Friday Fun Thread: Dandy Dodges

Last week saw the last of the offerings from the Ford Motor Company. This week we finish off Mopar with the Dodge marque. Dodge is Chrysler's workhorse marque, offering a complete line of vehicles from four cylinder commuter cars (not so much any more) to full-size one-ton work trucks to the earth-shaking Viper. Dodge is comparable to Chevrolet for GM and Ford itself in the hierarchy of car marques, offering entry level cars at affordable prices with an option to upgrade to a more prestigious brand down the road.

With that said, here's my Top Ten favorite offerings from Dodge:

1. 1969 Dodge Charger. Yes, I'll admit it. I was hooked on the "Dukes of Hazzard" as a wee bairn. Even without that pop culture cachet, there's just something about a vehicle that was offered with either the 426 Hemi engine or a 440 ci motor with six-pack. Passes everything but a gas station...

2. 1970 Challenger R/T. The Challenger was brought late to the party to compete against the pony cars - the Ford Mustang and the Chevy Camaro/Pontiac Firebird. It offered a wide range of engines, from the slant six 225 ci motor that came standard up to the fire-breathing, 335 horsepower 383 ci V8.

3. 1956 Coronet Custom Royal. Yet another "Chrome Roamer"; the Custom Royal was the top-of-the-line package on the top-of-the-line model for Dodge in the '50s. The Custom Royal was accentuated with custom two-toned paint, chromed tailfins, and upgraded interior trim.

4. 1978 Lil Red Express Truck. Because it was a truck and not a passenger car, the D-series pickups were exempt from the tough new emissions requirements in 1978. This meant that the 360 ci V8 motor pushed the Lil Red Express from 0 to 100 MPH faster than any other American car built in 1978...

5. 2008 Dodge Viper. The 1992 Viper would have made the list if not for the 600 horsepower 8.4L V10 engine stuffed into the fourth generation Viper. The styling is a little more subdued than the original Shelby Cobra-inspired concept-car-turned-production-model, but the performance is nothing short of blistering...

6. 1965 Polara 500. The Polara was sandwiched into the Dodge lineup somewhere between the Coronet and the Charger; this meant that they more or less left it alone while busy tweaking the high- and low- end models. It had the workhorse 383 ci motor as an upgrade from the 318, and had clean, crisp lines that changed little over the decade.

7. 1974 Dodge Monaco. Yes, as sci-fi pointed out a wee bit early in the Plymouth thread, the 1974 Dodge Monaco that was formerly a Mount Prospect police car has to make the list. "It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas." 'Nuff said?

8. 1946 Power Wagon. What the Willy's Jeep was to the SUV movement, the Power Wagon was to 4WD trucks. The Power Wagon was a take-off of a military application (like the Jeep) that saw the very start of the light-duty truck market - previous pick-ups had generally been stake bodies on car platforms.

9. 1966 Coronet. What puts the 1966 Coronet on the list as opposed to the more performance-styled 1969 or 1970? Simple. In 1966, the 426 Hemi was introduced. In 1967, the Hemi was limited to the muscle car models. But in 1966, one could order a Coronet sedan with a 426 Hemi - basically, you could have a four-door race-worthy street car. Rumors abound that there were/are Coronet station wagons out there with factory 426 Hemis...

10. 2007 Dodge Ram. Hell, it's my list, I can put my own damn truck on it, can't I? With a 5.7L Hemi motor pushing 345 horsepower (upgraded to 390 in the 2010 models BTW), it's rated for 8,500 pounds of towing capacity (which is why I bought it) and has seating for six. It's a dad-mobile that will smoke the rears with the best of 'em...

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So there's my list of Top Ten Dodge. This was a lot harder to assemble than I had previously thought, but for a much different reason than previous lists. There are a LOT of really cool Dodge muscle cars out there - the Superbee, new Challenger, Demon, Daytona, Swinger... This list could have been Top Ten Dodge muscle cars. Heck, for that matter, the mid-1970s Power Wagon, Ramcharger, and C-series should have made the list in addition to the Lil Red Express and the new Ram - almost enough again for a Top Ten Dodge trucks list!

What Dodges should have made the cut in your opinion?

That is all.