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By Steve “Scat Pack” Magnante 6/4/2021 4:00 PM EventsVideo5 min readAUCTIONSDODGE CLASSICSPLYMOUTH CLASSICS
There’s something BIG brewing in the Texas prairie! It’s the Great Texas Mopar® Hoard auction event, an online-only collector car auction featuring over 200 choice Mopar vehicles from the estate of a lifelong Mopar collector. And best of all, the auction will be a “no reserve” event, meaning that each and every lot number will sell to the highest bidder.
Scheduled to take place in October of 2021, these great project cars and trucks will all find new homes thanks to the services of Spanky’s Freedom Car Auctions. If the name Spanky sounds familiar, then you will remember him – Spanky Assiter – as Barrett-Jackson’s lead auctioneer for several successful years.
And if you remember that, then you probably also remember Spanky’s wife Amy Assiter, one of the Bidder’s Assistants, her long brown hair flying on the TV screen as she shouted bids to the auction block. Today, Spanky and Amy operate Assiter Auctioneers, the parent company of Spanky’s Freedom Car Auctions.
With the meet-and-greet out of the way, let’s preview some of the 200-plus vintage and special interest Dodge, Plymouth, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial vehicles that will all find new homes in October. To see more, go to freedomcarauctions.com or to the Steve Magnante YouTube channel where live-action walk-around videos exist to add even more information on each lot number.
1974 DODGE D200 CLUB CAB: LOT # 1
In its third year on the market, Dodge’s fully redesigned D-series pickup truck line was far more refined than the 1961-71 Sweptline D-series that came before. The primitive leaf spring, live front axle was replaced by independent coil springs and the interior was far more luxurious with padded surfaces in place of cold, hard steel.
This Club Cab model, new for 1973, offered an extra 18 inches of wheelbase to make room for the longer cab floor and convenient behind-the-seat storage area. Also new for 1974 was the mighty 440 big block engine, which replaced the 400 that was used in 1973. This original paint D200 Club Cab packs the top dog 440, heavy-duty 727 TorqueFlite® automatic transmission, Dana 60 rear axle, factory optional chromed trailer towing mirrors, bucket seats, air conditioning, power brakes, power steering and cruise control. As a Texas truck, it’s solid and rust-free except for a couple of small patches seen in the walk-around video.
1973 PLYMOUTH FURY FLEET SEDAN: LOT # 2
Packing the P-code High Performance 400-cubic-inch big block with dual exhaust, a dual snorkel air cleaner and 140-mph certified speedometer, this 1973 Plymouth Fury probably has a law enforcement background. Rolling on 15×6.5-inch body-colored “steelies” with “poverty caps”, it’s essentially a muscle car in disguise. Though the data tag is missing, a second tag reading “special order” sets this one apart from the crowd.
The “fuselage body”, making its final appearance for 1973, still wears its original Honey Gold paint and is free from structural rust, while the interior is complete down to the front and rear bench seats. While the light-duty Salisbury-type 8-1/4 inch rear axle was standard issue under most Furys, this one packs the same heavy-duty Hotchkis-type 8-3/4 rear axle used under most Mopar muscle cars of the day. A heavy-duty 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission takes commands from a column-mounted shift lever. If you appreciate a “sleeper” muscle car, this one is for you!
1965 PLYMOUTH FURY III: LOT # 5
After going without a full-sized model line since 1961, Plymouth reintroduced the full-size C-body for 1965 in the form of the Fury. Offered as the Fury I, Fury II, Fury III and Sport Fury, these extra-large models helped increase Plymouth’s overall sales by 31.5 percent over 1964 when only the compact A-body and mid-sized B-body platforms were offered.
This 1965 Plymouth Fury III four door sedan (Lot Number 5) is one of 50,725 built and packs the optional 383 2-barrel big block and 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission, a $396 surcharge over the base Slant Six and “three-on-the-tree”. And speaking of this car’s TorqueFlite transmission, know that it is a one-year-only big block unit with the cable-operated valve body and new slip-yoke tail shaft configuration. These transmissions are in high demand among builders of 1962-65 Max Wedge and Race HEMI® clones who want the push-button transmission controls without the hassle of the ball-and-trunnion driveshaft. Not that you’d want to harvest this particular item. Just sayin…
Other goodies include manual drum brakes, power steering, a factory clock and RADIO DELETE. That’s right, if you didn’t want to pay $59 for the Transaudio AM radio, Plymouth graciously plugged the hole in the dash with an ornate plastic delete plate, as seen in this one. Re-sprayed in the original turquoise and white, this first-year full-size Fury would make a great family cruiser.
1964 DODGE A100 WALK-THROUGH VAN: LOT # 11
The A-series compact van of 1964-70 was Dodge’s answer to Ford’s 1962 Econoline van, which was Ford’s response to Volkswagen’s Microbus of the 1950s. This 1964 A100 van is very special for two reasons. First, it was ordered with the rare “walk through” door configuration, and secondly, the sequence number on the VIN tag (1962000604) tells us this was the 604th A100 van ever built! If that’s not cool, we don’t know what is.
Powered by the 225 Slant Six with a column-shifted three-speed manual transmission, this first-year A100 is exceptionally solid and nearly rust-free. Though some small areas of rust bubbles and perforation are visible on the lower body surfaces, the floors and foot wells are nice and clean. These A100 compact vans are becoming more and more popular every day and surviving examples are very hard to find. And being a walk-through makes this one all the more unique. Imagine stuffing a Mopar Performance 426 HEMI crate engine between the Bostrom Thin Line front bucket seats. With its double-side-door body configuration, you could showcase the engine from either side!
1959 CHRYSLER WINDSOR: LOT # 14
1959 was the final year for body-on-frame construction for the Chrysler line. Unitized construction would replace it for 1960 (except on the top-tier Imperial line). This 1959 Chrysler Windsor wears Arizona license plates from the 1959 model year and passes the “magnet test” in all of the usual rust areas except for some small bubbles popping through on the lower quarter panel extensions. Inside, the original upholstery covers the seats and the factory AM radio is still present.
Under the hood, a 383 2-barrel big block wears factory air conditioning with an early version of the clutch-type fan that would later help Street HEMI vehicles stay cool while reducing parasitic drag. Factory power drum brakes and power steering help make this Windsor a breeze to drive. All of the hard-to-find chrome grille, bumpers and trim are present and in great condition. This would make a nice cruiser or – shun the notion – a solid parts car for the restoration of a less common two-door model or convertible.
Stay tuned to DodgeGarage for more interesting vehicles from the Great Texas Mopar Auction!
