Lest we forget what the US was doing in the same period as some of the other cars featured here this past week, let’s look back at a couple of American products. With the benefit of hindsight, American car (not truck/crossover) offerings seem to have been much broader in the immediate post-war period, and the Chrysler corporation is a good example of this. Chrysler offered everything from basic captive imports (Simca and then the Plymouth Cricket) up through the ultra-luxurious Imperial Crown (if that name doesn’t convey a certain level of ambition, what name does?). Taking the role of number three in the big 4, their products were often also the most interesting – they had to come up with compelling ways to differentiate their products from the two dominant players. To start, let’s look at this 1966 Dodge Dart wagon for sale for $2500 in San Jose, CA.
Posts Tagged ‘a-body’
Delivering the Promise – 1975 Plymouth Duster
March 2, 2016The Plymouth Duster was one of those ambiguously named cars – the name’s reference to “dusting” anyone at a street race should have probably been “Dusted”, particularly when set up with an emissions-control-choked slant six. Competing with cars like the Ford Maverick, it also provided an alternative to imports like Toyota’s Corona and the VW Beetle. Though more modern, it still failed to achieve the sense of quality the imports provided, and is arguably one of the many death throes of “old Detroit”. That said, it is a part of our history, and in the 4 elapsed decades since the cars were built, the aftermarket has risen up to fill in the shortcomings of the original design. A good example of that is this 1975 Plymouth Duster for sale for $3499 in Portland, OR.