What made A bodies non-popular

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The A's best year sales-wise was 1974 ; 1973 was a very-close second , again sales-wise .

Then , consider how inexpensive they were ; less-than $3,000 for a 340-powered Dart Swinger / Duster !
Prior to 1970 , one could order-up a high-performance , nicely-equipped Dart GTS or Barracuda Formula S ; this was the only way to get the 340 until the 1969 Swinger and 'Cuda models ( yes , the vaunted 'Cuda was a stripp-o model in 1969 ) .
Then the E-bodies roll around for 1970 ...
No more big blocks ; no more consoles with a manual trans ; no more FM radios ( until 1972 ) ; just plain ol' compact cars ... again .

I've read somewhere that the tail lights on the '71 Demon were originally intended for the 1971 Duster . This makes sense , as the tail lights' design would've flowed with the then-new 'Shark Tooth' grille's "teeth" .
Now there's a custom idea for you to go with ! A '71 / '72 Demon tail light panel and lamps on a '71 / '72 Duster !

Usually , when the dreaded corpoRATe bean counters *suggested* cutting-back on a project / option list , the A's got nailed first .
To wit :
Rallye Gauges : Dropped after 1971
8.75" diff : Dropped after 1972

Then , there's that stupid small bolt pattern for the wheels :
the A's didn't get the good , universal pattern until the high-perf models were gone ; 1973 was the first year ; same goes for the disc brakes : A's were stuck with that shitty 4-piston setup through 1972
( and then , 6 cylinder models were still stuck with both the small bolt circle AND 4-piston binders until 01/01/1976 ! ).

Many 340-powered A's were stripped of their motors , and tossed-out ; same went for non-Six Pack , non-Hemi E bodies and '71 B bodies .
Hard to believe , I know ...

There was a time when one could buy a running Dart / Duster / Demon / Dart Sport for $400 ; maybe $800 - $1,000 for a running 340 model .
Those deals are long gone !

The E-body programme was dropped mid-way through the '74 model year , as they were disappointing from the get-go . Victims of the 1971 recession , they never recovered sales-wise .
The Octobre 1973 Energy Crisis was the final axe in the E's roots , as A body production was ramped-up at Hamtramck ; the lines were freed-up for A-body production .
 
Well the Challenger out sold the Cuda in 70, then it went down hill. The insurance companies had a lot to do with it. I remember mine wanted to put me in the "High performance" category because I was driving a 66 New Yorker that had a 440 in it! And we all knew that by 71 the emission controls were killing HP engines
 
J4R3D said:
all I meant by non-popular is not as sought after, but I understand why.. I pray that no one ever attempts to collect the cars from 1990 and on.. other than the recent cars and maybe a few of the special ford trucks.. harley edition etc.
I am just trying to think of more ways to make my car stand out without looking stupid..
I got the idea from looking at a cuda model and then at the back of a duster model where the strips surround the tail lights.
There is nothing special about either of my cars so there is no point in trying to keep them original.
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not sought after?????? do you know how many people would give their left nut for a real Hemi Dart???? any idea what that would pull in at Barrett Jackson? more than any E- body or camaro.
 
wasnt mopar also cheating the insurance companies by saying it made this amount of horse power when it made almost 50 to 100 more? does anybody have any proof of that?
 
they do make small block hemis, but theyre covered in bs, they need to make a performance style without the bs and sensors and smog crap.
 
That was the story back then-The 440+6 was rated at 390 HP and the 426 hemi was rated at 425HP (must make less that 1HP per Cubic inch to pass the insurance sniff test).
 
yeah that was the so called facts but the 440 was pushing well over 400 and wasnt the hemi pushing close to 500? i say that cause i think on rcc they would take rv and truck 440 and clean them up new intake 4bbl headers duals, would clear 350 to 375. and chargers were cammed and i dont remeber wat all they did. so 390 horse for a 440 is kinda a fib i think
 
I know I love the power of my 440+6, it's like a 426 Hemi in that as high as you rev it it wants more. I did put in 454 heads with over sized valves and a bigger cam
 
macho781988 said:
true the charger in the movie had an auto and he shifted it like a four speed but b&m makes auto shifters like that, and honestly i believe the cars were only running at wat 75 mph tops? wat i was saying is that kids are already seeking those civics and wat ever else has a four banger ( dont know why) so basically wat you guys fear is already happening kids are gathering up 90s cars. and also about the car flipping they are bastards and should be shot, and a bodies were only unpoular cause they were considered as economical cars or granny cars, granny cars had big motors too but they had a certain appeal to older ppl and the didnt have alot of power where as the challengers and cudas and the road runners had gobs of power and the way it was back then is the way it is now we want the fastest thing in town. speed feeds the need. and i agree with the super bird question theresa few ppl who wanted them but most didnt.
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Wasn't that Charger powered by a chebby?:wack:
 
Got a theory on why A body Mopar may have been considered unpopular.

It's because they spanked the competition so badly that they were hated by the Chebbie and Ferd guys!
 
oh ok i understand now about the 454 heads. and as far as the chevy powered charger goes i cant find the right pic imma do some more research and get back to you on that.
 
I thought they were 452 heads? and 906.

Im just a late 60's early 70's guy living in the modern world and I hate it..

Nothing wrong with A bodies at all, I own two of them. It just seems that is all I can find. Everything else is just gone.
 
ok here yall go its on b bodies ( go figure i hunted all over yahoo and google) theryre arguing over A the color, first one gloss black the next ones are flat black. B someone wants like 130k for it? and C they are saying it is either a gen 1 hemi which would be a 392 or a newer hemi aka the 5.7 cause in the first one the plug wires run to the back as if its a small block. and the next movie it showed up in was the 4th one and it has a true hemi with a blower. so theyre ya go a movie car that someone wants 130k for that may or may not have a gen1 hemi and may or may not have a new style small block 5.7 hemi but its a hemi of some kind. oh and the thread just poped up like 2 weeks ago
 
and about it being an auto, it is a drag car and i was told that if you have a 4spd when youre drag racing you dont take your foot off the gas even while shifting so its like put clutch in pull shifter pop clutch and the gas pedal never leaves the floor. cause if you take your foot off the gas and you clutch and shift as fast as you can you lost like 2 tenths of a second. so for driving around and occasionaly stop light running or interstate racing a 4spd is great but if youre running your car stricly on the drag strip an auto is best. now i dont drag race on the strip i mostly drive around and stop light race or play around on the interstate so i prefer a 4spd.
 
slant6/4speed said:
Was the Aspen/Volare just a up dated A body with the new folded torsion bar front suspension?
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Kind of ...
The 1976 "F" Body was truly in its own category ; it was all-new .
Certainly , its intended purpose was to replace the then-13-years-old
( okay , technically 16 years old ) , aging "A" Body platform .

Without getting into subjective or objective opinions ( and thereby successfully railroading this topic ) , I'll just say that the Aspen / Volare twins were introduced in time for a growing market ; a market which reflected interest in downsized-yet-luxurious cars ( e.g. , Ford Granada / Mercury Monarch , Nova Concours [sic] , etc. , etc. ) .

The Transverse-Mount Torsion Bar arrangement also appeared in F-Body platform spinoffs : "M" Body ( 1978 - 1989 ) and "J" Body
( 1981-1983 ) . The 1979-1981 "R" Body was an "updated" B-Body platform .
Badge Engineering at its finest :mrgreen:
 
macho781988 said:
e body challengers and cudas were disappointing from the get go? really? holy hell
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More like they were doomed from the beginning .

Their layout was dated by the time they were introduced ( personally , I like it ! ) ; there were many quality control issues ( especially at the Hamtramck Facility ) ; they were reasonably popular their 1st year , but sales declined in '71 ( recession + insurance rates ) ; and the market for these kinds of cars was a waning one ( it was surprising that Chrysler even approved a convertible body style for them , as drop tops were falling-out of popularity ) .

Many years ago ( 20+) I read an article about the 1970 Trans Am programme which was planned for the 'Cuda and Challenger twins . The article spoke of some wild one-off items ; things such as an adjustable trunk spoiler , a Daytona / Super Bird type nose , and a truly trick Westlake 305 c.i.d. engine with 3x2Bbl induction and Westlake cylinder heads .
Obviously , this end of the programme was cancelled , thanks to ambiguous year-to-year changes in emissions-reducing equipment , ever-changing safety requirements , insurance companies' surcharges , and the expenses involved in producing such a specialty vehicle on a regular assembly line ( the T/A & AAR models that did make the cut were a ***** on the ***'y line within themselves ) .
 
wow i had no idea, no wonder they re so popular now, and hey i like drop tops if i was 100% sure it work out great id lop the top off my dart and fab a drop top to work or steal one from another car preferablly the non power type then when shes doen id have a 360 auto or 4spd either way itll be a floor shift with bucket seats , and blue with a black drop top with some wide tires in the back to give it that aggressive attitude. :cheers:
 
So pretty much, it's not that A bodies are not as popular, just not rare so they are not wanted? Yet the prices are so high
 
the word mopar is enough to make ppl think their car is worth thousands and it depends are your area, i got my dart swinger and macho PW for dirt cheap the macho didnt run but i had another motor, the dart runs but needs rust repair. theres a guy in kentucky his dart runs but runs rough mine runs great, mine has almost all of the original paint his has almost all surface rust, my car is complete, his isnt, missing trim and other parts, seat is just the yellow cushion, mine has a tear on the driver side, mines a swinger his isnt. he wants 1850 for his car cash only no trades, so if that is true then my car is worth wat 2500 to 3000 right? any mopar is high because theyre elite and ppl command big bucks for the elites. i blame barret jackson for the most part of the outragous prices for rust buckets that and that idiot who bought that cuda for 1.2 mil that now has ppl checking every number, hoping their car is worth close to that its greed is wat it is they buy cars only to make a profit. where as the guys and girls here value mopars for wat they are, street driven *** kicking machines. and i guess also in part that mopar doesnt have a dedicated destination for parts, we all have to hunt up our own from joe blow at an outragous price. or hit up ebay for that elusive " very special - ed " flip top locking gas cap that jesus himself cant find. so parts put in plays a big role as well.
 
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