The Mopar six pack

The '69 'Bee deserves special mention here. Since it was the first car to wear the Six Pack label, it is, of course, the image that pops into most Mopar gearhead's minds when someone says Six Pack. Sure, we know the '69 'Runner was the same car; it just didn't say Six Pack. The Dodge name is the one that stuck.

Car Life magazine, in its July 1969 issue, sang high praise of the car -- and in more than drag action. "Decent brakes" and "superpredictable and superresponsive" are phrases they used to describe the handling of the 'Bee, but their last paragraph said it all: ". . . a drag-strip terror; a Hemi equalizer; and a 3,800-pound, 117-inch wheelbase slalom car." Did these guys like the 'Bee, or what?

For 1970, Chrysler wasn't about to let a good thing slip through their hands again, so they tooled up for an in-house iron version of the manifold. They also vastly widened the motor's availability, making it an option for the 'Cuda, Challenger, Road Runner, Super Bee, GTX, Coronet R/T, Charger R/T and "winged-thing No. 2," the Superbird.

Even land-yacht enthusiasts were happy in '70: The six-barrel monster wedge could be had in a C-body, the Sport Fury GT.

The Sport Fury GT with a 440 6 barrel, weighed in at 4216 pounds, had 3:23 gears and a torque flight. Ran the 1/4 in 16.01 at 92.5 mph by Road Test HP magazine, May 1970.

Ronnie Sox (the best stick shift racer to run a 1/4 mile) had a 69 440 6 bbl Road Runner across the 1320 in 12.98 seconds at 111.66 mph, Drag Racing magazine June 1969