Back in the summer of 1969, Chrysler rocked the muscle car world by introducing the full rainbow known as the High Impact Color palette. And one of the optional shades offered in those days seems to be more special than others.
Using the FM3 codename, this was offered as Panther Pink on Dodges—make that Moulin Rouge for Chryslers/Plymouths. And yes, the 1970 Dodge Coronet sitting before us reportedly came dress in Panther Pink from the factory.Alas, the muscle coupe ran out of luck somewhere along the way, being left at the mercy of the elements somewhere in a sea of trees.
Nevertheless, earlier this year, an enthusiast named Evan Edwards decided to save the piece of Mopar history. As shown in the Instagram post below, which comes from digital label rottingmusclecars, the enthusiast took the Coronet home.
Now, as the said muscle aficionado states in the comments section of the post, the coupe left the factory with a glorious 440 heart, but, before you gett all excited about this detail, we have to mention the engine is no longer in there.
In fact, the vehicle was grabbed with a lesser V8, namely a 318, as well as an automatic transmission and an 8.25 rear end. And now that the Plymouth is having a new lease on life, we suspect the said configuration will be left behind. Think of all the possibilities: the owner could go for an old-school approach or maybe throw in a modern crate engine in there.
All the years spent outside, with branches sitting on the car, took their toll on that Panther Pink finish, but there’s still no way to mistake this for any other shade.
As far as we can tell from these images—we can see most of the exterior panels and a part of the engine bay, but not the underbody—there is a certain amount of rust, but nothing that can’t be fixed.
Our hopes are high, not least thanks to the fact that, as per his Instagram description, Evan is an auto body technician/estimator, which should mean this slab of America will receive the TLC it deserves.