Looking at the many auction events and thousands of local cars and coffee meetings in the US each year, you'd be tempted to believe that most classics have soldiered on in one piece to this day. But the truth is most of them are still rotting away in junkyards and barns. We're talking about millions of automobiles.
The junkyard is a sad sight if you're a classic car nut, but it's not always about rust buckets ruined beyond salvation. Some yards include vehicles that still deserve a second chance. And some of those that aren't worth restoring can become valuable parts donors. Mopar City in Oregon, Illinois, is one of those places.
Documented by YouTube's "Auto Archaeology," this yard brings together thousands of classic cars, either rescued from other yards or barns over a few decades. But the really cool thing about this place is that it's packed with Mopars. Moreover, it includes a vast selection of B-body and E-body vehicles.
One of Chrysler's most iconic automobile platforms, the B-body was introduced in 1962 for midsize vehicles, which were gaining popularity at the time. It found its way into the Dodge Dart and Polara, as well as the Plymouth Fury, Savoy, and Belvedere that year.
Later in the 1960s, the B-body platforms spawned high-performance Mopars like the Dodge Charger and Super Bee and the Plymouth GTX and Road Runner. It was also used for the NASCAR-spec Charger Daytona and Superbird. Although muscle cars disappeared in the early 1970s, Dodge used the B-body platform through 1979 in the more mundane Cordoba, Monaco, and Magnum models.
This yard is loaded with B-body rigs from the golden muscle car era. And while many of them are relatively common Coronets and Belvederes, the stash also includes a few rare gems. You'll spot a bunch of Charger R/Ts from the late 1960s, a few big-block versions from the early 1970s, and many Super Bees and Road Runners. You'll also see many first-generation Chargers, which are becoming increasingly more desirable nowadays.
The owner also amassed rows and rows of E-body rigs. The latter made its debut in 1969 and underpinned only two cars. Plymouth used it for the third-generation Barracuda, while Dodge launched its own version under the Challenger name. Unlike the B-body, the E-body platform was short-lived, going into the history books at the end of the 1974 model year.
But both the Barracuda and the Challenger are pretty famous and expensive nowadays, especially those fitted with big-block engines. Our host did not spot any HEMI cars in this yard, but there are dozens of E-body vehicles from all model years, including rare and early R/Ts and 'Cudas.
Granted, most of them aren't worth restoring, but some examples look solid and will clean up nicely once removed from the yard. Speaking of which, the entire lot is for sale. So, if you've been looking for B-body and E-body parts, it's a good place to start.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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