Introduced in 1967 as a more upscale alternative to the two-door Belvedere, the Plymouth GTX became known as “the gentleman’s muscle car.” It wasn’t exactly luxurious, but it offered more convenience features than the regular muscle car available at the time. And unlike the Belvedere, it was only available with Plymouth’s top-tier V8 engines.
Specifically, the GTX was equipped with the big 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) RB V8 as standard. The four-barrel mill was good for 375 horsepower, more than what a Ford Mustang Cobra Jet was capable of at the time. But Plymouth also dropped the awesome 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 in the GTX. Rated at 425 horsepower, it barely had any rivals at the time.
The nameplate remained faithful to this lineup until it was phased out in 1971. That’s when Chrysler also discontinued the mighty 426 HEMI.
However, Plymouth introduced a second 440 V8 for the 1970 model year. Yup, I’m talking about the six-barrel version of the mill that found its way in a long list of Mopars mid-way through 1969.
Yes, it’s nowhere near as rare as the HEMI variant, built in 71 examples, but that’s still less than 10% of total production. The same goes for 1971 when total GTX production dropped to 2,942 cars and only 135 of them got the 440-6 V8.
So what do you do when you can’t afford a 440-6 GTX? Well, you can always restore a 440 car with a six-barrel mill under the hood. It’s been done quite a lot and the result is usually a really cool sleeper. This 1968 GTX is one of those cars.
But wait, wasn’t the 440-6 V8 introduced in 1969? Yes, that’s correct, but that didn’t stop Kevin Plummer from dropping a similar layout in an earlier Mopar. And based on the way it looks, that 440-6 is also more of an aftermarket effort rather than an all-original unit sourced from another Plymouth.
