I’d like to offer my apologies in advance to anyone who’ll find my treatment of this car uncharitable, but sometimes it’s difficult to keep my criticism to myself. This is especially true when the reasons for my disapproval could’ve so easily been avoided. It’s no secret that I love mid ’60s Mopar styling, so when I saw this B-body hardtop sitting at a used car lot nearby my home, I had to take a look.
And of course, I really wanted to love the car and nearly managed to convince myself that I did. But there’s simply been too much done to deface it and that simply left me feeling disappointed. Why, for instance, this orange peel-y paint job in a shade more appropriate to a Caliber? If the budget for a high-quality respray isn’t available, couldn’t a more conservative color be chosen?
And why these seats from a late ’90s Chrysler product? It’s pieces like these which hinted at the shaky foundations of the company’s ’90s renaissance. Why put them in a golden age Dodge?
Most importantly, why is this priced at $11,000?? There’s nothing written here to lend any validity to the high price; no mention of the many possible performance enhancing mods or of the car’s powertrain option. No, all that’s boasted here are the elements of this Powerade-inspired re-do: its new paint, interior and exhaust. And would you believe this is being sold by the original owner? I don’t know whether to feel pity or to be insulted, though I’m leaning toward the latter. As this car’s been sitting for over a month, I can’t be the only one who feels so strongly.
Note the unpainted screws on the unfortunately blacked-out grille. Not only does this seller expect eleven grand for this expression of his questionable taste, he also expects to be rewarded for sloppy workmanship.
Ah yes, painted-over or missing chrome taillight surrounds to announce your wise purchase to motorists following you. It wouldn’t be so sad if the car hadn’t begun life with such sharp style, but here we are with misaligned trim and panel imperfections.
Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves how this car likely looked when new, shall we? Lean, linear themes dominated the ’66 Coronet’s bodywork, with a decklid treatment thoughtfully conceived to match the rest of the car. While some might’ve regarded it as plain, it looks quite nice in this dark color.
This is more like it; take it all in. The ’66 B-body was one of the most conservative shapes on the market when new, but also one of the most handsome and enduring. Screwing it up to the extent that our featured car’s overambitious seller has managed turns bad taste into an art form. It’s almost as though such sensibilities were deliberately cultivated.
So let me leave you with the portion of the bodywork whose good looks are most difficult to sully: the reverse tapered C-pillar which defined period Mopar hardtops, from the lowly A body all the way up to the full-sized C. It’s said that remembering one’s heritage during times of extreme alienation helps to guarantee integrity and perseverance. So I figured I’d do my part in helping us remember this Coronet for what it is underneath all those blemishes. Stay strong, ol’ beauty.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 – This B-Body Earns an ‘A’
Car Cruise Classic: Nine Reasons to Buy a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere
Groan!
Unfortunately, I see too many of these at any cruise -in.
Like you, I am predisposed to like these. Unfortunately, the values of these have crept up into 60s Chevy territory, so everyone feels the need to slap a quick and loud paintjob on one and ask a fortune. There doesn’t look like a lot that can’t be undone, but gee. At least they didn’t hack off the column shift lever and smack a 4 speed into the floor.
I never thought I would find myself getting tired of certain Mopars, but I am. B and E body cars in particular, are so over-represented at shows and events that I am just tired of them. The perfectly restored ones with monster engines or the crappy thrown together kind like this, no thanks. The only ones that draw my attention anymore are truly original cars in decent to excellent ORIGINAL condition.
As for that “original owner vin card”, I think that they mean that the plastic CertiCard that came with the car (with the original owner’s name on it) is tucked into its little flap on the radiator support. Anyway, thanks for stopping and looking so I don’t have to some time. 🙂
Here’s the “original owner”. This one’s from a Barracuda…..
” At least they didn’t hack off the column shift lever and smack a 4 speed into the floor. ”
Whats wrong with scrapping a column shift and going with a floor shift? It suits the nature of the car. Beefy 2 door coupe = some level of sportiness and performance. Column shifts are in character for a 4 door sedan or even a wagon. But to my eye, they have no place whatsoever in anything but the most mundane of grocery getters or a luxo barge. The column shift in my own Ram 1500 is a MAJOR sore spot for me…as if a slushbox isn’t bad enough.
I agree that its better to leave a flawed design in place then to ‘hack off’ the column shift in a butcher job. But converting to a manual valve body and ratchet shifter with a clean conversion not only looks better, its a performance upgrade as well. A swap to the A-833 4 spd would be the way to do it right once and for all…IF you swapped the steering column out to one never equipped for a ‘tree branch’.
I’m not much on automatics, but I can’t help feeling TorqueFlite is the way to go on hot Chrysler products of this vintage (although a console shifter is a little more appropriate than the column).
I always thought it strange that column shifts were available in Roadrunners,Chargers etc I’ve even seen an E body 383 ‘Cuda with a column shift
Chrysler was a little different than Ford/GM, when it came to shifters in that era. Remember that all Torqueflites on passenger cars were pushbutton until ’65 and that the original Valiant 3-speed manual was a floor shift, unlike the more conventional Falcon column shift.
Column shifters were round for a long time in the UK,I had a 70 Vauxhall Cresta with 3 on the tree.
For some of us (e.g., me), leaving cars in as close to original spec as possible makes us happy. For others, it’s about improving the car. To each his own!
Perry, you are quite correct. Having worked as a mechanic in various Dodge dealers from ’64 through the 70s, I am more familiar with these cars than most. The paint treatment on a classic 66 Coronet like this is despicable. There is little wonder why this car was in a used car lot. Even the owner couldn’t stand it. I cannot imagine how little taste this individual had for the originality of this car. Even to paint the ‘Bumblebee’ stripe on a 66 is unthinkable, but what did this character know? He had seen it on later Dodges and thought it would be fitting.
Nice to see the car though, I hope someone would appreciate it, buy it and repaint it in an original color at a professional paint shop.
Oh God, the only things lacking are mirror dice, thick carpeted dash pad, Betty Boop mud flaps, and true light blue velour(shudder) for the interior seating
A great American car(but not this example).These Coronets are one of the few cars that look equally good as a hard top, sedan,wagon or convertible.They were a something for everyone car from 6 cylinder misers specials to hemi engined tyre burners and everything in between.
I like these early Coronets just as much as the later coke bottle cars
Ugh.
Restoring old furniture I used to run into things like this all the time; gobs of elmers glue, wire nails pounded in at every angle and daubs of brown paint. I would spend twice as long un-doing the “repair” as I would have done fixing the original damage. The road to hell…
It’s not that bad.
Sure the custom touches are awful (my screen is too dark to see the rims, they might be awful too) but if the car has good bones they are easily correctable.
And think of the good feeling you’d get heaving the superman floormats and console into the trash!
Think the classic 8 spoke ‘wagon wheel’ with about 3 times as many spokes. If I remember correctly, the Mad Max Interceptor used an all-black variant of this wheel. Its not a ‘great’ choice, but it isn’t horrible. Its a HELL of a lot better than upsizing to 18″ or more. Especially if those upsized rims are full face chromed with some weird jewelry-type sculpting and a fwd offset and rubber band tires. Ive seent hat kind of garbage on classic Mopars and other contemporary rides WAY to often. Some people could use a good high five right to the forehead….
I absolutely love the 66-67 B Body Dodges, having one, even a station wagon, is still on my bucket list. Such a clean and enduring design, so simple. Beautiful work by Elwood Engel
Too bad but remember this :
‘ In matters of taste , everyone else is _WRONG_ ‘ .
=8-)
-Nate
Excellent point. Personally, I like to see cars restored to original, but the mild custom on this car is cohesive and shows some logic. It’s not like they tried to make it a Starsky and Hutch Torino.
I’m sure that decent parts for even a once common car like this are getting hard to find, so using modern interior parts may have fit the owner’s budget better.
Nothing like seeing pitted painted/missing trim pieces. A stock color without the stupid “Bumble Bee” stripe would of looked so much better. My Dad built these at the Chrylser plant in Fenton Missouri back in 65-66. I think the seats and console are from a Monte Carlo circa mid 90s. YUK!!
The gold pentastar is missing, too.
Eh, look at it this way. It’s better to be in this shape and drivable than original and scrapped headed to China.
Very true. And still quite serviceable.
The antidote! https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/1969-dodge-coronet-440-bread-and-butter-b-body/ (Can’t lie—I wrote it.)
Absolutely one of my favorites!
Or this one, the star of the 2014 Jefferson City Car Show. Factory a/c, 318, remote control mirror, and NOTHING else……
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/car-show-photo-album-the-april-2014-jefferson-city-car-show-mopars-and-manual-transmissions/
This car isn’t by far the worst Ive seen. Missing trim is an easy fix. That console and the orange peel in the paint on the other hand, are the worst thing about this car. Both correctable. Im ok with the color. Orange–both high gloss or metallic–is a color I love, on the right car. Not sure Id pick it for this car…or the bumblebee stripe….or the wheels…but none of it makes me cry ‘FOUL’.
$10K? Why? Whats under the hood? It doesn’t appear to be an R/T so Im going to assume its a 318, which means $5K or so and Id take it as a fun old car to have fun with and improve upon.
I’d drive it the missing trim is findable if needed US gas is so cheap its a joke so a 440 is no issue.
I don’t know what the engine is but doubt it’s a 440. The coronet 440 is a model number. My 69 440 was running a 318/automatic.
Same engine/trans setup as in my former 69 Coronet 500.
US gas is CHEAP??
Are you living in the same country I am?
Because at almost $4 a gallon, for the low grade crap, isn’t inexpensive, friend. lol 😛
Bryce lives in New Zealand where gas is probably double (if not a bit more) what it costs in the U.S.
Everyone is a critic. First, the originator of the site has the vision, at 14, to realize GM is doomed. Now, his progeny are body work experts and all is lost. C’mon, guys. Its just an old car that managed to survive almost 50 years. Someone cared for it, regardless of your opinion of his tepid attempt at detailing, and the other 100,000 are now LG appliances. Doesn’t that count?
Frankly, I rather agree with you (well, not the GM part 🙂 ) I’m not a fan of critiquing other folk’s cars in terms if the decisions they made with it. It’s like critiquing their clothes. Or house. When it comes to their cars, folks have the right to do what they want with them, and I try to appreciate in one way or another whatever they’ve done with it. Or find some humor in it.
I know some feel similarly about my truck, in terms of not fixing it up, or such. Frankly, my attitude is FU! It’s my truck, and I’ll do whatever the hell I feel like. That’s probably how this guy feels. Or will, if he finds this post.
I agree with your key premise but there’s one kink to your point: This car is for sale. I try not to be openly critical about someone’s car unless they actually want my opinion, or in the case where they’re asking for it by being obnoxious pricks(hello ricers) but the minute it goes on market it’s fair game. I do just as I would do if I were interested in the car and make note of everything off kilter that knocks off the value one by one.
If I were to assess this Coronet I’d say someone bought it as a flip. It probably had a trashed interior to start(nothing a trip to pick n pull for $50 worth of late model seats won’t solve) and a very rough body(painted over chrome = pitted, pitted = rust elsewhere) and it needed some spice to entice someone trying to relive their late 60s/70s youth but not quite wealthy enough to afford a genuine R/T (add on a logoless bumblebee stripe and cheap, probably junkyard sourced aftermarket wheels). When I see cars like this for sale I think only about how much it’s going to cost to undo this, this and that.
I’m on the same page here. I don’t have any strong opinion one way or another about most custom or restomods — a lot of them aren’t to taste, but whatever. But as soon as you offer something for sale, you’re implicitly asking people to weigh the merits of the item relative to the asking price.
Your assessment makes a fair amount of sense. Even if it’s not a flip per se, I could envision various other scenarios in which somebody ended up with a trashed car (for instance, if it was stolen by joyriders, trashed, and then recovered) and did some minimal work to try to make it functional and presentable enough to sell. (Obviously, I have no idea what the back story is on this particular car, but that would make sense.)
My biggest criticism is really the price. The demand for these cars is high enough that there are people who would take something like this even in its present condition because they plan to do their own restomod and expect to redo the paint, trim, and interior anyway. But $11K seems an awful lot for a blank canvas.
If I were going to spend more than $10K on a classic car, I’d rather have something in rough but original shape. The problem with driving something like this, even if you planned a complete revamp, is that people might think you were doing it on purpose.
Is the price really that bad? 317 area code is Indianapolis, so this is located in the rusty north.
If you could negotiate down to $8k or $9k you’d have some money to replace the missing/painted trim and still be under $10k
I always figure any old car you can drive and enjoy for under $10k is good.
Gentlemen – You’re all correct. Implicit in a sale is the ability to reject said sale. But, please, this is in the middle of salt treated snow country, and PT seats or not, it looks solid. We would hope that the seller kept all original pieces and offered them with the title. That seems de rigueur for a modified car at Hemmings. I understand your thinking, just not the vitriol.
I think the big trick would be to find the original seat, which probably was a bench seat since the car has column shift, with the seat hardware in usable condition and the correct color.
My red on red 69 Valiant had a gold front seat. The plastic pieces that cover the metal frames on the outside corners were gold too. The whole time I owned the car I never found another one with a red interior at all, let alone a good front seat. My buyer was in the same position; he replaced the gold seat with a black one which probably didn’t hurt his eyes as bad.
I suspect that the stuff that was done to this car, and the stuff that was left off, resulted from a bad case of “let’s get this thing painted and on the road”. Chances are it’s in decent shape so that it could be driven during the parts search. Like everyone else I have trouble seeing that price though.
There are all sorts of reproduction interior parts for these cars, including correct seat covers. It’s not like it’s an Imperial or a C-body where most of the trim pieces are made of unobtainium.
“Classics” such as this may have been inspired by “reality” cable-TV shows where a bunch of yokels with a junk yard would rebuild a derelict into a “restoration” using parts gathered up from other derelicts in their yard, always “finishing” three minutes before deadline.
JPC is most certainly correct, the windshield advert means that it comes with the “certicard”, not that the original owner is the person selling it. Some people care about these things, though probably not the people that would be interested in buying this example.
I don’t mind the colour myself. It could do without the bumblebee stripe, which doesn’t suit the lines of the body, and many of the other modifications and questionable workmanship. As for the newer seats and console, I’d like to see a better pic of them. If they don’t look too out of place with the interior then they may be the most well-executed part of the entire “resto-mod”.
That’s probably ‘bronze metallic’ paint color. I had it on my ’74 Dodge B 100 van, looked good on the truck. Came out of the Fenton Missouri plant…
Funny, that’s the same color that was on my dad’s ’79 B200 discosexvan. Shag, captain’s chairs, track lighting, plywood-veneer overhead console with aftermarket audio, cupholder shelf (with railings!) on the engine cover…
All it lacked was Gandalf with lightning bolts coming out of his staff or Red Sonja riding a unicorn. It’s probably a washing machine by now.
Color, wheels and blacked out/missing chrome does it in for me, I can take or leave the bumblebee stripe though, maybe even the seats(but not the consolette thingie!).
I don’t hold the same affection for “patina” many of you guys/gals do but in this case it’s definitely the lesser of the two evils, mother nature is definitely a better car customizer than the guy who built this.
about the asking price…the whole 60s car pricing structure is getting insane, you wonder how much longer it can last…this last weekend I stopped at a place that sells collector cars and they were asking 20k for a 68 Riviera with cracks in the dashpad, 50K for a 72 Gran Torino that looked stock with a Boss 429 in it….there were more like this. These were OK cars conditionwise, in driver shape, not recently restored or trailer type cars…
A 72 Gran Torino with a Boss 429 certainly piques my curiosity, as in what happened to the motor’s original home?
who knows? point being, this was a hot rod…otherwise stock appearance. 50k?!?! it’s a bubble….
Was the Boss 429 available as a crate motor?
Essentially yes as race motors for drag racers etc, but I don’t think they made that many
…yes ..it is a bit sad …reminds me of the many ‘boogered’ Oz Vals you saw running around here not so long ago (lowered to the ground, shaved, 20″ wheels, a tunnel ram sticking up through a hole in the bonnet, shiny black or matt gunmetal and fluffy dice!) …thankfully a scarcer sight now (made me hang onto my VF for over ten years now) lol
I could live with the orange exterior after a thorough sanding that’d also take care of the black stripes and grille, but if that turns out to be a not-black interior that they painted black either to match the junkyard seats or because “muscle cars have black interiors” , THAT would be a deal-breaker at less than half the price.
I love the roofline on these, and the rear end is artfully simple rather than plain IMO. I’m usually pretty cold concerning Chrysler group vehicles too.
Another thought – that roofline taken to extreme on the 2002 Renault Megane:
” It’s not like it’s an Imperial or a C-body where most of the trim pieces are made of unobtainium.”
So true. Even trying to find brake pads for a 67 imperial can be frustrating.
And as some one else commented, I also keep my snide comments to myself , but when the car is for sale, it is open to criticism.
I have a pretty tough time understanding all the criticism. I like all the cars here. The one for sale and the comparo pictures. They are all nice looking cars. I do prefer the original trim but I like this car. I guess that having owned a 69 model I just like the coronets.
My opinion has always been that the people who styled that car were professionals. Sure, they were working to a cost and to engineering parameters, but it’s pompous to think I could improve upon their work. After all, a hundred thousand people or so thought these were attractive enough to buy new. However, it’s a big world out there, and I might be in the minority, because most car shows/events are littered with cars with owners who feel they can improve upon the work of these stylists. I disagree almost every time, but it’s a free country and these owners can do as they please.