The Plymouth design team got it right when they introduced the GTX back in 1967, offering buyers not only an upscale trim level B-Body but also a 440 engine as the standard powerplant, so a more luxurious interior could surround drivers as they passed most other cars on the road during this period. The seller here lists his car as a Plymouth GTX, but once we’re reeled in we find out it’s a Satellite, so let’s go ahead and get that detail out of the way and see what’s up with this one. This 1970 Plymouth Satellite here on eBay is fresh out of a decades-long hibernation in Assonet, Massachusetts, with bidding up to $5,800 so far and the reserve set at fifteen grand.
There’s no fender tag, but a VIN check indicates a C-Code engine, so if I did my sleuthing correctly, this one originally came with a 225 cubic-inch Slant 6. I didn’t realize you could even get a 6-cylinder under the hood until the 1971 model arrived, however, it’s not that important anymore as in the bay now is a ’70 date-coded 383. The seller says it’s fairly rowdy, with goodies such as an Edelbrock Torker intake, a strip cam, and Hooker headers, along with a Holley 750 which the seller mentions he rebuilt. This one’s now running and driving around a parking lot, but brake work and a new set of tires will be needed before it’s ready for the streets.
The build here is believed to be dated back to the late seventies or early eighties. However, the Mopar has been stored inside a Morton building since 1989, so decades have passed since the Satellite has seen any productive time on the pavement. The seller mentions the body has never been wrecked and retains all of its original sheet metal, with the panel rot stated as minimal. Depending on your viewpoint, that seems objective or subjective, so I’ll be diplomatic and say it’s sort of middle-of-the-road, with some rust present but not as severe as many B-Bodies we run across from this period.
No specific details are provided about the interior, but it appears pretty standard other than the aftermarket steering wheel and Hurst shifter. The seller calls the floors perfect and rot-free, and thankfully, there’s no carpet so we get to view them and judge the condition for ourselves. One good decision an early owner made was to apply the undercoating below, which seems to have helped preserve the platform, as it’s looking fairly solid overall. I wish this was a 440-equipped 1970 GTX as I was initially hoping for, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it eventually ended up as a cloned example. What would you do here, restore this as a stock Satellite or take a different approach?
If that is, in fact, a 1970 date coded 383 it was a two barrel, not a 335 HP Super Commando/Magnum out of a Road Runner or Super Bee, so it’s lacking some of the factory “good stuff”, even with the aftermarket goodies added.
Yep – it has a torker with a dual line Holley on it now so should get up and go…why do you doubt it’s lineage ?
A hard no. Rusty floors, rotting quarter panel, not for what the reserve is asking.
pics of underneath on ebay shows undercoating and what appears to be solid floor and frame rails ?
When these cars were $200 it was worth scrapping out some old sheet metal (the backs of metal shelves worked great), pop rivets, and a $500 paint job to get a few more years out of it. At $15k its new quarters, etc. and now you worry about resale value.
This seller is clearly an optimist. I hope the next owner has the passion to make this car a beauty again.
I would like to know why, both the black and red contacts from the battery charger are on the positive side of the battery? Must be a super osmosis charger from the future.
Makes it go faster don’t cha know….
Floor shifter and column shift, his and her’s?
Yes…..I’d do it for a pretty girl in the 70’s/80’s…..
Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Shifter on the floor and on the column
You are correct! The listing says it has a Hurst floor shifter and modified transmission.
The builder was either too cheap or too lazy to change the steering column, just left the column shift in place. I’d keep my distance, this implies a shoddy build.
This is either a put tires and brakes on it and drive it like you don’t care or a strip down and do it up right kinda car. Not much of an in-between. Being a 40 something guy who kinda just wants to enjoy it on a semi daily basis… I think I would go for the former. But, it would be nice to be able to complete the latter as well. Good thing about it is, after you buy it… it’s yours. Drive it for a while whilst amassing a parts collective to take it back off the road for a year or five and make it how you want it…
Is there trim missing from both sides of the car? There appears to be a lot of holes along the top of the fenders, doors and quarter panels, and in the lower doors in front of the vents in the rear quarters. Not a GTX, no original drive train, and trashed interior. Where does this seller see $15000.00. I just don’t see it. Educate me if its there.
That wiring looks pretty janky?
Only thing I’m seeing claimed wrong is that isn’t a Dana 60….it’s the famos 9 1/4 which replaced it….sort of.
Good car to build a Superbird out of, tube chassis, 14 71 blown KB Hemi, Lenco, black no vinyl roof