1969 Dodge Coronet R/T Hops Like a Bunny, Wins Drag Races Like a Champ

The fifth-gen Coronet was downsized to a midsize vehicle, but it retained the original lineup, including four-door sedans and wagons and two-door coupes and drop-tops. That's when the Coronet was pushed into the muscle car market, but the nameplate is often overlooked. That's because Mopar offered quite a few performance cars back then. The Dodge Challenger and Charger, the Plymouth Barracuda, and Roadrunner are all far more popular names.

And that's a shame because the Coronet was just as exciting as all the other Dodge muscle cars back in the day. And not only it was sold with the 383-cubic-inch (6.3-liter) and the 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) Magnum V8s but Dodge also offered it with the mighty 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) Hemi.

But fortunately enough, some Mopar gearheads favor the Coronet over the Charger and Challenger, and from time to time we get to see a brilliantly restored example sitting pretty at the local car show or burning rubber at the drag strip. If you, like me, love the Dodge Coronet too, here's a modded 1969 version flexing its muscle at an Outlaw Street Car Association event at Kil-Kare Raceway.

And this bronze-painted Coronet R/T is no joke. Featuring a beefed-up V8 (of unknown specification), it's significantly more powerful than a factory stock 1969 model. My best guess is that this coupe came with a 440 V8 under the hood, as no Mopar fan would alter a Hemi 426 version.

Anyway, whatever lurks now under the hood enables the Coronet to snap off the line with tremendous force, to the point where the front wheels go up in the air. The driver actually needs to lift off the throttle for a bit to maintain traction, so the coupe almost hops like a rabbit as it gets up to speed. But once there, the Coronet charges like a rocket toward the finish line for sub-11-second ETs.

Just for reference, a stock 1969 Coronet R/T usually runs the quarter-mile in 13.4 to 13.9 seconds, depending on the engine (as tested back in the day). So this beefed-up muscle car is some three seconds quicker.

The video below shows the Coronet running four sprints. It wins three of them almost effortlessly, with its best ET for the session at 10.38 seconds. And the only duel it loses is against a much more powerful dragster from a different class. Hit the play button below to get your Coronet fix for the day.