What exactly is a Mopar muscle car? Well, you might have heard it from a fellow car enthusiast blogger or friend or maybe even saw the term in a Chrysler dealership. That's not a coincidence as the history of Mopar cars is tied to the Chrysler company itself.
The word Mopar consists of two parts "Motor" and "Parts." It was first used in the 1920s as an umbrella term to refer to different Chrysler parts and vehicles that the company was selling. The company has been manufacturing many domestic brands such as Dodge and Plymouth, and of course Chrysler.
Here we are trying to show the top classic Mopar muscle cars at both ends of the market. Both the best and the worst. So we discuss the top 10 classic Mopars and the 5 that didn't turn out to be as outstanding over time.
15. Best: 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst
via Mecum Auctions
Chrysler made around 501 instances of the 300 Hurst, accompanying Hurst in its development, of course, to make it meet the requirements of being a sturdy performance car. It did turn out to be an excellent example of a performance car, but it was never truly accepted by Mopar enthusiasts as an original Chrysler 300.
14. Best: 1967 Plymouth GTX
ClassicCars.com
The GTX was the model that Plymouth was offering with two of its most significant engines, the 7.0 and 7.2-liter V8. The only thing that masked the features of the GTX in the market was that it was being manufactured at the same time as the Barracuda, Superbird, and Roadrunner, so it was easily neglected at the time.
13. Best: 1970 Plymouth Sport Fury GT
via Homestead
Chrysler sure had a surprisingly large number of large muscle-car models for an economical brand back in the '60s and '70s. GTX was the luxury model, but there were also was the Fury GT model that also could get the job done. It was basically a two-door sedan version of the Fury sedan.
12. Best: 1968 Dodge Dart Grand Spaulding
via Mecum Auctions
In late February 1968, Chrysler Corporation announced to its dealerships that both the Barracuda and Dart models are now available with the 7.0-liter Hemi engine "for use in supervised acceleration trials." They made 80 Darts with a 3-speed manual transmission that came with Hurst shifter and a couple of other magnificent parts and sold it for around $4,200.
11. Best: 1970 Plymouth Duster 340
via Hemmings Motor News
Duster 340 was the name that was chosen for the performance trim of the ordinary Duster. The original Duster was launched in late 1969 for the 1970 model year, and the 340 was also there from the beginning. The model featured different powertrains with different displacements from 3.2 to 5.9-liter, slant-6, and V8.
10. Best: 1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda
via WSupercars
In 1970 Plymouth revealed this new Hemi 'Cuda with a 7.0-liter V8 that could come up with 425 bhp. This was a celebration of the Barracuda's success in the sales market. The model is produced in a relatively low number, which are pretty valuable as collector's items nowadays. A convertible Hemi 'Cuda can be sold for millions of dollars.
9. Best: 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee
via YouTube
1970 was a good year for Mopar cars since this is the fourth item in our list that relates to that specific year. This model was marketed as an economical solution for American performance cars and came at an appealing price. The Super Bee was the name the designer picked since it was utilizing a Chrysler B-body chassis.
8. Best: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
via Mecum Auctions
R/T is short for “Road/Track” and refers to the performance edge of the model since it was intentionally developed for that reason based on the original Challenger. The model came with the same 3-speed transmission in the beginning, and the 4-speed manual gearshift was added later alongside various choices of engine displacements.
7. Best: 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
via Mecum Auctions
The R/T package intended for the Challenger in 1970 had also intended two years earlier for Charger. It was tuned and upgraded to a performance model by replacing the engine with a more powerful one and adding more performance mods to the original Charger. The R/T charger was also featured in the 1968 Hollywood movie Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen.
6. Best: 1970 Plymouth Superbird
via The Drive
One of the best (if not the best) Mopars is the 1970 Superbird model. It was a classic 2-door Coupe that came with the most significant Hemi V8 engines and a signature wing in the back. It turned out to be another successful muscle car by Chrysler that did pretty well in motorsports, including NASCAR.
5. Worst: 1975 Dodge Charger Daytona
via Pinterest
The 1975 Charger Daytona was just a more sporty trim of the regular Charger in the same year that came with the 6.6-liter big block engine, which you could also downgrade it to a 5.2-liter engine. Despite its 3-year lifespan on the production line, it didn’t turn out to be a successful model since it was an unattractive heavy gas-guzzler.
4. Worst: 1978 Dodge Magnum
via Hemmings Motor News
This is a good passage in the “don’t judge a book by its cover” chapter of our discussion about Mopars. It has serious looks and uses a 6.5-liter V8 that looks a lot on a 2-door muscle car, but it seems like the developers spent more time on the comfort angle of the model and not the performance part of it.
3. Worst: 1980 Plymouth Volare Road Runner
via Motor1.com
It is considered to be a wrong decision to own a Volare today since it wasn’t much of a good idea to do so in the time of its initial release too. The problems with this model started with the meager engine power and the rear brakes, which were very eager to lock no matter how new the model was.
2. Worst: 1982 Dodge Challenge
via CarGurus
Challenger was a king in drag races till 1974 when it was discontinued by Chrysler. The parent company tried to bring it back again in 1977 to make more money on the model. Still, they made a strategical move, and that was rebadging this classic model with Mitsubishi Galant Lambda and making it come up with much less power output.
1. Worst: 1983 Dodge Charger
via Masbukti.com
Looks like the Challenger was not the model to make it to both ends of our list since the 1983 Charger is here too. In the 80s, Dodge decided to do some innovation on its models, and we have to hand it to them; they were brave! They went as far as offering the Charger model with a hatchback body, which wasn’t appreciated by its audience.
