The Dodge Coronet R/T was Dodge’s first R/T, introduced for 1967, a year before the Charger R/T. A mid-size muscle car built on the Coronet two-door hardtop and convertible, it came as standard with the 440 cu in Magnum V8 producing 375 bhp, and could be ordered with the 426 Hemi. It ran until 1970 and sold in much smaller numbers than the Charger that overshadowed it.
Dodge Coronet R/T at a glance
| Years | 1967–1970 |
|---|---|
| Body styles | Two-door hardtop and convertible |
| Standard engine | 440 cu in (7.2 L) Magnum V8, 375 bhp |
| Optional engine | 426 cu in Hemi V8, rated at 425 bhp in 1967 and a $908 option |
| Transmission | TorqueFlite three-speed automatic or four-speed manual |
| R/T output | 10,809 in 1967; 10,849 in 1968; 7,200 in 1969; 2,615 in 1970 |
| Convertible R/Ts | 1,760 over four model years |
Specifications from English Wikipedia; production counts from autoevolution, which gives the R/T share as about 6% of Coronet sales in 1967 and 5.5% in 1968.
Dodge’s first R/T
R/T stood for Road and Track, a hint that Dodge saw the car as suitable for racing; autoevolution suggests the drag strip was the target. The Coronet was the brand’s bread-and-butter mid-size car in the 1960s and the basis for the Charger and Super Bee, but when ordered as a two-door it came with the same high-performance engines as the Charger. Beginning in 1967 Chrysler decided the Hemi should be available only in its badged muscle cars: the Dodge Charger, the Coronet R/T and the Plymouth Belvedere GTX.
1968: a new body
The Coronet and the related Plymouth Belvedere were completely redesigned for 1968, as was the Dodge Charger, which shared the B-body platform. The Coronet Super Bee arrived in early 1968 as a companion to the Plymouth Road Runner. In 1968 the 440 V8 was available only in the Coronet R/T, and the Hemi was meant to be limited to the R/T and the Super Bee, although two 1968 Coronet 440s are known to have been built with it.
Dodge sold nearly 196,000 Coronets in 1968, but only 10,849 of them were R/Ts. The Hemi version is the rarest: autoevolution counts only 637 Coronets that were both R/T and Hemi. The R/T convertible is also scarce: one source gives 519 for 1968.
A fading R/T
R/T sales fell to 7,200 in 1969 and 2,615 in 1970, when the Coronet R/T two-door hardtop and convertible were continued for the last time. The Coronet name carried on, but the R/T badge belonged increasingly to the Charger, and the Super Bee took the low-priced muscle role.
See more Mopar muscle in our Dodge archive and the Muscle Cars collection, and the engines explained in Muscle car engines, decoded.
Coronet R/T questions and answers
When did the Coronet R/T first appear?
For the 1967 model year, a year before the Dodge Charger R/T.
What engine did it have?
The standard engine was the 440 cu in Magnum V8 with 375 bhp; the 426 Hemi was the only option.
How rare is the Hemi?
Very. autoevolution counts only 637 Coronets that combine the R/T and the Hemi.
How is it different from the Super Bee?
The Super Bee was the low-priced companion of the Plymouth Road Runner, while the R/T was the top Coronet with the 440 as standard.
Based on English Wikipedia and autoevolution. Hemi and convertible counts are one source’s tallies.
Sources
- Dodge Coronet, English Wikipedia: R/T specifications, Hemi policy, 1968 redesign
- 1968 Dodge Coronet Parked for Decades Gets Second Chance, It’s a Rare R/T Convertible, autoevolution: R/T production numbers, meaning of R/T
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