Maintainability of '66 Coronet

[ikeepmychevytoo]

I come acrros with a classified for a '66 Dodge Coronet. Looks fair by the pictures, only those "exhausters" would have to go. Plain four door version. I need to cover some 750 kms to actually see it, so I think I'd ask to BITOG people first before setting my heart on this.

Previously I searched early 70's Coronets and Darts so I'm somewhat familiar by the printed medium. But never drove one. How would this rides and drives compared to a mid to full size lame 80's car like my Celebrity or a Taurus or else any newer vehicle? Capable of sustained high speeds? How it wears as a daily driver on a mild climate.

I know I shouldn't expect to find many body parts but how about mechanical parts, filters and the like gismo? Any windshields for old mopars, any companies eager to target the mopar crowd ?

 

[duaneb9729]

there are a ton of Mopar parts out there, check out Year One, hemmings motor news.

my parents owned cars like that from new, and drove them all over at highway speeds 60 to 70 mph, with no problems.

as far as a daily driver, they dont stop as well as a newer car, no disk brakes in the front, but its not going to be extreamlly different. The seats are ok.

its going to required slightly more work to tune up than your celebrity or your taurus did.

i bet it would get tons of looks!

would it be tough to drive a large car like that around Istanbul?

 

[Crashbox]

I've owned '65 and '68 Coronets in my earlier years and loved them. As for mechanical parts, if it has an original 318 polysphere engine there are some parts which may be a challenge to find (at least that's the way it was a few years ago). There's probably some other parts which are not easy to find these days, either.

If it has power steering it will take some real getting used to as you cannot feel where the front wheels are- it is quite strange unless you are an old, seasoned MoPar aficionado... They called it "Full-Time Constant Control" IIRC.

A couple of other things regarding the 318 polyhead- every one I knew of had a slight hesitation when taking off from a stop; it may have been due to the spaghetti-bowl manifold design. Additionally, they tended to be very easy on fuel for its day.

Sustained high speeds are quite a pleasant experience in these cars, I'm getting old but my memory's still good on that one.

I could go on but I'll spare the BITOG real estate...

 

[The_Jeff]

If you are used to rack and pinion steering and sway bars you're in for a world of different handling. Less precise by far, but tolerable in its own way.

Is my interpretation right that it runs on both compressed propane and regular gasoline?

 

[XS650]

Merhaba,

This is a big problem if I am reading it correctly.

Quote:
Silindir Hacmi: 1998 cm³
Yakıt Tipi: Benzin / LPG
Motor gücü: 80 BG (59 KW


The original engine was way more than 1998cc and 80 hp. The original engine was most likely 318 cubic inches, 5.2 litres.

80hp would be pretty gutless in a car that weighs roughly 1800 kg. Sustained high speeds won't be a problem because it won't get to high speeds.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

duane
it is pain to drive anything in the old town, often times taking taxi is no extra expense than a parking fee no matter what you drive, so no reason to idle any car. My work/home is ~30 miles via expressway, which is basically the Trans Europe Motorway, four wide lanes where 100mph pace on the left is daily occurance -a collective law breaking. But not devoid of congestions around the exits, add some strong crosswinds so this highway is going to check out some capacities of brake and suspension.

Crashbox
I'm sure it'll be fun at least to maneuver this. I expect 4.5 turns lock to lock. Not much centered feel? Guess I've heard this.

-

Thank you very much for replies, I appreciate your real impressions. My worry is if I ruin this beauty... but not much plastics there, at least it is repairable, have potential to be worn.

I guess this could also be a slant 6, which I'd prefer for milage.

 

[XS650]

It's not a slant-6. That would have been 225 cubic inches (3.7 litres) in that car. 1998 cc is definitely not an original engine.

Chrysler corp had quick power steering then, IIRC, they were 3.0 to 3.5 turns lock to lock, with all the steering feel of dialing a telephone.

 

[Papa Bear]

And the power brakes had a lot of boost as well.

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: XS650
Merhaba,

This is a big problem if I am reading it correctly.

Quote:
Silindir Hacmi: 1998 cm³
Yakıt Tipi: Benzin / LPG
Motor gücü: 80 BG (59 KW


The original engine was way more than 1998cc and 80 hp. The original engine was most likely 318 cubic inches, 5.2 litres.

80hp would be pretty gutless in a car that weighs roughly 1800 kg. Sustained high speeds won't be a problem because it won't get to high speeds.

is it a misprint, or is Turkey like Cuba, in that they convert old cars to different engines?
can't comment about driveability w/o knowing if anything else was changed/updated. it looks great, maybe there were a lot of updates.

 

[XS650]

Turkey isn't at all like Cuba. Back in the 1960s and 70s there was some of that going on, but now it would just be some gearhead with too much time on his hands.

Izmir, where the car is, had a US military base in the 1960s through ??. It's a NATO base now. I was in Izmir last April, but not to the base.

US GIs that qualified to have their families with them used to get their cars shipped to Turkey, drive them for their 24 month or so tour of duty then sell them locally for far more than they were worth at home. The Turks had to pay something like 100% import duty on top of that.

I suspect the Dodge got to Turkey that way and was converted years ago. Back in the 1960s, it was reasonable (by our standards) to get an off the frame paint job, basically a restoration, for the price of a good paint job here. Things aren't as cheap there now.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
is it a misprint, or is Turkey like Cuba, in that they convert old cars to different engines?
For keeping a straight record of things for more than 30 years of period, yes, expect no accuracy. Taxation, the specs and the units of the specs that must be on the registration cards had changed multiple times. Nowadays they like the kW for the HP with all those EU union humdrum. If you mean the car market, the memory of Istanbul is unfortunately about 10 years.

Interface on that site is so insisting on the defaults that probably mis-pulled down and selected, plus looks like an ignorant entry overall. With the price I'd expect an original or compatible Mopar engine.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

XS650
merhaba... Izmir is one of the best cities you could be in Turkey I guess. If I could shift my carrier to there I'd leave Istanbul the next weekend.

If it actually weights 1800 kgs then bye bye Coronet for me... I need to carve at least 14 mpg albeit with some trickery, hopefully with a slant 6.

Until the 70's US cars were the norm here. Many imports. Survivors reside in the dark garages and by the heats of summer they show up very early in the morning occasionally, may be at a gas station for thirst then glide away with all the manners of a cockroach. Coronets were popular as police cars as I see from the older documents. The market for US ally brought cars are responsible for newer, usually the 80's cars. Very little regular imports then.

*

Thanks everyone for the input. For some reason I like older Mopars, alas they are very rare. Never seen that cross hatch grille before on a Coronet.

 

[Crashbox]

Originally Posted By: ikeepmychevytoo
[SNIP]

If it actually weights 1800 kgs then bye bye Coronet for me... I need to carve at least 14 mpg albeit with some trickery, hopefully with a slant 6.
[/SNIP]


My '68 Coronet had a slant six and 20 MPG was normal, though it was a manual-trans vehicle. If you want at least 14 MPG that should be easy with the slant six, and a 318 poly should get that too if it's in tune (I've heard some incredible stories in years past about the polysphere 318's highway MPG rivaling the slant six but they're just stories IMO).

Funny thing- I still have both the original slant six engine from that car and the OD-4 trans I stuck in it- the rest of the car left me back in 1988!!!

 

[Camu Mahubah]

How much American dollars for the land yacht?

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: ikeepmychevytoo
. . . Until the 70's US cars were the norm here. Many imports. Survivors reside in the dark garages and by the heats of summer they show up very early in the morning occasionally, may be at a gas station for thirst then glide away with all the manners of a cockroach. . . .


What a great set of images! I applaud your writing style!

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
If you are used to rack and pinion steering and sway bars you're in for a world of different handling. Less precise by far, but tolerable in its own way.

Is my interpretation right that it runs on both compressed propane and regular gasoline?
(sorry for missing your post earlier)

...and I expect slight hum of a driveshaft. Hey, it's been an age that I haven't drive a RWD. Hmm... may be regularly howling cross-ply tires on curves?

On LPG... Although I never think it actually displaces 2 liters, I trust somewhat that entry. Conversion was popular since the 90's, for the operation cost lower than a diesel.

 

[andyd]

The main reason I let my 66 Valiant go was that driving a car equipped with manual drum brakes became a hassle on roads where the majority of vehicles had power front disc brakes. When I maintained a safe following distance, some bozo would always take it. Later on , I met up with a guy who hot rodded Mopars. He said that disc conversions were expensive .

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

thanks Crashbox, I knew someone should be here that drove these one time. So OD 4 should be an economy measure, I guess it was an option... Theese things aren't as big as an early 70's land yacht if I'm not mistaken, and with sans-emissions I was hoping better milage even with the 318, say, than a '72 Mercury Monterey having similar grille and a rear wheel-well covers.

Camu, that translates to about 9600 US $.

Originally I was searching a cheap means of transportation which would be easy to resell for that I need to take my regular ride -the belowed '84 Celebrity- to the body shop or it won't pass the inspection. Then I came across with this Coronet and my supressed whims for material honesty, minimal stop lights, zinc grilles and hidden rear wheels woke-up. May be this time I take the "responsible" way for myself and for mechanical history and won't go any deeper than the 1984 as a daily driver, guess an unshared garage at least for the nights is called. But the information here is very well apreciated. For one day I do seriously consider such a vehicle to be regular part of the life in the midst of the genuine daily grind. Possibly without a second car for it would be like swimming with an inflated duck.

 

[Crashbox]

Originally Posted By: ikeepmychevytoo
thanks Crashbox, I knew someone should be here that drove these one time. So OD 4 should be an economy measure, I guess it was an option... [SNIP] [/SNIP]


I apologize if I misled you- the OD 4 was not an option until '76 and I installed it myself with substantial effort as the shift lever mount on the trans was not in the proper place for a MoPar "B" body. I got 20 MPG even when I had the standard three-speed manual in it though. The OD 4- maybe a little better.

As for the size of these cars- they are big. BIG. They probably do qualify as a "land yacht" these days.

For V-8 fuel economy the 318 polysphere IMO was one of the best, and mechanically I vastly prefer them over the wedge-head that replaced them. Incredibly smooth-running engines.

The majority of these cars were automatics; manual-trans ones are not nearly so common but they do exist. As an aside, the Torqueflite automatic in my opinion was one of the very best made for durability and efficiency (no lock-up converter back in '66 though). Of course, if it really is a stick-shift you should naturally see slightly better MPG...

I sure wish I had that car for myself!!!!!!!!!!!! But it's a LOOOOOOOONG ways from me...

 

[Chris142]

As far as replacement parts go, here in the USA anyway. Regular maintenance items such as plugs, points, cap, rotor, brakes, water pump are readily available.

Chrome and glass may be more difficult but not impossible to find.