Wish I'd found this first!

Dr.Jass

Dr.Jass

Pastor of Muppets
Yesterday's find of the day was from member-that's-never-here snsspringer. He stopped by my place with this gem, rescued out of a barn where it'd been sitting since 1990. Oh, sure, it's Nancy Blue and a '74, but it's sporting a laundry list of creamy goodness. I don't have a picture of the data tag but I asked him to get me one so I can see more of the options this peach originally had. This sucker is full-boat loaded with good stuff. It's a MI car, obviously, so it's not perfect, but it's 100% original and there's a lot there to love--including what's left of the original exhaust.

For those of you that know VINs off the top of your head, it starts with WH46P4. If not, dig out your Dr.Jass secret VIN decoder card and discover the groovy.

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coro2.jpg

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Until I get a copy of the data tag, I'll just name off what I saw:

E86-code 400 Magnum V8 (not the standard 400-4V, which uses an N in VIN digit 5)
Dual exhaust (required with P-code 400)
Maximum cooling package
Light group inc. fender-mount turn signals
Power windows including tailgate
Power door locks including tailgate
AM/FM radio
Air Conditioning
Cruise control
Roof luggage rack
Roof-mounted rear window deflector
Body side mouldings
Clock (and it still works, no less!)
Code B1 Yoo-hoo! Thailor Boy Blue exterior paint (actual name Powder Blue)
Code B6 deluxe vinyl bench interior (same color as earlier code B5)
All wrapped in a 9-passenger Coronet Custom (WH46) package

The car also has a 9¼" rear, though we've not yet checked for Sure Grip or ratio. I will not be surprised to find a Sure Grip in a car that someone loaded up with the top-option B engine. It may in fact be the top-option engine, since I can't swear as to the availability of the 440 in B-body wagons in '74. The rear springs are staggered, indicating some kind of optional suspension (HD? Trailer group? Or was that just a 9-passenger thing?) but I'll have to wait to see the data tag to see if it's indicated somewhere.

I'm not a huge fan of the later wagons, but if this car had a Rallye dash I might have offered to buy it on the spot from him. The story is that the car was in regular use until it lost spark one night. Apparently the owner got frustrated when it wasn't the ballast resistor (there's a 25-year-old brand-new one screwed to the firewall, and the coil is missing) and sold the car. The guy who bought it stuffed it in a barn and it hasn't moved since.

He bought it for a demo car but is thinking he might sell it outright. It really is pretty cool overall; shame about the year and the ugly. If he does demo it, though, there are a ton of awesome parts that will come off this car and go to save others. I'll make sure of that myself.
 
This one is an original E68 400 Magnum car, though. Factory high-performance, 250HP. 71ChargerRT's car was the 190HP 400-2V (E63). There's also the standard 200HP 400-4V (E64). Someone ordered this thing with a Road Runner/Charger Rallye engine--in the midst of an oil embargo, no less.

Another thing to consider is the car itself: one would not be surprised to see a ton of options on a premium-priced full-sized Chrysler wagon, but generally speaking the midsize Dodge buyer wasn't going to drop a ton of money on options like power windows or an (at the time) nearly-useless FM band on the radio. It would be even more unusual to see all this crap hanging off a Plymouth B-body wagon.
 
I would go with the second scenario myself. You see wagons with high-performance engines a little more often earlier in the '60s, but they were never very common. I've seen a number of 'em over the years, but still wish I'd have been around for my uncle's '61 Pontiac wagon, which had a 389 Tri-Power and was gone before I was born.
 
From the late '50's right up to the birth of GTO the poncho tri-powers were quite common.

somewhere around the late 60's a guy I grew up with found a '59 4-door hardtop with tri-carbs for $100. The vacuum diaphram for the secondaries was toast, so he ask me to rig something up to open the outboard carbs. I wrapped a heavy wire to the secondary rod, punched a hole in the firewall and ran the wire out the ash tray. I finished up by wrapping the wire around a short piece of broom handle.

Had a lot of fun with that. :D We'd be cruisin' and every once in a while I'd reach over and grab the "handle"...he'd start freakin' out. :bwuhaha:
 
Dr.Jass said:
"...Dr.Jass secret VIN decoder card and discover the groovy."
Click to expand...

I'd like to, but I've yet to receive one.

69.5CUDA said:
one butt ugly face on it..but sounds alot like the wagon i sent to texas
Click to expand...

That one's actually loaded up quite a bit more than mine.

I'd like to have that one too, but I did find a '71 'Net wagon, a Crestwood, with a 383 2brl and quite a few options. I haven't laid eyes on that one, but Doc did talk me out of purchasing that one, just by describing the differences between the wagon and the Charger, and there are many!
 
68R/T said:
Yep, daddy wanted a family hauler with hair. :cool:
Click to expand...

Car I learned to drive on my Dad ordered special. 74 Montego MX wagon , 460, trailer towing package, HD everything underneath. I remember there was a relay in the rear quarter panel for the brake lights that clicked loudly. Took it to my senior prom and scared the two other couples with us as to how fast it would go.
 
Very cool wagon...and Yes I knew from the "P" code that it was the HP 400/4bbl version....very unusual! Still a very ugly duckling though. ;)

A fellow on one of the other boards I frequent bought a low mileage 73 Satellite wagon with a 318/3 on the tree and A/C, in multi shades of brown. years ago. Neat car, and he loved driving it!
 
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