How would YOU order a new Mopar?

In the GYC discussion, it was brought up that Mark Worman, is building a clone to his original 1970 Dodge Charger. On the show, Mark also talked about adding some factory options to the car, because he can. This is similar to how I am rebuilding MY first car, a 1969 Sport Satellite. I want to build it as if i was to walk into a dealership in late 1968-early 1969, and sit down, and order the car how I wanted. Yeah we all would love to order that One of One HEMI car, but I'm talking something the was realistic in the day. Remember most young people back then, made around $1.25 an hour, and while that HEMI option might seem cheap now, but it sure wasn't then. Plus add in insurance costs, and you see why so many of these cars were littering the for sale ads a few months after being bought new.

Here is how I would have ordered mine, and building today:

1969 Plymouth Sport Satellite

383 4 Bbl Super Commando

4 speed

B7 Blue with Black interior (although Pewter interior has crossed my mind)

Center console

Interior light package

Tachometer

AM 8 track stereo

3.23 Sure Grip rear

Disc Brakes

Tinted glass

3 speed wipers

I'd get the basic wheels, ONLY because I'd be installing new Keystone Kustomags mags the day it was delivered.

So, how would YOU order your new Mopar???

How I would order a Mopar Back In The Day:


1969 RM23 Road Runner Hardtop

383, 4bbl, 335 HP RR engine

F5 Limelight Poly GREEN

Black (Bucket Seat) Interior

(C65) Bucket Seats with Console

C16 Console

V21 Performance Hood Stripes

727 TorqueFlite

A31 High Performance Axle Package 3.91 rear

A01 light package

N96 Air Grabber (requires 3-speed wiper

*B41/B51 Power Disc Brakes

*G11 All Tinted Windows

R11 Solid State AM Radio (Add higher quality aftermarket 8-Track and FM receiver hidden in glovebox )

G33 Mirror: Remote Control Left Outside

*G31 Manual-Right Outside (Mirror)

S77 Power Steering

*N85 Tachometer

T85 F-70/14 Red Fiberglass Belted

Funny thing, I did sit down at the hometown Plymouth dealership "Back In The Day" in early spring of 1969 and order this RM23 Road Runner. Everything on the list except for the four *asterisk* items that looking back wished I would have added. Re-thinking I would now probable ordered a passenger's side outside rearview mirror. BTW speaking of GYC this was pretty close to what Mark and the Mopar Dealer Don Jones sat down and spec'd out for his A4 Road Runner in the episode "Jonesing for a Road Runner"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CsF3HpfIw4&t=344s

I forgot that I did the very same thing as you state as I was also torn between Keystones and slotted wheels. When I told the dealer salesman when he suggest road wheel I declined them and he slipped in full wheel covers where I thought I would get body color wheels and dog dishes. Worked out okay as the wheels were black and looked somewhat cool without the full wheel covers at the drag strip or cruising for a little street rac............oops never mind.

71 Hemi Challenger R/T

N94 hood
M51 Sunroof
black top
EV2 paint
orange stripe
Front and Rear rubber bumpers
4 speed
15x7 rallyes
Orange cloth seat inserts
No console
Front and Rear spoilers
louvers
dual painted mirrors

I've been fortunate to own a few '68-'69 Road Runners and at least one '68 Charger that were/are as I'd have ordered them:

Early '68 Hemi 4speed RR coupe in QQ1, no other options
Later & currently same combo except 383, light group & AM radio I never listen to
A couple other '69 RRs like a triple-green 383/4-speed HT with AC, & current Y2 Decor coupe, AG 383/4-speed
The Q5/white bench 383 AG HT was a great combo, but was an AT car, or I'd have kept it...
And my favorite of my 2nd-gen Chargers: red, white interior, 383/4-speed w/AC
There have been many others that weren't necessarily what I'd have ordered but were very enjoyable.
At times I'd have 6-8 of them in different colors & spec, but that was too much to maintain.

I've been thinking of adding a RH mirror as well. Already have a LH remote mirror.

I have to add G33 Left Outside remote mirror as my RR did have that BITD didn't know I ordered it but just now realized it had it. Thanks for the reminder.

I'd keep my Challenger ('70 Convert, Red/white top and interior) but upgrade:
Power - 340 in place of the 318
Transmission - 4 speed in place of the auto
Axle - 8 3/4 in place of the 7 1/4
Add the RH mirror
Maybe add rallye gages.

Dad bought it new and anticipated mom driving it, so some corners were cut. His first one was a purple big block car he had for a week. He really wanted red but the only red one on the lot was for the dealership owner's wife. The salesman made a deal to get it for him and the swap was made.

I know lots of members will go for the Hemi option but the back in the day reality was pretty shocking and overwhelming when you were under 21 and had to have a co-signer and or a parent that would put you on their car insurance as a non-primary driver. The cost of insurance for a 383 Road Runner was high enough and then you add the "notorious" HEMI to it and then consider the HEMI option price was almost 1/3 of the base price of the car at over $800. Add in MPG, cost of service, and most of the owners didn't know how to keep them in tune and never really used that power like going racing at a legitimate race track. More bragging rights than really practical. But hey we can all dream as we did back in the day and then reality set in. I think my monthly car payment was less than the monthly car insurance at the time and then in the early '70's the insurance company really put the screws to muscle cars and then non-leaded gasoline and gas prices then the HEMI started to make less and less sense. Had a lot to do with why there are these stories of "A friend of mine bought a HEMI (add model here) for $600 bucks that was sitting in a guys yard that bought it new". I sold my '69 RR that I listed here in 1980 for $1500 to a friend that worked in a body shop in Pittsburgh. He repainted it (F5) and did just barely visible if you looked close gold airbrush highlights on the fender and quarter raised ques (bodylines??). Back to dreaming Fun stuff and forget the reality

My neighbor picked up a 69 1/2 A12 car for $600 because the owner got tired of keeping it in tune. That was in 1984. He kept the drive train and put it in his 69 R/T convertible.

Before I ordered my '69 Road Runner I was really wanting a '69 Dodge Dart GTS with a big block 383 and for sure have told the story too many times here of how I ended up with the '69 RR. The GTS would also have been in F5 Green with a black (bucket) interior with a 727 TorqueFlite, console and 3.91 SureGrip. No vinyl roof, A01 light package, no power steering or brakes. Reading a magazine test on the 383 GTS I see a sidebar story on the possibility of the 440 being dropped into the GTS by Dodge (after Dodge seeing Mr. Norm pulling that one off with the '68 GSS) so I head to the local Dodge dealer for a 383 GTS brochure and while there ask about the GTS (M-Code) 440 and immediately get LAUGHED out of the place. Go home and my mom knows something is wrong and then points out that having 3-brothers and 3-sisters it would not be right for me to order a COMPACT CAR. Funny how a Dart was a compact car then and now it's bigger than just about any current full-sized car or SUV today. My how times have changed.

if where are talking Muscle car era cars. Here goes

1969 GTX convertible. 440 , auto, factory air, power steering and disc brakes. Power window car . AO1 light pkg, perf hood stripes
B5 Blue with blue and white interior. R6 red would be a very close 2nd

A very close 2nd would be 1967 GTX conv, optioned about the same . In either EE1 blue and same interior. OR maybe QQ1 Burgandy with all red interior


If modern ride.

This pretty much nails it, except add a sunroof


https://www.larrymillerdodgeramtucs...ger-cf43d03e0a0e0a99401762ce630b2df7.htm

As a new A body owner I would dump the 340 auto for a 440 4-speed! I do like my B5 blue...

Bill in 1968 was QQ1 a medium to darkish blue Poly? A little darker that '69 B5?

Making only $1.25/Hr, many didn't check many options because of added cost.

RM21H9

A87 decor package
A01/L31 lights
G31 pass mirror
S81 sport wheel
J25 3 speed wipers
N96
Tach maybe, but a Don Garlits would be available back then, right?
Hemi suspension, think that gets you 3.91s as well
G11 Tinted glass

Four speed

W1 with blue buckets with buddy seat.

Game time decision on ps, pb, and/or discs. Also depending on negotiations, am/fm, rear speaker, and the six way.

Great car for a daily. Hemi would be what most would want, but I’m thinking for everyday this would do.

Mine would be:

1970 Sport Satellite
383 Super Commando
727
3.55 8 3/4
Column shift
Bench seat w/fold-down center armrest
B5 blue
Black vinyl top
B5 blue cloth interior
PS/PB
AM/FM w/rear speaker
15" Rally wheels
Auxiliary light package

A kid that I was friends with growing up (he lived right behind me) had this very car in 1975 when we were 18 years old. After he let me drive it a couple times, I knew I wanted that car badly and he knew it as well. He was not a car nut type of person like I was so he didn't have any attachment to the car. To him it was just another car. In a matter of months from the time he bought it, he sold it to another kid from our high school without even telling me he was selling it (some friend huh?). Saw the kid who bought it driving it one time after that on Gratiot Avenue and never saw the car again. No idea what happened to it. Nearly 50 years later, I still think of that car regularly. I've never had such a strong desire or passion for any other car like I did/still do for that one. I've been looking for a duplicate of it ever since, even posting wanted ads from time to time but never found one. Now, at my age, I doubt I ever will.

1967 Coronet R/T convertible
440 (standard)
4-speed manual (standard)
Standard sure-grip rear (3.54?)
Center console with tach.
Turbine Bronze
White interior (includes black carpet and dash)
Black convertible top
Air conditioning (not recommended with 4-speed, should still be able to be ordered)
AM/FM radio
Magnum 500 wheels
Power steering
Power brakes
LH remote mirror
RH mirror
Fender-mounted turn signal indicators

That is true. Does anyone know where the original option cost breakdown can be found online?

So true. When I look back at when I sat down in '69 to order my RR I had aleady driven a friend's '68 RM21 bare bones NO OPTIONS HEMI Road Runner with a 3.23 OPEN 8-3/4 727 and yes the HEMI motor was impressive but I just couldn't deal with how bare bones no options it was. I think the HEMI option was around $814 and that's just about what I paid for all of the options on my base $3083 RM23 383 Road Runner back then at around $3700+ out the door. I'm pretty impressed so far with the level headed builds members have been posting

I'd either order a 71 RR or GTX, curious yellow, steel wheels, 440-6 or Hemi, four speed, Dana all options. Or maybe a 69 Dart, 340, 727, 3.91's, bare bones, rubber floor mat instead of carpet, no radio, just the bare minimum. Then I'd go big block hunting.

In 68 or 69, I would have ordered a 4 speed because I 100% knew real race cars had stick shift transmissions. Come 1976, when I was going faster with an automatic, using the same engine in a heavier car, I realized that between the breakage, the slower e.t.'s and inconstancy, a 4 speed wasn't really all it was bragged up to be. My big screw-up was turning down the name brand racing automatic and matching converter that one of my sponsers offered me in 1970. That was a real bone head move.

Somebody wanted a price list, here’s one for 69 RR/GTX and probably same exact stuff for Satellite.

As for the wage thing, costs are waaaaaayyyyy higher today. For instance, a college professor I had went to grad school at ucla in 1964. He worked a summer job and payed cash for it, with plenty left over so he didn’t work during school. Minimum wage was about a dollar an hour, the grad school cost him 40 bucks! People make more today of course, but costs have risen all over the board at a higher clip percentage wise.

Mine would be:

1976 Plymouth Trailduster SUV
Fulltime 4wd
440-4v
727
Factory Air Conditioning, AM/FM radio
Sport package
Russet Red with White top, white wheels with Dog Dish hubcaps

JS

1964 Plymouth Sport Fury
426 MW
4 Speed
Red Interior

Thank you. Now if I can figure out the extra cost of the 383 4 Bbl for a Sport Satellite.