(William Rubano has made the Cohort even better by posting this Satellite.)
One of the perks of writing for an automotive website is the ability to carry a torch for a make and/or model that resonates with you. If one is to peruse the archives of this site, which is a vast undertaking, they would find many of the various contributors tend to have a special affinity for a particular marque or vehicle type.
For whatever reasons, I have discovered myself carrying a pretty intensely burning torch for the 1971 to 1978 four-door B-bodies from Chrysler Corporation. It could be a whole lot worse, I suppose; somebody could be carrying a torch for the dearly departed Mercury. Oh wait; that’s me, also. Various other makes and models are still available if you are interested.
Thinking about it, I’ve been carrying this Mopar B-body torch for a while.
What is the genesis of this torch-bearing? No doubt some sour cynic thinks the best use of this torch would be to throw it in the front seat of this Satellite and watch what happens. But this is a fabulous Satellite and it gives perfect illumination to why I have realized having this torch.
The knee-jerk reaction about my carrying this torch would attribute it to over-exposure gained from various movies and films. As a child, I did watch entirely too much television, but I’m making up for it these days. I currently watch nothing but Weather Nation and an occasional rerun of 1960s and 1970s era television comedies. However, the theory about excessive exposure would certainly have some compelling arguments.
If one does a search for “1973 Plymouth Satellite” at the Internet Movie Cars Database (www.imcdb.org) they will be greeted with five pages full of two diametrically opposed offerings. This opposition greatly mimics what Chrysler was doing with the Satellite from 1971 to 1974.
Here’s a random choice. Nearly every 1973 Satellite sedan is wearing police or taxi livery. Shocking, isn’t it? For the few that aren’t, they appear to be undercover police cars. The bad guys don’t drive them, the non-constabulary hero isn’t driving one, even the crusty old lady down the street doesn’t have one parked in the driveway. There is no apparent diversity of end-use.
About the most diversity to be found is the colors used by the local police and taxi companies.
One observation about the various films and television shows utilizing the 1973 Satellite is the time period for which they were used as props. Granted, these Satellites were undoubtedly obtained for movie use after several years in service with whomever; it’s hard to imagine many movie studios shelling out coin for new ones when they could wait three years and buy them for pennies on the dollar. But some of these shows were produced as late as the early 1990s – nearly twenty years later. These certainly have amazing staying power for still being foisted-off as active-duty cars that much later.
Seriously, how many 1999 and 2000 model Ford Crown Victorias are still in active service plying the streets and highways of North America? Remarkably few. I haven’t seen a Crown Victoria in active use for several years now. These have moved on to be replaced by the Charger and Explorer.
When searching the results at imcdb.org, the exact opposite is the case with the two-door Satellite. It’s the car of the bad guy, it’s the car of the good guy, it’s the car seen in the background, etc. It offers up all manner of diversity in its use. It’s rather interesting how two fewer doors and slightly different sheetmetal can morph the same basic car into something with an unlimited assortment of possibilities.
Yet all this exposure to the vapidity of popular culture, particularly that of the 1970s and 1980s, isn’t why I have picked up a torch for these. And, for that matter, picking up the torch wasn’t an intentional act. Like acne and gray hair, it just sort of happened organically.
Could the reasons for having this torch be much broader and more thought provoking? To fully explain this life altering epiphany, could it be said these B-body sedans are in harmonious alliance with the core components of my personality, it being an unwavering reflection of my psyche and the fundamental core of my persona? Of all the innumerable automotive choices ever offered over time, could it be said these 1971 to 1978 B-body sedans are the most comprehensive embodiment of me as a unique person, that one automobile we all have that truly reflects the uncompromisable essence of who I am as a mortal human being?
That would be grossly overthinking it. The actual reasons finally coalesced and found a home a while back, much like the Skylab satellite did by settling in western Australia in 1979.
This grand realization was prompted by a washing machine.
Back in April our washing machine died. It was a dandy looking thing, full of bells and whistles and other assorted eye-trinkets that really made for a fancy and upscale looking appliance that was great fun to look at when operating in a dark room. However this machine didn’t even last five years before the motherboard annihilated itself. It was so bad the local appliance repair store said it wasn’t worth fixing.
After this Space Odyssey looking mistake, we sought something sturdy, reliable, and without any gimmicks.
We bought a Speed Queen, the brand of choice in laundromats far and wide. If seeking a rugged machine, this is truly worthy of consideration. Weighing about twice what the old one did, it reeks of a long service life even if its presentation is nowhere near as fancy. It’s a straight-forward machine and, while it may use a splash more water, it does an infinitely better job of what it was built to do. One can hear water sloshing around the inside during the wash cycle. What a concept! We had not heard that in years.
It also has two magic words emblazoned on the front: Commercial and Heavy-Duty. We all have words that elicit a Pavlovian response, mine being “commercial”, “heavy-duty”, and “industrial”. These words could easily be applied to this no-nonsense Satellite.
Such traits greatly appeal to me. I’m not one for superfluous gimmicks and, when dealing with people, if I have to say something, I get straight to the point. Looking at this particular Satellite, it is obvious it possesses many of these glorious traits.
Isn’t it beautiful? Look at it; there’s no vinyl roof.
As an aside, yes, I’d imagine the larger set of bumper guards were added. It’s in New York and perhaps these could be considered a self-defense mechanism.
Contrast that to the most commonly seen form of Ford Torino. Naturally one could get a plain Torino, my parents even bought one new, but it was easier to find a plain Satellite.
The hubcaps are just that – they serve their purpose with nothing more being promised or implied. These do seem far superior in stamina to fancier wheel covers.
The flanks are unencumbered with metal trim, vinyl hangers-on, and any other decorative paraphernalia. This gives insight into the true car, not the car as presented by those wishing to make a sale, a car covered in decoration.
This Satellite presents itself in a figurative nudity, letting its true and natural self shine through. There’s a lot to like here. We periodically talk about honest cars; this Plymouth is as honest and unpretentious as any car ever built. Such elegant simplicity should be celebrated.
The reason for my carrying the Mopar B-body torch can be summarized by any one of these pictures. This car has an appeal that escapes many but once it’s captured you, there is no going back. The world is truly a better place for this Satellite being so down to earth.
Related Reading:
1977-1978 Plymouth Fury by JS
1971 Plymouth Satellite by JS
1974 Dodge Coronet by JS
1978 Plymouth Fury by PN
1978 Dodge Monaco by PN
Very nice Satellite! I much prefer the styling of these earlier Satellites to that of the Fury that this car became towards the end of this generation…. a leaner look fully integrated with the rest of the fuselage styling.
Your comparison of this Satellite to late Crown Vics, and how they were probably very cheaply obtained as used vehicles for film/tv use is spot on. I was actually watching a corny new Netflix Christmas movie last week and was shocked that in a NYC scene, the taxis were actually 1990s Taurus/Sables.
My daughter has been studying film, even having built a relationship with a local independent film maker. They have talked at length about the wardrobe person, who ensures all clothing is period correct. My question continues to be where is the fleet director?
Examples like your seeing Taurii and Sables used as cabs drives me crazy in films. Last Friday I saw the new film “Midway” and was totally distracted by Chester Nimitz’s staff car having these ungainly wide whitewalls and having an abundance of chrome. Sorry, I’ve seen too many pictures of staff cars used by Eisenhower and Patton in which they were olive drab with no chrome – even Packards and Cadillacs.
The most painful is in period films/tv that feature cars made after it takes place. The Americans, while generally very period-correct with cars any of characters drove, was guilty of this a few times with vehicles in the background. I take it though that most people in charge of this aren’t as die-hard car buffs as we are.
Funny you should mention The Americans. I haven’t seen it in the years.
Good show. I noticed several car-related mistakes. The FBI agent commented on an Olds “stacked headlights” when they weren’t, they were quads side by side. Another time the male lead gets a new ’84-ish Camaro and says it has 300 horsepower. I don’t think so! That and some period-incorrect background cars. But overall not too bad, and the average person wouldn’t even notice. I don’t really remember the character’s names, because at the time I was watching both that and Person Of Interest and POI kept my attention more.
Tangent: It was famously noted that basically no car in Back to the Future was over ten years old.
In the Americans it is a notorious mistake that in scenes set in the Soviet Union, they use all kinds of Eastern Bloc cars. The soviet car scene was fully domestic, there were no Trabants or Dacias there, yet they still appear in those scenes.
What is the movie called Brendan?
John Wick 3 uses a Checker as a taxicab and I am mostly okay with that since the cab looks so lovely.
I always had a liking for these. I still do. Nice find, especially the no vinyl and in my favorites color. Great find. Thank you for posting.
Regarding the Crown Vics still being in service, it is a reality here in Baltimore County Maryland. While yes, they’re gradually being replaced by the Taurus based Police Interceptor a few years back, and now the Explorer based Interceptor, there are still a few of these in Baltimore County Police livery driving about.
Howard County Maryland still has a few too. I just saw one on my way to work as recently as yesterday.
What seems funny about Howard County, is that the recent Chargers seem to be disappearing faster than the old Crown Vics as they are replaced by Ford’s Interceptors.
That says a lot about the robust Panthers, and years ago, these Plymouth Satellites.
Many Crown Vic’s still in regular, marked patrol car duty here in California. I don’t really recall if this gen B Body was similarly long-lived, but I feel as if their M Body replacements didn’t last very long, as the Crown Vic and GM full size cars came on strongly all over the state.
Likewise in Las Vegas, the land that rust forgot. So many Panthers, including stretched Town Cars still in limo service.
My city also has a few Crown Vics still left in their patrol fleet… just saw one yesterday. I’d say that they’ll be gone next year, but I thought that last year too… and the year before that.
Still a few Crown Vics on duty here in Rustopia as well. I don’t know if they are on full time patrol, have descended to back up duty or have been transferred to some less strenuous law enforcement role but they are still around. It is the city police force that still has the Crown Vics, the country sheriff’s office has long since retired all of theirs in favor of Explorers. The city police bought a vast herd of Chargers and the word on the street is that they don’t hold up to police usage nearly as well as the Vics.
I had heard that the problem with the new Chargers is that they are just too fast. A while back I was having my wifes Chrysler minivan serviced at the dealer and made a comment about the black and white Charger patrol car in the lot. The service guy replied that they were really fast, maybe too fast as the drivers couldn’t seem to keep them on the road.
Houston Police Department still has quite a few on the road, though they are getting thinner. Considering how hard they get used, I’m very impressed. Or maybe Houston is just very, very cheap. Actually, I think that is the answer.
It’s fascinating how many CVPIs are still in service in the Bay Area. It’s still I would say 30-40% of the fleets in SF and Oakland. Only this year have I begun to see a massive shift to the new Fords.
We have one or two CV’s still in what seems like regular service. Mostly Explorers now but there’s at least one new Expedition (the Chief?), and an Oz Caprice. The Sheriff is mostly Chargers and the Staties are Chargers and Tahoes for the most part with the odd Taurus every once in a blue moon.
Are we absolutely sure this isn’t one of LT Dan’s COALs?
Dan no longer lives in New York, so I’ll wager it isn’t his. Although knowing Dan well enough, he’s likely owned four such examples over time. 🙂
I was also wondering if LT Dan had a new nom-de-plume.
nope, Im still me
and Jason, I only had 3! Unless you include my Dads car from back in the day…
I see a bronze one, without the usual vinyl top, or what’s left of it, once in a while, and I want to buy it so badly. It belongs to a very old guy who can’t be driving much longer and I would love to grab it up before it hits Ebay or whatever. But what will probably happen is it will pop up and be sold without me even knowing it, or I will see it and it will be too much, or my bank account will be down just at the point it’s for sale, as has happened so many times in the past. My one score was a nice ’78 Camaro in 1987 with bad intake manifold gaskets and a huge vac leak for a super cheap price, I think it was $400. I put the intake gaskets on it, washed it, and made some quick money on it. I had it less than 24 hours.
They look pretty awesome shiny…let’s not forget that we usually see these cars dull and old and beat up and neglected. It’s lovely to see one taken care of.
It was amazing how Chrysler was able to meet the new 5 mile bumper standards by simply attaching those thick rubber “teets” on their bumpers…Comparable Torinos and Malibus had huge bumpers
It’s been mentioned before how much smaller Chrysler and AMC were able to get exemptions to the complete 5mph bumper standards on certain models set to be discontinued. The exemptions allowed them to use the big rubber guard ‘teets’ on existing bumpers instead of engineering completely new bumper systems.
I suppose Ford and GM could have used the exemptions, too, but, IIRC, they didn’t have any models scheduled to go away. The one interesting exception may have been the 1973 Mustang. As far as I can tell, the only change for the 1973 Mustang front bumper was that all models got the same urethene front bumper cover previously reserved for the sport versions.
Frankly, I seriously doubt that the 1973 Mustang front bumper really met the 5mph standard any more than the 1971-72 urethene front bumper did. It certainly looks identical and really seems like one of those ‘we’ll look the other way for a couple years, but, by 1975, you better have bumpers that meet ‘all’ the standards on ‘all’ of your cars’.
Yeah the 73 may look the same at a glance but it isn’t, there is a big aluminum extrusion backing it and energy absorbing mounts, it think it sticks out a touch further too. Ford did similar things with the Pinto.
Good eye. The ’73 Mustang front bumper certainly ‘looks’ like the ’71-’72. A recent CC on the Maverick mentioned the same thing on how the ’73 Maverick bumper didn’t look too bad, but the later cars were horrible.
I suspect Ford was given a pass on their ’73 cars, similar to Chrysler and AMC, but it was understood it was a one-year-only thing since the ’74 and later cars had the awful battering rams. Or maybe it was due to the added 1974 test of having to survive corner hits, too.
But, weirdly, the big rubber ‘block’ guards on the 1973 Mopar A- and B-body gave way to ‘smaller’ guards with much less rubber in 1974 while the bumpers thenselves actually look identical. Did Chrysler do something to strengthen the bumpers underneath to pass the 1974 tests?
The 73 standard was directly into a flat wall, so yeah those big rubber blocks were fully compliant. 74 they added tests aimed at the corner of the bumper so yeah the blocks didn’t work.
I still have a bipolar response to these. On one hand, I see what you mean. They are basic and have stout guts. I have grown to appreciate the styling on the early sedans as quite clean and modern from a time when everyone else (Ford particularly) was moving to baroque formality.
The opposing side stems from my age, I think. I got to experience both these and the prior versions of 1966-70 as old used cars. The older ones were so much more satisfying to me. Every part of the body and interior of these felt cheap and thin compared with their predecessors. It was easy to find older ones in “respectable” trim levels in the driveways of retail buyers, much harder as these stayed in showrooms longer. The Fords and Chevys seemed like so much nicer cars to those people who buy with their eyes and fingertips. But that also made these the best used cars for the buck back then.
Make no mistake, I would happily adopt this car and give it a loving home. But if an equally nice 68-70 version came my way, I would be on the phone trying to sell this one to you.
I likewise have a bipolar response to these cars. I fully appreciate, and agree with Jason’s appreciation for heavy-duty, industrial, no-nonsense equipment like this Satellite.
But my immediate response to seeing a car like this is to think back to my childhood, and the people in our town who actually drove these kinds of cars. Always cranky, old men who would yell at children for no reason. They often chose a dark-green color like this one, too.
Maybe I’m afraid that if I fully embrace the Torch like Jason has, then I’ll actually become my neighborhood’s cranky old man. Better to just admire these cars from a distance…
You won’t be cranky, dammit, just pick up the blasted torch!
(He typed while smiling broadly, with all knowing he was teasing.)
Having spent many miles in the back seat of my mom’s ’72 Coronet Crestwood and my dad’s ’76 Fury Salon – in this same color – I have fond memories of these mid-size fuselages. I even like the ’75 refresh, at least until they put the stacked headlights on in ’77.
Of course they would have been even better if they’d followed MPC’s lead and actually designed a 4-door version based off the ’75 coupe refresh, along with a de-fuselaged wagon. Heck, they could have dropped the Gran Fury a year earlier, along with the Royal Monaco, and competed head-on with GM’s downsized full size cars in ’77.
Could it be that the four door Satellite was the ultimate car for the complete dull, boring, absolute lack of style loser back in the day? Which to this twenty something college student, who lived with the Assistant Dean of Students and his wife for a year and a half, and they had one in that exact shade of green, was a daily reminder.
Why Bruce bought it in the first place is beyond me. While he knew nothing about cars (a possible clue), he definitely thought he had some degree of hipness about him. And said car definitely didn’t fit his self-image. To the point that it was traded in on a 240Z (with automatic transmission) less than two years after he bought it.
Sorry, those cars made AMC sedans interesting, if only because you went longer during the day between seeing the AMC product on the streets. They were the ultimate generic automobile of the day, to the point that I thought they should all have been painted white with an identifying scannable bar code on the rear fenders and a “CAR” logo on the hood and trunk.
Meanwhile, the two door deserved the hottie butt and legs hanging out the window.
In the early to mid 70s buyers of Chrysler-built vehicles were, on average, less educated and less affluent than buyers of Ford and GM-built vehicles. That was what I saw in my daily life back then, especially in the lower priced cars. Mopar buyers bought lower-trim models more often and tended to be the diehard “my daddy always said Dodges were best” kinds of folks.
Folks who traded more frequently cared about resale value, which was bad on Chrysler products, and about image (also bad, due to perceptions of bad quality which had some basis in fact.) My own father who cared about image and resale would not touch one. I managed to get my mother into a ChryPly lot in 1974. She didn’t even get out of the car when she saw the row of low-trim Satellite sedans there.
Our neighbors owned two Plymouths bought brand-new in the early 1970s.
The first was a 1971 Duster in that green that looked perilously close to olive drab. It was offered by Chrysler Corporation in the early 1970s. The Duster sported black wall tires and the dog-dish hubcaps seen on the featured Satellite.
The other was a 1973 Satellite Custom sedan in a metallic light orange color, with a matching vinyl roof.
This couple did absolutely nothing to their cars – never even washed them. The Satellite, in particular, was literally covered in dents, dings and paint scuffs within 18 months of ownership. And we lived in a small town, not a place like Philadelphia or New York City, where it’s hard to keep a daily driver free of dents, dings and paint scuffs.
Every time I see a Satellite of this vintage, those neighbors come to mind.
It was hard for me to imagine people who bought a brand-new Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme or even a Ford Gran Torino being so cavalier about their cars.
“Could it be that the four door Satellite was the ultimate car for the complete dull, boring, absolute lack of style loser back in the day?”
You might not want to say that within earshot of M. Emmet Walsh (Billed as “Madman” in Steve Martin’s The Jerk.)
At least, I think a ‘75 Fury qualifies as a B body? 😉
It was all great and good until that yellow coupe appeared and my attention to the article stumbled, and not because of the car (I actually prefer the sedan). Jason, you could have left it as a PS…..
Yeah, it happened to me too. Instantly I knew it was Daisy Duke. The yellow car just confirmed it. Who wouldn’t want to drop a load into her Speed Queen?
The Road Runner, one of the most famous Chrysler musclecars, didn’t seem to get much movie or tv screen time. Daisy Duke’s car was the exception (and without any call-outs on the hood, it looks to have a 318).
The only other Road Runner I can recall on-screen (and, ironically, it was also a second generation car similar to Daisy’s), was a 1971 in The Friends of Eddie Coyle which featured Robert Mitchum.
I have noticed legitimate muscle car packages aren’t actually that common on the big screen unless they were supplied by the manufacturer when new, most you see in movies and TV are base coupes dressed up to look like them or customized so you couldn’t tell either way. Even Daisy’s Roadrunner was quietly changed to a 71 Satellite with 73 roadrunner style stripes, once they decided up use Daisy in chase sequences.
Roadrunners are oddly uncommon though, I wonder if Hollywood consciously kept them from leading roles since so much of the surplus cop cars were Belvederes and Satellites, and didn’t want the (anti)hero’s car so clearly similar to his pursuers.
Mopar B-body models all having a similar look is a pretty good theory. There were no Charger cop-cars back in the day, but plenty of Belvederes and Coronets, which pretty much eliminated those being chased driving a Road Runner, GTX, or Super Bee (at least back when they all had the same doghouse).
Not to mention that those old Mopar musclecars were routinely driven into the ground and thrown away, meaning there weren’y a lot of them left in stout enough shape to endure a rough chase. It would be a whole lot easier to dig up an old Goat or Mustang for that kind of duty.
That’s why I love CC. There is always someone to carry the torch for the wide variety cars. I may not always like another car, but I am always willing to look at a car from another perspective. There is usually not much love given to this generation of 4-door B-Body Mopars, but Jason, you did a great job at waxing poetic about this car. These cars have little to no appeal to me, but after reading your article you have raised the needle off zero for me.
These were very thin on the ground around here when I was young. There were lots of GM and Ford 4-door sedans from this era, but the Mopars were non-existent. The 2-door variants were seen more often, in particular I remember a fair number of the 73-74 Plymouths, typically hot rodded with fat rear tires and leaf spring shackles. Of course, there were lots of Cordobas too, and I still see some old survivors every now and then.
Your comment about these cars being used as police vehicles in movies, stands true for the next generation of 80’s police cars too. I remember lots of movies and shows showing the M-Body Diplomats and B-body Impala/Caprices well past their road use time. Around here, the CVPI’s have been off the road for some time.
Jason, I am not sure what the status is on the sale of your ’63 Ford, but if you’ve made room, here’s a nice replacement:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-dodge-coronet-2/
That car sounded great in the video link… so quiet, like a 70’s Ford!
One disappointment though: You did not get to hear the “Highland Park Hummingbird” (I believe that is the correct term), as the car was already running when the video started.
I love the color!
When one has been exposed to the Mopar gear reduction starter (AKA the highland park hummingbird); other cars seem SO dull and boring when starting up.
#NangNangNangNangggggggROAARRRR
That Coronet speaks loudly to me but, alas, I still have a ’63 Ford and I need another old car about as much as I need two heads.
I’m glad I could get your B-body meter to move a smidgeon. It means there is hope!
Anyone who has lived in NYC or the French Quarter of New Orleans understands the need for those tall bumper guards.
My cousin and I returned to college in 1974 and had the opportunity to visit his sister and her husband, who had a 74 Gran Torino 4-door. Then the following evening we stayed with my sister and her husband, who had a 74 base Satellite 4-door. So we had a back to back comparison of the two cars from the vantage point of the back seat.
The Ford was plush and broughamized, and the Plymouth was a stripper. And my cousin and I both liked the Plymouth much better. The Ford was smooth riding, but the body was always in motion. The Ford “stabul” rear suspension (4-link coil) allowed a side to side shimmy, and on the streets of Detroit, the car constantly moved in a cork-screw fashion.
The Plymouth, in comparision, road much stiffer, but was also very well controlled. You felt like you were on a road, rather than on the ocean in a small boat. Neither car had any power to speak of. In that era of early polution controls, any V8 was wheezy. But, the Plymouth was clearly the more competent car. And you rarely see that vintage Torino anymore.
A note on bumpers: somebody needs to research this a little bit. I seem to remember that Chrysler took advantage of a loophole in the bumper rules. The first year (1973) was 5mph front and 2.5mph rear into a solid object (like a wall). The second year (1974) sedans were required to accept impacts anywhere on the bumper. Coupes were a carryover of the 1973 rule. That’s why the 74 B body 4 doors had the bigger bumpers while the Sebring / Charger retained the nerf blocks.
And interesting article.
WW
FMVSS 215 Modifications: “..Until Oct. 31, 1974, there was an exemption from the pendulum test for vehicles that have less than 115 in. wheelbase, or a convertible top, or no roof support between A-pillar and rear support, or no rear seating positions. Vehicles manufactured after Aug. 31,1975 were to have a corner impact test. However,vehicles or more than 120 inch wheel base were exempted for an additional year…”
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/802343
If William Rubano happens to be lurking here, I’m very curious whether this car was spotted and shot in the vicinity of 17th Avenue in Bensonhurst? There was a similar car parked in that neighborhood for years and years when I lived there. I admired it every time I wandered by, although if I recall it was not quite so pristine. This looks like the car I remember, but with a fresh coat of paint.
I think it’s in Queens – near Queens College. Could likely be the same car, though.
Make mine the next step up to the Satellite Custom model, with the bench seat with fold down arm rest interior and the bigger steering wheel horn button center.
318 V8 engine, please, Torqueflite, power steering and front disc brakes, factory A/C, 3.23 final drive ratio for a “Real World peppy”, reliable and dayum near indestructible car that you wouldn’t need to lock the doors.
These were sort of handsome, and obviously fresh in 1971. Unfortunately, even the minor detail changes on these each year were generally for the worse. And, as JPC points out, the execution was always on the cheap.
One of my junior high car pool mothers drove a green wagon version. The simple Fords and Chevys my dad owned seemed worlds nicer, and his company Oldsmobiles were simply beyond what this car was.
One of my peeves about the ’71-’74 Satellite sedan is that I believe they were never offered with door window frame trim, relegating even the best trimmed versions to a fleet look.
No wonder we all recall these as fleet cars.
For 1971 only there was a Satellite Brougham four-door with chromed door window frames: http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/plymouth/71satcan/bilder/5.jpg
What killed the Satellite and reduced it to being a service vehicle was the Valiant/Dart. The Valiant/Dart was a better vehicle that did everything the Satellite did, but did it better. There was no reason to even sell the Satellite, except as a two door Brougham coupe during a time when folks like to buy two door big cars.
Same engines, same abilities – why buy the Satellite over the Valiant/Dart?
That is why this vehicle is unloved. It was an unnecessary product that ended up being dumped into service fleets, just to get rid of them.
The same reason Carol Brady did, there was no Valiant/Dart station wagon.
That always strikes me as weird, as we had a wagon on this body in Australia. I’m sure Chrysler Australia could have shipped the tooling to America after the VH series debuted in 1971. We didn’t need it any more.
I recall reading on Allpar.com that some within Chrysler pushed to eliminate the B-body sedans during this era because there was a fair amount of overlap among people who bought them and people who bought an A-body sedan. But the dealers, in particular, resisted.
That’s what Brian Bouwknap, ex Chrysler product planner said over at allpar. The plan was to replace both with the Volare/Aspen. Not a bad idea, but unless they’d also cut down the C body, it would have killed their sizeable fleet business.
I also get the difficulty of selling both in the same dealership, but Chrysler not bringing out an intermediate (Coronado? Saratoga?) in ’65 seems like a missed opportunity. Or keeping the B-body 4 door hardtop in production since it was already tooled up, and would’ve been a class exclusive.
The original “Police Squad!” TV series, made back in the ’80’s had the lead character Lt. Frank Drebbin (Leslie Nielsen) driving one of these beauties, and a running gag was that whenever he entered the scene, as he ‘parked’ his car, it always crashed into something (trash cans, boxes, shopping carts, etc.). It was a 20 year old car even then, but it was in beautiful condition as I remember.
I also recall that, back in the early ’70’s, the artist of the comic strip “Dick Tracy” had an affinity for drawing these exclusively as the police cruisers…they were that iconic.
A beautiful design…I’d love one exactly like the featured example, no vinyl top, poverty caps and all!
Another couple of memorable movie uses of the early seventies Plymouth intermediate sedan was in the second Dirty Harry movie when Clint Eastwood drives one into a building to resolve a hostage situation.
The other is in Quentin Tarantino’s first movie, Reservoir Dogs when Tarantino himself rounds a corner after a bank robbery in one and, like Frank Drebbin, crashes into ‘something’ after being blinded in a shoot-out.
Speaking of Tarantino, he’s a guy who has a terrific eye for period vehicles, using a lot of seventies’ era cars in his movies.
Upvote for your also getting that Police Squad! vibe like I did.
“We drove over to the part of town known as Little Italy.”
I liked the four-door Satellite and Coronet from their inception in this new body in 1971. I liked the look of a skin stretched tautly…a monocoque look. But then, I was always appreciative of the Chrysler fuselage styling on the 1969 C-bodies, too.
I can’t recall ever driving a Torino or Colonnade of this era. But I did have two short stints behind the wheel of Satellites, and recall being favorably surprised. The first was for the last few sessions of my high school driver training class, when a Satellite (or maybe Coronet, I should remember) replaced the full size Ford we used previously. The Mopar was new, and felt much tighter and more precise than the big Ford.
The second was in college, when I and a few students with valid licenses and proof of insurance were chosen to drive State of California fleet cars on a field trip to a local manufacturer. The drive was about 50 miles of mixed urban and freeway, in heavy Bay Area traffic, and whatever steering, suspension and brakes were fitted to these otherwise strippo cars felt great to me, even with a full load of passengers. As a point of reference, my own car at the time was a Vega GT, and my friends had 2002’s, Lotus Cortina’s, modified Datsun 510’s etc which I drove regularly. And one friend’s parents had an ex-fleet previous gen Satellite, which seemed dull and boat-like by comparison.
Great find and thanx for sharing!
These are nice-looking cars, especially during an era not know for them. That said, I was disappointed by the 73 Satellite, only because I loved the oval grille opening on the ’71 and ’72 fuselage models. To me, those are the best looking Mopars ever made.
Great article that sums up these cars perfectly.
There was a nice 1971 Custom sedan in original condition at this year’s Carlisle All-Chrysler Nationals. The basic shape actually looks good today – probably because it’s very clean and to-the-point.
A great downfall with these cars (and their Dodge counterpart) was their interior trim. Even the top-of-the-line models come across as very plain next to the GM and Ford competition. At a minimum, Chrysler should have spent more money making the interior trim and dashboards look more upscale if it wanted to sell these as family sedans.
“A great downfall with these cars (and their Dodge counterpart) was their interior trim.”
That was a problem all up and down the line for Mopars of that era. By 1972-73 even the optional interiors that had been seen in 1970-71 started to get dumbed down. Even big Chrysler Newports looked bad inside. I think it was 1975-76 when the company started putting some decent effort into the interiors. By late in the run, a pretty nice interior was available in these B body sedans, though few ordered them that way.
The sad part is that interiors of the 1965-66 C-Bodies were quite nicely done. Chrysler put real money into those cars, and it showed.
Our next-door neighbors were also Mopar loyalists (and they never took care of their cars, either!). They had a 1971 Dodge Coronet sedan in light metallic blue with a black vinyl top. I remember riding in it and thinking that it was very plain on the inside, and also very loud, when compared to our 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 Holiday sedan.
The Delmont was older, had more miles on the odometer, and was also a hardtop (which meant that it should not have been as tightly sealed as a true sedan). But it still seemed to be quieter and more refined than that Coronet.
“There was a nice 1971 Custom sedan in original condition at this year’s Carlisle All-Chrysler Nationals.”
Are you talking about this one? I probably spent a good hour talking with the owner. Very nice guy that had it for the same reason I have mine; our Dads had one when we were kids. /6 and 3 on the tree, 2 owner car
The one I’m remembering had a vinyl roof. I believe it was green with a matching vinyl roof, and had the full wheel covers.
That’s in astonishingly good shape for an original, early seventies’ Plymouth B-body sedan. Of particular note are the original hubcaps. Earlier cars had either ‘Plymouth Division’ or ‘Dodge Division’ stamped on them but, in what appears to be a cost-cutting move, they removed the division lettering so Chrysler only had to stock one plain version to use on either car.
So, correct OEM hubcaps are tough to find. Usually, when you see Mopar hubcaps, they’re the cop-car versions with cooling holes drilled around the circumference.
Correction. Earlier cars had much more specific caps. The Dodges had a much snazzier ‘fratzog’ circled by a red stripe in the middle. As far as poverty caps go, they were about as cool as you could get.
Plymouths had a convex, chrome deal with a Plymouth emblem in the middle. Not as cool as the Dodge, but still okay, and certainly better than what you got with a Ford or GM product.
This Satellite appears to be one of the federal government cars, sent to Hazzard County to surveil Boss Hogg’s moonshine racket.
Not a 73!!! More like 71 72. I had a 73 RR and now have a 74 RR/GTX
You are confusing me. What is not a ’73? The featured car is a ’73 and the yellow Road Runner is a ’73/’74. So what is not a ’73 model?
100% 73 or 74 in the picture. Daisy had a 71 later
Another very entertaining piece, complete with the kinds of anecdotes and metaphors I have come to expect from you, Jason. Truly, this Satellite’s “honesty and simplicity” speaks to me, as well, especially since this is a true survivor in “civilian” clothes.
If the Sears Surplus stores of my ’70s & ’80s childhood sold a car, this would have been it. The “Kenmore Satellite”.
Now I’m going to think of that every time I see one of these cars!
Jason, I share your love of these 4-door B-bodies. They look tough and purposeful, and they have great lines. In some cases they have some rather inspiring engines lurking beneath the hood that encourage all sorts of juvenile tomfoolery. My personal favorite is the 1977-1978 Fury and Monaco versions. I tuned into “Hunter” with Fred Dryer and Stefanie Kramer in the 80s every week, mostly to watch Fred do extra-legal maneuvers with that bad-ass, dark green Dodge.
There was one episode where his beloved Dodge got rolled and totaled in an epic chase. I was crushed! But fortunately, later on in the episode, a guy from the motor pool is showing Hunter the new M-Body he is going to get, when Hunter notices an identical Monaco to his now-departed one. Hunter asks motor pool man what’s wrong with the green one, and the guy says the motor is blown. So Hunter asks the guy to take the motor out of the M-Body and put in in the green Monaco so he can have his same car back! Brilliant! I was ecstatic!
I think these looked really nice for 4 doors back then, much better than the 68-70 Bs and better than the GMs and Ford’s. They probably could have pulled off a 4-door Roadrunner package if Plymouth had the foresight, The key with these earlier Plymouth sedans is the flared square wheel openings, which look significantly better than the later Furys with the previous Dodge body’s flat round openings.
Fitting to the spiritual Crown Vic connection, those repeated this – the original 92 designs Ford used the more racy 6 window roof and Mercury used the formal 4 window roof, the 98s consolidated all Panthers to the duller Mercury body just like the 75 Bs did the Dodge body.
Ya got me coming and going with this post. My dad drove his green Satellite into the ground through most of the ’70s. Definitely got his money’s worth out of that car. In like fashion we’re getting our money’s worth out of the Speed Queen that we bought to replace the bells-&-whistles washer that lasted all of 3 years under relatively light use. And in eat-everything-but-the-moo fashion, our young son and his friends have been playing hard in and around the sturdy box that the Speed Queen came in.
Nice article and great pictures posted by William Rubano. Lot of angles, too, which makes writing an article easier.
This car certainly has a no-nonsense, utilitarian vibe. I love it, as I do most actual cop cars. In high school in the late 80’s I had a 72 Coronet, 318, auto and full wheel covers, but otherwise very strippo. Even had rubber flooring in perfect condition. I really liked that car.
The bad guys drove a Satellite in Reservoir Dogs, though obviously that’s not a contemporary example. The FBI agent in Mindhunters on Netflix drives a Satellite. That show overall has very good period car accuracy.
I’m going to have to look into Speed King when the time comes. I bought the most basic Maytag pair in 2005 and it is still going strong.
The Satellite in Mindhunter is actually an exception to the rule, as it’s not a car of the agency (keeping it in line with the police/taxi theme) but Bill Tench’s personal family car. And I have to agree that Mindhunter has an exceptionally good car scene. Not only they are period correct, but most of them are pretty normal everyday cars. A lot of movies make the mistake of having period correct cars but most of them are fancy cabriolets/muscle cars/pony cars/Cadillacs as those are the cars that survive in greater number.
Jason, I share your feelings about these cars (maybe less so the 1975-78 models). I grew up in the 1970s and also watched my fair share of TV—I’m certain these appeared on Adam-12 and I’m also fairly sure they were used on The Rookies.
Side note: I was in San Francisco in August and was surprised to see several Crown Vics still in service as police vehicles, though I couldn’t say what years they were.
“We bought a Speed Queen, the brand of choice in laundromats far and wide.”
So, to cast it in an automotive frame, it’s the Checker Marathon of washing machines?
The same thing that happened to the HAL-9000 level washer happened to my stove. This one had all the tricks, delayed baking so you could put dinner in the oven, leave and it would be cooked just as you got home, various timers and other readouts, etc. And it was a smoothtop.
Then the motherboard went out, along with all the controls and it was unobtanium priced to replace. The stove was just too old. The service guy didn’t even charge for the visit. I ended up getting a basic oven with just the four burner controls and a single dial for the oven. It didn’t even have a clock.
If I ever buy a house again, I’ll only get the heavy duty industrial appliances for it. My fridge won’t even have an icemaker or door water/ice dispenser, those are always the first thing to go.
I provide washer and dryers in my rentals. With one or two early exceptions where I put in stacked units, they are all “direct drive” Whirlpool washers, which were made for a number of decades, from the late 60s until a few years ago. They are considered by far the best choice for cheap, durable, easy to fix washers, and the landlords’ washers of choice.
I can pick them up on CL for $35-60, and the only things that break (rubber drive block and the water pump) are dirt cheap to buy and can both be replaced in minutes. I can practically do those with my eyes closed. Sometimes the clutches go out, and that’s quite easy to replace too.
Essentially the same goes for the Whirlpool dryer. Both the washers and dryers were also sold as Kenmore, Roper, Kirkland and other brands. The washers are easy to identify as they are narrower than most. And the dryers have the lint filter on the rear of the top lid.
I keep a stash of parts on hand. All of mine were bought new 25 years ago (for $175-200), or bought used for peanuts. Sometimes I’ve picked them up for free on the curb.
Used appliance dealers favor these for obvious reasons: they pick them up for free, “recondition” them by replacing the drive block and pump ($25 total) and sell them for $150 or so. Even at that price, they’re a decent deal.
I now keep an extra set in my shed, reconditioned and ready to go if one of mine in service needs a full reconditioning (including clutch).
The same applies to basic Whirlpool dish washers. Golden. And I favor their basic stoves and fridges too. Whirlpool made cheap but reliable appliances for many decades, and were easy to fix. The gold standard for landlords.
I will second your experience with Whirlpool. An old Whirlpool dryer came with my first house in 1987. I moved it to my present place. I picked up a second for free from someone moving and used it for parts on the old one. A few years ago the Mrs. was convinced something was wrong with it, I swapped them and put the good parts back over. One drive belt has been the only part I have actually had to buy. So 30 years and I have never bought a dryer.
Good to know that the Whirpool washing machine I bought over a decade ago has the same good bones. I will stop worrying about it quitting on me.
The Whirlpool washers you mention were the first recommendation of the appliance repair place. They said if one could not be sourced (and of course, one could not be, despite the wait) try the Speed Queen as it is equally bulletproof.
I just fixed a old Whirlpool washer in ten minutes with a ten dollar drive dog kit. Those are all I will put in my rentals. We do have a stacked modern made in Germany Whirlpool set in the cabin. It takes twice as long to do a load and doesn’t spin out as much water.
When my daughter’s Samsung died shortly after the warranty, Home Depot was clearing out the last GE old stock non-electronic ones for $299. That one may not be quite as good as the old Whirlpool units, but based on my previous experience with them, only drive belts go out with any frequency.
My parents always had Kenmores, because my dad knew they were built by Whirlpool. Very hard to kill. We do have Speed Queens in my building’s laundry, and they’re definitely popular here in NYC.
I had a Satellite of this vintage (71 or 72 four door) as a company car. It would have been okay, except the brakes were quite dangerous and no matter how many times I sent it for service they never got better. Grabbed and pulled hard to the left, but inconsistently. I was glad when it was replaced by a 73 Cutlass coupe. Only thing I didn’t like about the Cutlass was that giant driver-side window kept jumping whatever mechanism inside the door that was supposed to keep it aligned while it went up and down.
Your torch-carrying yearning is certainly acceptable to me, even if it does seem to require apologetics and possibly a lawyer in the car’s place of birth. You see, for a total outsider to whatever reality this car had (build quality, handling, whatever), there’s somethin’ y’all there ain’t seein’ – it’s a mighty fine and handsome shape. Its decency of form is particularly clear when bereft of ’70’s baroque trimmages, as here.
But Jason, in the most minor and gentle of picked nits, Skylab landed not in western Australia, but in a remote part of the (gigantic) state of Western Australia. The State of 1.6 million sq mi has only one city, Perth, (2 million), in an area literally four times bigger than Texas (430,000 sq mi).
Nothing more interesting has happened in Western Australia since.
there is a b-body fan at the police precinct on elizabeth street in manhattan’s chinatown. i took this picture of a ’78 dodge monaco in 2015 but i have seen it parked there recently. definitely owned by a cop. they’re the only ones who can get away with parking half on the curb.
https://flic.kr/p/ydJgCW
1978 dodge monaco
I also have a thing about the B-Body Satellite. I also like the Charger and Super Bee but my favorite is the 71-72 Roadrunner. I bought one in mostly original equipment lightly restored in 2007 and have enjoyed in ever since. The futuristic body design is one of a kind and it also made a great and highly accomplished race car everywhere it went. Glad to find someone that recognizes a good thing.
Thanks,
Dale