2025 Greenwood Car Show: Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth

Perfect weather for this year's Greenwood car show, and it was bigger than ever! Let's kick it off with my favorites: Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth.

 

For the fourth and last year of the Dodge Super Bee, 1971, it was made an option on the Charger; sort of a budget Charger R/T. A very rare car.

  

 

I've written about the 1966 Plymouth Satellite pictured above as far back as the 2018 show. I'm sure most people don't realize that this plain-looking car is one of the show's most valuable entries. The 426 hemi was available only from 1966 to 1971, and the 1966 edition is considered the best. This car is certainly worth six figures.

Pictured below the hemi in yellow is a 1967 Plymouth GTX. The GTX was a new premium edition of the same car as the Satellite, but standard with the 440 "Super Commando" V-8 rated at 375 hp. You could order an even more powerful 426 hemi in the GTX - for about $600 more than the 440!

  

 

Even this little 1966 Plymouth Barracuda came with a V-8. In this case the 273.

 

 

In 1970 the Dart was Dodge's cheapest car. But like everything else then, you could option it out with a pretty ferocious engine. In the case of this Dart GT, a 340 V-8 rated at 275 hp.

 

Between 1951 and 1958, full-size Chrysler products were equipped with the company's original hemi-head engines. These are so popular today that even very ordinary DeSoto sedans are being restored. This 1956 Fireflight coupe has the 331 hemi with dual-quad carbs rated at 255 hp.

 

 

 

Time was when cab over engine trucks like this were seldom seen outside of junkyards. But trucks like this 1955 Dodge COE K-Series are starting to show up at a lot of car shows. They're just cool.

 

I love the old business coupes, like this 1950 Dodge. That's an awful lot of car for a single bench seat.

 

 

This 1935 Chrysler Airflow was ahead of its time. But they didn't sell many. The public thought it was just too weird.

Tweet

Hard to Kill: 1971 Dodge Charger

There are some old cars that were built in quantity that you never see on the road. Sometimes that's because they weren't very durable. The Jaguar XKE comes to mind. Then there are cars like the third and last generation of the original Dodge Charger. You never see them because every guy who owned one drove it like Mad Max.

Tweet

1969 Dodge Charger Daytona

After a two-year absence, the Greenwood Car Show is back and the weather was perfect last Saturday. This car was probably the biggest "wow" moment for me. So if you've got at least $250K to spare, you should be able to pick up one of the few '69 Charger Daytonas still in circulation. That year, Nascar required that 500 copies of a "stock" car be made for it to qualify for the track, so Dodge dropped either the 426 hemi or 440 V-8 engine into 502 copies of the Charger, then added a fiberglass nose and outrageous rear spoiler. I've heard the reason why the spoiler was so high was that it was set at the height needed to allow the trunk to be opened. In 1970, Nascar increased the minimum production for a stock car to qualify for the track from 500 copies to 2,000, so Chrysler built 1,920 Plymouth Road Runner Superbirds very similar to this car. The following year Nascar dropped the whole "stock cars have to be actual stock cars" requirement.

Tweet

Sucking in the 70s: Three Cars from America's Most Tasteless Decade

Stop by 15th Ave West and Dravus, and you'll find the gas station where the 70s survived. Both cars pictured below were very successful. The Chrysler B-body coupe, pictured here as the 1976 Dodge Charger but also sold as the Chrysler Cordoba, Plymouth Fury and a bunch of other names, was a big hit at a time when the company was staggering toward bankruptcy. And the 1978 Mercury Cougar, which was the same car as that year's Ford Thunderbird, sold an unbelievable 565,000 copies for Ford and Mercury combined.

On the one hand, these cars are remembered as gas-guzzling land yachts from an era when Detroit was increasingly losing market share due to its inability to compete with smaller, more practical, higher quality and less garish-looking cars from Japan. On the other hand, at least these cars tried to add a little artistry to their design, unlike today's world of identical gray SUVs.

The 1974 Maverick pictured below is parked around the corner; I suspect it also belongs to the gas station. Love the vintage stereo receiver in the back seat!

Tweet

The Dodge Guy: 1969 Charger x2, 1964 Custom 880, 1971 Dart Swinger

Here's a guy living his best life. He's got two unrestored Chargers for daily drivers, both in pretty decent shape. The Custom 880 probably has the big 361 DeSoto engine. The Dart is also considered a classic; easy to maintain although the grass growing around this one suggests it hasn't been on the road in a while.

Tweet

1966 Dodge Charger

This rare beast is nearly identical to the '66 Charger I owned in the mid-90s. Mine was gold, but it also had the Magnum rims and Torqueflight automatic transmission.

Tweet

1973 Dodge Charger

This mean machine deserves to be set free from the storage lot under Ballard bridge. It should be in a high school parking lot intimidating the kids with Toyotas. I like the after-market air scoop.

Tweet

1969 Dodge Charger

This Charger is in pretty good shape for an unrestored car. Even the vinyl top has held up, for the most part.
* I like the dog dish hub caps.
* Those are vintage Washington state license plates.

Tweet

1968 dodge Charger 383

   

Tweet

Magnolia Car Show: 1970 Doge Charger R/T

Tweet

Magnolia Car Show: 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona

This car would sell for between $200,000 and $300,000.

Tweet