Four Barrel Trivia question of the Week:TM 1. What do Dodge, a concert orchestra and the paper goods aisle at the grocery store have in common? 2. What was the first model year in which Dodge used the Coronet name and what was the last? 3. It may have been 1969, but one of the top hit singles for the year was In The Year 2525. Who sang this hit song which made it all the way to number one on the charts, but was the only chart achieving song performed by this duo (clue). 4. What popular sci-fi television series was cancelled by NBC in the year 1969?

I suppose it has been my Swiss heritage that has steered me to the middle of the road on most issues for my entire life. Being a second generation Swiss-American, I have always professed an independent stance when it comes to elections, having voted, at one time or another, for Democratic, Republican and independent presidential candidates. Maintaining this neutrality hasn’t been easy, however, as my father always voted a Democratic ticket, and although he said he once owned a ‘48 Mercury convertible, after I came along, it was GM all the way, primarily Oldsmobiles. (Unfortunately mom was one of those who believed a convertible wasn’t practical or appropriate for a family with children.) Dad never gave a Mopar a second glance until he was in his late seventies, when he was suddenly smitten by the Chrysler Town & Country minivan. Despite the strong GM influence, I was enamored with the muscular Mopars of the sixties and seventies... Coronet but one example. When the 1969 Coronet was introduced, I was in my college years and cars were high on my list of priorities, much to the detriment of my math and history grades.

The clean, lean lines of the Coronet were very seductive and this machine was high on my wish list, although owning a brand new car of any make was never a financial reality at that time in my life. Nonetheless, a guy can dream and the svelte Coronet, with its available array of awesome big block and hemi V-8s, was the kind of car one could lust after. I was accustomed to driving my dad’s powerful but weighty Oldsmobiles like his Starfires which tipped the scales at well over 4k pounds (most of which was probably due to the lavish chrome trim on these flashy models). The thought of a 425 horsepower ‘street hemi’ motivating the mid-sized Coronet, which weighed in at barely over 3,000 pounds soaking wet, was enough to make a young man grow green with envy.

Here’s another riddle for you. What do a car and a prom date have in common? Answer: You’d like them to have two basic qualities– looks and performance. The Coronet certainly proved itself in both categories. When it came to looks, Coronet was a number 10– what us guys used to call a real ‘looker’! Coronet’s outward persona could best be described as a Charger for the masses, for it shared many styling cues with the somewhat limited production and more exclusive sports offering from the Dodge boys. Although it may have never won a prestigious industrial design award, Coronet’s creators came up with a winner through scrupulous use of the chisels. Its conservative styling had very pleasing lines– a well-executed combination of crisp chiseled lines and smooth flowing curves which was hard to resist.

In the performance arena, it didn’t get much better than Coronet. An intermediate-sized car, Coronet was one of the original ‘muscle cars.’ From mild to wild, Coronet had a lot to offer with seven (count ‘em) power plant choices beginning with a 3.7 liter, slant six to a fire breathing, gas guzzling, 7 liter, 8-barrel, Hemi V-8 that produced, at 425, just a skosh under one horsepower per cubic inch. A choice of the latter, a $831.00 option, was only for the ‘fuel hardy’ for this beast demanded ‘Ethyl’ gasoline (premium to all you gen Xers in the crowd) which was, after all, running a very pricey eighty cents per gallon back in those days!
A pleasing array of interiors, convenience and performance options rounded out the package that was Coronet... an old name in the Dodge lineup. Drum brakes all around were standard fare back then, but you could order front power disc brakes for an additional $49.00. Power steering was a C note extra, but you could do without it considering the weight of this nimble number, and besides, who wanted to add on anything that would rob a pony or two off that 425 horsepower rating for the street hemi?!?
Even in its more mild forms, Coronet was a great looking car with looks to please anyone in the family, whether it was Aunt Dorothy, on her way to the grocery store, or cousin Mark on his way to the prom. Planned well and priced right, Coronet was a well thought out package that offered something for everyone.

For more about the ‘69 Dodge Coronet, including pages from the original sales brochure, PLUS details on the Route 66 Festival coming up on Saturday, October 4th– visit my web site at www.thefinman.com.

Bruce Kunz is available for your group’s special event and is currently booking dates for 2008 and 2009. During his appearances, he presents an overview of the collector car hobby plus a detailed look at American cars from the fifties and sixties. His program includes a Power Point presentation with images of collectible automobiles and various associated nostalgia and Americana. Guests also have the opportunity to play "FINS for FUN" (which inspired his nickname), the video car trivia game Mr. Kunz first produced in 1987, in which players compete for auto related prizes donated by supporting Fin Man sponsors. For more information, click on this link: http://groups.msn.com/the-fin-man/seminaragenda.msnw.

Bruce Kunz is a member of the Society of Automotive Historians, the St. Louis Chapter of the Buick Club of America and the Monte Carlo Owners Association of America. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. To e-mail him, click here > mailto:the_fin_man@msn.com.