1975 Dodge Coronet Brougham 2 door Hardtop - Lesser Royalty

 

Buying an old car is not unlike dating; you really don't know what you're getting yourself into when it first starts out and it's easy to become infatuated with something new and different. If you're thinking of buying an old car do your best not to overspend at the onset since there are few cars that have will return any R.O.I. let alone significant returns. With regards to this very nice Dodge Coronet (a what?) perhaps, like myself, you're smitten with its humble charms, fetching lines and impeccable condition. That's fine until you see the asking price of $11,500. Noting has you yelling, "check please" faster than an absurd asking price.

There's more than just the crazy asking price (that can be negotiated) to turn prospective buyers away never asking for second date. This car is just too unique to make spending any significant money on it even remotely worthwhile. Chrysler made the Coronet coupe for only 1975 and while mechanically parts are plentiful, exterior body panels would be hard to come by if heaven forbid something happened to the car. Save for some minor trim bits and pieces, this car is all but identical to the Plymouth Fury coupe that Chrysler built from 1975 to 1978 but understand they didn't make many of those either. It's those bits and pieces of trim that once gone, would be all but impossible to find.

There's much to like about this car, though. It's in fabulous condition and with only 10,000 miles on it, it's virtually a time machine back to the mid 1970's. You can almost hear President Ford pardoning Nixon on the single speaker on the middle of the dash. 

This is one of the zanier interior themes from the 1970's I think I've ever seen but this is the way they built them back then. I remember seeing interiors like this new as a kid and I absolutely hated them. By the end of the decade most if not all of these patterns where gone from car interiors.

Thank goodness none of this pattern made its way to the dashboard. Notice the power seat bezel and the lack of power windows and no tilting column. This is one of the many reasons why American cars years ago where so shoddily constructed; there were just so many ways cars could be configured lending to mistakes made at the factory. Buyers could pick and choose their options before the car was even built waiting weeks for their "custom" order to come in. Car buying forty years ago was a much different process than it is today.

 

Another odd option although highly desirable now, the top of the line engine on these cars back in 1975 and with the hard to find four barrel carburetor. It's odd in that this being a 1975 and buyers being so fuel economy conscious back then (as now), I'm surprised to find this here and not the standard and thriftier 318 engine. Especially considering the sparseness of the interior. This does help the value of the car, though although not to the tune of $11,500.

 

  

Everything is for sale and everything can be bought. This car will find a buyer and perhaps it would trade for near that asking price but I'd be leery for the reasons I have outlined here. Best to buy the car because of the condition its in as opposed to what it is but even that's a risky proposition; good luck getting this insured for anywhere near what you'd pay for it. If it was a Chevrolet Monte Carlo or Pontiac Grand Prix of this vintage and in this condition the asking price would be even higher but, it's not. It's a 1975 Dodge Cornet.

 

My best offer would be $6000. Good luck with your dating and old car search!

 

A coronet is a small or relatively simple crown worn by lesser royalty.