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Question Of The Day: What Is The Most Obscure Special Edition Car You Can Remember?

Jan 02, 2016BangShift Question Of The Day??, MOPAR38

Question Of The Day: What Is The Most Obscure Special Edition Car You Can Remember?

“Special Edition”. Call me jaded if you will, but that phrase is synonymous with “we need to sell a ton more of these things to break even on the engineering costs!” and has been used so liberally, especially during the mid-1970s, that at this point the phrase has lost it’s luster. At one point, it was worth nothing: a 1970 Dodge Charger SE had an upgraded interior and some special touches over the base model. Compare it to the 1977 Dodge Charger SE, which was not a special edition, but simply a notation of the form of late-B-body Dodge that used the Chrysler Cordoba body shell instead of the 1975 Plymouth Fury body shell. It wasn’t spectacular or special. Nowadays you’ll find special editions of just about anything, but the world of trucks and sport utilities have the most diverse range: Long Horn Edition, Rally Edition, Texas Editon, ad nauseum.

midnight charger 1

But for the sake of discussion (and, honestly, a way of teaching me of things lost in the past for someone my age), I want you, the readers, to rack your brains and think of the most random or forgotten special edition packages ever offered. It could be a Spring special layout, or a regional offering, like the G-body Monte Carlo SS started out as. My tip into the ring for you is the car in the photos: the Dodge Midnight Charger. Note the Cord-like grille, one additional taillight slat, and the funky roof treatment, complete with horizontally-split quarter window and the rear window treatment, complete with faked flying buttresses. Dodge must’ve been in quite some pickle to dress up a Cordoba that hard…if Allpar doesn’t have anything about the Midnight Charger, that’s saying something. Is there anything even rarer?

midnight charger 2

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38 thoughts on “Question Of The Day: What Is The Most Obscure Special Edition Car You Can Remember?”

  1. Loren

    Ick. Gosh am I glad the late-seventies are over. And that split-up opera window…then again, nowadays they put plastic engine covers underneath the big metal one just for looks, I guess it kinda compares…

    The “Spirit of ’76” 1974 Nova and Vega. White paint w/ decals, white seats, red carpet. One of my V8 Vegas started out as one of those, made it all black, black, black. Couldn’t get enough black after that mess.

  2. Tubbed Pacecar

    Bryan: I can remember being on holidays with may parents sometime in mid seventies, and in the Great Lake states (MN,WI, possibly even MI), seems like everybody in the rural areas had a truck with a snowplow, ANYWAYS, I remember seeing a good number of Dodge trucks with a special package called “Sno-Twister”, and they had a stripe/decal running down the side with a little deal at the end, which kind of reminded me of the Roadrunner decal.

    Also remember seeing a brochure for a special edition Raomcharger called a Trail Duster?

    WTH all these dodge memories?? My old man was a GM guy, and somehow I ended up a Ford guy…..

    2. Wilburn

      Maybe you are thinking of the Sno-Commander? Offered by Dodge as a heavy snow plow truck in the 70’s and 80’s.

  3. Tubbed Pacecar

    HAH! I guess the Trailduster is just a Plymouth badged Ramcharger?

    nothing to see here people, move it along…..:)

  4. Clarence Sifton

    Recardo Montoban introducing the “Cordoba with rich Corinthian Leather”! If you look up Corinthian Leather there is no such thing.

  6. NOVA427SS

    Seriously. I somehow ended up purchasing a 72ish plum colored Javelin 304 auto with a paisley print original interior. Can`t remember the package name..Fugly comes to mind.

  7. jerry z

    How about the special edition Lincoln Mark V? There was the Bill Blass and Cartier and some others.

  8. Greg Rourke

    Fencl-Tufo Chevrolet in Glendale Heights Illinois offered the Primo package on the Monte Carlo and Caprice. 1976-ish, not sure how long it lasted. It had a severely padded landau roof, tacky opera windows and a goofy fake spare tire glued to the trunk lid. Once the local Dupage County pimps all had one I don’t think they sold any more.

  10. Mortorq

    The 1976 Chevrolet Nova Jaws movie commemorative “Shark” edition, I think they made 3000 of them. Spoiler, open mouthed Shark pic on the side, etc.

  12. coffeejoe

    How about the Twister Mustangs used for sales in the mid west back in 69-70 I believe.

    Hell, the GTX was an upgraded Roadrunner (or was the Roadrunner just a base GTX?).

  15. Glen

    I’ll throw these in….’76 King Cobra (gag), Maverick and Pinto Stallion.
    It was all about Paint and decals that somehow this was supposed to make them look faster/cooler or something.

  17. Frank Palazzi

    How about the Choo-Choo El Camino? I think the original was a pace car for ..? Around 86 maybe.,,

  21. Jesse

    recent special edition Mustangs you probably forgot Rousch
    Blackjack
    Saleen
    Steeda
    SDS (San Diego Special)
    Foose Stallion
    GT350
    GT CS (California Special)
    Street Scene
    Susan G Kolmen pink stripe package
    Cannonball World

  25. C.M Bendig

    The Chevy dealer special ‘Camio’ or ‘S-10 SS’ Stripe & ground effects packages dealers put on S-10 & GMC S-15 pick ups from 83-90. Many on trade in vehicles. Some got the GMPP bolt on hood bulge, that does nothing since the hood is not opened under it nor is it open to the outside. Same exact part is used on 81-87 chevy trucks and 88-98 chevy trucks. None ever left a GM transporter truck with one.

    Another one that was just a few cosmetics: The Jeep XJ Chassis Cherokee Wagoner. You got 4 headlamps instead of 2, and different emblems. The rest of the stuff was regular Cherokee. Wheel center caps may have wagoner on them with the optional 15×7 cast aluminums

  27. Joseph Hancock

    I once had a Chevrolet Bonanza Pickup…I’ve only ever seen a couple, maybe three, of them in my life…

  30. Roger

    The 1985 Mercury Marquis LTS, the 5.0L powered twin to the Fox body LTD LX. Canadian market only, 134 built, less than 10 guestimated to still exist. And I quite likely own the only one in the U.S. 🙂

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