What IF Mopar had not discontinued the E body?

[DrEamer]

So, I need to start this off with a confession, I have sinned. I went and bought (welp) a....2000 Mustang this week. In a moment of need/weakness, I got it as a daily driver since it was cheap, with low miles, and in  good shape. What brings me to my title question is the fact that when I go to buy parts, there are a dozen different vendors that have them for reasonable prices. One of my conclusions is that since the nameplate has never gone away, neither has the following, so parts stayed available. Even though in the mid 70's to mid 80's the power was down, they were still there. The same is true of the Camaro. So, would we be in a better situation for parts if Ma Mopar had kept the pony car around instead of discontinuing it. I know there was the Challenger of the late 70's,  but I digress. Granted, Mopar's have always seemed play third fiddle in the aftermarket, but wondering out loud on this.  Please don't hurt me.   

[Purepony]

That's interesting because I think there was a later version or generation of the challenger and I mean at the risk of being banned the car was awful and underpowered so keeping a car alive or name plate I should say isn't the best way to go just to preserve a name for example the mustang 1971-1977?

Or the 1988 nova. Anyone remember that clunker ?

[JS29]

I remember both of them!  Both Japanese. 

[Skdmark]

The 1975 concept
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/0709phr-1975-barracuda/

[RUNCHARGER]

During the 80's the "Daytona" and Laser would have been the Barracuda and Challenger. It would have diluted the image we remember today.

[318Stroker]

So, I need to start this off with a confession, I have sinned. I went and bought (welp) a....2000 Mustang this week. In a moment of need/weakness, I got it as a daily driver since it was cheap, with low miles, and in  good shape. What brings me to my title question is the fact that when I go to buy parts, there are a dozen different vendors that have them for reasonable prices. One of my conclusions is that since the nameplate has never gone away, neither has the following, so parts stayed available. Even though in the mid 70's to mid 80's the power was down, they were still there. The same is true of the Camaro. So, would we be in a better situation for parts if Ma Mopar had kept the pony car around instead of discontinuing it. I know there was the Challenger of the late 70's,  but I digress. Granted, Mopar's have always seemed play third fiddle in the aftermarket, but wondering out loud on this.  Please don't hurt me.   

They sold so many Mustangs year after year that it had a natural built-in following. E-bodies were late to the party, and sales a small fraction of the Mustang. Total E-body production for all 5 years was approx 315,000. Compare that to Mustang production for the 64 1/2 and 65 model years of 680,000...      Mopar would never have been able to sell enough E-bodies for it to make enough financial sense to keep producing them

[Purepony]

Mustangs is also a "cute" looking car
The majority find the camaro or mustang to be a pretty attractive good looking car. The e bodies have a unique look that really grows on you at least for me and several people I know. My friends in the under 30 would look and talk about pony cars all day but when it came to e body b body etc pretty much a dodge car it was more of big oddball or just an old car. Obviously the mopars command the higher prices for a reason but they don't have that general appeal

[HP2]

Chrysler never produced enough of them initially and likely would not have been able to ramp this up enough through the 70s and 80s to make parts availability any better. Heck, even Camaro and Mustang sales dropped considerably during the time and I think around '76 Camaro was almost killed and it was removed from '02-'10.

Chrysler obviously resurrected the nameplates of some classics through the 80s with much conflict. Heck, I remember seeing Hemi badges on the side of K cars with the Mitsubishi motor in them. The Stealth is what the Challenger would have morphed into to some degree by the 90s, but at least the corporation had the good graces to not rebadge it as such.

I did defect to other makes during the 80s and 90s. I had a 3rd generation Z28 for a daily driver for a while. When I went oval track racing in the 90s, I  had both Chevys and Fords that I drove. I don't regret it for one minute.

[DrEamer]

Chrysler never produced enough of them initially and likely would not have been able to ramp this up enough through the 70s and 80s to make parts availability any better. Heck, even Camaro and Mustang sales dropped considerably during the time and I think around '76 Camaro was almost killed and it was removed from '02-'10.

Chrysler obviously resurrected the nameplates of some classics through the 80s with much conflict. Heck, I remember seeing Hemi badges on the side of K cars with the Mitsubishi motor in them. The Stealth is what the Challenger would have morphed into to some degree by the 90s, but at least the corporation had the good graces to not rebadge it as such.

I did defect to other makes during the 80s and 90s. I had a 3rd generation Z28 for a daily driver for a while. When I went oval track racing in the 90s, I  had both Chevys and Fords that I drove. I don't regret it for one minute.

Those were strange times indeed. I tried to fly the Mopar banner in support of the little cars that they offered at the time, but just could not bring myself to owning any of them. Also, some of there better offerings performance wise came from the association with Mitsubishi. The little Chrysler TSI , along with the Dodge Stealth come to mind. Plus, remember that somehow Chrysler Corp lured Carrol Shelby away from Ford for awhile.Sadly  none of the cars with his name on the them really seem memorable now.   

[1972V21Cuda]

The E-Body was on a downward spiral with the huge 1973-1974 bumpers, a loss of powerful engine choices and the bean counters slashed almost all of the cool options. With the 1975 Federal requirement for catalytic converters and other changes, we would have had something like the Mustang II. So, stopping production was the right move and Chrysler stayed afloat with the A-bodies.

[torredcuda]

Chrysler never produced enough of them initially and likely would not have been able to ramp this up enough through the 70s and 80s to make parts availability any better. Heck, even Camaro and Mustang sales dropped considerably during the time and I think around '76 Camaro was almost killed and it was removed from '02-'10.

They would have changed body styles over the years and since Chrysler never sold as many as GM and Ford parts supply would be no different.

I bought my Barracuda as a project in `82 and wanted something cool to drive while I restored it and since at the time I was not 100% Mopar or no Car I went out and bought a brand new `83 Mustang GT, 302, 5 spd. It was a quick, fun car to drive and I really liked the retro style when they came out in 2006 (?).

[MEK-Dangerous]

It's a shame that the E-Bodies were late to the show. The Mustangs and Camaros were already popular by the time E-Bodies came to be.

The E-Bodies had a good run in 70-71, but then HP started going away because of environmental concerns about pollution. No more Hemi, or big blocks in an E-Body after '71.   

[HP2]

E bodies were late to the show, but the Barracuda came out before the Mustang. Unfortunately tying it so closely to Valiant styling didn't endear it to the buying youth of the day who wanted something entirely new.

Imagine if the Dart had morphed into the Dodge E body like the Barracuda did for Plymouth. I wonder what that would have done to all the A body Darts produced in Central and South America for the next two decades. Then we might have had an interesting legacy of parts.

[blown motor]

It's a shame that the E-Bodies were late to the show. The Mustangs and Camaros were already popular by the time E-Bodies came to be.

The E-Bodies had a good run in 70-71, but then HP started going away because of environmental concerns about pollution. No more Hemi, or big blocks in an E-Body after '71.   

But you could still get a 440 in a B body in 73. 

[Purepony]

I don't think it's that because the firebird wasn't popular until 77-78 with the bandit.

I really think e bodies are cool but they do look like a dad car.