M Bodies . . . where did they all go ?!?!?

Just wondering if anyone is still seeing any M bodies out there ???? I had a 1980 Plymouth Caravelle (Canada model only. Think Dodge Diplomat in USA) . . . 318, 2dr. Great driver . . . seems like these cars are gone gone gone . . . Sure there is "For F,M,J Bodies Only" forum, but just wanted to get a shout out to the M Bodies here on Moparts . . . . Love those body lines, and size of car . . . drop in a small block stroker and look out !!

I think that since they were not built as enthusiast type cars, once they developed a serious enough problem, they were junked. When I lived in CA, they were plentiful in the junkyards due to failing a smog check. The CA government allowed a $1000 buy back for cars that failed smog check.
I have front disc brakes on my '72 Duster from a Fifth Avenue car.

I remember seeing them all the time on the road back in the 90s and early 2000s...Chrysler 5th Avenues, Dodge Dipolmats and Plymouth Gran Fury's.
One local gentleman had an early 80s Dodge Diplomat 2dr in excellent condition (nearly show car quality, always garaged, never drove in the winter, gold and had that 2dr side profile with the bulge over the rear wheels...nice car).
I haven't seen that one around since early 2000s, but it was his summer daily driver.
A few years ago a NW Iowa man had passed and his large collection was Auctioned off near me. Had a ton of Mopars and Oliver tractors. Went to the auction, not a lot of 60s/70s stuff, but a couple of old 70s trucks and MANY M Bodies (Plymouth Gran Furys, mostly, as well as a few Chrysler and Dodge models). That's the last time I saw a whole bunch of them at once. Don't see them much anymore.
Of course, I see 05-up Chrysler 300s, Dodge Chargers, Dodge Challengers everywhere now (more Modern Mopars).

JS

In the early '90's I built an Enduro-Class stock car out of an ex-Ohio Highway Patrol M-body Gran Fury. Campaigned the car for 2 years and never did any mechanical work other than maintenance. After that we pulled the drivetrain and it went untouched into a friend's post-war Plymouth coupe hot rod, where it is to this day!

My Grandpa bought a 1977 Lebaron new. Living in Michigan and our roads, that car had rusty fenders like a Volare or Aspen in no time. He really liked that car but it was just a rust bucket.

popular in the U-Pul it for motors trans and disc brakes and 7 x 15 steel wheels

And as silly as it sounds bolts and nuts. I always left with a box of nuts/bolts/ clips from any Mopar

Anything 80's and up has to be smog tested here so that kills the idea of making a decent performer out of most cars from that era. Our emissions guys have mirrors mounted on long sticks so they can look underneath for modified exhaust etc. If the car can't pass the smog and visual inspection they pull your registration. Lots of those cars are now in non-running condition under a trailer park awning, or crushed and gone.

Idaho goes back 40 years!!! Wow. Would have never thought. Washington was 25 years, I don’t think there is anything anymore, even in the Seattle area???

Not the entire state, but ADA and Canyon County - Boise, Meridian, Nampa and Caldwell - where most people live.....

FMJ cars were fairly plentiful in the local wrecking yards back around 2000 but since then they've disappeared. Scrap metal prices went high enough for a long enough period of time to wipe out a lot of that stuff. And the cash for clunker program blew a lot of them into the bone yards. I always thought they were horrible cars but some people like them. Who am I to judge.

I had one, put all the cop goodies on it from boneyard sources, except the shocks which I bought new from Chrysler. Added a mild 360 and an A833, lot's of fun. But sold it when I moved 3 hours from work and needed a more economical ride, got a Neon. Wish I still had it though. A real sleeper

I made sure a lot of them were parts donors back in the 90s. You could buy them cheap, drive them a year or two, and make 3x what you paid for them by selling the parts. Motors, transmissions, the K member with the torsion bars, and the very comfy seats, were hot sellers with the guys building street rods. I even killed a few on the dirt track.

Short story: When my son got his drivers license I bought a pretty nice 5th Ave for him. He hated that car, and did his very best to try to kill it, but just couldn't get the job done. After almost a year of listening to him complain, I found him a Daytona (FWD) that he bought. A few weeks later, I sold the 5th ave to a kid that just got his license. About 3 months later, that kid rear ended someone. He had slammed on the brakes so hard the car nose dived and the impact was all above the front bumper. It pushed the radiator into the water pump. The kid brought the car back to me telling me the brakes failed, but the funny thing was, even with the front end hammered, the brakes still worked. I think he thought I was going to give him back his money. When he found out that wasn't going to happen, he just gave me the car. A few hours later, my son stopped by the shop and saw the wrecked 5th Ave. He wanted me to fix it up so he could drive it! I told him that since he didn't want to drive it when it was a nice car, I sure wasn't going to fix it and let him drive it after it was wrecked, so of course I parted it out. Gene

I recall walking past a ton of them in the u-pull-it during that period of time. Often considered grabbing a bunch of stuff cheap, holding for a decade or two and then cashing in. General thought being that they were popular enough that some demand would build later. Seems like just walking past them was the right call. The other thing I noticed going on around that time was kids bolting on 4 bl carbs and trying to make them fast. Not every county in PA has emission inspections. Was a pretty short lived thing as most of them were too young to figure it out and moved on to ricers.

As for trying to beat one to death, good luck with that. Basic bullet proof 318 not putting out anywhere close to enough power to dent the 7.25 and the only thing resembling a crumple zone is the shock mounted bumpers that are still heavy hunks of steel. I've always considered them to be full sized Chryslers stuffed in to a mid size box that was galvanized to within an inch of it's life. Ya know, the reaction to the Aspen / Volare issue of rusting out before leaving the factory was build something that will just about never rust.

On one hand, a basic boring box of a 4 door. On the other hand, built like a tank and a great highway cruiser. The last rear drive carburated Chrysler before the company went to hell and real easy to transplant a tweaked 360, 727, 8.25 and make it get out of it's own way. With enough determination, ya can even stuff a big block under the hood. As for the kid that wanted ya to fix the "brake failure", should have tossed him a wrench and said have at it.

I bought mine when I was still in high school twenty years ago. Used to see them all over the place and the local yards always multiple cars to pick from and even AHB cars would pop up. Turned into a father and son project after Dad bought one through a friend of mine on Dippy.org.

Dad's car is a 1980 S Type Diplomat coupe. T tops. 408/518/9.25. My car has been through a number of engines over the years and now has a 512/518/D60 combo. Take both of them to Woodward every year for the last decade now. Almost never see another M let alone a traverse T Chrysler product for that matter.

Great looking pair of cars !!! . . . pretty much the 80/81 2 dr coupes were finally an "F" body that they got right. Up here, they never rusted out . . . as was said, bullet proof 318, were nice drivers. And yeah put in a healthy small block and 8.25 or 8.75 rear end, and go surprise MANY people !!! . . .lol . . .

I've enjoyed reading some responses. While I can't usually help with answers here on Moparts, M bodies are my specialty! Mark knows them too! RWG had a great answer.

They are NOT rust buckets, nor where they unreliable. Quite the contrary. The body integrity was great, and they were extremely reliable cars. '85 and up got even more galvanized steel. Of course, they had a few spots prone to go bad, but overall, great, solid cars! The last of a LONG lineage of Chrysler rear drive, solid axle, torsion bar suspension cars. Slant sixes and 318's! I have owned a total of 7 of them over the years. One civi, and six AHB's. I have just the one AHB now, my '89. I love them and would recommend them to anyone. Some of the earlier AHB's had issues with the shock tower failure under ABUSIVE DRIVING in Police use, yes. But '88/'89 got better K frames. I've never had one with that problem, but mine were all either '88 or '89.

Cops didn't love them for their speed with the 318-2, and 2.2 gears, but they loved the just right size, handling, and super tough looks. The 318-4 and 2.9 gears felt much better. I've owned several of those and punching it off the line would always break the back tires loose (I know that's not something to write home about, just giving you an idea of how they weren't sloths). I'm always tempted when a nicely preserved AHB pops up on the market!

You can still find PLENTY of Fifth Aves for sale. AHB's are much tougher to find. They haven't been built for over 30 years, and obviously rode hard!

So larryLOVEit .......how would they have LOVED IT if they had had healthy 408s in there ?

Love the look of the 2-door Diplomats. They have similar styling to the Olds Cutlass Supremes of the same era.(which I think are really nice looking cars too) Years ago there was a Hot Rod magazine article about "lesser" loved vehicles that would be cool to customize. The M-body was one of them they listed. They had an artists rendering of one that was lowered, had the bumpers tucked in and some of the trim removed.

Age caught up to them just like every other vehicle. And around here rust. The majority of cars here are less then 10 years old unless they've been cared for or not winter driven.

I still have mine but haven't driven it in a while. I'd buy another if a super too good to pass up deal comes along. Even tho I have enough other cars floating around.

For me, as I have stated, I really like that look that the 2dr coupes have . . . and yes, similar to the GM F body of mid 80s. Still think that the 2dr coupes that are out there, are well over looked . . . miss my 80 . . . . but just thought I would give some love to another overlooked Mopar !!

Starting to see more come out of the woodwork. A lot of them sitting in backyards

Find a nice one, and you won't be paying high dollar for a pretty nice ride.

I see quite a few of them here on Vancouver Island, lower mainland around and for sale, still.

Honest to goodness, every single time I drive mine, I get a thumbs up, and/or someone in a parking lot with a question or comment! It's really something. It never fails.

GM F bodies were Camaro and Firebird. The only resemblances I see are 2 doors, 4 wheels and gasoline powered!

I stand corrected . . . GM G bodies (Monte Carlo, Olds Cutlass) . . . square styled 2dr coupes . . . but hey, I am a Mopar guy . . . .

Here's the picture that was in Hot Rod years ago.

Cool Hot Rod sketch!

Perhaps the best car chase scene involving an M body?

Absolutely the best M body chase scene John. And pretty entertaining movie.

no NO ... larryLOVEIT ..... this ....

Why would they not have done that with a 2dr coupe ????

There's some of us that love them 4 doors

Because the artist wasn't aware that 2 doors ever existed?

If only LOVEit had 50 acres in central Florida to store ALL HIS LOVE !!

He sure has the $$$$$ ... so has been reported !

Heck no, it all goes to taxes!!! Them babies need milk!!!

If only LOVEit had 50 acres in central Florida to store ALL HIS LOVE !!

He sure has the $$$$$ ... so has been reported ! [/quote]Heck no, it all goes to my X’s !!! Them babies need milk!!! [/quote]

FIXED .... do you have access to THEIR GARAGES like that from Texass does ?

He’s a clever