1968-69 Dodge Hemi Charger
In 1967, Dodge had a drop in sales and started thinking of new designs for their cars. It was decided that in 1968 they will separate and diversify their Coronet and Charger models and create a new style in B-head designs. Design was not the only concern as they kept losing races against the Ford cars, so the revamped their mechanism too. Designer Richard Sias introduced the coke bottle styling where the front fenders and rear panel quarters were shaped like coke bottles.
Harvey Winn designed the front and rear end to show a ‘kick-up’ spoiler surface, inspired by Group 7 racecars. The Charger carried on its full-length hidden headlight grille, but the fully rotating electric headlights had been swapped by a simple vacuum operated cover, resembling the Camaro RS. The full length taillights were replaced by dual Corvette-inspired taillights.
The Charger was made in two special editions: 500 and Daytona, both receiving the high performance R/T badge (Road/Track). The engine included five V-8 cylinders with 425-horsepower 426-cid “Street Hemi”. Depending on the version, accessible transmissions were three- and four-speed manuals, bonus the excellent three-speed TorqueFlite automatic. Both cars proved to be good competition for Ford, as a war waged between Chrysler and Ford for NASCAR stock-car racing. Dodge Chargers won nearly 19 NASCAR races but Ford Torino and mercury Cyclones of FoMoCo (Ford Motor Company) won 30 races. The Charger 500’s were becoming a thing of the past soon, so Chrysler introduced the Daytona, a modified Charger 500. It brought down lift by setting up a flat tail stabilizer on towering upright extensions that ascended from the deck. But it was too late; the Ford blitz of winning races kept on.
The Dodge Charger was produced in the USA in 1969 and last car produced was in 1971. The car weighed just 1665 kg and was priced $4600-4850, depending on the design the customer wanted. The engine used V-8 cylinders with 426 cid displacement. The fuel system was 2 x 4 bbl and compression was 10.25:1. The horsepower was 425 per 5000 rpm and torque was 490 per 5000 rpm. The car went from 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds and ran a quarter mile in 13.48 seconds at the speed of 109 mph. Only 500 Charger 500’s were made but 392 were bought for street use. The rest were gutted in races, re-painted or modified. Only 67 of them were 426 Hemi; 27 with 4-Speeds and rest 40 with Torqueflites. Wanna see the Charger 500’s on TV? Get the 1980’s “Dukes of Hazzard” and check out the car nicknamed General Lee. It was fully customized for the show with the American flag on the roof and ‘General Lee’ on the doors. Or else watch ‘ The Fast and The Furious’ where a 69′ Charger was re-modeled to look like 70’s one.
Buying a Dodge Charger is very tough, as there are very few originals in the world. From what I researched, Dodge Charger 500 range anywhere from $23200 – $37500.
- Hiren Naresh
Tags: cars, dodge charger, dodge charger cars
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