Plymouth Sport Satellite 1968 Convertible

This 1968 Plymouth Satellite convertible arrived the same year Plymouth reshuffled its entire intermediate lineup, introducing the Sport Satellite as a new range-topping model over a freshly redesigned B-body. Under the hood could be anything from a mild 318 V8 to the 425-horsepower 426 Hemi that made Plymouth’s street cars famous. Only 136,136 Satellites were built for 1968, and convertibles remain the rarest survivors of the bunch.

Nice one!

“Nice one!” reads the entire original caption for this drop-top, which tells you nothing about why a 1968 Satellite convertible is worth a second look. That single throwaway line is hiding one of Plymouth’s best-kept tricks from the muscle car era: a mid-1968 shuffle that quietly moved a brand-new nameplate to the top of the intermediate lineup, right as the B-body got its first full redesign in years. Pop the hood on a car like this and you genuinely don’t know what you’re going to find — anything from a mild-mannered 318 to the same 425-horsepower 426 Hemi that made Plymouth’s street cars legendary. So is this particular convertible a Sunday cruiser or a sleeper? The badge alone won’t say.

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The Year Satellite Became Sport Satellite

For 1968, Chrysler gave the entire Belvedere/Satellite/GTX B-body platform a full redesign, and Plymouth used the opportunity to introduce the Sport Satellite as a new top-trim model sitting above the standard Satellite line, complete with a standard 318-cid V8 rated at 230 horsepower. The Satellite name — which had anchored Plymouth’s intermediate range as the top trim since 1965 — stepped down to make room, and buyers could order the car as a four-door sedan, two-door hardtop, convertible, or six- and nine-passenger wagon. The restyled sheetmetal brought smoother, more rounded lines, subtle bodyside creases, and wedge-shaped taillamps that replaced the boxier look of earlier Satellites.

From 318 to 426: Six Engines, One Decision

What really set the ’68 Satellite lineup apart was the sheer spread of engines available under that redesigned hood. Buyers moved up from the 230-horse 318 through 361- and 383-cid V8s, all the way to the 426-cid Street Hemi rated at 425 horsepower — an engine that could push the car to 60 mph in a little over 5 seconds, versus 6 to 7 seconds for the milder options. Plymouth built 136,136 Satellites for the 1968 model year across every body style, but the convertible was always the rarest of the bunch, and a surviving drop-top in the kind of condition shown here — whatever is actually under that hood — is a genuine find today.

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