"Special" Editions

This car, along with the Plymouth (Aspen) Fury and Dodge (Sundance) Polara; were not any of the above... Unless your idea of a limited run is one example done by the styling department for the show circuit. But again, you're lending credibility to some who will claim their uncle owned one with a 383 Hemi.


"my idea"?

really dunno your point .. so i dont get what you say I am doing?? lets not chew up anymore thread space. i'll shoot you a PM.
 
Jeff wants you inquire for him.
Sure...
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I look good , huh?
 
Chrysler Canada Ad from 1973: The "Sunsational" Dodges.

Newp looks like a "Navajo" yes?, but that name isnt in this ad (that name may not have much meaning in Canada at the time?).

The Polara Custom clearly is the "Spring Special" we talked about above.

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Summarize where we are so far for "Yetis".

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1. Post #2: A running or salvage 1970 Newport 440. A picture of one from anywhere or time. Did you own one? See one on the road once? Its pretty wild that NONE of us (who have chimed in so far anyway) ever saw one that we recall, let alone owned one.

2. Post #8. Road-worthy, auto-show "protoype" 1973 Plymouth Aspen, "basically a white 4drhtp Fury with a big blue snowflake on the side, ski racks and huge whitewall snowtires." Only one known to exist via eyewitness accounts. Most likely only seen at an auto show. If not saved by someone connected with Chrysler, it could easily be long gone by now. Hopefully some promotional material exists like for the Mariner and Sundancer, or one of the major auto shows (Detroit, New York, Chicago, LA, etc) back in the day one was displayed.

3. Post #9: The 1969 Fury Snapper, "the sleek, stylish, limited edition cousin of the Road Runner. Body color was gold, and the exclusive turtle-shell vinyl roof sported a camp Snapper name on a turtle image on the C-pillar. No real historical photos can be found, and not one single present-day example.

4 Post #10: The 1969 1/2 Plymouth Diplomat, "which appeared to be a Fury pillared coupe with Sport Fury ornamentation. It is these dealer initiatives and/or regional models that are the most difficult for automotive historians to discover and document." All we have is Toledo OH area, at a particular dealership, no pics, no ads, no nothing. Seems like someone in/from that area, and old enough to maybe have seen one, has to chime in.. OR we could be chasing a "unicorn in a tutu" on this one.

thanks anyone/everyone for helping out.
 
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Just came across this one on craigslist, had never heard of this model before, 1956 Dodge Texan:
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source: The Official Dodge Dude Pickup Truck Website Home Page

These folks call it the first "muscle" truck, 1970-1971 MY only, they guess 1500-2000 made. I never heard of the "Dude" till I joined FCBO.

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The ad calls it the "New Dodge Custom ..with the 'Dude" Sport Trim Package. I dont think that means the Sweptlines were "new" right? They go back a decade or so (1960?)

My "farmboy" guess is the Dude option package makes it a "special edition" for the purposes of this thread. at most 2000 made, two years only, rare as hens teeth today .. it fits the bill to me.

Other thoughts are welcome :)

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A little insight into the word Dude: Dude - Wikipedia

thats interesting.

back in the 19th century, a "dude" was also a "dandy", "fop"
"man about town", "glamour boy", "rake", "coxcomb", and "popinjay". shoot, those dont sound like names I'd wanna be called.

good thing in morphed into something "cooler" by the time the 1950's rolled around :)
 
seems we are losing steam on the C-'s (I still am looking hard for the Yeti's in Post #46) Guess we'll cross the bridge into A Body territory.

source: The Most Obscure Special Editions and Forgotten Limited-Run Models: Mopar Edition, Part II

1976 Silver Duster, last of a long line of "special" Dusters

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Although it was simply a two-door Valiant with a sleeker rear-end, the Plymouth Duster proved to be a hot-seller. The Duster was competitively priced, well-sized and could be specified with 340 and 360 cubic-inch V8s that made for some excellent bargain performance.

As Plymouth’s compact coupe, the Duster was also well-positioned to receive various special editions. There was the Feather Duster, which featured lightweight aluminum parts for a weight saving of around 187 pounds; Dodge’s version was known as the Dart Lite.

The Duster Twister resembled the Duster 340 but came only with the Slant Six or 318 V8. The Space Duster had a fold-down rear seat.

The popular gold Duster was more a full-fledged model than a special edition as it was offered from 1970 until 1975. The final special Duster would replace the Gold Duster for 1976, and was known as the Silver Duster.
This looks like a vintage photo .. the license plate is Michigan's 1976 BiCentennial Plate.

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Tho its NOT silver, this seller advertised one. Looks like it to me:

source: 1976 PLYMOUTH SILVER DUSTER

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These "White Hat Special" cars seem to be everywhere and therefore NOT particularly "rare"?

Never saw anybody advertising one braggin' about that .. if they even knew it was a "WHS" I doubt it makes any difference in a transaction for one?

Or was there something "special" about any of them?
I did a quick search for "white hat special" in a newspaper repository and found a lot of ads with this slogan. They ranged from 1967 to 1973 and included Chargers, Coronets, Polaras, Darts, and even trucks. Here is one of the Polara ads.
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I did a quick search for "white hat special" in a newspaper repository and found a lot of ads with this slogan. They ranged from 1967 to 1973 and included Chargers, Coronets, Polaras, Darts, and even trucks. Here is one of the Polara ads.
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I have seen those archives. That's where I am going to try to find the "yetis" :)

My comment about "nobody advertising" them was regular folks SELLING these cars in the present-day never seem to talk about/may not even know these "White Hat Specials" even existed and/OR whether their car was one of them.

I was hoping to determine if, beyond the fact they were "on sale", this White Hat cars had some "rarity" (equipment, colors, etc.) just BECAUSE they were White Hat specials. It just looks like a combination of RPO's Chrysler wanted to promote to, again, give dealers "somethin' to sell" against a competitor model.

thanks for for chipping in! :)
 
I was just adding info re WHS's and not responding to the advertising comment. I searched for a lot of the other models identified in this thread and did not find anything.
 
The Shelby Dakota, 1989 MY. Never saw one, never heard of one till today.

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Part of the revolutionary first generation Dakota mid-size truck, Shelby Dakota was its high-performance version. It came with 5.2L V8 making 175 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque, but not before some corrections were implemented. Being a V8 (regular Dakota came with a V6), the engine took the space otherwise used by the cooling system. Engine-driven cooling fan that slotted between the block and the radiator was scrapped in favor of electric fan on the frontal side of the radiator. This is what gave the engine those additional 5 horsepower. Only 1,475 of them were ever made (995 in red and 480 in white), and it was Carroll Shelby’s first rear-wheel drive vehicle since the sixties.
 
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