Strangest Options

[Kevin68N71]

I am curious as to other's who either have oddly optioned cars, or know of oddball options.  It is always an interesting topic as various car lines have had some really odd things in the past.  (Corvair gasoline heaters, AMC tent options for Hornets, etc.)

That said, one strikes me in the Mopar world.

In at LEAST 1971, there was a Charger option for HEADLIGHT washers, not only the squirter, but a brush!  I have it in my service manual for 1971.

Thoughts?

[Ghoste]

That one seems to turn up on European cars even currently but it was kind of unique in the Charger world wasn't it?

[pettyfan43]

My 66 Charger is kinda odd, in that it came with a POLY 318, 727 Auto, power brakes , AM Radio and MANUAL STEERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don't think I have EVER seen a MANUAL steering Charger in my LIFE!

[Ghoste]

I had a 69 with manual steering and manual brakes.

[pettyfan43]

Which engine?

[Brock Samson]

i forget whos it was - but that white & black heaveily optioned '71 Hemi that was sold a year ago or so, had it ( headlight washers) though it may have been added at a later date...  it annoys me i can't remember the owners name.. 
sunroofs, fabric seats, cruise control, luggage racks and tow hitches spring to mind as well,..
..pass side mirror, that lower rocker trim, rear window defroster, front dual speakers, front disc brakes. and that radio delete is another strange one...
don't forget the microphone recorder on the console...   

More?..

[Ghoste]

Which engine?

318.

[Kevin68N71]

It's not rare, but my stock AM/8 Track Stereo (No FM) with one rear speaker and two front dash speakers, and a knob called "Rear Speaker" are all odd...and besides the point that it did not sound 1/2 bad!

[dodgecharger-fan]

I always think of my Charger as optioned in an odd way.

Why they didn't just order an SE and add options from there, I'll never understand.

XP Charger
383-4 bbl
A/C
tinted glass all around (goes with the A/C)
power windows
power brakes
front disc brakes
AM/FM radio
woodgrain steering wheel
woodgrain dash inserts
6-way adjustable driver's seat

There's another that I'm forgetting. I'll have to go look over my buildsheet again.

[Ghoste]

Same Charger mentioned above had an AM with the rear fader switch.  It was also a 3 speed manual trans column shift car. 

[Brock Samson]

  Doug's '71...   

[69bronzeT5]

My vinyl with cloth insert seats are pretty strange...but cool

[Magnumcharger]

My '68 Charger R/T came with a sunfloor. And Astro-ventilation.
Also, the engine was equipped with the "mosquito fogger" option, the brakes were the type that automatically told you when they were out of adjustment.
And I'm not sure if it was original, but when I bought the car, there were "street slicks" on all four wheels.

[mikesbbody]

I know of a 71 rt charger 6 pack, 4 speed car with manual steering and radio delete is that rare? I thought the 2 options together were kinda odd 

[Brock Samson]

oh yeah?..
  well mine came with the "Crab Steering" option,.. you steered the tiller 30 degrees starboard to keep her sailin in a lane or two, and a haff.. or not.. 
oh, and there was the trunk A/C... And special Rust stripping,.. and with the fred flintstone running gear.. defiantly a one of one... 

[Chargerguy74]

Is a GY3 white Plymouth with halloween interior (bright orange and black) buckets, and column shift strange?

[ChargersETC..ETC..]

I have a  option I 've never seen before......... on my 8o's GM  PU a " Windshield Antenna " . I thought it was a electric defrost (the wires look about the same) until I read "Antenna " marked on the glass.

Any Chargers have windshield antennas as a factory option? Can they be installed aftermarket ? Might make it easier to slide over the hood of General Lee and yet still have radio reception . Just a idea  personally I prefer the traditional fender mounted mast antennas. 

[Tilar]

I don't know if you could put them on the windshield, but I bet it could easily be put on the rear window along with an electric rear defrost element.

[bullit68]

i once had a 68 coronet rt that was optioned with a passenger side headrest ONLY! on the build sheet it was written in large crayon,"headrest -1".

[Charger_Fan]

i once had a 68 coronet rt that was optioned with a passenger side headrest ONLY! on the build sheet it was written in large crayon,"headrest -1".

Obviously, the original owner had to let the wife have her options on the car too, if he was gonna get a car.
Or...maybe the last R/T the guy had, came with no passenger headrests & every time he got on the loud pedal, his wife's head wrapped around the back of the seat.

[JimShine]

I had a 1968 Charger with factory windshield only tint, Tick Tock Tach, heavy duty suspension, power brakes, rear speakers, and a 318 motor! You would have thought while optioning out the car they would have atleast grabbed the 383.

[hemigeno]

My 66 Charger is kinda odd, in that it came with a POLY 318, 727 Auto, power brakes , AM Radio and MANUAL STEERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don't think I have EVER seen a MANUAL steering Charger in my LIFE!

My Daytona has manual steering and manual drum brakes too (but it has a tinted windshield - go figure).  I call it Armstrong Power Steering, although it's really not so bad with the old-style bias ply tires.  Big wide radials are a killer though, but even that's not as bad as my 2-ton truck...   

[moparstuart]

 my 69 road runner has a 383 ,727 , manual brakes ,manual steering, bench seat , column shift. Which is not uncommon for the cheapo roadrunner  . Then they opted for R4 performance red paint ,vynal black top, and black hood strips. I( guess they wanted it to look good going down that quarter mile . It was race hard for the first 10 years of it life.

[LeeBoy]

I had a 69 with manual steering and manual brakes.

My 68 was manual brakes and steering with 318 and three speed manual on the column and non remote drivers door mirror.

[Kevin68N71]

For your pleasure:

[terrible one]

Hahahaha. That brush looks so damn goofy!

[Ghoste]

I have a  option I 've never seen before......... on my 8o's GM  PU a " Windshield Antenna " . I thought it was a electric defrost (the wires look about the same) until I read "Antenna " marked on the glass.

Any Chargers have windshield antennas as a factory option? Can they be installed aftermarket ? Might make it easier to slide over the hood of General Lee and yet still have radio reception . Just a idea  personally I prefer the traditional fender mounted mast antennas. 

No Mopars but it was standard in most GM products for many years.

[Kevin68N71]

My dad's 1971 Cadillac Coupe De Ville had no external antenna.  It was wired into the windshield as kind of a "T".  As far as I could tell, it absolutely worked just as good as an external antenna...my mom had the 69 Fleetwood with the regular electric antenna.

On the back package shelf, there was also what looked like a little shrouded head sticking up behind the seats with red eyes.  Each "eye" was a fiber optic connection to the tailights to show  you that your blinkers, stop and lights all worked.

Few people remember that one at all.  Or the spray can in first generation Camaros that would squirt out "traction fluid", it was called "Liquid Tire Chain".

[jefcharger]

Is a columnshifted 69 RT rare?( It is a matching car) It also has 2 bucket seats...

[Ghoste]

Not really.  In fact, I'd bet that most muscle Mopars with automatics came with column shift originally.  You'd never know it today but it seems to me like the older these cars get, the fewer I see with column shift and I sure do remember when it was the other way around.

[jefcharger]

Not really.  In fact, I'd bet that most muscle Mopars with automatics came with column shift originally.  You'd never know it today but it seems to me like the older these cars get, the fewer I see with column shift and I sure do remember when it was the other way around.

Thnx Ghoste, I asked, because i was told that indeed most cars were columnshifted, but on 69RT's it was rare, can you tell me more about that?

[dkn1997]

rear 3 point belts were avialable for 68 chargers. search the site, there's pics of it.  that's got to be way up there on the rarity scale.

[Ghoste]

I couldn't give you a number breakdown but I don't know if I'd call it rare.  It might be more uncommon in a Charger RT since it was a relatively expensive car in the grand scheme of things so buyers may have been more affluent and therefore willing to spring for a console.  Remember too though, buyers of these cars were typically younger then (all the old "Boomers" today) and tended to spend more time on the dating rituals then in your car.  You needed column shift to get close to your girl.    I may be waaay off base on that one though, I'm old but not quite that old (almost).  I don't know the numbers either way but I do know that column shifted musclecars were much much more common than a lot of people today seem to think they were.

[jefcharger]

@ Ghoste: Thnx again, Could you tell me about my colour combo then maybe? Cause I was told also that was rare too....?? It is a scorch red one ( the plymouth variant ) with white hat...I was told that most red chargers with white hat were pp1 red.....You know anything about that?

[69CoronetRT]

Is a columnshifted 69 RT rare?( It is a matching car) It also has 2 bucket seats...

Both were standard. The console shift was optional...

Strange and very rare option: front shoulder belts in convertibles.

"radio delete"   

[Ghoste]

I couldn't really answer that one for you.  Chris might know better from his 69 Registry.  I can tell you that PP1 is a 66-68 color.  The Plymouth "Scorch Red" from 69 was also used by Dodge but it was just called "red".

[jefcharger]

Thnx guys!!

[69 rt]

My 69 rt came with cruise control

[Troy]

My black 68 has A/C but tinted windshield only. It has a white interior so maybe they didn't think it would get too hot.

Troy

[mustanghater]

I still stand by this.  There is a guy up here that has a '70 tan 6-pack charger with a bench seat and a 3 on the tree. I know 5 people that have seen this car including my father who last saw it 10 years ago in the original owners garage who still has it.

[Finn]

If I remember right, my crumbling buildsheet said seatbelt delete or something like that. Ill have to take another look at it when I get home...before it turns into a bag of dust.

[Hissing Cobra]

My old '69 Charger had the 6-way driver's seat. I'm not too sure if that's an odd option or not. It also had the locking gas cap (I still have that).

[Brock Samson]

howabout the recall wheels?.. anyone supposed to get those?..

[JimShine]

The locking gas cap was very common, though few cars still have them today.

Sometimes it is the lack of an option that is actually rare. You see very few 2nd Generation Chargers without the A01 light package or power steering. Not as uncommon, but still a minority are cars built without hood mounted turn signals and non-remote mirrors.

[Chris G.]

Not as uncommon, but still a minority are cars built without hood mounted turn signals and non-remote mirrors.

In '70 you needed the A01 package to get hood mounted signals. There was alot of cars built without them, but most cars today have them in. The A01 package was about a 50/50 deal.

Here's my contribution. The Fuel Pacer System...

[JimShine]

I can tell you on 1968-9 the ratio is no where near 50/50 on the light package, but I am not surprised that it changed in 70 as those baseline models really stripped things down even farther than you could ever go in 1968-9.

[Badbob]

manual 11" brakes
manual steering
manual shift (4 speed)
power sunroof

[Kevin68N71]

Ha!  The Fuel Pacer System!  That is cool, I had to go look that one up....

[69CoronetRT]

I can tell you on 1968-9 the ratio is no where near 50/50 on the light package....

The locking gas cap was very common, though few cars still have them today.

Looks like the light package was on 47% on 68 models.

The locking gas cap came on about 15% of the cars.

[Manfred318]

The locking gas cap was very common, though few cars still have them today.

Sometimes it is the lack of an option that is actually rare. You see very few 2nd Generation Chargers without the A01 light package or power steering. Not as uncommon, but still a minority are cars built without hood mounted turn signals and non-remote mirrors.

My '68 was made without the hood mount signals and with out the light package.

[hemihead]

Not really.  In fact, I'd bet that most muscle Mopars with automatics came with column shift originally.  You'd never know it today but it seems to me like the older these cars get, the fewer I see with column shift and I sure do remember when it was the other way around.

Most I remember were column shift cars . Most people didn't have the extra to spend on a console anyway . The street racing crowd thought of them as tacky looking and the extra weight they didn't want .
My 73 has a Cobra grain canopy roof . What makes it more odd is that my car is a Hardtop . Some SE's had this roof ( not many ) but I have never seem a Hardtop with this material .