how rare are power Brakes ?

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The original tiny brakes on early A's don't get along very well with the morons out there today driving the BMW's and Lexus' (and many others!) that are so vastly superior in stopping capability at 70 mph. I've got power 12" disks on my '65 and wouldn't have it any other way since I plan to live for a while longer yet. Kept it original for a long time until "Look good, drive bad" just got too scary. I would advise anyone building a car today that will be out in highway traffic to make a serious robust braking system a top priority in the build. If budget constrained then cut corners somewhere else. Too many today are into the cruise night open hood "wow" factor and the job ain't really done.
 
Every DB A/F-body I have had or stripped out since 1970 had power assisted brakes. The only two drum brake cars I have had were not assisted.I don't recall how many that adds up to, but it is 45 years, so, a lot.

I thought about it.I haven't had that many A-bodies; 65-1,66-1,67-2,68-2,69-2,70-2,71-1,73-1,74-2,77-2,78-1,80-1
So that comes to 18 A's;2 of which were drum brake/no boosters,the 65 and the 66.

For inquiring minds; Valiant-1,Barracudas-7, Darts-2, Duster/Demon/Dart Sport-4, Aspen/Volare-4. Additionally I have owned a ; 57 BelAir, 71 Monaco, 64 StratoChief, 74 Pony, 84 D100, 92 Exploder,92 Dakota, 06 Allure/LaCross, 05 Escape, and I think that's it.
 
I would say that about half of the '73 and up cars i've owned were factory power brakes, and maybe 20% of the cars i've owned that were '72 and older were power brakes.
 
Dartnut said:
I would say that about half of the '73 and up cars i've owned were factory power brakes, and maybe 20% of the cars i've owned that were '72 and older were power brakes.
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i'd say that's very accurate numbers.

also look at the high end cars like 68-70 chargers. i''d say most had power brakes, though drums. earlier ( than say '72-3?) had more manual brakes, as they were the value priced car, also why so many were slants.. even though the K/H disc were available, not ALL buyes were sold on the tech..

I figure power brakes take less " foot power" , but a drum brake will stop the same whether power or manual!??
 
Power Drum brakes here on my 69 Swinger.

B51 on the fender tag. My last two were non power drum brake cars ('72 Satellite 318 & '71 RoadRunner 340)
 
Both my '65 Formula S and '69 Fury have PB and PS, while my '69 Road Runner has just PS. And I feel that the RR stops just fine with the manual brakes.
 
My cars were around 50/50. 66 Dart(Canadian Valiant) was power drum, 68 Dart 270 power drum, 72 Demon manual drum, and my current 70 Duster started life with manual KH disc brakes.
I also had a 65 Fury II wagon with a manual single pot master cylinder and 11" drums all around...
 
No power steering or power brakes on my 72 Duster. It's a factory H-Code 340 car, with drum brakes all around.
 

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My 73 had power brakes but when it came Master Cylinder replacement time, the booster went and thanks to good info I got from FABO was able to make a good transition.
it's alot easier to get to plugs 5&7 now......
 
I own 3 a bodies... the 71 /6 Valiant, 72 318 Valiant, are both manual drums

the 1973 318 Swinger is power disc.
 
My Valiant has manual disc brakes and (fast) manual steering.
My Duster has power disc brakes and power steering.
My Demon has power disc brakes and power steering.

My son's '70 Dart GT has manual drum brakes and manual steering.
 
norton said:
No power steering or power brakes on my 72 Duster. It's a factory H-Code 340 car, with drum brakes all around.
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That is interesting to learn, because I always thought, that front disc brakes were standard on H-code Dusters. At least 1970 to 1971?
 
My fist car, 71 Duster: rubber floor mat, manual washer motor etc had manual drums but did have p/s and a/t.

My 70 Charger R/T has factory power discs.

My 73 dart came to me with manual drums (10' front, 9" rear) and I just couldn't get used to them. Going from my work van or R/T to the Dart, I never felt confident that I could stop. I scored a new brake booster at Carlisle for $200 from someone who mistakenly bought it for a B body application. I installed it and man, what a difference!!!! I test drove it back to back with my Charger, going down hill 60mph and in a controlled panic stop, and it seemed to stop as just well.

Did check the show cars at Carlisle before my purchase to verify what I was looking for and only saw one with manual drums and a few with pwr disc, Most had manual brakes.
 
My 65 Dart wagon has both power steering and big 9 inch power brakes :wack: Keeping the PS and maybe add the PB if I don't use the Dutra Hyperpak.

The 65 Barracuda has neither.

Had a 69 Charger and 71 Challenger with both PS and PB.
 
- Marvin - said:
That is interesting to learn, because I always thought, that front disc brakes were standard on H-code Dusters. At least 1970 to 1971?
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Disc brakes were an option on the 72 Dusters. The H-Codes were all heavy duty 10" drum brakes unless you put a check mark in the box, asking for the Disc brake option
 
norton said:
Disc brakes were an option on the 72 Dusters. The H-Codes were all heavy duty 10" drum brakes unless you put a check mark in the box, asking for the Disc brake option
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Was this a 72 up thing or the same for 70 - 71 H - Code Dusters?
 
- Marvin - said:
Was this a 72 up thing or the same for 70 - 71 H - Code Dusters?
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I am by no means an expert on the 70-71s, oh hell I'm no expert on 72s either lol.
However my understanding is the 70-71, H-Codes were standard with manual disc brakes, power was an option. I believe that 72 was the only year that was standard with HD, 10" manual drum brakes, anything else was an option. Not sure about the 73 and up cars.
 
- Marvin - said:
That is interesting to learn, because I always thought, that front disc brakes were standard on H-code Dusters. At least 1970 to 1971?
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My 71 340 4 speed Duster was manual 10 in drum brakes. My 72 340 Auto Duster was manual K-H Disc. They were original but I did not order them new.
 
daliant said:
Seems to be more common on the 73 and newer cars.
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I'm no expert, wether in brake boosters nor in carburators, but it seems, that the same time, the bigger Thermoquads were used more A-Bodies were equipped with brake boosters.

Could it be possible, that the older Carter and Ball & Ball Carburators could not produce enough vacuum?
 
- Marvin - said:
I'm no expert, wether in brake boosters nor in carburators, but it seems, that the same time, the bigger Thermoquads were used more A-Bodies were equipped with brake boosters.

Could it be possible, that the older Carter and Ball & Ball Carburators could not produce enough vacuum?
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No, it was more of the newer, 73 up "A" bodies being other than Hot Rods or econoboxes. They were also a popular rental fleet car in that time period.
 
Two of the three older Mopars I have owned, do own, came with both power steering and brakes. My 68 Barracuda and my 71 roadrunner. I did convert my 67 Barracuda to power steering and front disk brakes, but they were not power.
 
'68 fastback 318 car has power steering and power brakes. I can't wait to convert to manual for both.

'67 vert fish /6 was manual everything, it was easier to drive because the feedback through steering was something I could FEEL. Same went for the brakes.

Power brakes seem a lot easier to lock up.
 
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