Editor's note: Today we are pleased to present the debut column by Diego Rosenberg. Diego may be familiar to MUSCLE CAR REVIEW readers because he has contributed to the magazine in the past, and he became the voice of the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race in the 1990s. His longtime passion for muscle cars got a foothold here, as he grew up reading MCR in the 1980s. Last year he wrote Selling the American Muscle Car: Marketing Detroit Iron in the 60s and 70s, which featured photographic and literature contributions from Tom Shaw. With Tom's untimely passing, Diego will carry the baton from a Gen X perspective.

When it comes to allegiance, no other manufacturer enjoys corporate-wide affection like the Chrysler Corporation. Sure, Ford fans may bleed blue, and it's Chevrolet versus the World, but the Mopar tribe will embrace anything with the Pentastar, from the homeliest Plymouth Cricket to Fuselage Imperials. They're loud, they're proud, and, for good measure, they just might be faster than you.

With apologies to Avis, when you're only No. 3, you try harder. Perhaps it took Chrysler several years to formulate a proper response to the GTO but, after the advent of the 1968 Road Runner (a marketing success so simple and obvious it was, in the immortal words of Wile E. Coyote, genius), the scrappy automaker consistently cranked out hot cars that were not for the inhibited.

I believe my first awareness of Mopars was at the Arden Montessori. Herbie Matter occasionally carpooled with a friend whose mom drove a brownish 1969 Charger, which my kindergarten mind recognized as a cool car. And there was Paul, that cowpoke whose parents dutifully picked him up driving a 1967 Dart or first-generation Charger. Both had a distinctive-sounding starter and experienced ongoing stalling issues.

Around that time we had new Brady Bunchstyle neighbors from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Mr. Smith was driving a Top Banana 1970 Challenger convertible; it was soon replaced by a new 1977 Bonneville Brougham with Rally II wheels, as Mrs. Smith's family owned a Pontiac dealership across the bridge in Elmer, New Jersey.

Several years later a wave of 1950s nostalgia took over America. Popular culture was idealizing Tri-Five Chevys, Thunderbirds, and finned Cadillacs. My friend Brian Dittmar influenced me in embracing the latter. Then, in Fourth grade, he showed me the book 70 Years of Chrysler, which introduced me to the charms of Virgil Exner and the mightiest car from Detroit: the 300-C.

With my driver's license still several years away, Dad took me to the Carlisle swap meet. By then it was understood that the Hemi was king and outrageousness was par for the Mopar course, which is why a red 1967 Hemi GTX (for $10,000!) and a Limelight Superbird were two of the three cars I can recall. That afternoon was like I had hit automotive puberty, and life would never be the same again.

More indoctrination followed, now with my driver's license in hand. The MCR-sponsored 1988 Musclecar Nationals at Atco and Mopars at Englishtown allowed me to be in the presence of every other great Mopar I had read about in these very pages: Charger Daytona, lift-off hood Road Runner, Hemi 'Cuda convertible (two!), Moulin Rouge Super Bee, Max Wedge Polara, Dart GTS. Not only did these vehicles offer an attractive alternative to the Chevys I had eschewed from the Brandywine High School parking lot, but Mopars also were always among the fastest cars on the dragstrip, whether in period road tests, the Supercar Showdown, or the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race, where I have seen firsthand how adherents to A-, B-, and E-bodies fear no one.

While GM lowered compression on all its engines for 1971 (a year ahead of the government mandate), Chrysler maintained the compression on every performance engine save the 383. In fact, Chrysler's 1971 performance roster was even more outrageous than before, with sleek, redesigned Chargers, and Road Runners and GTXs that could be dolled up with several choices of stripes, spoilers, body-colored bumpers, and louvers. There was the Duster 340 with new sawtooth grille and available pop art-inspired "340 Wedge" hood decal, and the 'Cuda with the inimitable "Billboard" stripe.

Sure, Chrysler wasn't the first to offer spoilers, bright colors, the Shaker hood, or even the first muscle car—though we know many of you won't agree on the latter point. But the corporation did try harder and better than the competition. And for that, Mopar fans have a lot for which to be proud.

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