Junkyard Find: 1965 Plymouth Belvedere

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

Chrysler got a lot of mileage out of their midsize B platform, which was used for just about the entirety of the 1960s and 1970s. The Charger was a B, the Cordoba was a B, and so was this well-used Belvedere that now awaits The Crusher in Denver.

The good old 318-cubic-inch A engine was much heavier than the later LA version, but had the same reputation for reliability.

Even the kind of Ayatollahs-of-rock-n-rollah that like to bomb around cities in big 60s Detroit sedans know that they can always get another one for cheap once the current hooptie breaks something that costs more than a couple hundred bucks.

That’s probably what happened to this one, judging from the telltale cryptic stickers in the back window.






Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Obbop Obbop on Aug 06, 2012

    Bow down to your Mopar Masters ye incorrigible miscreants and sundry heathens. Note the pic of the starter upon the ground next to the tire. That is a MAN-sized starter and built to last pert-near forever, y'all. Carry on.

  • Mr Nosy Mr Nosy on Aug 06, 2012

    And that air cleaner.Hardly used at all.I guess Mr Belvedere had to be sacrificed in order to pay for a new run of bumper stickers when the two members of the death metal band merged with that keyboardist from a local declining queercore outfit because one of them knows someone who is a friend of a cousin of Skrillex,and he heard their tape and liked it and...

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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