{"id":51156,"date":"2021-05-20T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=51156"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:21:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:21:28","slug":"pages-from-the-past-go-hummer-the-1966-street-hemi-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/heritage\/2021\/05\/pages-from-the-past-go-hummer-the-1966-street-hemi-arrives.html","title":{"rendered":"Pages From The Past: Go-Hummer \u2026 the 1966 Street HEMI®<\/sup> Arrives!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Dodge Rebellion! The 426 Street HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine-powered vehicle! An all-new, totally redesigned Coronet lineup! 1966 was a big year for Dodge and this ad touting a fresh Coronet 500 convertible proves the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"1966<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Conjured with assistance from Batten, Barton, Durstine &\nOsborn (BBD&O), Dodge\u2019s advertising agency, the Dodge Rebellion ad campaign\nencompassed the entire Dodge lineup, which consisted of the compact Dart at the\nbottom, the big Polara and Monaco at the top and \u2013 in the middle \u2013 the\nmid-sized Coronet and Charger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Charger was truly unique with its fastback body and hideaway headlamps, it was the Coronet that carried the ball with the masses in the mid-sized sales field. All new with crisp folds and profuse delta-themed lines, Coronet was available in just about every conceivable body configuration. You could get a two-door business sedan, two-door hardtop, four-door sedan, station wagon and – as featured in this magazine ad \u2013 a slick convertible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"1966<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, for the first time ever, the mighty, Daytona-conquering 426 HEMI engine was available in any <\/em>Coronet body style except station wagons, and as this ad makes very clear, Dodge wanted very much to sell you a HEMI engine-powered Coronet convertible. The copy says: \u201cLet\u2019s salvo those convertibles right off the map. You know the kind. The puffed up convertibles with the puffed up price tags. The kind that makes you glad the Coronet 500 came along \u2026 With a big choice of power \u2013 from a brisk Six to a go-hummer of a 426 cubic inch Hemi V8. And that\u2019s enough to blow most other convertibles right out of the water.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"1966<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a moment to absorb the meaning of it all. Remembering that Chrysler Corporation devised the 426 HEMI engine in 1964 specifically to win the Daytona 500 and thus reinvigorate the spirit of excitement via the trickle-down theory of \u201cwin on Sunday, sell on Monday\u201d, the engine was expensive to build and Chrysler wasn\u2019t planning on making more than a few hundred a year \u2013 to be used by sanctioned racers to promote the brand. Dodge really didn\u2019t expect, or want, to sell a bunch of HEMI engines. The idea was to \u201cbait and switch\u201d showroom visitors into a mass-produced engine, perhaps a 325-horsepower 383 4-barrel with enough suds to satisfy most right feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when NASCAR\u2019s rule-makers decreed the HEMI engine to be not stock-enough for stock car racing, Chrysler was forced to put into semi-mass production starting in 1966. Off came the exotic cross-ram intake manifold, down went the compression ratio from 12.5 to 10.25:1 and cam timing was mellowed a bit. But otherwise, the stuff that made the 426 HEMI engine an instant legend remained, including the (understated by 50) 425 horsepower rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it was that 1966 \u2013 the debut year for the 426 Street HEMI \u2013 was by far the year with the highest number of Street HEMI engine-powered vehicle sales in the \u201cElephant”\u2019s 1964 to 1971 production run. In 1966, a total of 2,729 Street HEMI engine-powered passenger cars were built and sold. The next highest Street HEMI production output came in 1968, with 2,391 units. For contrast, 1969 yielded 1,702; 1970 yielded 1,543; 1967 yielded 1,234; and 1971 \u2013 the HEMI\u2019s final year \u2013 yielded a mere 356.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 2,729 Dodge and Plymouth Street HEMI engine-powered vehicles unleashed in 1966, just 27 came in drop top Dodge convertible models like the one featured in this magazine ad. Of them, 6 were Coronet 440s and 21 were Coronet 500s. The difference between the Coronet 440 and Coronet 500 had nothing to do with engine size (the 440 and 500 don\u2019t reference the engine at all), rather the 500 was the sportiest of the lot, with standard front bucket seats, added trim inside and out, and specific wheel covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"1966<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But is the sleek red Coronet 500 drop top featured in the ad one of the legendary 425 horsepower HEMI engine-powered vehicles? A quick glance at the small metal emblem behind the front wheel opening tells the tale. The small logo reads \u201cV8\u201d, a signal that a 230-horse 318 polyspherical head V8, a 265-horse 361 big block with a single 2-barrel carburetor or a 270-horse 383 big block \u2013 again with a single 2-barrel carburetor \u2013 is under the hood. To be considered a HEMI car, we\u2019d need to see the distinctive \u201c426 Hemi\u201d emblems in place (a \u201c383 Four Barrel\u201d emblem would have signaled the 325-horse 383 with a single Carter 4-barrel).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s the catch. Unlike competing \u201cmuscle cars\u201d where their makers added special image-making details \u2013 like fake hood scoops, styled steel wheels, paint stripes and go-fast names – for 1966, Dodge let the music do the talking. That would change in 1967 with the introduction of the Coronet R\/T (and Plymouth\u2019s GTX). But for 1966, if you didn\u2019t pay close attention to the small metal front fender emblems, you just might get HEMI\u2019d!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dodge Rebellion! The 426 Street HEMI\u00ae engine-powered vehicle! An all-new, totally redesigned Coronet lineup! 1966 was a big year for Dodge and this ad touting a fresh Coronet 500 convertible proves the point. Conjured with assistance from Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBD&O), Dodge\u2019s advertising agency, the Dodge Rebellion ad campaign encompassed the entire Dodge lineup, which consisted of the compact Dart at the bottom, the big Polara and Monaco at the top and \u2013 in the middle \u2013 the mid-sized Coronet and Charger. While the Charger was truly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":51157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2622],"tags":[2948],"class_list":["post-51156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heritage","tag-dodge-classics"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/1966coronet500feature.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51156"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51187,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51156\/revisions\/51187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}