The unloved sometimes have history on their side—witness Henri Rousseau, a man whose paintings elicited ridicule from the more snobbish of the art elite, yet his work is much more appreciated today. There are cars that have garnered deserved attention well after their debut, but what about the ones that continue to languish in obscurity? The 1974 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Sundance is one of those cars.
When Plymouth redesigned its B-body platform for 1971, it created two separate versions depending on the number of doors. For the two-doors, a sleek coupe distinguished itself from four-doors, rather than just being the same body with two fewer doors. With the Belvedere now relegated to history, the coupe began with the Satellite (the only one with a fixed rear quarter window), Satellite Sebring, and Satellite Sebring Plus, plus Road Runner and GTX. Satellite Sebring was the bread and butter of the mid-size two-doors.
For 1973, Plymouth restyled the Satellite two-door, which included updated regulation front bumper, to be joined by regulation rear bumper the following year. Though arguably less distinctive, the mid-size Plymouth two-door remained popular—even the Road Runner’s sales were respectable.
As was not uncommon for the time, Plymouth introduced a special spring promotion to help kick sales up a notch. Called the Sundance (option code A77), this specially-trimmed Satellite Sebring featured your choice of Aztec Gold metallic or Spinnaker White paint with a canopy vinyl top. Special exterior trim included an intricate, two-tone orange stripe that followed the same route (“up-and-over”) as the Road Runner’s, plus unique orange grille detail, and Sundance sunbursts on the front hood panel, C-pillar, and decklid. Capping it all off was a set of “Premier” wheel covers, which were also available for other Satellites.
Inside, a very 1970s white vinyl bench seat with yellow gold/white/black cloth and matching door panels. Black shag carpeting covered the floor and adorned the seatbacks and door lower panels.
There’s not much official information from Chrysler, but several websites seem to think only 300 built—I suspect someone speculated and other sites parroted the unverified claim. As a spring promotion, I suspect many more were built, especially considering how many can be found online.
Special thanks to Adrian Clements for the tip. You can check out some of his spectacular videos here.
