1970 Chrysler Imperial Lebaron 4dr HT

[polara71]

At the german or scandinavian Mopar events C-bodys are more than 1/3 of the participants.

Thats because of the price of the B's and E's..... they settle

 

[Fratzog]

Moparfest had a huge turnout of Cs ....

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

Thats because of the price of the B's and E's..... they settle

but again Dave, if it would be just the price there should be a huge amount of "A bodys", too.

Compare the boards in the US
This board has around 2.200 members
"forabodiesonly" has more than 31.000 members.
Nearly 14 to 1 enthusiasts.

A lot of shows I know reflect it, too
1.Spring fling, Los Angeles
2.Mopars at the strip in Vegas
3.Chrysler Classics in Ohio
4.Mopar Nats in ohio
5.Florida Mopar Nats

On all of these shows Cs get "heavily" outnumbered by A bodys

At the german Mopar Nats you got
40% B-Bodys
30% C-Bodys
20% E-Bodys
10% A-Bodys

Overhere a lot of full size cars have the sticker "size does matter".
Fred gave a good explanation why Full size cars are loved in europe

 

[polara71]

Were servicemen driving C's in Europe? OR were most driving the "hot" car of the time?

 

[polara71]

I know so many guys who have / had A bodies and either want to get rid of them or already have.
You are also not mentioning the lightweight desirability of the A's for drag racing here...
Which would increase member numbers on websites.

Face it, europe cant afford B's and E's either

 

[1976_Dodge_Monaco]

i love c bodys. ive always been quite partial to the fullsize 4-doors. these are my favorite. having the word 'brougham' on it helps too, and so does a vinyl top!

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

Were servicemen driving C's in Europe? OR were most driving the "hot" car of the time?

AFAIK they drove the wide average range of cars like in the US.
I never saw it personally because american servicemen were just in certain areas in southern germany.
Thinking about it, it is funny as today most american cars live in the center and northern germany as the amount in the south is definetly smaller even though the south (in general) is more wealthy. But then most german car companys are down there

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

I know so many guys who have / had A bodies and either want to get rid of them or already have.
You are also not mentioning the lightweight desirability of the A's for drag racing here...
Which would increase member numbers on websites.

Face it, europe cant afford B's and E's either

Sure there are racers in the A-Body group.
But 14 to 1 in the amount of members is a very explicit result.
And I guess you will never find someone there complaining about europeans buying "their" cars

 

[detmatt]

Face it, europe cant afford B's and E's either

Then how come they have such a vast collection of the most valuable C-body forward look cars over there??

 

[polara71]

Smaller land mass, they are buunched together..........?

 

[detmatt]

I'm blown away by those pics Carsten posts up from the big shows over there. I think they prefer the big cars.

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

Smaller land mass, they are buunched together..........?

no, not really. Germany is crowded compared to the US but sweden, where the big shows are, is defintly not.
Sweden is huge (north-south distance is nearly 1.000 miles). And there are only 9,6 million people living in sweden.

 

[Bryan]

The front end of the 70 is about as close to perfection in a car as you can get.

 

[polara71]

no, not really. Germany is crowded compared to the US but sweden, where the big shows are, is defintly not.
Sweden is huge (north-south distance is nearly 1.000 miles). And there are only 9,6 million people living in sweden.

America.... 3.79 Million square miles
Sweden .....173,860 square miles
Germany .....137,847 square miles

I prefer to look at it as MANY aint driving that distance because there are closer big shows to attend.

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

overhere in europe long distance driving is not that usual. Due to the gas prices. A gallon is round 8$.
When I drive up to the swedish Västeras Show it is a 2000 miles round trip. Last year that cost my 1.750 $$ just on gas.
Passing the bridges to denmark/sweden is another 350$ plus hotels etc.

 

[polara71]

Yeah, gas prices restrict me from driving a lot. Many blame attendance being down at shows because of fuel costs.

 

[detmatt]

overhere in europe long distance driving is not that usual. Due to the gas prices. A gallon is round 8$.
When I drive up to the swedish Västeras Show it is a 2000 miles round trip. Last year that cost my 1.750 $$ just on gas.
Passing the bridges to denmark/sweden is another 350$ plus hotels etc.

That's absolutely crazy! I've heard you say how much gas is but never really thought about how that translates into cost of driving to a car show. How much was gas in Germany 30 years ago? I've been paying around $3.20 per gallon this winter and when I began to drive almost 30 years ago it was around a dollar a gallon.

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

30 years ago the price for a gallon was about 3,8 Deutsche Mark. Should be 2,65$ at the current exchange rate.

I remember that gas was still a Dollar a gallon in the 90s in the US mid west.
Could get the tank of my Hurst (belongs now to Klaus) full for 20$

 

[polara71]

Yeah, a dollar a gallon... remember those days

 

[detmatt]

Do they just really not want you guys driving over there???