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Mopar Muscle Done Right: Jay Leno Cruises His 1966 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi


Mopar Muscle Done Right: Jay Leno Cruises His 1966 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi

The 1964-72 era of performance was undoubtedly one of great power excess, factory competition, one-upmanship and proof that competition breeds excellence to all involved. But if you look at the cars themselves, they tend to fall into two categories. One is the full-kill muscle car that many know and remember: flashy paint, neat graphics, rally wheels or mags, spoilers and call outs a plenty. Nothing wrong with them at all…in fact, every now and then we really dig the idea of a black-and-striped GTO Judge parked next to a lime-green Superbird, next to a Grabber Blue Boss 302, and a Go Green AMX nearby. But then there’s the “other” type: standard color. Dog dish hubcaps. Basic transportation with a warhead underneath the hood. The term didn’t apply when they were new, but it would be easy to call it a factory sleeper. If you didn’t understand what the small engine callout on the fender meant, or your ears didn’t pick up what the exhaust was telling you, you’d never suspect a brick as standard as a Dodge Coronet painted government contract green would lay your Camaro out with no sweat whatsoever. While Jay Leno has plenty of cool rides in his shop, many of which we lust after, we have to admit…this one just might be our favorite, period.


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4 thoughts on “Mopar Muscle Done Right: Jay Leno Cruises His 1966 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi

  1. bob

    Well, everybody has regrets. One of mine is not buying one of these in 1979. My girlfriends brother had this car. same color green, buckets, 4 speed & 411 dana. The hemi was long gone & had a shot 383 in it, but everything else was as it should have been. He wanted a $100 bucks for it, & I wanted for the dana for my Galaxie. I broke up with the girl, & her brother cut it up with a circular saw & axe for scrap. Oh baby.

  2. claymore

    My best bud back in the day had the Plymouth version of this but with a 4 speed what a ride. He let me drive it ONCE and it’s something you will never forget. All fun and games but he traded it straight up for a 66 442 because it got a crazy 4 MPG ouch even with 25 cent a gallon sunoco fuel it was leaving him with no money for fun.

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