Power Wagon! 440 cid 1967 Dodge Coronet
This 1967 Dodge Coronet wagon in West Fargo, North Dakota likely began life with the new-for-1967 “LA” V8 displacing 318 cubic inches. Today its motivation comes from a warmed-over 440 cid V8, transforming it into a straight-line beast that will promptly dispatch all but the most serious curiosity seekers. Check out the listing here on eBay where a single click on Buy It Now will make it yours for $9000. Personally I’d have to swap the hood for a stock unit and remove the high-school-ish “Edelbrock” stickers to complete the sleeper look.
The seller proclaims that the 1967 Coronet wagon weighs about as much as a 1969 Road Runner. In fact this wagon, at about 3700 lb, weighs 600 lb less than the 4300 lb, 392 cid 2018 Dodge Challenger, and costs less than one-fifth the Challenger’s $50,840 sticker price.
Like the famed low-budget Plymouth Road Runner, this base wagon came with simple rubber floor mats. It didn’t even come with a radio, which was probably a $7.00 option. The seller reports that “everything works with the exception of the fuel gauge” Even the rear electric window works. Heavier rear leaf springs, Hemi torsion bars, sway bar, and sub-frame connectors work to wrangle the swapped engine’s brutal power.
With fewer than 2000 miles on the drive-train, this power wagon should deliver many smiles per gallon for years to come. The balanced engine features a Mopar Purple 509 camshaft and upgraded pistons, valve train, intake, carburetor, and Pertronix ignition. Headers and true dual exhaust evacuate the engine’s spent gasses. The bulletproof 727 transmission wears a 2800 RPM stall convertor and shift kit. A sure-grip differential with 3:23 gears should match well with some sticky street tires and the 440 while offering decent highway RPM for longer trips… assuming your wallet can withstand this thirsty engine’s appetite for fuel. Where would you troll for victims with this potent blue whale?
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Comments
Not much of a Mopar guy.. But this is sweet.
Too bad these cars didn’t come with the Charger front end like they did in Mexico.
Of course Mexico didn’t have any wagons, but the sedans and coupes are cool with the flip around head lights.
Also the gas gauge, which doesn’t work, would be the most important gauge on the dash with this engine.
I’ll take a charger sedan please. Think I’ll hunt for a photo of one. Thanks for that detail.
There was one on a competing site a couple of years ago.
https://bringatrailer.com/2014/02/27/never-seen-one-mexican-market-1967-dodge-coronet/
Nice ride. Agree with Todd about the hood. Could live with it, but would look better with the stock hood.
Gas gauge isn’t broken. It just moves from full to empty so fast that the owner thinks that it is broken.
**insert drum flourish here**
I had the same thought, you expressed it first and better than I probably would have.Or maybe it broke from rapidly going from full to empty leaving a gas station and then from E to F again at the next one, repeat the cycle etc.
If driven right there no reason that this wagon wouldn’t get 22 mpg highway and 18 mpg city. I don’t know about using it as a sleeper but it would make one heck of a hauler. Back in the 60’s travel trailers were built heavey and it was quite common to see a car like this loaded down with mom dad and 3 or 4 kids in the back, pulling a holiday trailer. That’s what this was built for. You’d go to any camp ground and there would be a fleet of wagons in there, I remember those days fondly it seemed like they were simpler times then the world today.
Well, gas mileage is always a subjective topic. While on one hand, with the power this motor puts out, theoretically, I suppose if you never pressed the throttle past idle, you might get teens, but on the other, with this setup, it would be pretty hard to do that, and single digit mileage is probably more like it.
With wagons being hot now, this is clearly a modern rendition of what someone who wasn’t there, would have liked in the 60’s, but honestly, NOBODY stuck any hi-po stuff into a wagon. They had their purpose, like you say, strictly family haulers, not drag cars, and most wagons became engine donors for more acceptable drag cars, like Dodge Darts
I went over to a few Mopar forums Howard and what I discovered was a wide range of numbers reported. Any where from 6 mpg to 22 mpg depending on the application. Most were averaging about 10 mpg. So I stand corrected on my optimistic numbers, but to say that they are all single didgit gas gusseler isn’t completly true either. Truth is if you want to get consistent numbers and Cheeper prices switch it over to propane. Of course your going to need to make changes the heads, sodium cooled valves and stelite seats. You’ll want to change your advance springs in your distrutor stock you’d be around 6 degrees base timing and maybe 25 degrees total advance. With propane you’d want more like 18 degrees base timing with maybe 22 degrees total advance. My dad used to run a gmc 3/4 ton with a 454 CID turbo 400 on propane he’d pull a 16 ‘ flatbed trailer out of the bush with 4 cords of fire wood on it. His GVW was 10.5 tons guess what he got for milage.? Well I’ll confess he got a consistent 20mpg. He’d pull 2 loads a month for his fire wood business all summer. He run that truck for 6/7 years before replacing it with a cummins diesel which he still has.
WHAAAAATTTT!?!?!?? THERE were numerous MoPar wagons on a lot of drag strips back ‘in the day.’ Hot Rod magazine has an archive full of wagons that were heavilly modified.
Sooooooo…. somebody modified these wagons back then, and I saw them perform at several strips. Tulsa, OKC, I-70 raceway, to name a few. Can you say WEIGHT TRANSFER, Howard?
My long-term memory is just fine, Howie. Short term… not quite as good. I WAS THERE!!
Wagons were not an uncommon sight running NHRA Stock classes. Search google images for magic box Dodge, 1955-1957 Chevy sedan deliveries were staples in stock classes throughout the 1960’s and early-70’s. People didn’t use them much for performance street car, but race cars were a different story.
Steve R
This would be more typical of what we could afford to build nowadays when it comes to old mopars with a worked up 440 and some cosmetic goodies like the hood no one seems to like.
Coronet RT’s, Chargers, Challengers, etc…are all priced out of range in this condition it seems..
Gas mileage? This engine is not about being economical; power, power, and more power. Nobody, and I mean nobody, not even the police departments who used them, ever worried about m.p.g.’s when it came to the mighty 440. That’s what the little engines were for. Cool wagon!
I can’t see a 440 with a 509 cam getting close to 20mpg let alone 22 on the highway. This is now a terribly date camshaft, it did make good power and was popular in the mid-80’s, but time and technology have passed it by. I doubt you could get that king of mileage out of a 440 even with a modern cam an efficient set of heads and an overdrive transmission.
Steve R
I am currently building a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere I, basically, in the same manner, except I punched a 383 out .60 over, added 10.5:1 Ross pistons, Comp Cams custom grind, roller valve train, TKO-600 5-speed conversion, etc. See link, as posted back in 2000. http://www.stationwagon.com/gallery/gallery.html
Find the actual link from list on the left
I’d be surprised if that radiator is still sufficient keeping that 440 cool at city driving.
Lovely looking 67 Coronet wagon. My favourite years for the Dodge Coronet are the 1965, 1966, and 1967. This one looks like a good candidate for either restoration, or restomod.
Nice find
This car lives about 12 miles from my house, if anybody is seriously interested I could be talked into going over to take a look at it and let you know exactly what we are looking at. It’s an offer folks?
Karl I would love to buy the coffee if you could go look at it, I live in Northern Utah and would send you some $$ for a burger and coffee. my phone is 801-430-4167 thanks Beaver
Yeah, Yeah! Hassan like! Hassan like!
That wagon wouldn’t weigh 3,700lbs. if it was parked on the moon. Super cool car!
My father had basically the same car in 67.. Same Blue but with one very special order. It was 383 2 BBL and 833 4 speed with Midland shifter. My uncle was a dealer and got the special order through… Maybe a 1 of 1 who knows… Sold it to a kid in town and they wrecked it within 2 weeks… Sad!
There’s more to life than gas mileage laugh all the way to the gas station while you’re blowing the doors off tuner cars
Move the rear springs inward, go to 4 wheel disc, slap wide wheels and tires on the back, and have some fun.
Price is a little high for a car, that needs to be completely repainted, interior and a lot of body work too. Anybody who knows wagons, they are not easy to get parts for and you’ll end up with twice the money into it than what it’s worth. Car definitely has potential to be a nice ride, but way over priced. $3-4k at most is realistically what it’s worth.
Very nice build specs on the engine. Agree with the comment about keeping it cool. You need a very efficient cooling system with this. I’d start by swapping in any kind of 2 speed electric fan…I used to put mid-90’s Taurus fans in my Full Size Jeeps
What’s not to like about this Dodge wagon, even the Ramchargers’ scoop (sorry, Todd, but being old I kind of relate to the way this rig is set up).
Hopefully, Beaver Prince will have it in his garage soon…
http://www.wagonsofsteel.com