Interesting 1970 Magazine Article

[CBODY67]

It is one of the "unique" styling features of the '69-'70 Dodge C-body cars. But like a good many other Chrysler Corp styling segments, it looks good in the right color combination, or the base color itself. The white over blue is one of the better looking combinations on it. But in a different color and trim situation, not so good and "out of proportion", to me. Be that as it may!

The deck lid on my '70 DH43 is plenty big to wrap Christmas presents on, as it is. Did that many times!

Thanks for those great pictures!

CBODY67

 

[rapidtrans]

One of our 69 "C" bodies was a bright red Polara 2dr with black vinyl top/int & those nice looking wheel covers. A lot of Red! Great looking car and more impressive than the FuryIII 2dr we got next in the same exact color combo.
The Fury was a 318 car as i remember but was a big block still std. in Polaras in 69? I think ours had a 383 2bbl.

 

[Bill Watson]

The 1969 and 1970 Chryslers and Imperials had little change to the lengths and overhangs. The big change for Chrysler was increasing the rear tread from 60.7" to 62.0". Actually, Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler all had 60.7" rear tread and Plymouth increased to 62.0" for 1970. Dodge faced the most complaints over the fat rump on the 1969 models, especially the 2 door hardtops. Thus Dodge rear tread was increased to 63.4" for 1970, the same rear tread as used on all C body wagons.

As for the front and rear lengths, it was generally considered that Plymouth and Dodge had rear ends that were too long. Especially Dodge. Thus Dodge's rear overhang was cut from 62.7" to 58.2" while the front increased from 36.6" to 39.7". Overall length dropped slightly from 220.8" to 219.9".

Plymouth rear overhang decreased slightly from 59.8" to 58.7" while the front went from 35.3" to 36.2". Length increased from 214.5" to 215.3".

When the 1969 C body models were introduced the blurb on the 2 door hardtops was that they harked back to era of the club coupes. Which is true, they did look like the old club coupes with their longer trunks. Looked great on the Fury and on the 1970 Dodge, but the Imperial version looked like a pimple on a shoe box. Looked more like a business coupe than a club coupe. Far too small for the body size.

Just for the record, the Barracuda was introduced on April 1, 1964 while the Mustang was introduced on April 17.

 

[Bill Watson]

Lynn Townsend became president of Chrysler Corporation in July, 1961, eight months after DeSoto died. Chrysler-Imperial and Plymouth Divisions merged early in 1961.

Townsend was responsible for the dismissal of Virgil Exner and hiring Elwood Engel, though.

In late 1966 George H. Love stepped down as Chairman of the Board and Townsend moved up president to chairman in 1967. Virgil E. Boyd was president of Chrysler Corporation from 1967 through 1970.

One thing Townsend was adamant about was that Dodge had to be a higher priced and larger vehicle than Plymouth. Thus the spread between the two makes in the 1960's. Plymouth's best model year was 1973 with over 900,000 vehicles built. But Chrysler management (Riccardo and Cafiero) decided to go a different route, building up Dodge and digging the ground from underneath Plymouth. Took almost thirty years for Plymouth to die.

 

[saforwardlook]

The 1969 and 1970 Chryslers and Imperials had little change to the lengths and overhangs. The big change for Chrysler was increasing the rear tread from 60.7" to 62.0". Actually, Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler all had 60.7" rear tread and Plymouth increased to 62.0" for 1970. Dodge faced the most complaints over the fat rump on the 1969 models, especially the 2 door hardtops. Thus Dodge rear tread was increased to 63.4" for 1970, the same rear tread as used on all C body wagons.

As for the front and rear lengths, it was generally considered that Plymouth and Dodge had rear ends that were too long. Especially Dodge. Thus Dodge's rear overhang was cut from 62.7" to 58.2" while the front increased from 36.6" to 39.7". Overall length dropped slightly from 220.8" to 219.9".

Plymouth rear overhang decreased slightly from 59.8" to 58.7" while the front went from 35.3" to 36.2". Length increased from 214.5" to 215.3".

When the 1969 C body models were introduced the blurb on the 2 door hardtops was that they harked back to era of the club coupes. Which is true, they did look like the old club coupes with their longer trunks. Looked great on the Fury and on the 1970 Dodge, but the Imperial version looked like a pimple on a shoe box. Looked more like a business coupe than a club coupe. Far too small for the body size.

Just for the record, the Barracuda was introduced on April 1, 1964 while the Mustang was introduced on April 17.

Interesting response. It sure seems the Chrysler models especially from 1969 to 1970 look a lot longer in the rear with the loop bumpers - so you are saying this is an optical illusion? And the Plymouth models especially look longer in going from 1969 to 1970 in the rear, also with adoption of the loop rear bumper. Where are you getting your dimensions?

Just curious, what is your background relative to Chrysler - i.e. source of information any link to Chrysler in the past?

 

[Bill Watson]

One comment I do not understand - "The re-badged VW came later."

What rebadged Volkswagens? Chrysler never marketed VW vehicles under Chrysler nameplates. Chrysler did, briefly, build Dodge Caravan models under the Volkswagen name for VW, but Chrysler never purchased VW vehicles.

Only the 1.7-litre four cylinder engine used in the Horizon and Omni was purchased from VW. The Horizon and Omni were engineered by Chrysler France and based on the Simca 1100/1204. As was the VW Golf/Rabbit.

 

[Bill Watson]

Interesting response. It sure seems the Chrysler models especially from 1969 to 1970 look a lot longer in the rear with the loop bumpers - so you are saying this is an optical illusion? And the Plymouth models especially look longer in going from 1969 to 1970 in the rear, also with adoption of the loop rear bumper. Where are you getting your dimensions?

Just curious, what is your background relative to Chrysler - i.e. source of information any link to Chrysler in the past?

Just a collector of information. Have specifications from Automotive Industries in the 1960's as well as Canadian Service Data Book, an annual publication of car specifications regarding brakes, ignition, suspension, exterior dimensions, engines, etc. CSDB started including external specifications in 1954 and I have issues dating back to 1936. CSDB gets their information from the manufacturers, as did AI. Each manufacturer filed a report with Automobile Manufacturers Association in Detroit with a complete set of specifications for all parts of the cars. Even the Canadian manufacturers filed the information with the AMA. And this information was used by CSDB, AI, Automotive News, Wards, and other publications.

For one, do not use photographs to compare lengths. What turns out depends on the angle of the shot and the lens being used. Photographers of cars for advertising purposes are notorious for making cars look longer and wider than they really are.

In the case of the 1969 and 1970 Dodges, my father owned a 1970 Dodge Polara sedan. I took his car in for some warranty work and parked it next to a 1969 Polara sedan. No question. The tail end of the 1969 was longer than the 1970.

For Plymouth, the difference is not that great. The Plymouth rear overhang was reduced 1.1" while the front was increased 1". Dodge, on the other hand, had 4.5" removed from the rear end and 3.1" added to the front. I think the big thing about the Dodge styling is the squareness of the front and rear ends from the sides on the 1970 models as compared to the 1969.

Also, when comparing lengths of cars, keep the comparison to the same body style - sedan vs sedan / 4dr hardtop vs 4dr hardtop / 2dr hardtop vs 2 dr hardtop, etc.