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Identifying the First-Gen Ford MustangBest MOPAR Cars of Muscle Car Era
Chrysler’s classic MOPAR muscle cars have become the stuff of legend, from the Hemi ‘Cuda and Charger R/T to the gentleman’s GTX.
Legends of MOPAR
Each of Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers made their own unique stamp on the muscle car era. GM’s Pontiac inaugurated the segment with the Pontiac GTO, Ford put the pony in “pony car” with the Mustang, and Chrysler’s Hemi-powered beasts became dreaded legends of the dragstrip and the stoplight. The various Chrysler muscle cars falling under the MOPAR banner include some of the era’s most famous (and infamous) cars. Below we highlight some of the best MOPAR cars from the golden age of the muscle car.
1971 Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda is a two-for-one on our list, honored for both its initial contribution and its greatest iteration. The 1964 Barracuda was a “response” by Chrysler to the coming of the Ford Mustang. Ford’s not-so-secret plan for an affordable, youth-oriented sports coupe prompted a mad dash by Plymouth to beat them to market. And they did, releasing the Barracuda just two weeks before the Mustang. The Valiant-based Barracuda was therefore, not too far off from the Mustang itself. It too was based on an existing mass-market model, and it too came with weak six-cylinder engines along with the option of a beefier V8.
The Plymouth Barracuda’s finest hour came at the peak for muscle cars, 1971. That year’s performance variant of the Barracuda carried the ‘Cuda name and like many of the MOPAR cars we’ll read about below, it came powered by either a 440 V8 or the 426 Hemi. The ‘Cuda featured unique styling that included its now iconic fender gills.
1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX
Most of the MOPAR muscle cars were marketed with a healthy dose of playful irreverence from the cartoon mascots to cheeky color names like Plum Crazy. But one MOPAR car took the opposite tract, the Plymouth GTX, aka “the gentleman’s muscle car.” The GTX premiered as a performance variant of the Belvedere’s high-end Satellite trim and thus came equipped with that car’s upgraded interior. In addition to such creature comforts came the GTX’s faux hood scoops, racing stripes, and competition style “pit stop” gas cap. The GTX offered the Super Commando 440 V8 as standard (375 horsepower) with the 426 Hemi V8 (425 horsepower) optional. Equipped with the latter, the GTX was one of the quickest muscle cars of its day, recording a zero to sixty run of just 4.8 seconds.
1968 Dodge Hemi Dart
The Dodge Dart has an odd history spanning four original generations and a brief redux in 2013. The Dart began in 1960 as an upper-end full-size Dodge before morphing into a polarizing space-age design for 1962 only and then into a semi-compact for its third generation. Its fourth generation saw the Dart dip its toes into the muscle car segment. The Hemi Dart was the rarest of performance versions, an 80-car run based off the Dart GTS homologated for Class B Super Stock drag racing. The L023 was powered by the 426 Hemi V8 and featured big rear racing slicks. Though ostensibly street legal, the cars were shipped to dealers with a disclaimer noting their intended use was for “supervised acceleration trials” i.e., drag races.
1970 Dodge Super Bee
The Dodge Super Bee’s legacy gets obscured by better known, better selling MOPAR cars. And yet, it remains one of our favorites. The Super Bee was another of Chrysler’s B-body cars alongside the Charger and Roadrunner, pitched as the budget alternative to either of those two cars. Like the GTX and Barracuda, the Super Bee was based on a mass-market car, Dodge’s Coronet coupe. The Super Bee was a performance model from the start and was thus graced with a choice of three V8s, the 383 Magnum, 440 Six-Pack, or 426 Hemi. Our favorite year for the Super Bee was the 1970 redesign when it shed its resemblance to the Roadrunner for a newly distinctive and memorable front-end design.
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A
The Challenger was Dodge’s late-arriving pony car, debuting in 1969 for the 1970 model year. The R/T performance version got the MOPAR treatment with V8 options for the 383, 440 Magnum, 440 Six-Pack, or 426 Hemi. Notable was the Challenger T/A (Trans Am) built for the SCCA’s Trans Am series. The Challenger T/A was powered by the same 340 cu.-in. V8 from the AAR ‘Cuda. The T/A was the first factory muscle car to come equipped with staggered tires. Additionally, the Challenger T/A featured functional hood scoops, racing stripes, a ducktail spoiler, and a pistol grip Hurst shifter for those cars equipped with the four-speed manual transmission.
1969 Plymouth Roadrunner
Among MOPAR cars perhaps none has matched, before or since, the Plymouth Roadrunner’s aura of fun. Chrysler licensed the rights to the Warner Brother’s cartoon character, along with Wile E. Coyote, and slapped Roadrunner decals on the side of the car and even included bird’s signature “beep, beep” for the horn. Of course, the Roadrunner had to be as quick as its namesake, so Plymouth gave it access to the same bevy of powerful Chrysler V8s including the 383, 440 Six-Pack, and 426 Hemi. Our favorite year is the 1970 Roadrunner with its Air Grabber hood and Wile E. Coyote decaled air cleaner. Thanks to the powerful 426 Hemi, the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner was one of the quickest muscle cars of its day with a zero to sixty sprint of 5.1 seconds. The combination of great looks, fun cartoon tie-in, and genuine speed saw the ’69 Roadrunner honored with Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award for 1969.
1968 Dodge Charger R/T
The hulking muscle sedan of the Charger’s modern-day rebirth obscures its original form as the pinnacle of Chrysler’s B-body muscle cars. The Charger’s intimidating road presence and otherworldly speed made it one of the greatest muscle cars of all time. The Charger’s second generation is where it really came into its own. The performance R/T version sported a standard 440 Magnum V8 with the optional 426 Hemi. Like the other Hemi MOPAR cars, the Charger was one of the quickest muscle cars you could buy with a blistering zero to sixty of 4.8 seconds. The legacy of the Dodge Charger can be measured by both its exploits on the street and on the silver screen with starring roles in The Dukes of Hazard (1969 model year) and The Fast and the Furious franchise (1970 model). Our favorite however was the 1968 Charger featured in the legendary car chase in Steve McQueen’s Bullitt.
Dodge Daytona/Plymouth Superbird
No list of MOPAR greats would be complete without mentioning the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird aerocars. Back in the late 1960s, aerodynamics was in their infancy in NASCAR. So, when Dodge’s race team equipped the Charger with a nose cone, giant rear wing (23 inches tall!), and other modifications the advantages thereof proved monumental. The 1969 Daytona Charger won the inaugural Talladega 500, its first race. The Daytona also set the record for the first NASCAR to reach 200 mph in competition.
The Daytona’s success prompted Plymouth to build their own version, the Plymouth Superbird, based on the Roadrunner. Plymouth’s intention was to not just win races but to win back Richard Petty, who’d left Plymouth’s racing team for Ford’s. The allure of technological advantage proved enough to get Petty back with Plymouth and made his baby blue Superbird into a NASCAR icon. The Daytona and Superbird proved a dominant force taking 38 of 48 wins across the 1970 NASCAR season. The success would be short-lived as NASCAR officials effectively banned the aerocars the following year by capping displacement at 305 cu.-in. Though brief, the reign of the aerocars remains one of the highpoints in the history of MOPAR cars.
