Most muscle cars of 1967 made you pay extra for the engine that mattered, the Plymouth GTX just built it in standard, wrapping a 440 Super Commando inside comfort-focused styling borrowed from the upscale Satellite. Buyers chasing even more performance could step up to the fabled 426 Hemi, but most stuck with the 440 for good reason. Here is why Plymouth’s gentleman’s muscle car approach to the GTX still holds up as one of the smarter muscle car formulas of its era.
The GTX Â integrates head turning style with top performance. This Plymouth is based on the Belvedere, but with an upgraded suspension. The GTXÂ front and rear fascia is borrowed from the Satellite. Standard equipment for the GTX is the Super Commando 440 engine which is rated at 375 hp (280 kW) or the optional 426 Hemi is the top choice for performance. The ’67 GTX with the 440 will do 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 6.5 seconds and can do the quarter mile in 15,2 seconds @Â 97 mph. The 426 Hemi engine cuts the 0-60 mph time to 4.8 seconds with a quarter mile time of 13.5 seconds reaching 105 mph (169 km/h) in the process.
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Plymouth had a problem in 1967, how do you sell a genuinely serious performance car to buyers who wanted comfort too, without diluting either side of that equation. The answer was the GTX, built on the Belvedere platform but wearing sheet metal borrowed from the more upscale Satellite and suspension work nobody expected in a mid-size Plymouth. Unlike most muscle cars of the era that made you choose a big engine as an option, Plymouth made the decision for you, every single GTX left the factory with a genuinely massive 440 under the hood as standard equipment. And if that was not enough, there was an even more serious engine waiting on the order sheet for buyers who wanted to make a real statement. What exactly made Plymouth confident enough to make a 440 the base engine instead of an upsell?
The Standard Engine Was Already the Big One
The 440 Super Commando was not an option on the GTX, it was standard equipment, rated at 375 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque, meaning no small-block GTX ever left a Plymouth dealership. With the automatic transmission, that combination ran 0 to 60 in roughly 6.5 seconds and covered the quarter mile in about 15.2 seconds at 97 miles per hour, genuinely quick numbers for a car that also came with the comfort touches of the Belvedere and Satellite lines. Plymouth built the GTX specifically as a gentleman’s muscle car, skipping the usual engine-option guessing game other manufacturers made buyers play.
When 440 Was Not Enough: The Hemi Option
For buyers who wanted more than the standard 440 could offer, Plymouth still made the legendary 426 Hemi available as a factory option on the GTX. With a manual transmission behind it, a Hemi-equipped GTX could hit 60 in around 4.8 seconds and cover the quarter mile in about 13.5 seconds at 105 miles per hour, more than a full second quicker than the standard car. Very few buyers actually checked that box, since the Hemi demanded premium fuel, ran a rough idle, and needed mechanical lifters that made it a genuine handful to live with day to day. Most GTX buyers stuck with the 440 for exactly those reasons, which is why the standard car remains the more practical choice even though the Hemi got all the glory.
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