”.
Love seeing muscle cars wearing period correct mags, the brown Duster 340 and the Roadrunner from the first pic are my favs.
That green Cuda has all the signs of being an AAR but the grille surround should be black, not argent, and it has the wrong driving lights. I wonder if it was a repair from a fender bender, and that thought makes me wonder if that’s why the woman on the left is on crutches!
The last picture was taken in Virginia – I’m going to guess around 1980.
I believe the six-digit license plate sequence starting with “S” was issued in 1979 – and the yellow windshield inspection sticker of that design was last used in 1983. It’s impossible to read the date on the license plate sticker, but it looks dark blue, which was the color of the 1980 stickers. So I’ll make the guess that this man bought the car in 1979, and had his picture taken with it shortly afterwards.
I wish I could figure out the jurisdiction of the windshield tax decal, which is next to the yellow inspection sticker. Most cities and counties issued their own decals (to signify payment of personal property tax), but I can’t tell just where that decal was from.
Good eye! I concur that plates starting with “S” were issued in 1979. We moved from Kentucky to Virginia in late 1979, and the new VA plates for our ’79 VW Rabbit started with “SWZ.”
Nice photos! Of course my favorite is still the 62. I’d enjoy taking Mrs DougD on a date in that car, wearing those clothes 🙂
Of course I love all of these, but the first pic of the 69 Road Runner coupe is automotive perfection, it just does not get any better than that !
The tail end of a 58-60 Rambler American with rare continental kit snuck into that first Roadrunner photo!
Are you sure that inspection sticker is from Virginia? It looks like an inspection sticker from Florida which is where I grew up. I also had a Duster and had to take for inspection every year until Florida got smart and said inspections weren’t necessary anymore. Awesome pictures.
Florida and Virginia did have similar, bright-yellow inspection stickers for a few years, but there were some differences. For one, I believe that Florida inspection stickers were placed in the lower-left corner of the windshield, but Virginia stickers were placed in the lower middle of the windshield, slightly offset to the left. I think that Virginia was the only state that placed stickers there, and did so until about 5 years ago.
Also, Virginia inspection stickers were square (Florida’s were rectangular), and Virginia used huge numbers to indicate the month of expiration.
On this Plymouth, the license plate sure looks like a Va. plate too, even though the state name is illegible. Below are two sample inspection stickers from that era, for comparison.
We haven’t lived in Virginia for almost 50 years (and live nowhere close) but back then our county required an additional smaller license plate displayed below the state plate…I think it was only on the rear plate, but the county plate was not even half as tall as the “normal” format for US state plates (maybe 1/4 to 1/3 as tall?). Have no idea when it started much less if it ended, as we tended to move around a lot back then due to my Dad’s job…still we lived in VA from 1969 to 1975, so half a decade isn’t that short a time. I’m sure there are people who live there or in a state closer. Yes, I remember the inspection stickers in the lower middle of the windshield even back then.
The odd thing was they also changed the numbering on our home while we lived there …maybe it’s more common than I think because we moved so much…but in later years we’ve settled down, haven’t moved in more than 40 years so far.
We have a similar picture of my Mother in front of our house (at the time) with their ’63 Rambler wagon in the driveway…Mom doesn’t drive anymore, and we were still a 1 car family (till the mid 60’s) back then.
Those license plate tax tags issued by jurisdictions gradually gave way to windshield decals in the 1970s & ’80s, since the decals were cheaper. But some very small towns still issue annual license plate strips – I think those towns like the nostalgia and small-town character of still issuing those tags. Now, many large jurisdictions don’t issue decals at all, and instead rely on electronic enforcement.
Here in Northern Virginia, some of the counties changed their addressing systems a few decades ago to match Washington, DC’s. If you lived in this part of the state, that might be what you remember. Washington’s addressing starts at the US Capitol, and that’s extended into Virginia. For example, in western Fairfax County, the addresses have numbers like 13000 – meaning that they’re 130 “blocks” from the Capitol.
Pretty sure that’s a Nash metropolitan photobombing .
I can’t believe we wore clothes like that at the time .
Such nice cars in their prime .
-Nate
Thanks Eric 703 appreciate the info I do think you are correct.
The green Fury 2 door hardtop is sporting Pontiac hubcaps!
I knew I wasn’t crazy
If I was that guy standing next to the gold duster,I would never have let that picture out
Here’s my Dad, age 37 with his powder blue ’62 Belvedere “company car”, complete with all the acoutrments of the quintessential fleet ride: manual steering, Torqueflite and dog dish hubcaps . He was a sales manager of multiwall bags and bagging equipment for St. Regis Paper Company, and at one point, had a telephone installed in the car, with fair to middling reviews, especially when heading into the valleys of the Berkshires. Looks like one of us kids caught him leaving for work.
I will find pictures, but my 72 Plymouth Sebring Plus from Springfield VA was SNA 453! 400 4bbl 4 speed, ac, ps pb and a 2 speed rear defogger. Sigh…..
Loving that dark green 66 Sport Fury hardtop! This is the one I wish I had found instead of the white Fury III sedan I actually bought in 1987.
Here’s me on HS graduation day, June 1968 with Dad’s ’67 Fury. Still a company car, but he’d moved up to a 4-door hardtop.
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Like the ’69 GTX, reminds me of my 1968. Here it is with me and girlfriend around 1972 in Superior Wis. In duds of the Era. Sold the car in Wash D.C. and located it just recently in N.C. Current owner wants 108K for it so guess I won’t be reunited with it. Fun times!
Here is my 1968 GTX today in NC, you can have it for 109k!
Opps here is the GTX in 1972.
1i972….having hard time posting it.