"AMC/Renauledge" (n2skylark)
12/12/2014 at 21:52 • Filed to: None
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"AMC/Renauledge" (n2skylark)
12/12/2014 at 21:52 • Filed to: None | 1
| 17 |
Dodge's "crosshair" grille inserts have been a fixture of car styling for decades now. They've come in many forms and have been applied to everything from the smallest cars to the biggest trucks sold in Dodge dealerships. Today, everything from the Dart and Challenger to the Caravan and ProMaster carry the crosshairs in their grilles.
At first, the crosshairs were a Chrysler 300 styling hallmark, beginning with the 1960 300F and continuing through the 1969 "fuselage" 300. From 1970-78, the crosshair grille was mothballed, only to come back in 1979 on the special Cordoba 300. The crosshairs were then translated to the 1980-83 Cordoba LS. And from that point, the Chrysler brand stopped using it entirely.
Sometime after that , Dodge started using the crosshair grille. It started out on one trim level of one model, and its use spread gradually across the lineup, year after year, until it became the iconic Dodge/Ram identifier that it is today.
Q: So what was the first Dodge to begin the unbroken use the "Crosshair" grille design?
Give me year, make, model, and trim level.
A: 1984 Dodge Diplomat SE. From 1984-89, the Diplomat came with 2 different front ends. One for the basic fleet special Diplomat Salon that almost identical to the Gran Fury. The other was the upscale retail-focused Diplomat SE, which shared most of its trim (except the grille insert and surround) with the Chrysler Fifth Avenue. This is the car that started the unbroken crosshair lineage for Dodge. Hat tip to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for guessing correctly!
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
ClassicDatsunDebate
> AMC/Renauledge
12/12/2014 at 22:01 |
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I guess you could say a '41 Dodge pickup had a crosshair grille if you squint a bit.
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AMC/Renauledge
> ClassicDatsunDebate
12/12/2014 at 22:03 |
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Good catch! It wasn't what I had in mind, but if you're willing to stretch the definition of "crosshair" and "grille," it sort of works.
Axial
> AMC/Renauledge
12/12/2014 at 22:09 |
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he 1977 Dodge Monaco definitely emphasizes the horizontal bar in its grille:
And so does the first-gen Colt (this is a '73):
The first use of the modern crosshair grille, though, was the 1986 Lancer I think:
The 1985 still had a vertical baleen type grille.
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AMC/Renauledge
> Axial
12/12/2014 at 22:13 |
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Yeah, the 1977-78 Monaco was a split grille with two separate textured inserts. It's not at all like what we've got today. Same deal with the Colt.
The 1985 Lancer was the second Dodge adopter of the crosshair grille. But not the first.
jkm7680
> AMC/Renauledge
12/12/2014 at 22:14 |
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If you run over a sniper rifle, and it somehow gets lodged into the grill. So 1915 sounds about right.
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AMC/Renauledge
> jkm7680
12/12/2014 at 22:16 |
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LOL. Clever.
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ClassicDatsunDebate
> AMC/Renauledge
12/12/2014 at 22:19 |
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How 'bout a '67 Coronet 500?
I had a 68 Sport Satellite convert. I loved the style because it had the cool waffle grill like a 68 Roadrunner but it was a convertible (which they didn't offer in a Roadrunner that year).
I sold it to buy new carpet for my house.....life is full of regrets.
Boxer_4
> AMC/Renauledge
12/12/2014 at 22:20 |
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The 1968 Dart GTS appears to have the crosshair grille. I'm not sure if that's what you're thinking of.
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AMC/Renauledge
> Boxer_4
12/12/2014 at 22:25 |
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That wasn't what I was thinking of. But it's a good catch! The '68 Dart GTS definitely has it. But it didn't start the current, unbroken line of Dodge crosshair grilles.
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AMC/Renauledge
> ClassicDatsunDebate
12/12/2014 at 22:26 |
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That wasn't what I was thinking of. But it's a good catch! The '67 Coronet 500 definitely has it. But it didn't start the current, unbroken line of Dodge crosshair grilles. That's the answer I am looking for.
big eagle
> AMC/Renauledge
12/12/2014 at 22:45 |
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was it the dodge diplomat? Introduced in 1977?
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big eagle
> big eagle
12/12/2014 at 22:52 |
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it's not. Don't listen to me
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AMC/Renauledge
> big eagle
12/12/2014 at 23:27 |
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The 1977 Diplomat wasn't. But you're getting warm.
Blake Noble
> AMC/Renauledge
12/13/2014 at 00:33 |
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1982 Dodge Diplomat.
(I can't remember 100 percent if 1982 is the correct year. If not, then it's '83. But definitely not '81.)
doodon2whls
> AMC/Renauledge
12/13/2014 at 05:49 |
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Dodge Aries K ?
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AMC/Renauledge
> Blake Noble
12/13/2014 at 07:55 |
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1984 Diplomat SE, specifically. The standard Salon model was the police/taxi fleet queen with the same grille as the '80 version. The '84-89 SE's all had the Fifth Avenue's headlights flanking a square crosshair grille.
YOU WIN!!!!
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AMC/Renauledge
> doodon2whls
12/13/2014 at 07:55 |
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Close. The Aries K got the crosshair grille in 1985. But the thread has been updated to include the correct answer.