Josh, You are a little confused, the Challeger was a Dodge product. Here is a
little more history;
In 1964 the Plymouth Barracuda beat the Ford Mustang to the show room floor by
about 2 months. The the 64 Barracuda was a reskinned Valiant, the Mustang was a
reskinned Falcon. Both the Valiant and Falcon were the the low cost compact
cars from both manufacturers and Dodge did not have an equivalent. The Mustang
became more popular because of three body style choices (fastback, coupe and
vert) and engine choices, where as the Barracuda was only a Fastback.
Both cars continued with only minor changes. In 67 the compact line of mopars
received a significant overhaul and the Barracuda got a very dramatic sheet
metal overhaul and now had the same three body styles as the Mustang (Fastback,
coupe and vert). This was also the first year of availability of the 383 big
block in the Barracuda. Dodge still didn't have a direct competitor but the
Dart platform received the same chassis modifications and shared everything
under the sheet metal with Barracuda. Thes cars stayed pretty much the same
through 69. In the mean time the Mustang got larger and became available with
big block power too. In 68 the 318LA, 340LA became available. And, approx 75
Barracuda's and 75 Darts were manufactured by Hurst Performance for mopar with
the 426 Hemi. In 69 the 440 became a standard option (though you couldn't get
air or pwr steering) for both the Barracuda and Dart but no Hemi cars were
made.
By the late 60's there were Mustangs, Cougars, Camaros, Firebrids and Javalins.
The gen 2 Barracuda was now three years old and Dodge still din't have a "pony"
car. For 70 the Barracuda was redesigned onto it's own platform (e-body) and
Dodge got it's equivalent called the Challenger. Even though they looked
similar the Challenger has a longer wheel base and no sheet metal is common.
The engine compartment is larger and would easily accept all mopar engines
without restrictions on brakes, pwr steering or AC. These cars continued
through 74 with only minor changes. The Barracuda and Challenger were very much
the pony car formula with a long hood and short deck and were equivalent in
size to the other pony car offerings and though they had back seats people with
legs could really sit back there any more than in a Mustang, Camaro or Javlin.
The Challenger name continued after 74 for a few years on a rebadged Mitsubishi
and the Plymouth equivalent was a Sapporo. These cars were very much the same
as the Mustang II of that time but the Camaro & Firbird continued with the
orignal Pony car formula. The Cougar morphed into a Monte Carlo competitor and
the Javlin went awy.
In 66 Dodge took the mid size Coronet and put a fastback roof line on it and
called it a Charger. AMC took there mid size car and put a fastback roof on it
and called it a Marlin at the same time. There were no other cars like them
from any of the other manufacturers. In 68 the Charger received a major reskin
but it was still based on the mid size b-body and was available with all mopar
engijes including the \6. Plymouth didn't have an equivalent. Roadrunners,
Super Bees, GTX's and R/T's were the 2dr coupe, 2dr hartop or vert mid size
b-bodies cars with performance options. The Roadrunner and Super Bee being the
stipped down cars with only the performance options and the GTX and R/T having
the upscale trim levels. These car continued with only minor changes through 70
with vert option on the Raodrunner and Super Bee being available in 70. In 71
the b-body line received a major sheet metal overhaul. The Charger, Sebring,
Roadrunner/GTX now shared the same basic body style.
In 75 the Charger name was used on the Dodge equivelant to the Monte Carlo and
was a twin to the Chrysler Cordoba, Plymouth didn't have an equivalent.
As many have state the Charger name has always been on a car with two drs. It
has always had a performance image even though in it's base form it may have
had a \6 or a 2bbl 318.
Dave Clement
99 SLT+ CC 4x4
Go here to see my second generation Barracuda
http://mysite.verizon.net/david.clement/
In article <cs8tsq$v4o$1@bent.twistedbits.net>, josh@omg-stfu.com ("Josh
Battles") writes:
>
>
> ""Ryan Stewart"" <dapurplert@dakota-durango.com> wrote in message
> >
> > Second, are you thinking of the right car? A Charger was a 5 passenger,
> > 4000lb behemoth of a car. The car YOU keep describing sounds like the
> > pony car Challenger to me? Is that what you're thinking of? Because
> > aside from a door or two, this new Charger is an EXACT reiteration of
> > the old Charger, but not even close to a Challenger pony car.....
> >
> > -Ryan
> > 99 DA RC R/T
>
> Maybe I'm reading your message incorrectly, but it sounds to me that you are
> mistaken about the Charger's history. Granted the Charger we're all
> thinking of (late 1960's - early 1970's models) was a decently heavy car
> capable of seating 5 people, the Challenger wasn't much smaller and could
> also seat 5. To my knowledge, the Charger has NEVER been a 4 door vehicle
> before the current iteration (even in the poor re-incarnations in the 80's
> it was still a 2-door). Charger was dodge and Challenger was Plymouth, they
> were sort of the same, but the Challenger shared the same [smaller] platform
> as the 'Cuda, whereas the Charger/Roadrunner shared [the larger] platform.
> None of these cars were lax in the performance department as a general rule,
> and I think all of them were available with a hemi in them at some point.
> (not sure about the Challenger)
>
> --
> - Josh
> Lowered 2000 Dakota CC 3.9L
> I put on my robe and wizard hat....
> www.omg-stfu.com
>
>
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