Most people who know this car at all know it from the Brady Bunch. Carol Brady drove one on television for six seasons, which was basically the worst possible thing that could happen to a wagon's reputation. Because what Plymouth actually built here had nothing to do with wholesome family television.
For 1971, Chrysler gave its entire B-body intermediate lineup a full redesign using what they called fuselage styling, with aircraft-inspired swooping lines and a coke-bottle body profile. Crucially, the engineers gave the two-door coupes, the four-door sedans, and the station wagons completely different sheet metal from one another, meaning the wagon was not simply a chopped coupe with a roof extension bolted on. It was a purpose-built machine on a 117-inch wheelbase stretching over 210 inches from bumper to bumper, and it looked every inch of it.
The Regent was the top trim level in the wagon lineup and came standard with concealed wipers, flush door handles, and more aerodynamic rear windows. The nine-passenger version added a proper third row and was priced at $3,640 at the window, while only 2,985 examples were ever built in that configuration. Finding a genuine Regent nine-passenger today is considerably harder than finding a Road Runner.
Here is the part the station wagon crowd never talks about. The engine options on the 1971 Satellite wagon ran from the trusty 225 cubic inch Slant Six all the way up through the 318, the 383 in multiple states of tune, and then straight to the 440 cubic inch Super Commando V8 delivering 375 horsepower. The same engine that powered the GTX. In a wagon. With fake wood on the sides and a roof rack on top.
1971 was, by most accounts, the last year for truly uncompromised muscle car engine options before emissions regulations and skyrocketing insurance rates permanently changed what Detroit was allowed to put in a production vehicle. Plymouth knew it was coming and made absolutely no attempt to hold back on the way out.
Values on the fuselage-era Satellites remained surprisingly flat for decades while the Road Runner and GTX climbed steadily out of reach for most collectors. That gap has been closing, and the Regent wagon in particular has started drawing serious attention from people who want genuine early-seventies Mopar character without paying GTX money.
Nine seats, fake wood, and a 375-horsepower big block under the hood. Carol Brady had absolutely no idea what she was driving.
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