1965 Plymouth Satellite 440-Plus Six Packs A Punch

“She drove a Plymouth Satellite. Faster than the speed of light. Planet Claire has pink air. All the trees are red.” Not exactly the kind of automotive lyrics that inspire street racing lust, like Drag City, The Little Old Lady From Pasadena, or Dead Man’s Curve. But this B-52s song from 1979 helped ingrain the Plymouth Satellite into the brains of a lot of non-car people. This 1965 Plymouth Satellite was purchased new by a lady named Bethany. It had air conditioning, a big-block, and a factory console-mounted tachometer. Whether she drove it faster than the speed of light is anyone’s guess, but it was a cool machine then and it’s even meaner now.

Now, we know Bethany was not from Planet Claire. She was from California. Eventually, she sold the white and red Plymouth, and it ended up in Iowa.

The current owner, Chuck Joerin, purchased this Mopar (and three others) from the same individual who grabbed it from Bethany back in the ’70s.

The other cars are a ’69 F8 Green Barracuda with W2 head- and intake-equipped 340, a ’71 Demon with a 340 and a ’70 Duster with a 418 stroker under the hood.

“I sold the ’68 Barracuda that I had, so I was looking for another Barracuda,” said Chuck. “I would do a job, get bored, and because I didn’t have any cars, I’d get on the internet and start searching around.”

That’s how Chuck found his current ’69 Barracuda four years ago. He became friends with the Kenton, the seller, then about a year ago, the Satellite went up for sale. Kenton’s father was friends with the son of the original owner, Miss Bethany. The Plymouth has changed a bunch since the lady from California had it, though. She parted with it sometime before 1970. Kenton, the second owner, was lucky enough to score a complete, running 440 Six-Pack out of a totaled ’71 Charger R/T in the early part of that decade. That was a heck of a find, as fewer than 200 such cars were sold in the U.S.

The RB engine did get a cam swap and an aluminum aftermarket intake manifold, but except for the headers, it is 100 percent stock. Still, 425 or so estimated horsepower is plenty for this beautiful B-body. Exhaust is carried away by long-tube headers, and 3-inch exhaust through Flowmaster mufflers.

The 440 sends power through the original 727 TorqueFlite to an 8 3/4 rear fitted with 4.30:1 gears. It sounds positively evil and runs hard.

Chuck said the paint on the car is about 80 percent original. Bethany did a slight alteration to the right front fender, but that was repaired and redone long ago. Chuck had that old white paint and buffed and coated, so it looks remarkably fresh today. So does all the factory stainless and chrome.

What really sets this car off is the gorgeous red bucket seat/console/floor shifter interior. This was standard equipment on the Satellite and the seats are super comfortable. Among the other options the car received were the console mounted tachometer and factory air conditioning! There’s an Auto Meter tach in place of the original now, but Kenton is sending the original to Chuck as I type this. That is a rare, hard to get piece, and Chuck is lucky to get it back. Even the factory AM radio still works.

As for the original air conditioning set up, it is currently on the floor of Chuck’s garage, and we can verify after picking it up that is weighs every bit of 50 pounds. A fascinating part of cars so equipped is the defroster vents were adjustable at the top of the dash. The carpeting and seat covers are all one percent original, too. Chuck also got the original 361 baby big-block when he purchased the car, should he ever want to restore it to stock.

With all this horsepower and gear, there’s no surprise the car wears larger-than-stock modern wheels and tires. Weld wheels are wrapped in BFGoodrich Comp T/A drag radials (275/60R15s), with 215/75R15s out back.

In the muscle car universe, the ’65 Mopar B-bodies often get overlooked, but the Plymouths and Dodges were available with plenty of horsepower, including the 330-hp 383 and 365-horse 426 Street Wedge. These were more than enough to hold their own against the competition, but the universe had GTO fever back then (and now). But Chuck’s car proves they were sporty, handsome, and quick.

Even a lot of so-called Mopar people shun these early B-bodies in favor of the 1968 and later cars, but we think it is a fantastic automobile, and definitely makes for a terrific street brawler.