Marque: Dodge - Company History & Models - Cars By Brand

Dodge

The Dodge Brothers John and Horace started in the automotive industry in 1900 by establishing a machine shop in Detroit, producing parts for other motor manufacturers in ‘motor city’, initially for Oldsmobile and from 1903 for Ford when they began supplying chassis, engines and transmissions.

They became a car builder in their own right in July 1914 as the Dodge Brothers…

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Dodge Coronet

PRICE: 10,000 - £15,000

This was Dodge’s ‘B’ Body platform low priced muscle- car that was very similar to that of the Plymouth Road Runner. It was one of the Scat- Pack cars that included the Charger, Challenger, Dart GTS and wore the familiar Bumblebee stripes and Superbee logo that incorporated a Bee, wheel and engine. With ‘coke bottle’ inspired styling, in 1969 (Dodge’s best years for sales of Scat-Pack cars) the Coronet came with a standard 440ci engine and a 727 TorqueFlite automatic. This represented 375bhp, 480lbft torque and a 0-60 time of seven seconds. The fabled 426ci Hemi powered car was a $418 option. The model was restyled for 1970 with split front grille that tapered towards the centre, with the headlamps enclosed in a chrome surround, and non functioning rear wing scoops. The Coronet came in 13 standard colours, plus five of high impact, and you could have a vinyl roof in gator grain, white, black or green.

Dodge Challenger

PRICE: £10,000 - £20,000

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This model is much in keeping with the muscle appeal of the Charger, but is slightly more compact, though still packs just as powerful punch
with all the engine options as the Charger. With exterior styling courtesy of Carl Cameron who also penned the ‘coke bottle’ profile of the Charger, the Challenger was produced between 1970-1974. It arrived too late to have any great effect to challenge muscle-car war competition with Ford’s Mustang or Chevrolet’s Camaro. A rag top was offered for two years only for 1970- 1971. The cars with 440ci Six-Pack engines remain in high demand, but in truth the less powerful 318ci/340ci cars are more user friendly to drive. One of the most noteworthy aspects of Dodges from this era were the vivid colours available, such as Plum Crazy (Purple) Top Banana (Yellow) Go-Mango (Orange) and Panther Pink. Both the Charger and Challenger have featured prominently in the movies, notably in Bullitt, Vanishing Point and the Dukes of Hazzard.

Dodge Charger

PRICE: £12,000 - £30,000

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The Charger was first introduced in 1966 and went on to become a major player for the marque’s entry in the muscle car wars. However, it wasn’t until the restyled, much more aggressive looking and more powerful Charger produced between 1968-1970 that the model reached its zenith. The R/T sported a ‘Scat-Pack’ bumblebee striped tail and engine options ranged from a 318ci V8 to the mighty 425bhp 426ci Hemi. Transmission was the sturdy Torque-Flite. The ultimate of the genre was the Charger Daytona a race bred warrior with its droop-snoot nose and wide rear stabilizer wing. You could have either a 440ci or 426ci mill. The Daytonas thundered around the American NASCAR circuits at speeds in excess of 200mph. The Charger is quintessential boulevard cruiser muscle, as masculine as they get and a real brute of a car that’s 17.33ft long. Nowadays it’s the model that everyone desires, hence the ever soaring prices. However, the engines do relish high octane petrol and lots of it too!

Dodge Custom Royal Lancer

PRICE: £10,000 - £15,000

Styled by Virgil Exner, Dodge’s top of the range Custom Royal Lancer represented late ‘50s glitzy fins ‘n’ chrome ostentation. They were also pretty quick too, with engine options ranging from a 325ci V8, a 361ci also available with fuel injection rated at 333bhp that proved rather unreliable, and the 383ci at 320/345bhp. The transmission was a push button three-speed TorqueFlite. This 17.5ft long leviathan comprised of torsion bar suspension at the front and leaf springs to the rear end. At the front, quad headlamps were covered by huge chrome eyebrows, while the grille itself was of a most intricate design. It was an age when dashboard styling was a triumph in its own right and just as creative as the glitzy exterior. It was a profusion of polished metal Bling with a huge binnacle housing a speedometer at the top, with other gauges and switchgear below.

Dodge Dart

PRICE: £6000 - £15,000

Introduced in 1960 the Dart, became a sporting compact based on the A-body 111-inch wheelbase from 1963 and was designed by Elwood Engel. It was available as both a hardtop coupe and convertible. With facelifts for 1967 and 1970, the Dart came with seven engine options ranging from a lowly slant-six to a 383ci V8. The sporty Swinger model powered by a 340ci engine featured non functional hood scoops, bucket seats, front disc brakes as standard and Rally suspension. The Dart GTS was a a neatly styled, powerful coupe. The rarest and most collectible after the GTS was the Demon that became part of the Dart line-up for 1971-1972 and was effectively based upon Plymouth’s Duster. A sporty two-door fastback coupe, the Demon was very much ‘compact’ muscle, costing just $2721 but the name offended some So, Dodge dropped the Demon name in 1973 and it was sold as the Dart Sport. The Dart makes for very inexpensive entry into Dodge ownership

Dodge Viper

PRICE: RT/10 £20,000 - £30,000 GTS Coupe £30,000 - £39,000

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The Viper RT/10 represents modern day sporting muscle, and in the spirit of that adage, ‘there’s no substitute of cubic capacity’ it’s powered by a stonking great 8-litre V10, with a six-speed manual transmission. It stunned the automotive world when the concept car was launched in 1989 and it took a mere 30 months for the dream to reach production. Built on a massive tubular chassis, the Viper’s bodywork is GRP composite mix, with power coming from a truck derived engine that was co developed with Lamborghini. With 455bhp available this gave the Viper a neck sapping 0-60mph time of 4.5 seconds with a top speed of 180mph and it was a fraction of the cost of other ‘supercars’. The RT/10 model can be demanding to drive whereas the more practical, user friendly, hardtop Viper GTS coupe came along in 1996. Still represents a good investment with low depreciation but it’s not for the faint hearted!

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