It is a love/hate thing in here sometimes... Carmine you just hit the "you suck" list again...
No worries, I know what everyone means... Although I can assure you that you wouldn't think I "suck" so much if you knew how much I've been going through juggling cars. I do believe God must have been OK with it however; he's blessed us with unusually warm and sunny weather this weekend. I've been putting that to use, so I haven't been on here much. (This is a lunch break)
Anyways I'll offer everyone a few bread crumbs.
First of all, it was no joke when I said the last time I saw that car was in the 90s. In fact, I do believe it was even earlier than what I wrote at first. I recall it was in a bank parking lot, but it was a branch I was using only because I was dating a girl who lived nearby. We broke up around 1994, so I probably saw that car between 1992 and 1994.
Second, I have no idea why my memory added an "R"! I was
positive the name was just slightly off from the Sundance name used just a year later on Plymouths as a trim package (and again from '87-'94). On the upside, I think I nailed everything else.
Third, a friend sent me a photo of the 1973 Plymouth Aspen showcar. See below:
And we know the Mariner still exists...
(2015 picture at the Harper Ave cruise in St. Clair Shores, MI)
Thus I believe this car is the 3rd (Dodge) of a set of Highland Park-modified C-bodies done for the show circuit:
Allow me to advance another theory... I now believe there may have been a forth special-build car! Back in the very early 90s, maybe even 1990, I looked at a 1973 Imperial that was trapped in a Detroit backyard. This car was a Rallye Red 4dr with a power sunroof, white top and interior. I know this car still exists. Murray Park owns it now. I don't know if anything else was "unique" about this car, but at the tender age of 17, I might have missed it! I'm not sure if they were building 4drs with sunroofs in '73, so that
might have been unique. But for a kid living at home, there was no way I could justify another huge old car.
So back to the Sundance, bad news first. The subframe is toast. The car was sitting in a "pit" for at least 5 years and the front tires went flat, placing it right on the dirt. Now the good news... The body is amazingly well-preserved. So well-preserved that I believe it will be show-worthy with 95% of the original (code 999) paint. The graphics are faded, but they were painted (not decals) so re-freshing them shouldn't be an issue. It was aftermarket-rustproofed and it appears that they did it correctly (for once), not just plugging drain holes with tar.
Have a look at the trunk extensions and notice the sunroof rear drain tubes running on top of the wheelhouses:
The car is pretty much loaded with options and other custom goodies that I didn't notice 20 years ago. It is 100% unmolested down to the spark plug wires (well, I think a rat ate one of them while it was parked outside).
Here's the part where I'm sure you'll think I'm a jerk... I'm holding off publishing more photos because I would like to get Hemmings Collector Car to do a story on these cars. If I put all my info and photos out here, that hurts the case. Give me some time to shop the story and contact the Mariner owner (if anyone can help with that, please PM me. I'm pretty sure they live in Northern Macomb county). Sleep soundly knowing the car will be saved. I'm putting it into winter hibernation while I start documenting it.