The culture included cars as well as items that have since become nostalgic collectibles, such as posters, T-Shirts, team jackets, logo items and hard-to-find parts. With its 300-horsepower Hemi V-8 engine introduced in 1955 C-300 production, the concept of sky’s-the-limit horsepower may have begun the Mopar culture.Īrguably, the strongest, most exciting and fervent Mopar culture era occurred 50 years ago, in the early 1970s, when Mopar was spelled in lower case, and was led by those who were brand loyal and who championed vehicles from Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, DeSoto and Imperial and to whom the phrase 'Mopar or no car' was a way of life. Mopar has gone from being spelled “MoPar”, to “Mopar,” to the current “MOPAR®” after a 2002 logo redesign.Ĭar culture is often defined as “a society or way of life characterized by excessive use of or reliance on motor vehicles.” But we think “excessive” is a wrong term … we define it as a “love or devotion to motor vehicles as an integral part of car fans’ and mainstream America’s lives and personalities.”Ĭhrysler is considered by many to be the original pioneer of the “muscle car” boom in the post-war era following the Second World War. The change may have begun in the postwar years, when the division’s involvement with racing, coupled with internal efforts to develop high-output parts for production cars, merged the Mopar name to high-performance. The name 'MoPar', a derivation of “Motor Parts,” was created by marketing executives to use on cans of “Chrysler Motor Parts” antifreeze. The term has since become an inclusive word for any Chrysler-built vehicle-most any Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, Imperial, DeSoto or RAM, and often includes AMC, Eagle and JEEP following Chrysler's 1987 buyout of American Motors Corp. The term “MoPar” was first used by Chrysler in the 1920s and was introduced as a brand starting in 1937. Celebrating its 84th birthday in 2021, MOPAR® now encompasses the portion of Stellantis brands (the parent company) that includes, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep – some automotive enthusiasts even envelope all 14 Stellantis badges as Mopar, but it wasn’t always that way.

1968 dart circuit racer