When William C. Newburg ordered the junior Mopar cars downsized for 1962 he unwittingly ushered in the 1960’s performance era. Until 1962 drag racing involved full sized Dodge, Plymouth, Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac sedans. Tom Hoover’s Ram Chargers initial advantage was the 1962 full size Dodge & Plymouth were far lighter than Ford & GM cars. Had Newburg a job at Studebaker instead it is likely the 1962 B body would have never been and the 1962 junior Mopars would have likely appeared along the lines of the 1963 Chrysler. Danny Plotkin From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Nowosacki Apropos of nothing, I sometimes wonder 'what if' B body muscle cars didn't become a thing, if a 1966 300M could/would have been available with a dual quad 426 street Hemi and a 4 speed. Talk about a "banker's hot rod" or "gentleman's express". Seeing where B body cars went, and how they were joined by E body muscle, it probably would have failed in the marketplace. Having to buy a big car to get a big performance engine began to die in 1962 with the downsized Plymouths and Dodges, and to a lesser extent even with the 62H moving to the shorter 122" wheelbase Newport platform. It became more about horsepower to weight ratio rather than just horsepower. A milder, smooth running 440 with single 4 bbl for the big C body luxury cars was better at addressing the market. The Hurst in 1970 was probably the only C body that came standard with the 375hp TNT engine. I think it was strictly an option on any other Chrysler. The only other C body I can imagine having the 375 hp 440 as standard equipment may have been the 70 Plymouth Sport Fury GT, which would also have the 390 hp 6-bbl as optional equipment, but not a 426 Hemi. Would have been cool for the Hurst to have optional engine choices of 6-bbl or 426 Hemi, too. I once saw a Hurst at Chrysler's at Carlisle that had aftermarket Hemi heads mounted to the 440. I think that was a thing for a few years- a cheaper way to migrate from a 440 to a Hemi than getting a complete new engine. Not sure if it did as much for performance as it did for the look of the engine bay. Anyone else remember seeing that? It was probably in the early 1990's. On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 9:20 AM 'dave mason' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
-- -- For archives go to http://www.forwardlook.net/300-archive/search.htm#querylang --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chrysler 300 Club International" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chrysler-300-club-international+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/chrysler-300-club-international/004e01db91ce%24a1076af0%24e31640d0%24%40northeastretail.com. |
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network
Archive Sitemap