Muscle Car | Collecting Model Cars

Plymouth & Chrysler Cars

We cannot say styling was a strong point for Chrysler from War time but by 1953 this began to change. It was under the direction of corporate design Chief Virgil Exner we started to see some styling. Along with styling, Dodge also introduced its first V8 engine—the original design of the famous Hemi. From the early 50s and on into the early 60s upgraded styling and much more powerful engines every year through 1960, Dodge found a eager market for its cars as America discovered the joys of highway travel. The market improved when Chrysler phased the sad old DeSoto brand out of its lineup after 1961, leaving Dodge as the company's only line in the middle of the market.

Dodge jumped into the compact car market in 1961 with their new Dodge Lancer Sedan (a variation on Plymouth's Valiant). Not a big hit at first, the Dodge Dart that came after it in 1963 would prove to be one of the division's best sellers for many years.

Chrysler made another bad move in 1962 to downsize the Dodge and Plymouth full-size lines. This resulted in a loss of sales, but they turned this around in 1965 by turning those former full-sizes into "new" mid-size models. Dodge brought back to life the Cornet nameplate in this way and later added a sporty fastback version called the Dodge Charger. It later became both a sales leader and a winner on the NASCAR circuit.
After being restored to their former dimensions for 1965, the Dodge Polara and Dodge Monaco were changed mostly in appearance for the next ten years or so.

Dodge is best-known today for being a player in the Muscle Car market of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Along with the Famous Dodge Charger, models like the Dodge Coronet R/T and also Famous Super Bee were popular with buyers seeking performance. At the peak of this effort was the introduction first car in the “pony car” class. This brought the first Sports Coupe the Dodge Challenger and the Convertible. The “pony cars” were out-fit with the fire breathing race-ready Hemi V8s. And many got the tame economy engines for Mom and Pop.

For model car collectors the years from the 50s to the 70s offer some nice additions to your model car collections. You will find vintage model manufactures from the past as well as new to add to your collection.

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Model Chevrolet El Camino

Chevrolet El Camino

Chevrolet El Camino when translated from the Spanish came out as “The Road”. The car was a kind of a coupe, light duty utility/muscle car. We saw the first one in 1959 and 1960 and then production continued in 1964 and ran straight through to 1987. The car gets classified as a truck when titled.

Starting in 1978 and running all the way through to 1987 the El Camino was marketed in four different models; The Conquista, El Camino, Royal Knight and the Famous Super Sport. Under GMC the models were GMC Caballero and GMC Sprint. The version marketed in Mexico was sold as the Chevrolet Conquistador.

In 1968 the El Camino got the station wagon and 4-door sedan wheelbase giving us a longer wheelbase for the El Camino. Another fantastic upgrade was the addition of the Super Sport with the SS396 that came out with the Chevelle. The 1970 models SS396 were actually 402 cu in (6.6 L) all the logo emblems all read 396. You could even find a few with Chevrolet’s most powerful option of the time the LS6 454 engine.

El Caminos kind of matched the trim packages that the Chevelle Malibu had same cloth and vinyl of the day. The Strato bucket seats with center console were an option for the El Camino.

A lot of different model manufactures produced all the versions over the years making the El Camino a great collectable model.