Kiely Mackey’s 1969 Plymouth Satellite drift build took the internet by storm as soon as he started sending it sideways at drift events on the East Coast. Car enthusiasts of all camps were instantly enamored by the shrieks of raw power and frying tires belted out with the compliments of Detroit’s finest sheet metal. It became a legend the instant it appeared at events like Drift Appalachia and now Gridlife. That’s really no surprise, though. Because if Chrysler’s coveted B-body platform is abundant in anything, it’s impact.
Everything about this package is as bizarre as it is beautiful. Not only is it tearing up circuits typically dominated by smaller, more nimble Euro and Japanese applications, it’s also a culmination of parts that would make the purist’s blood boil at the same time as it’d capture their admiration. As weird and as warped as it may feel, it’s also built on the very foundation on which all great American hot rodding stories stand proud.
With all the momentum this car’s built already and a long road ahead of it, you’ll be seeing a lot more of the drift Satellite. I recently reached out to Mackey to get the scoop on this wild machine, and he uncorked a pretty remarkable story.
1969 Shell, Frankenstein’s Guts
Let’s tear that bandage right off. This is no all-original piece of Mopar history. It’s not a period correct performance package. Nor is it even composed of all Mopar parts. It’s a purpose-built drift machine with an LS under the hood and a well-built Tremec T56 Magnum behind it. If that’s already too much for you to handle, consider this a fair warning to turn back now.
Ok, it’s not actually an LS engine. It’s an L92 that’s been worked over with all the hardware to essentially replicate one. According to Mackey, the engine makes 468 horsepower and north of 400 foot pounds of torque.
Before you scoff at a sub-500 horsepower rating, keep in mind that Chrysler B-bodies are far lighter than many expect. The ’69 Road Runner had an advertised curb weight of less than 3,500 pounds. This fully-caged drift-spec Satellite hits the scales around 3,200 pounds. It’s no featherweight, but it is more than light enough for a 470-horsepower V8 to bully around.
The engine is only part of the story. Mackey went all-out when coming up with a combination he knew would perform the way he wanted. The factory torsion bar front setup is long gone. That LS is cradled in a fully custom front end that started life in a BMW E36. Mackey also ditched the leaf-springs and original axle in favor of a four-link and Lincoln-locked Ford 8.8-inch differential. This project is a little more hardcore than the similar Heidts bolt-in mods I’ve made to my own ‘69 Charger, and Mackey, who’s a lifelong drifter and builds cars professionally at Mid-Atlantic Motorsports in Glen Arm, Maryland, has both the experience and equipment to make it happen.
“I’m not getting rid of a straight axle onto this thing because, yeah, you could make it work a lot better with some independent rear stuff, but I felt like that kind of ruined the feel. I wanted it to still feel like an old car, kind of tow the line between being an old car still and working well,” explains Mackey.
Why Use a Satellite?
Why do all of this when you can just have easily went with a car that’s a much better starting point for drifting? Mackey’s been at it since adolescence. He’s had everything from 240SXs and Corollas to the mighty JZX. He’s run the gamut from being a spunky teen with an urge to get his license revoked to competing in the real deal. Suffice it to say, he’s no newcomer to drifting, nor is he unfamiliar with the platforms typical of the sport.
Along the way, he’s also maintained a steady love affair with Chrysler B-bodies. Some of his latest projects even include a ’70 Charger with a Gen-3 Hemi under the hood and an A12 Road Runner restoration he recently sold. Knowing that, this drift ’69 Satellite feels like an inevitability.
“I don’t mean to try and make it into some kind of macho guy thing or whatever, but a car should be your fun car. It should kind of be extreme. So if it’s going to be a cute car, have a cappuccino and paint it. Man, go all the way. But if you’re going to have a car and you want it to be badass, the most badass muscle cars were B-body Mopars,” says Mackey. “There’s nothing meaner and tougher than a B-Body.”
This build has been something he’s been thinking of for a while, too. He explained that he’d thought of using the Charger for drifting but he just couldn’t cut it up. Seeing as Chargers are also far more expensive, with the Plymouth still being every bit as badass, the latter is clearly the better way to go for something like this.
Don’t blow a gasket thinking about how he still cut up a clearly awesome Mopar. This is still just a Sport Satellite. It’s no GTX or Road Runner. It had a 318 under the hood, a 904 behind it, and an 8.25-inch differential out back. It also already had all the typical Mopar rust issues. They had eaten up much of the metal he’d cut up for this build anyway. It was a car nobody was going to restore to all-original anyway.
An Endgame That Pulls at the Heartstrings
Kiely’s put a ton of work into this build and with some serious hustle. He was able to take the car from the clapped-out state he found it in, to its current status within just four months. But even as cool as the car’s gruff exterior is and how well it plays to the ratty muscle trend, this is not the final vision. As a matter of fact, Mackey aims to replicate the paint scheme of his father’s former drag race car.
“The car[‘s color] was what’s called fire mist green metallic, it was green with a gold roof,” says Mackey. That’s right where this Plymouth’s headed. Though, his father’s car wasn’t a Plymouth. It wasn’t even a Mopar. “The name of the car was Tension. It turned a lot of RPM. That’s really the only tieback to this car. It has a pretty high RPM engine for drifting in it and it sounds like it’s going to break. And that was the thing with Dad’s ‘55 Chevy. People would come to line waiting to see it blow up. It turned like 7,700 or something” says Mackey.
All these years later, Mackey is commanding a high-winding Chevrolet engine like his father once did. Only now is it in a totally different package used for totally different motorsport. After learning all I have about Kiely and his car, it all feels right at home with his tradition of breaking tradition.
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