Before we had our C bodies...

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440/4speed. I paid $800 for it in 1978. Sold it for $800 in 1983. Street raced the heck out if it. That's the same Direct Connection tag on my Fury that I had on my Bee. (*Edit*Just realized it's not, now I gotta go dig for it. Getting old is hell.)

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My second car was a C Body ('70 Dodge Phoenix/Fury). Sold my second C Body, my '73 Imperial to buy one of these, a GT replica, traded the replica for this red one, a genuine, all numbers matching XA GT:
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Gotta love those old 8/16mm flicks, HD they are not! My 1st muscle car experience was watching a 428 Mach 1 do smoky burnouts, age 10 or so, I was hooked on Fords for years after that. Saw the mopar light later.

Consider my C to be a muscle car but I had this one years before & still have. It was a literal barn find but not like most you see.
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Other way around. Originally a 383/4 speed. Previous owner had dropped a 440 in it.

Interesting - this of course raises the question regarding the availability of a 4 speed in a C after 1968... perhaps the car was a column shift 383 3 speed (entirely possible) and the PO put a floor shift 4 speed in it.
 
For some of us who came of age in the late 80s, "musclecars" were always overpriced.

And although I've always liked musclecars, C-bodies were not a consolation prize for me. I'd always liked them in addition to basically anything Mopar. The East Side of Metro Detroit probably has the highest concentration of Chrysler products in the nation. It's not uncommon, even in 2020, to see a small parking lot that is 90-100% Mopar. I could probably throw a rock right now and hit a Plymouth Acclaim that refuses to die. It's actually one of the things I DO like about Michigan. I took this for a survivor-car FB page. Only after I took it did I realize the age of everything parked around the Voyager.

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I started attending Mopar shows/swaps as a kid with my dad who likes cars, but isn't the type to rebuild an engine over the weekend. For a long time, there were two local camps... The musclecar guys who essentially looked down on anything that wasn't '62-'70 B or E-body. For these guys, an A body or a 71 Roadrunner was being "accepting". The second group were essentially the local W.P. Chrysler club. For them, anything after 1962 was some kind of kid's-car/junk/modern garbage.

Example: 1996 and I drove my freshly restored '77 NY'er coupe to the Las Vegas Nationals...
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(Not mine, but almost identical) They didn't want to let me onto the grounds because it was a Cadillac. I literally had to tell the dimwit to read the emblems. Months later, an almost identical situation played out at a local WPC annual show.

I guess that's why I have to laugh at the snowflakes who get so easily offended on this site. Wait until some drunk Corvette-owner-turned-Mopar-guy tells you "your car sucks" or some old fart with a flathead Plymouth just makes a grunt noise and waves his hand like you're the druggie-grandkid who listens to the rock music. Grow a set and just laugh at the douchebags. I guess that's also why I tend not to care for the folk who try and turn their C into some kind of sloppy-seconds musclecar. I'm good with increasing any aspect of performance, just not tacky visuals. And if you have no clue how the OEM parts worked, but want to change them because "what you heard", I won't have any respect either.

Oddly enough, I never took it out on the cars themselves. I really like pre-war stuff. I've flipped a lot of ABEs (but haven't held onto them because I know the prices will crash) I've owned Metric Mopars, but for much the same reason (poor investment) I haven't kept them around too long. Thus the main constant for me has been the unloved and under-appreciated C-body. $2500 in 1990, $2500 in 2020, with a few exceptions, but miles of smiles.
 
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For some of us who came of age in the late 80s, "musclecars" were always overpriced.

And although I've always liked musclecars, C-bodies were not a consolation prize for me. I'd always liked them in addition to basically anything Mopar. The East Side of Metro Detroit probably has the highest concentration of Chrysler products in the nation. It's not uncommon, even in 2020, to see a small parking lot that is 90-100% Mopar. I could probably throw a rock right now and hit a Plymouth Acclaim that refuses to die. It's actually one of the things I DO like about Michigan. I took this for a survivor-car FB page. Only after I took it did I realize the age of everything parked around the Voyager.

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I started attending Mopar shows/swaps as a kid with my dad who likes cars, but isn't the type to rebuild an engine over the weekend. For a long time, there were two local camps... The musclecar guys who essentially looked down on anything that wasn't '62-'70 B or E-body. For these guys, an A body or a 71 Roadrunner was being "accepting". The second group were essentially the local W.P. Chrysler club. For them, anything after 1962 was some kind of kid's-car/junk/modern garbage.

Example: 1996 and I drove my freshly restored '77 NY'er coupe to the Las Vegas Nationals...View attachment 366616
(Not mine, but almost identical) They didn't want to let me onto the grounds because it was a Cadillac. I literally had to tell the dimwit to read the emblems. Months later, an almost identical situation played out at a local WPC annual show.

I guess that's why I have to laugh at the snowflakes who get so easily offended on this site. Wait until some drunk Corvette-owner-turned-Mopar-guy tells you "your car sucks" or some old fart with a flathead Plymouth just makes a grunt noise and waves his hand like you're the druggie-grandkid who listens to the rock music. Grow a set and just laugh at the douchebags. I guess that's also why I tend not to care for the folk who try and turn their C into some kind of sloppy-seconds musclecar. I'm good with increasing any aspect of performance, just not tacky visuals. And if you have no clue how the OEM parts worked, but want to change them because "what you heard", I won't have any respect either.

Oddly enough, I never took it out on the cars themselves. I really like pre-war stuff. I've flipped a lot of ABEs (but haven't held onto them because I know the prices will crash) I've owned Metric Mopars, but for much the same reason (poor investment) I haven't kept them around too long. Thus the main constant for me has been the unloved and under-appreciated C-body. $2500 in 1990, $2500 in 2020, with a few exceptions, but miles of smiles.
I'll take an Imperial over most muscle cars, the second generation Charger is the exception, and even then, I prefer my '73.
 
My first two cars were 1984 VW Rabbit diesels. Great student cars, but not something I'd care to own again. I've owned my '66 Windsor for 20 years and it IS my muscle car.
 
It's interesting how the term "muscle car" has come to be the descriptive word for all high performance factory cars.
In the 60's the term used by the manufactures was almost universally "supercars". That's how most were marketed. Probably late 70's or early 80's when some magazine editor coined the phrase "muscle car", and it stuck.
 
My first C body owned is the Monaco purchased just a few years ago.
But my first car was this.
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Car came with ww and full wheel covers.
Grabbed these Road Wheels in "Tradings Times" ad.
 
It's interesting how the term "muscle car" has come to be the descriptive word for all high performance factory cars.
In the 60's the term used by the manufactures was almost universally "supercars". That's how most were marketed. Probably late 70's or early 80's when some magazine editor coined the phrase "muscle car", and it stuck.
I did a little digging in Google's magazine text search. One of the earliest uses I could find for the term "muscle car" was PopSci magazine Oct '65 issue, p.62, discussing the 1966 intermediate models and specifically the Dodge Coronet when equipped with the 426 Hemi.
Popular Science

In 1967, Popular Mechanics October issue uses "muscle car" to refer to the GTX and Road Runner.
Popular Mechanics

By 1969, magazines were using the term muscle-car without quotes. In May, 1971 issue of PopSci, they were already asking "What happened to the muscle car?" on p.30.
Popular Science

Based on my brief investigation, I'd say the term "muscle car" had already been popularized by 1970, regardless of what manufacturers were referring to them as. Having said that, a search for "supercar" will turn up references to muscle cars as well in the 1966-70 timeframe, but no later.
 
I have had a long history of Supercars, (muscle cars). My second car was my first Mopar. A beautiful 62 red on red Fury hardtop with a 318 4bbl. It ran good and looked great after a day of rubbing on it with Blue Coral. Drove from 64 to late 66 and traded on a 66 triple black 383 4speed Satellite. It was bad fast and the 396's and 390 Fairlane's around usually got a sound spanking from it.
It was traded in 69 when the A12 Road Runner I ordered came in. I drove it for 3 years but had become an "angry" Viet Nam veteran, sold all the toys and disappeared into the Colorado mountains.
It took about 6 years there to get my head back straight.
Then a long string of Mopar supercars began. Sometimes 3-4 at a time. GTX's, A12 road Runners and Super Bee's, 6BBL Road Runners.
Then one day I came across a 1964 Chrysler 300 convertible, non letter car, that had been stored for 15 years. It was a lovely rosewood and white. The normal stuff brakes, exhaust, some mechanical, fluids, belts and hoses made it a great driver and I used for that. That car made me wonder why I ever drove a B body.
Although one year to early to be a true C body it had all the attributes. Powerful. road like a dream and it attracted more attention than any of my B body's.
I sold off the supercars and was happy with the Chrysler,

Then one day a fellow followed me home and made an offer I couldn't refuse..... Big mistake. I did find a nice 65 Coronet 500 convertible with factory A/C. We made a couple of epic road trips in it but, it just was not as nice as a big Chrysler to drive. Jezebelle came into the picture while I owned the Coronet, Then the Admiral. Lots more road trips and an invitation to the prestigious Concourse of America in Plymouth Michigan for Jezebelle.

Now I have the 67 Polara 500 convertible, "Sleeper", and after the first road trip it has lived up to the C body legend for fine road cars. Still a few rough edges, but it will get dialed in.




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My first car I traded for sheep. Tired of walking to school and in need of anything w an engine. Served me well until I could buy my first REAL car an AAR cuda purchased with actual money. 2 grand.

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My brother wrecked the futura when I passed it along to him for free. The cuda fell apart, high horsepower & rust do not mix....

H.S. auto shop, a buddy's dad had one all original, low miles for 1300. Only had half of that saved up. Still lust for an AAR.
 
H.S. auto shop, a buddy's dad had one all original, low miles for 1300. Only had half of that saved up. Still lust for an AAR.
You can always make your own. I don’t want to start anything but ‘cudas are getting to be like tri five chevies from back in the 90’s. I know some of us still lift dash matts to look at VINs but it doesn’t really seem to matter that much anymore. Just my 2 cents.

PS : ( they’re as fun as you think it’ll be... 340 4spd w 391 gears).
 
I have had a long history of Supercars, (muscle cars). My second car was my first Mopar. A beautiful 62 red on red Fury hardtop with a 318 4bbl. It ran good and looked great after a day of rubbing on it with Blue Coral. Drove from 64 to late 66 and traded on a 66 triple black 383 4speed Satellite. It was bad fast and the 396's and 390 Fairlane's around usually got a sound spanking from it.
It was traded in 69 when the A12 Road Runner I ordered came in. I drove it for 3 years but had become an "angry" Viet Nam veteran, sold all the toys and disappeared into the Colorado mountains.
It took about 6 years there to get my head back straight.
Then a long string of Mopar supercars began. Sometimes 3-4 at a time. GTX's, A12 road Runners and Super Bee's, 6BBL Road Runners.
Then one day I came across a 1964 Chrysler 300 convertible, non letter car, that had been stored for 15 years. It was a lovely rosewood and white. The normal stuff brakes, exhaust, some mechanical, fluids, belts and hoses made it a great driver and I used for that. That car made me wonder why I ever drove a B body.
Although one year to early to be a true C body it had all the attributes. Powerful. road like a dream and it attracted more attention than any of my B body's.
I sold off the supercars and was happy with the Chrysler,

Then one day a fellow followed me home and made an offer I couldn't refuse..... Big mistake. I did find a nice 65 Coronet 500 convertible with factory A/C. We made a couple of epic road trips in it but, it just was not as nice as a big Chrysler to drive. Jezebelle came into the picture while I owned the Coronet, Then the Admiral. Lots more road trips and an invitation to the prestigious Concourse of America in Plymouth Michigan for Jezebelle.

Now I have the 67 Polara 500 convertible, "Sleeper", and after the first road trip it has lived up to the C body legend for fine road cars. Still a few rough edges, but it will get dialed in.




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Wow - just wow....
 
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