Thursday, October 13, 2022

Dodge Madness

 


6 comments:

  1. the simulated walnut dash was the kicker

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  2. My '76 D-100 Adventurer pick-up had a similar hood design without air scoops, the sloped edges towards centerline of hood. Water would be trapped and in time, paint job would become affected with triangle water pattern left. Not a good look. Loved that thing, pointing it like a boat more than driving it. Helluva truck, had it from '83 to '98.

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  3. That was my dream car but ended up with a "63 Bug. Probably a good thing since I wrecked the Beetle.

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  4. neutral steering was something chrysler(and not forgetting you, ford) suspension engineers in the 1970s knew nothing about. It was either plow thru the corners or hang the tail out while making all the lights. challengers were great in a straight line but, God help me in the turns. It would have been fine if it was linear, but it was plow or skid with nothing in between. Modern suspensions and tires are just better. that all said, it was a rush to drive my '71.

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  5. I bought a '73 Plymouth Satellite 4-door sedan new from the factory. I got it with a heavy-duty "police-type" suspension which also featured an anti-roll bar. That was also the first year where you could order steel-belted radial tires from the factory, and they were a vast improvement over bias-ply tires. That 3500-lb. car handled like a sports car through turns! A friend of mine bought a used '73 Satellite a couple of years later, but his car only had the standard suspension. He was amazed that I could go around a freeway cloverleaf at 70 mph with my car staying level, while his standard suspension car would get to about 35 mph on that same cloverleaf and his car was about ready to roll over.

    My Satellite also had a limited-slip differential (I also ordered that from the factory), and with its rear-wheel drive it handled great on snow and ice. It would oversteer a bit on slippery surfaces, but I much preferred that to the horrible understeer of all the front-wheel drive vehicles today. You could easily control the oversteer by using the brakes and gas pedal.

    Unfortunately, living in a northern state, the road salt in many winters rusted that Satellite away.

    And yeah, I knew a number of guys who had "muscle cars" that went fast on straights, but were horrible at cornering.

    Rusty W

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  6. Bought a 73 w/340 and Top Banana Yellow in 73. I'll drive it over to the beach tomorrow and check out the action. Syd Melbourne, Fl

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