The timeline keeps moving along, doesn’t it? When I was getting into cars, anything from the mid-1970s was available, relatively cheap to acquire, had a likely chance of at least being useful, and wouldn’t be missed if something happened to it. Welcome to 2020…all of those dream machines of 1970 are fifty years old and the years keep on moving. As we move out of the Musclecar era and the Malaise cars start cresting over the hill, do you think there might be a late run on what’s left? Camaros and Novas are probably sure bets, as are the successful personal luxury coupes. But we all know not everything made in the 1970s was a winner. There was a bit that sucked for one reason or another, and some just sucked completely. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, though…what was a throwaway car when the oil crisis happened, what was an old gas hog when a Honda Prelude was a snazzy sports car, what was a derby beater when green sport-utilities were the rage are in line to be the next “whoa, that survived? That’s pretty cool!” kind of vehicle.
1975 was not a good time to be a Mopar fan. The E-bodies had been killed, just in time to see the Mustang II, Camaro and Firebird post good sales figures again. The trucks and the Darts sold alright and had good reputations, but the name of the game was “bigger is better” and Chrysler was building tanks. A 1975 Newport like the one we found would weigh in at over 4,600 pounds…or, for perspective, at least 500 pounds heavier than our 2006 Chrysler 300C. This is not a tiny little thing, this is a full-size 1970s Yank Tank of a car, a legitimate hardtop with the roll-back quarter window and a 440 under the hood that was pushing 210 horsepower with the new SAE net ratings. Cringy, yes…this is a rolling middle finger to every green-tinged individual out there. But there’s a simplicity to it. The 440 has so much potential just waiting to be tapped. The amount of damage this platform can give and take is legendary. Picture this car on airbags, the paint brought back to life…what was just a barge is now suddenly a mild custom, a looker.
$4,600 is less than a dollar per pound for a nice and complete throwback. What would you do with it?
Make a demo-derby car out of it.
…Edelbrock .. Heads… Cam… Sniper FI will boost hp over 300 along with
yank the Converter off add dual exhaust
this would look excellent on a set of American Racing Bonnevile 18″ wheels
crank the torsion bar suspension back a few turns to lower the front …
cruise
8-71 Blower!
A blower and some gears.
Actually, there’s a few low cost upgrades that would really wake this sucker up. Pull the timing cover and swap the timing set for the police/motorhome set. You would be astonished what advancing the cam timing does for a smogger 440. (I had a 1978 440 motorhome. I know.) Swap the head gasket to the thin Mopar Perf. piece. IIRC .029″. An intake swap plus a dual snorkle air cleaner will ensure that the T-bog secondaries can open properly, and threaten to suck kittens right off the sidewalks. Put Town & Country wagon trailer tow sway bars on it, and let ‘er buck.
It would need to be subtle on the outside. Maybe some painted rally wheels nice offset showing to the outside.. Deep, with skinnytrim rings and center caps.
Under the hood just late model parts and tech improvements to make it a sleeper that can make onlookers jaws drop.
A blown Hemi.