Back to Basics - 1966 coronet - /big muscle

[CAR ENGINE REVVING] As much as I hate to say it, I'm the guy that would always look at stock muscle cars and make some snide comment or remark about how they were only good in a straight line, and how 14-inch wheels and drum brakes were only for those who had a death wish and/or wanted to meet their maker before the rest of us. I was the pro-touring poster child. The one that had to have 18-inch billet wheels, big brakes, and an updated suspension. And while parts of that guy still exist in me, I'm now kicking myself for not only being incredibly naive, but discounting the original history of the automobiles that I've come to know and love. Sometimes people, reality has a funny way of letting you know but you are indeed being a ***. [COW MOO] MIKE MUSTO: My name is Mike Musto. Each week I travel the country with the goal of showcasing the best and baddest muscle cars and hot rods around. Every car has a past, and every owner a story. Welcome to the world of big muscle. [CAR ENGINES REVVING] JOSEPH MASSUCCO JR: What got me into the car hobby? You know, I had aspirations to be into muscle cars and purchase a muscle car pretty much from when I was very young. This Coronet right here for example is a car that I always loved because my first girlfriend had a car like this. So that kind of was my real entry into it, I would say. It is on the eclectic side. The reaction from the public is pretty much, you know, wow this is a different car. What is this? What year is this? They can't even really tell, or maybe they don't have the knowledge of exactly what it is, but B Body Chryslers are kind of hidden, as opposed to when you see like '70 cudas or things like that. They are more forefront, the super birds, things like that. But these B body mid-'60s Chryslers are kind of unique and people don't pay too much attention to them so they don't know much about them. The reaction is what is it? But wow, it's really cool. [ENGINE REVVING] MIKE MUSTO: So here's a car you generally don't see on Big Muscle. And by generally don't see, I mean it's pretty much stock. This is a 1966 Dodge Coronet that's running drum brakes, bias-ply tires, and pretty much a stock 440 under the hood. This is the way that you could have optioned a car out in 1966-67. A lot of guys will say, aw, these cars suck. And I hate to say it, but I am kind of one of those guys. But when you drive them, they are actually quite endearing. Going in straight line, going down the road, it kind of floats. I mean, think of it as like you're driving a water balloon, right? I mean, you don't feel any bumps, you don't really feel anything because the suspension is so soggy that it just glides right over it. Plus we're in this massive bench seat, which is kind of like a mattress. When we talk about handling, is it a handler? No, no it's not. In fact, if I do a little just this, [LAUGHS] it's kind of like a little water-balloonish. A little Titanic-ish. So you don't want to get into an emergency situation with this car if you can possibly avoid it. But like I said, straight line driving and cruising, it's really not that bad. So let's run this car up a little bit. We'll run up to say, what are we doing now, up to about 55 miles an hour and we're going to stop. [TIRES SQUEAL] OK, so does it stop on a dime? No, it starts at about $4.50. Which isn't too terrible. We had one rear wheel lock up, but not that bad. But the thing that you have to remember is that a lot of times in drum braked cars, you'll hit the brake and they'll veer severely to the right or the left if they're not well-maintained. This car actually stopped straight and true, which thankfully for myself and Thaddeus was a pretty good thing. JOSEPH MASSUCCO JR: When I bought this car I asked the owner a lot about it. I could see from the advertisement that it was a very pretty car. It was in-tact. I spoke to him. He said that he had detailed the car and restored the car. He said it was pretty original. What he had done was take out the original 383, if I remember correctly, they usually came with 318. But he took out the 383 and put a 440 stock motor in it, which was very unusual to me. So I like the fact that it was a Coronet 440 with a 440. It came out in '67, the 440 wasn't available in '66. So I found it really interesting and really unique. It was one of the driving things to make me buy the car. The gentlemen that restored the car obviously had a lot a love and care about it, and spoke pretty heatedly about how he worked the car, how he babied it, how he'd had it for a while and how he didn't take it to parades because it overheated. But it was beautiful so that's why I decided on it. MIKE MUSTO: All right, so from a dead stop, let's see what this thing does. Nail it. Tranny shifts good. One thing about the Chryslers that people have to remember is that this car runs a 727 automatic, which is a three speed tranny. And the 727s were great trannys and they were really used by drivers because they are pretty bullet-proof. You know what I mean? They can withstand a lot of power, they're great if you put a shift kit in them, and then you'd be hard-pressed, or at least you were hard-pressed back in the day, to find a guy that could actually shift a manual faster than a 727 could shift. And they put these behind 383s, and 440s, and Hemis and everything else. It's just a good, solid, reliable, transmission. Out back he's got an 8 3/4 rear that runs a 323 gear. It's a highway gear. Like I said, you can cruise at 65, 70, 75, you're not going to have to worry about that. Think about the wheels for a second, right? 14-inch wheels, Polyglas tires 5.5 inches wide. By today's standards that is archaically, that is so, so tiny, right? How many cars today come, I don't know if any cars today come standard with anything smaller than a 17-inch wheel. I think like even a Chevy Spark has like a 17-inch wheel. This is a car that's 18 feet long, that's 4,000 pounds, and it's got 5.5-inch tires and a 14-inch wheel. So if you were to propose that to a manufacturer today they would laugh at you and tell you that it's a recipe for a death trap. But back in '66, that's what they were. Everything had 14-inch wheels. Some cars even had 13-inch wheels. JOSEPH MASSUCCO JR: I keep it stock because I would say I'm more of a purist. It kind of tend to like the car in it's original form to enjoy, again, the beauty of it, the power of it as it was meant to be. Plus, I don't have the gift to really supe-up a car that well, but I have a lot of people that can do it for me. But I'm more of a purist. MIKE MUSTO: I like simplistic cars. This car, everything is in your line of sight, everything. Obviously it's no A/C, but you've got your heat. OK, I'm going to put the heat on. Boom. Heat's on. You want to adjust your temp? Let's make it hot. You put your temp on hot. THADDEUS: Let's not make it hot. MIKE MUSTO: OK, we'll not make it hot. You've got these beautiful little air vents underneath that are actuated by these two levers that just let air flow in from under the car and it really cools the cabin down. I mean it's pretty hot outside, but Thad and I are OK. We have a lighter. When was the last time you saw a lighter in the car that actually said, Lighter? I mean that's kind of cool as far as I'm concerned. So many cars today I think you over-think them, right? You have to be like, well how do I turn the radio on? Is my iPad hooked up correctly, and if it is well can I get to the song I want? Where is the cruise control? Is it on? If I use adaptive cruise control, do I have to do two more steps? Driving a car is about one thing: driving a car. You should get in a car, turn the key, put it in drive or shift into first and enjoy it. And yes, we all know that in some cases cars are transportation. But for guys like me, Thad, Zack, all of us involved in this, and obviously the people who we shoot, cars are about passion. They are about getting away from the every day and enjoying the drive. And I think a lot of times people forget that. So Thaddeus just came up with the best comparison I could think of for this particular car. He said, you know what? This car is the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not a lot of people still eat them, but when you do it is the perfect combination of taste and enjoyment. And then when you combine it with the classic glass of milk it's the perfect lunch. You'll never get sick and tired of it, it will never get old, and at the end of the day it's always, always going to come through for you. It's always going to reward you. We're driving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and it's absolutely glorious. JOSEPH MASSUCCO JR: Is it a car I would ever sell? No. The cars I've bought, I've never sold one, to be honest with you, in the past 12 years. I get attached to them. People have asked me, oh would you sell that? Would you want to make money on that? I don't for that reason. I buy them to enjoy them and I honestly get attached to them and I don't want to sell them. So all have it for a long time. JOSEPH MASSUCCO JR: Hot rod and muscle car owners love to modify things. We're tinkerers, free-thinkers, and individuals who like to make a statement through the cars we drive. Over the years automotive trends have come and gone, and throughout that time one thing has always remained constant. That being our flat-out love for these old machines. Today's technology lets us re-imagine and re-create vintage iron in ways never before thought possible. Is this a good thing? Well, maybe, maybe not. All I know is that I miss eating peanut butter and jelly, and that in the near future it's going to find its way into my lunch box far, far more often. THADDEUS: What's up, cows? Come here cow, come here cow. Come here. Come here. THADDEUS: And I just pay the $500 deductible and I'm good to go, yes? Awesome. Yes, I'm actually at work right now, so I'll probably call you again tomorrow and check back in, but- MIKE MUSTO: Yay, oh Titanic, woah! MIKE MUSTO: You know, with the 440 under the hood, if you step on it, I'm going to say that again when we get out of the corner, because I'm not going to step on it in the corner, because then we'll fly over the corner and into the bushes.