Why no Plymouth version of the Charger?

[Matthew J]

This has puzzled me for a while... Pretty much any classic Dodge car you can think of has a Plymouth counterpart, and vice versa. Roadrunner <=> Superbee, GTX <==> R/T, 'Cuda <==> Challenger R/T, etc. The glaring exception seems to be the Charger. Why no Plymouth B-body fastback to complement it? Seems like the Plymouth guys would have wanted to cash in on the success of the Dodge.

 

[Ray70Chrg]

You can't improve on perfection.

 

[Dave6T4]

Dodge was trying to go Upmarket with the Charger; kind of like a poor man's Riviera. Plymouth was always the entry level line of Chrysler products; kind of like a poor man's Dodge. I know I am going to catch a lot of flak with this. Just teasing. LOL

 

[gdrill]

OMG, here we go……. Weeeeee

 

[toolmanmike]

Dodge was trying to go Upmarket with the Charger; kind of like a poor man's Riviera. Plymouth was always the entry level line of Chrysler products; kind of like a poor man's Dodge. I know I am going to catch a lot of flak with this. Just teasing. LOL

True. Imperial, Chrysler, Desoto, Dodge, and Plymouth in that order, back in the late 50's and early 60's.

 

[Ray70Chrg]

Dodge was trying to go Upmarket with the Charger; kind of like a poor man's Riviera. Plymouth was always the entry level line of Chrysler products; kind of like a poor man's Dodge. I know I am going to catch a lot of flak with this. Just teasing. LOL

I'll agree that dodge was trying to go upscale with the 66 & 67 models, however, with the gen 2 they turned 180* and went for the performance look. Back in '68 the first time I saw the Charger it was love at first sight and hasn't faded yet. Its design is still being kept alive with people putting modern upgrades to these cars. They are even transplanting gen 2 bodies onto modern Challengers and Chargers. Gen2 design is 55 years old, but is still attractive to many, many car enthusiasts. Timeless design.

 

[chargervert]

I remember seeing the first 68 Charger I ever saw out the window of our car at a gas station. When I saw the attendant putting the gas in the top of the rear quarter thought it was the coolest car I ever saw! When it left the station and blazed the tires down the street,I thought,that's the car I want when I am old enough to drive! Two years later my parents bought a brand new Charger R/T SE. I was 6 years old. The rest is history! Plymouth was always Chryslers lower priced line of cars. It would have been interesting to see what a Plymouth counterpart to the Charger would have looked like. Maybe it would have been called the GTXra!

 

[eldubb440]

if Plymouth is the bottom feeder......... why does my 68 GTX have a nice solid tail panel, and the 68 Coronet R/T have a shitty piece of tin?

 

[GrabberOrange69]

Same reason Pontiac wasn’t allowed a variant of the Corvette. Corporate pecking order.

Dodge was founded in 1900. Plymouth 1928.

Dodge got the halo car.

 

[Kern Dog]

The GTX was the Plymouth counterpart.
Nobody else sees this?

 

[Ray70Chrg]

if Plymouth is the bottom feeder......... why does my 68 GTX have a nice solid tail panel, and the 68 Coronet R/T have a shitty piece of tin?

Corporate strategy determines which division will be the so called entry level and go up from there . Chevrolet, seems to me, to be the entry level GM offering and yet they were the #1 seller in the US for a very long time. Plymouth had many great looking cars and I was attracted to them also. The RR coming out in '68 was one of the best ideas ever. Stealth performance from an everyday looking car with bargain basement pricing. I was very tempted to buy one, but held out and saved some more to get what I really wanted, the Charger.

 

[Kern Dog]

Look at the groundbreaking sales hits and unique designs and Plymouth seemed to be the leader in the Mopar crowd. The 64 Barracuda, the 67 Barracuda, the 68 Road Runner and the 70 Duster all made waves that Dodge had to live up to.
Plymouth 64 Barracuda? Dodge 66 Charger!
Plymouth 67 Barracuda? Dodge uhh...Nothing? Maybe the 70 Challenger?
Plymouth 68 Road Runner? Dodge Super Bee.
Plymouth 70 Duster? Dodge 71 Demon.
I've owned mostly Dodges but do respect what Plymouth did too.

 

[chargervert]

Would Chrysler had done what GM did? Chevrolet rolled a prototype 67 Camaro into the Pontiac design studio,and said here make it a Pontiac version of our new F body car. Would Plymouth been given a Charger and told to make it a Plymouth,or would it have been something of their own design?

 

[Ray70Chrg]

Would Chrysler had done what GM did? Chevrolet rolled a prototype 67 Camaro into the Pontiac design studio,and said here make it a Pontiac version of our new F body car. Would Plymouth been given a Charger and told to make it a Plymouth,or would it have been something of their own design?

I think that each division was in charge of their own designs and remember Plymouth and dodge were competing against each other and the rest of the auto makers. They had to use the corporation power trains and accessories but otherwise were responsible for the finished product. With GM every division was providing their own engines so performance was also a big factor. Just my take on what I think was happening.

 

[chargervert]

It may have went like the wingcars,Dodge did all the engineering,and handed it to Plymouth to make their own areocar version.

 

[Photon440]

This has puzzled me for a while... Pretty much any classic Dodge car you can think of has a Plymouth counterpart, and vice versa. Roadrunner <=> Superbee, GTX <==> R/T, 'Cuda <==> Challenger R/T, etc. The glaring exception seems to be the Charger. Why no Plymouth B-body fastback to complement it? Seems like the Plymouth guys would have wanted to cash in on the success of the Dodge.

Like Kern Dog mentioned, Plymouth was usually the leader, they had the Barracuda and it took Dodge quite a few years to finally have a pony car. And face it, the first generation Charger sales were so lackluster, Plymouth probably had no interest in trying to compete. At that time, there was no real success to cash in on.

Granted, the second gen Charger was a hit, sales were really good, but over all, Plymouth still outsold Dodge. If they had a direct Plymouth competitor, who knows what would have happened? Likely, Charger sales would have been less stellar. Dodge would have probably complained if Plymouth had something really good to offer. Just like when the road runner came out, Dodge whined that they had to have a Super Bee to compete...except it didn't do so well in the showrooms.

And when Plymouth absolutely knocked everyone's expectations out of the park when they came out with the 1970 Duster, Dodge went crying to have their own version; the Demon. Plymouth sales still were way above Dodge in that scenario. So maybe it's just as well that Dodge had that Charger segment all to them selves in the end.

 

[1STMP]

From my experience (though limited to 1939-1942
Plymouth trucks), the fit and finish, along with styling
cues of Plymouth far outweighed those of the Dodge
brand. With Plymouth being more of a specialized
build. Though parts are interchangeable, the Plymouth
production parts just seem to be of higher quantity.

 

[YY1]

Stylists got handed a uni-body and then designed the sheet metal skin.

No Dodge version of the fastback Barracuda, either.

...and Dodge almost didn't get a version of the Duster.

No, the GTX is not the equivalent of the Charger.

The GTX is the Plymouth version of the Coronet R/T (pre-1971).

 

[YY1]

IIRC Super Bee introduced as a 68.5 model and all WM 21 "sedans", whereas RR was RM21 only for the first half of 1968 but then RM23 HT added for 1968.5

 

[440 PHIXX]

Ultimately all the money made on sales went to the Chrysler Corporation. The dealers might have complained, as they did when they saw the 1970 Duster sales. Dodge got their version of the Duster for 1971, and Plymouth got their version of the Dart 2 door H/T for 1971, the Scamp. The ‘71 Scamp has rear Dart side marker lights, and a ‘70 bumper and taillights from the Dart. And the ‘71 Demon has Duster side marker lights in the rear.