Two-door post sedans to get their time in the limelight at MCACN

1967 Mercury Comet 202 R-code. Photos courtesy Mecum.

Whatever the terms the various manufacturers used for them – sport coupe, club coupe, two-door sedan – what is commonly known today as the two-door post sedan had a longtime reputation as the most basic, cheapest car one could get as well as the lightest and stiffest basis for a drag racer. Later this year, the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals will celebrate those drag strippers with their own class.

Before the advent of the glitzier hardtop in the Fifties, the two-door post was the only sedan style available aside from the four-doors. They remained in manufacturer lineups during the Sixties for the budget-conscious buyer, but racers soon discovered that any two-door post sedan had far more potential than similarly equipped hardtops and convertibles.

“They were just the plainest, cheapest cars with the biggest and most horsepower engines available,” said Ryan Weaver, who is putting the MCACN class together with fellow two-door post enthusiast Dan Vasic. “They were much more rigid, so they didn’t lift, torque or twist, which put more of the engine’s effort into the rear tires.”

The cars tended to be lighter, too, not only as a result of construction – hardtops and convertibles typically had heavier frames and more extensive interior bracing than post sedans – but also because they could be had with far fewer amenities than hardtops and convertibles. Even into the late Sixties, Weaver noted, some manufacturers allowed buyers to delete not only heaters and radios but also passenger-side sunvisors, headrests and armrests.

Little wonder, then, that most factory- and dealer-sponsored Super Stockers and FXers – including the A990s and the Ford Thunderbolts – originated as two-door post sedans rather than two-door hardtops.

Weaver and Vasic, who teamed up on last year’s L89 display at MCACN, decided to fill their class with one high-performance two-door sedan example from every muscle-era manufacturer, which is why their list so far includes everything from a 383-powered 1968 Plymouth Road Runner coupe to a 455 HO-powered 1972 Pontiac T37 to the 427-powered 1967 Mercury Comet 202 pictured above to the R3-powered 1964 Studebaker Super Lark. Weaver noted that they’re still on the hunt for an AMC product as well as one from Canada’s Beaumont to round out their list.

This year’s Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals will take place November 21 and 22 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. For more information, visit MCACN.com.

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