Hi everybody. I bought a new Yellow and black Macho in April 77 at Las Vegas Dodge. Even though it was problem plauged from day one, mostly due to quality control issues, I still miss it. It originally had the 360 2 barrel engine in it, and was amazingly slow, but partially due to the motor leaking everywhere there was a gasket, it was soon upgraded with a cam and lifters, mildly ported heads, an aluminum intake and a Carter AFB and finally a Thermoquad carb. It had headers running into some huge turbo mufflers and the exhaust came straight out the sides just in front of the rear axles. It caught on fire twice due to shorts in the harness under the dash, due to the harness being too short, so it was too tight, and that caused the wires to rub together and cause all kinds of problems. Sometimes it wouldn't run, sometimes, it wouldn't shut off! The left rear axle wasn't properly heat treated and broke soon after the warranty expired and I had a lot of problems getting any help from the dealer or Chrysler itself, but finally got reimbursed for most of the cost. In the 4 years I had it, I spent over $4000 in parts and labor, and I did most of the work myself! My garage floor was a mess from all the oil, tranny fluid, and rear end lube constantly coming out of it. I put together hunks of cardboard with paper towels inside, and it helped, but there was so much leakage that even that didn't keep the floor clean.

After the mods, it would run a 15.20 1/4 mile in the heat of day, with a MPH trap speed that showed it was making mid 14 second power. I


I had it until May of 1981, when I finally couldn't take it's unending electrical and other problems, and traded it in on a used 79 TransAm at Pat Clark Pontiac.

A few years ago, I saw a near duplicate one here locally in Toledo, fully restored with a 383, headers, cam, intake, 4.10's, headers and a very nice exhaust setup instead of the 318 it came with, yellow and black and it was perfect, and ran way better than any late 70's PW dreamed of running. It was sold to someone out of state for $11K. I tried to get the money together, but I had two car payments already, and had to let it go. I see what appears to be a brown and black '79 around town occaisonally, but it's in amazingly bad shape for something that still actually runs.

Hi 77powerwagon and welcome to the forum! Sounds like a really bad run on luck with that Macho! Do you have any pictures of it? We'd love to see them. Stick around because we are always posting about Machos we find for sale. Maybe you'll find another one you like that will be a lot less trouble.

Great Macho Bio there 77POWERWAGON.

My favorite line is "Sometimes it wouldn't run, sometimes, it wouldn't shut off! "

Anybody that has ever lived with these things, could probably add their own
version, including mysterious smells, lights going dim, tailgates and doors
that don't open (or close). Metallic paint that lasted about 2 years. TQs that
leaked (fire), amp guages melting into the housings (fire). Too hot, too cold,
etc etc.

Quality Control?
nope

Countless design flaws?
yep

All true and yet there was a reason why Rick Simon kept his old
truck. (look at that picture of him sitting on the core support.
(Dapper's Avatar)

There's a reason why you still miss yours.

And, there's a reason why we still play with these things.

Not sure what what it is

But there must be an explanation, why?

I've had several 70's Dodge trucks with all of the same issues. I grew up on the opposite side of the tracks. I began driving in my great granddad's 79 Chevy, which I still have and love, which never had a problem in it's life, and to this day is still as reliable (as Bob Seger would say) as a rock. But for some reason, I remain drawn to the 70's Dodge trucks. Maybe it has to do with my obsession with Mopar muscle cars. I guess you can't purge Mopar from your blood.

Thanks for the replies. That's really the only "dud" mopar I've had. My first car was a 74 Roadrunner 360, Silver with red stripes. I stupidly traded it in on the PW. It's still running around Vegas, all restored with a built 440 in it. I drive a black '08 Charger R/T right now, I got it when I fell and hurt both knees and my '03 Hemi Ram 4x4 was too big a hassle to get into anymore. I miss the Ram too, I see it pretty much every day, sitting in the driveway of the new owner. It's about a mile and a half away from my house. Other than the rear end shelling itself about a year and a half after I bought it, it was trouble free. They didn't assemble the carrier right, and one day it came apart. It was fixed the same day, under warranty and I never really had another problem with it. I was just about to pay it off when I traded it on the Charger. One of these days, I'm going to be able to buy another PW, just for a toy.

I have a couple someplace. One of them is it on the last day I had it, with me in it giving a thumbs down. I haven't been able to find that pic in a long time, but I might be able to find the other ones I have and post them. The final thing that pushed me to the edge is the power steering pump died, for the second time, and my driving it to the place I worked at to change it broke the steering wheel hub, so I had to yank it off and put a new hub on it, along with the pump, and all the flushing out I had to do to get the shrapnel and then it seemed like it took forever for all the air to clear out of it. It was the third thing in a week, and I had finally had it. The Trans Am was a dream come true after suffering with the PW for 4 years.

[ It was the third thing in a week, and I had finally had it. ))"


Wow! that thing was cursed...

Thumbs down picture would be good funny for the Gallery.

Cursed is the right word for it! The problems were never ending, it just kept leaking, burning, hissing, clunking, etc. Even the factory radio puked out about a year or so after I bought it. It was a great excuse to buy an aftermarket stereo anyway, so I didn't really care a whole lot. I don't think there was one flat surface on the motor when it was made, a straightedge on the block wiggled a little bit, and it wiggled on the intake side of the heads too. Even after my friend's uncle rebuilt it after machining the block, the new front seal still dribbled oil. At least the pan and manifold stopped leaking at that point!

One of the more comical things on it was the "welding" on the rollbar. It was hilariously bad, once the paint started flaking off, it was obvious how bad, and "spotty" it was. Just before I dumped it, I pulled it out, took it to a welding place and had them sandblast it and redo all the welds. It was a major hassle to put it back in, as it had to be tweaked to get the bolt holes to line up so the bolts could be reinserted. After it was welded up like it should have been, it didn't "wiggle" anymore, and a friend and I had to really muscle it to get it back in. I had primed it, and was going to take it back out and have a friend of mine paint it for me, but I had reached the end of my rope, and I just left it as is, and took it to the Pontiac place. Some bozo bought it at the local auction, rolled the odometer back 10K, and then parked it right down the street from my house with a for sale sign on it. He didn't paint the rollbar either. About a week or so later, it was gone. I saw it a few times after that, on the Strip, with the primered roll bar.

Of all the cars and trucks I've owned, the old lemon had the best seats, hands down! They didn't look all that confortable, but they were.