Giant sports car ?

[Mike DC]

I think they nailed it, they just came in too late.

I look at the original E-bodies and I see the same problems with the current Challys and Camaros - if you give the car enough of every specific thing the buyers want then it ends up being too much car for what it was intended to be.  It photographs well and produces good track numbers.  But it feels too big, weighs too much, and probably can't be made cheap enough. 

Mopar had two bad styling experiences that nearly killed them, the Airflow series and the downsized 62's.  It made the company frightened to take the lead in my opinion and they got a bad habit of waiting to see what GM would do.
68-70 Charger being an exception.
Its all just a theory though.

I agree. 

But I also think Detroit's entire product line in 1961-62 should have been scrapped out of ugliness.  GM, Ford, Mopar, and everyone else I can think of. 

And I think Mopar didn't produce many good looking cars between '60 and '67.  If Mopar was copying GM cars then they should have been copying different ones.  They had a great drivetrain by '63 but it took another 5 years for them to skin it in something attractive. 

 

[Ghoste]

The Mustang and Camaro had largely gone that way by 1970 too though.

[hemihead]

I think they nailed it, they just came in too late.

I look at the original E-bodies and I see the same problems with the current Challys and Camaros - if you give the car enough of every specific thing the buyers want then it ends up being too much car for what it was intended to be.  It photographs well and produces good track numbers.  But it feels too big, weighs too much, and probably can't be made cheap enough. 

Mopar had two bad styling experiences that nearly killed them, the Airflow series and the downsized 62's.  It made the company frightened to take the lead in my opinion and they got a bad habit of waiting to see what GM would do.
68-70 Charger being an exception.
Its all just a theory though.

I agree. 

But I also think Detroit's entire product line in 1961-62 should have been scrapped out of ugliness.  GM, Ford, Mopar, and everyone else I can think of. 

And I think Mopar didn't produce many good looking cars between '60 and '67.  If Mopar was copying GM cars then they should have been copying different ones.  They had a great drivetrain by '63 but it took another 5 years for them to skin it in something attractive. 

 
I agree with a lot you said with the exception being that I think the 64 Sport Fury and the 65 Coronet and Satellite .
   The E - Bodies were nicely designed cars but quality of work when built was much , much worse than the B- Bodies
   and the B's were pretty bad .
  The modern Pony Cars are a bit different as far as quality goes . But the Chally is far too big . It is the same chassis as the Charger ,
weighs about the same too . Then you load on all the gimmicky do dads everyone seems to think they needs they become the fat lady at the circus . I talked with a salesman not too long ago about ordering a bare bones Chally . No A/C , cruise , stereo , etc . just all motor and bare nothing . He said Chrysler would never build that . I think if they went back to a car like the Road Runner platform they would sell more cars . But then they
wouldn't make all that money off the dumb gimmicky options people order .

[Mike DC]

I agree with a lot you said with the exception being that I think the 64 Sport Fury and the 65 Coronet and Satellite .
   The E - Bodies were nicely designed cars but quality of work when built was much , much worse than the B- Bodies
   and the B's were pretty bad .

Yeah there were some good looking Mopars between 60-67.  Just not enough overall.

As for E-body quality, that seems to be EVERYONE'S recollection about them.  Bad. 

The modern Pony Cars are a bit different as far as quality goes . But the Chally is far too big . It is the same chassis as the Charger ,
weighs about the same too . Then you load on all the gimmicky do dads everyone seems to think they needs they become the fat lady at the circus . I talked with a salesman not too long ago about ordering a bare bones Chally . No A/C , cruise , stereo , etc . just all motor and bare nothing . He said Chrysler would never build that . I think if they went back to a car like the Road Runner platform they would sell more cars . But then they
wouldn't make all that money off the dumb gimmicky options people order .

Gearheads always ask for hot fast strippers but most of the new car buyers do not IMHO.  The demand for that car would be tiny. 

It's like with 1990s Camaros/Firebirds.  They gradually ended up building the car that tons of people wanted to find on a cheap used car lot several years later.  But nobody was left buying them brand new.


But I do agree that the dealerships overload the hi-po models a notch or two beyond what the buyers really want.

[Cooter]

I think it would surprise Chrysler, err Fiat, just how many would order stripper Challengers AND a loaded one too...


The option should exist. What have they got to lose?

[JB400]

That is why SRT introduced the Core models.  They're not entirely stripped of all the goodies, but they have enough to draw a large segment of buyers that would rather have the most powerful engine but still like a/c and cruise.

And yes, they're selling real well.  Why else would SRT spread the idea to every product that they produce?

[Ghoste]

Now they need to promote them.  The again, for every large engined core model they sell they need to sell a couple of dozen Darts to keep CAFE happy.