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Explaining the Monroney and exploring the options, and what set this classic 1970 wagon apart.
#Monroney #price #mopar #plymouth #classiccars #plymouthfury #wagon
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so in 1958 Senator Almer monr sponsored
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an act which mandated the price stickers
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that we get on our cars which tell you
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how much it's supposed to cost and what
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you get for the price the price stickers
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are still called mon Ronis after him and
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they're still required those who don't
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live through olden times might not
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recognize everything on a vintage Monon
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such as this one's provided by Paul H
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McGee from a 1970 Plymouth Suburban and
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the Suburban was just basically a wagon
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and to save money the wagon actually
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shared with the Dodge and the Chrysler
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wagons so first let's look at the
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standard features that we get some of
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them are obviously required by federal
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law like side lights and seat belts and
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others are neat features like the Dual
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master cylinder which provides two brake
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fluid circuits so that if there's a
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brake leak the driver STS partial
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braking and these became standard at
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Chrysler Corporation with the 1967 cars
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and it has has a torsion bar suspension
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which was still an advantage over the
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coil spring front suspensions at GM and
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Ford although that was definitely in its
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waning days the combined emissions
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reduction tools were called The Cleaner
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air system uh Chrysler itself defined
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the cleaner air system as including
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cleaner combustion Chambers modified
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carburetors slightly alter
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Distributors now every Chrysler did have
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an electronic voltage regulator they
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started out with some 1969 cars and were
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standard in all the the 1970s with a new
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connector and it was used with a new
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isolated field alternator the quote
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anti- theft lock just meant that you had
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to turn the ignition switch which
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required a key in order to remove the
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steering wheel or get out of park the
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lane change feature activated the turn
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signals uh before you locked them into
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place so you could use them just for a
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few blinks and that was also new for
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Chrysler for 1970 and they also had
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standard Hazard flashers you pulled
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something up from the steering column
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which operated even when the brakes were
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being used so when the brake lights were
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on you still got Hazard flashers now the
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top line of this sticker shows the
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assembly plant which was beler Illinois
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that was also a new plant opening in
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1965 it also shows the VIN number the
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vehicle ID number so VIN number is the
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VIN number number and we've blanked out
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part of that for privacy and an order
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number the colors had two uh character
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codes this one was f8 and a trim code
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for the interior coloring materials card
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is s code with two letters and two
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numbers L is the low price class so the
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price class started with economy then
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low medium and high and other code
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showed you if we had a police car a taxi
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a superstock race car or so on the next
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part of the code four is the number of
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doors and then the body code six is for
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a three seat wagon and each bench seat
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stretched across the width of the car so
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it counted as one row of seats so when
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they say three seat they actually mean
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capacity of six uh to nine people people
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a code of pl21 would be a fury 2 Coupe
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pl41 would be a fury 2 sedan you can
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also decode the middle part of the VIN
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to find the engine uh the letter G
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stands for 318 cubic inch V8 that was
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their economy V8 very nice engine very
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durable very unappreciated generally
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always had a two Barrel in those years
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model year zero is 1970 that's the last
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number in 1970 and assembly plant D for
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badier and the rest of the VIN was just
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a ser number vinyl bench sheets were
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standard on the wagon as the description
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of the car itself indicates the 38 V8
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was standard on the fury9 passenger
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wagon so it too has no price listed now
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the Fury 6 and fury V8 were considered
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to be different trims by Plymouth 2 so a
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fury1 V8 would still have a standard V8
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and the other lines are for options
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including the prices trailer towing was
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a bargain because in addition to trailer
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wiring and hitch it had durability
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upgrades such as a heavy duty suspension
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large radiator fan shroud better brakes
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bigger Wheels in many cases and a
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transmission fluid cooler which is quite
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nice for longevity and some of these
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parts were shared with police or taxi
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packages so the 70 Fury used the same
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brakes for towing taxi and police duty
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all Furies as a higher end big car had
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15-in Wheels uh the fiori wagon standard
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Wheels were wider than any other Fury
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including the 440 powered coup to deal
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with more weight Suburban standard
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Wheels were size j78 J siiz Wheels
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weren't even optional on other Furies
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buyers could even option out wider
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l-size wheels and tires wagons also had
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longer leaf springs at 62 in versus 52
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on other Fury models 10 more in with 6
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and 1 12 leaves again even more than the
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440 with a heavy duty suspension the
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transmission it's listed as heavy duty
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that's an a727 torque flight the base
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transmission for the fury was a 3-speed
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three on the tree new process Gear
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manual the automatic uh for the 318 was
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normally a904 which was a good light
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automatic but the a727 could handle a
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lot more tow a lot more torque which was
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handy for towing and for heavy loads the
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problem was of course at the 727 cost
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more and weighed more the axle ratio
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would normally be 2.71 to1 on an
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automatic Fury 318 but the towing
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package brought it to
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3.23 to one and wagon buyers could even
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get a 355 to one if they didn't get the
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tow package air conditioning often came
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with tinted glass in later years but
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here you can see that the tinted glass
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was extra the aim radio was quite
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expensive in today's money costing about
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$490 today with a single dashboard
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speaker a rear speaker was optional a
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single rear speaker along with an AM FM
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radio and an eight trck the eight trck
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AM combination cost $196 then that's
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over $1,500 today power steering was
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also quite expensive that would be about
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$830 today the radial tires with
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fiberglass belts or a comparative bar
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bargain destination charge would today
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be
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$740 or so compared with Chrysler's
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current charges of, 1600 to 2000 so
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Plymouth used the Suburban name for
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wagons for many years regardless of the
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car's actual names the 1970 Suburban had
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the same body as the 1970 Dodge and
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chrysal wagons with the same 122in
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wheelbase the equivalent sedans had
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three different wheelbases with Plymouth
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being small Dodge being medium and
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Chrysler being large each one was 2 in
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from the other Suburban was 220 in Long
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80 in wide and 58 in tall with a cargo
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area that went 119 in from the back of
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the front seat to the end of the open
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tailgate and again this particular car
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was the entry-level wagon it still had a
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rear roof mounted wind deflector which
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had come out the previous year a power
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tailgate window and larger tires and
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fury sedans C roll wagons all at a dual
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action tailgate which could be a regular
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door or pickup type tailgate so buyers
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had a choice of interior colors with
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five choices for the fury 2 wagon Alon
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in current dollars this car cost over
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$35,000 despite the single speaker AM
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radio and other very basic fittings it
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was far more expensive than Fury sedans
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which cost around $24,000 in today's
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money that's for a fury 2 V8 and they
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cost more because they had very low
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volumes which is why they only had one
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wheelbase shared with chrys horn Dodge
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they also used more materials a fury 2v
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eight weighed around 3675 lb but the
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Suburban with three rows was over 4,200
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lb so that's around 500 lb more material
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these are shipping weights by the way
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curb weights would be at least 80 lbs
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more why the big Plymouth wagon was
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shared with Dodge and Chrysler though
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each of them had enough sheet metal and
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trim differences to stay on brand but
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you can see the appeal of minivans when
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they arrive they had a price premium
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like the old style wagons but with far
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more interior space far more convenience
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far better gas mileage but admittedly uh
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very little acceleration still the
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minivan was not even starting
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development at Chrysler 1970 the first
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sketches would start out in
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1972 and for that read my minivan book
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all right that's it for now thank you
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for listening
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