One-Owner Ultra-Rare 1969 Coronet R/T HEMI Survivor Returns From 37-Year Coma

The Coronet was a prophetic automobile for Chrysler: in 1969, it served as the base on which the first ‘Challenger’ appeared. More than a decade before Dodge’s other iconic muscle car, the 1970 E-body, emerged, the moniker served – for a short time – as a special promotional Coronet. Introduced on May 1, 1959, to stir up summer sales, the Silver Challenger was a two-door Club Sedan with one livery (metallic silver) and an attractive price.

The second foretelling the Coronet would make was in 1967, when it debuted the Road/Track package, putting the Scat Pack in the spotlights. However, it relied on a very resounding punchline to draw attention: ‘road runner’ said the ad – see it in the gallery – and we all know how that nameplate got its glory, as the Plymouth with a lot of bang for the buck.

The Coronet R/T of 1967 was a simple choice for V8-induced adrenaline addicts: either the 440-4 (7.2-liter, four-barrel carburetor) Magnum with 375 hp and 480 lb-ft / 380 PS, 651 Nm, or the tire-slaying 426-cubic-inch (7.0 liters) hemispherical-heads V8. The 425-hp, 490-lb-ft output (431 PS, 664 Nm) was viewed as ‘discrete’ by their contemporaries.

The HEMI saw action in 741 Coronets in 1966 (as opposed to 468 Chargers). Still, most of the legendary big-blocks went to Plymouth (677 on the Belvedere and 844 on the Satellite). This biased distribution didn’t tilt in Dodge’s favor in any of the six-year-short production of the apex predator V8. Plymouth always got the lion’s share.

Between 1967 and 1971 (the final year for the fabled motor with its dome-shaped combustion chambers), the Dodge Coronet R/T received an allocation of 633 powerplants. After that, the quota slided on a continuous downhill drift, from a peak of 283 units in 1967 to 229 a year later. In ’69, the numbers dwindled to 107, and the last Coronet R/Ts to sport a HEMI only accounted for 14 examples in 1970.

All in all, any original HEMI Mopar is a great surprise, let alone one that’s been sitting for decades in storage, untouched, unmolested, rodent-free, and in remarkably good shape. Look at the one in the video below, a magnificent 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T HEMI with a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic.

Yes, the car had been repainted once – in its original shade – but (almost) everything else that the factory put on the vehicle is still there. One of the two dual-quads – the front one – is not the original unit, but we can live with that. This survivor ‘69 Coronet RT HEMI automatic is one of the 45 examples assembled with the TorqueFlite that year.

To add an aura of hen's dental impressions to this already elusive build, this individual Mopar is a bumble-bee stripe delete automobile, with emblems replacing the familiar R/T callouts on the rear fenders. It was bought new by a New Yorker in his late teens or fresh out of high school and wandered across America with him.

Around 1975, the family – and the HEMI Dodge – changed address to California but returned to the Big Apple in 1986. They didn’t stay long and moved to Indiana – where the Coronet was laid to rest - in weather-proof storage. It sat there until the Mopars5150 YouTube vloggers and classic car rescuers got wind of it and bought it.

For now, the engine will stay silent until a full inspection deems it fit for firing up. Still, this car deserves a refreshment and recommissioning to active duty, albeit only in show car demeanor. The 58,165 miles (93,587 km) are original, and we get the feeling - strongly backed by the aftermarket gauges, particularly the hood dials and the column-mounted tach - that a great many of those miles were covered in 14-second increments of one quarter at a time.