Scott Frye was told so many times that his 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee wasn’t legit that he was starting to have some doubts himself.

The Sobieski, Wis., resident had bought his cool MoPar as a fixer-upper when he was still in high school. He was pretty happy with his purchase at the time, but then the naysayers — who didn’t really know what they were talking about — had him questioning whether he had been duped.

“You never heard of the ’71 Super Bees. You always heard of the ’68 through ’70s, but you never heard of the ’71,” says Frye, who showed off his hot Dodge at last summer’s Iola Car Show in Wisconsin. “And I remember the first three years I had it, I can’t tell you how many people said, ‘They never made a Super Bee in ’71! This is a Dodge Charger. They never made a Charger Super Bee!’ But they did, one year.

“And I was a young kid, and I didn’t know. I’d say, ‘Well, where did these Super Bee stickers come from, and all the decals? Why would somebody do all that?’ It wasn’t until I went to the MoPar Nationals and started seeing some other ones that I knew for sure that they made them.”

It was a couple trips to those national meets that actually changed the future for Frye’s ’71. Instead of just looking at the car as some cool, muscular daily transportation, he started hatching bigger plans.

“People were telling me how rare they are, how you never seen ’em. You would never even see them in the magazines,” he adds. “I said, ‘I gotta go through this car. I gotta go through everything and, you know, make it right …And the rest is history.”

The bad news when Frye bought his Super Bee back in 1984 was it had been the victim of neglect and had sat outside for quite a while, wasting away through some hostile Wisconsin winters. The good news is that it was still in remarkably good shape — probably in large part due to the aftermarket rust-proofing it got when it was new. Plus, Frye had already gotten some practice fixing and restoring MoPars by the time he and a friend decided to go check out a group of cars for sale in a barnyard stash that they had heard about.

“My first car was a 1970 Dodge Cornet 500 that my dad bought me for 100 bucks,” he laughs. “I worked on that car for a year, and then my friend called me one day and said, ‘You’ve got to come and check out this barn full of cars!’ So we went there, and it was like something you would see on the Internet, where you see an old barn or a field and all you see is MoPars everywhere! It was unbelievable. We were walking around and I asked the guy, ‘Are you selling anything? Is any of this for sale?’ And he says, ‘Everything is for sale.’ So I saw this car and I talked to my parents. We agreed on a price … He had this one behind one of his sheds or garages, and it was still covered up under the snow. And I remember he had to drag it out of the mud in, like, April or March.”

Bright red 1971 Super Bees are easy cars to take notice of, and Frye was pretty certain he remembered seeing the car in question driving around in Green Bay a few years earlier. Sure enough, the car had been sold originally at a Green Bay Dodge-Chrysler dealership and Frye was the third owner. And fortunately, the first owner apparently had some admirable foresight when he decided to shell out for some rustproofing.

“It had that Ziebart sticker in the rear quarter window on it when I bought the car in 1984,” he says. “Later on I got a chance to talk to the original owner, and he said it was done right out of the factory… It did not need a lot of bodywork. There was some rust in the rear quarters, but it was in good shape.”

The clincher was when the the second owner actually got the car running for Frye before he handed over the key. 

“Yeah, it ran! He did get it running! He had been driving it previously, but for some reason he lost interest in it. I think it was four or five years, sitting in his back yard, outside.”

1971: A BRAND NEW BEE

The Charger was a whole new beast for the 1971 model year. With the Coronet now purely a four-door, Dodge used its only remaining midsize B-body coupe — the Charger — to spawn a whole new Super Bee. It turned out to be a one-year wonder and the only Super Bee based on the Charger.

The 1971 Chargers had a semi-fastback roofline with a flush rear window and an integral rear deck lid spoiler. The Charger Super Bee was manufactured using the same restyled body and was aimed at the same market niche as the old Coronet Super Bee and still represented a value-priced but serious high-performance package.

For a base price of $3,271, Charger Super Bee buyers could get a “base” model that included a standard 383-cid Magnum V-8 that cranked out 300 hp. The engine used a single four-barrel carburetor and came attached to a three-speed manual transmission with a floor-mounted gear shifter. The hood had a “power bulge” with a flat black finish, and on the sides were special tape stripes and bumblebee decals.

The interior was similar to that of the Charger 500, but featured bucket seats. The Rallye suspension package included heavy-duty front torsion bars, heavy-duty rear springs, a front anti-sway bar, heavy-duty shock absorbers all around and heavy-duty brakes (11 x 3 inches up front and 11 x 2.5 inches in the rear). The standard tires were fat F70-14 black walls with white lettering. There was also a lengthy list of goodies on the options list.

All Charger Super Bees carried a big-block V-8. For guys who wanted to go up the ladder from the 383, there was a 440 with “Six-Pack” carburetion or the 426-cid Street Hemi. Unlike the 8.7:1 compression base engine, these muscle car mills had high-test hardware and offered 385 or 425 hp, respectively. The optional goodies list also included: a functional Ramcharger hood scoop, color-keyed bumpers, a Super Trak-Pack performance axle (with up to 4.10:1 gearing), a four-speed gear box with Hurst “pistol grip” shifter, a dual-point distributor and heavy-duty cooling aids.

The 440 Six-Pack Charger Super Bee was now advertised at 385 hp. It did 0-to-60 mph in 6.9 seconds and the quarter-mile took 14.7 seconds. With a Hemi V-8, this 3,640-lb. machine moved into the same bracket as the original Charger 500, needing only 5.7 seconds to get up to 60 mph and a mere 13.7 to reach the traps at a drag strip!

Only 22 1971 Charger Hemi Super Bees were built, nine of which had four-speeds. The rest had had TorqueFlite automatics.

Only about 5,054 Super Bees were built for 1971 (4,325 for the U.S. market), making the ’71s the rarest of the four-year run. The majority of them — 2,889 — carried a 383 Magnum with an automatic transmission, like Frye’s car.

LIFE-LONG BEE KEEPER

Frye was too young and poor to think too much about restoring his Super Bee the first few years he had it. He still shakes his head in disbelief at the idea that he’s had the car for 40 years now.

“Ha! I was just a young kid working at McDonald’s! I eventually became a mechanic and started working at the airport, and then I started going to the MoPar Nationals and started seeing more of these cars,” he recalls. “But I drove it the way it was for the first 3, 4, 5 years. The original tail lamps were all cracked and stuff, but when I got it everything was there, it just needed some work.”

It wasn’t long, though, before Frye faced his first major crisis with the car, and a big decision to make.

“Back then, us kids, we didn’t know anything about numbers matching or VIN numbers or matching blocks and transmissions,” he says. “And I had blown up the motor probably within the first year I got it! And I took the motor out and I just bought another one, I think I bought a 440 … And I remember talking to someone and they said, ‘You gotta check your block.’ So he showed me how to match up the VIN on the block to the VIN on the dash, and sure enough it was the original motor. And back then we were moving from apartment to apartment, and duplex to duplex, and I carried that thing all over! At one time that block was being used as a table in my living room! I put a 4×8 piece of plywood over it!”

It took a few years, but Frye eventually restored the Super Bee from bumper to bumper. He did all the parts chasing, handled all the paint and bodywork himself, and even tackled the upholstery work. His wife Julie helped him fit the new vinyl top.

 “Really, about the only thing I didn’t do myself was the machining on the block,” he says. “This is the way it would have left the factory. Factory FE5 Bright Red, factory white interior, factory spoiler … concealed headlamps. The only thing we really changed was the white vinyl top, and on ’71 Super Bees that hood insert, the louvered section that I have on this car is from a 71 Charger R/T. The Super Bee unit was fiberglass and was a little different, but the hoods are the same. You could change the center pieces. I just like the louvered section better.”

Oh, and there’s the little change in the bottom end that nobody can see, either, but shows up when Frye really flattens the gas pedal. 

“I did put a 440 crank in it. It’s kind of a stroker now! It pulls about 500 horse [laughs]. But the engine compartment looks almost like it left the factory. Original air cleaner, original exhaust manifolds.”

These days, the bright red ’71 certainly sounds and runs as good as it looks thanks, in part, to the regular exercise it has gotten for the past 30-plus years. The odometer says just 47,000 miles, but Frye has never been sure how accurate the total has been. 

“The title from 1984, they put on there ‘cannot verify mileage,’” he notes. “I really don’t think it was turned over, but somebody might have replaced a dash bezel at some point. I can’t verify it.

“But I’ve always driven it. Back in the ’90s and early 2000s, we’d go to car shows it seemed like almost every weekend. There’s a few stone chips, but I can’t worry about that stuff anymore, because then you won’t enjoy it. Buying a restored car like this today would cost you so much money, and then the first stone chip you get ….”

One thing is certain: the car is never going to wind up neglected or put out to pasture again while Frye is around. And it’s not going to have any other owners, either.

“I can’t imagine ever not having it after all these years,” he admits. “Not after all it’s been through. I can’t tell you how many apartment buildings, how many garages, it’s been in! … Now I’ll probably die in it.”

Love MoPars? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.

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The post Car of the Week: 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Old Cars hits the road and celebrates the classics while bringing the sights and sounds to you.

We spotted this Magnificent MoPar during the 2021 Iola Car Show. This 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee has us lusting for an open stretch of pavement.

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The post 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Auburn Hills, Mich. – The Dodge brand announced “Operation 25//8,” giving its fans the opportunity to take home one of 25 Dodge dream cars. Operation 25//8 enlists a team of 25 ambassadors across automotive, music, sports, fashion, media entities and companies, including Amazon, to each give away a new Dodge dream car during the last eight weeks of 2021. Go to Dodge.com for more details.

“To recognize the Dodge spirit, the belief that 24 hours a day, seven days a week simply isn’t enough effort, Operation 25//8 will enlist a team of 25 people and companies that are all superstars in their fields, including Amazon, Travis Barker, Jay Leno, Cain Velasquez, Supercar Blondie and Draft Kings, to give away 25 Dodge dream cars during the last eight weeks of 2021,” said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge Brand CEO. “Operation 25//8 adds 20,000 horsepower to the Brotherhood of Muscle and is the first step in building awareness for our two-year transition plan to redefine the future of American muscle.”

To play, fans can follow their favorite influencers and media entities across their social media platform(s), including YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook, to watch entertaining content and videos promoting Operation 25//8. Each influencer will ask fans to tell them, in 250 words or less, why they should be the recipient of a Dodge dream car, which they can build and can include a new Dodge Charger, Challenger or Durango.

Amazon will be giving away a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Customers can visit this Amazon page and sign-in for a chance to build and take one home.

Ambassadors:

1. Amazon
2. Jay Leno (@jaylenosgarage)
3. Supercar Blondie (@supercarblondie)
4. Francis Ngannou (@francisngannou)
5. Draft Kings/Dan Le Batard (@LeBatardShow)
6. Motor Trend-Road Kill (@roadkillshow)
7. Bill Goldberg (@Goldberg95)
8. Travis Barker (@travisbarker)
9. Ben Baller (@benballer)
10. Tim Kennedy (@timkennedymma)
11. Imaray Uluoa (@imarayulloa)
12. David Hoffmann (@davidsbeenhere)
13. Radford Racing School (@radfordracingschool)
14. Richard Rawlings (@rrrawlings)
15. Chiqui Delgado (@chiqui_delgado)
16. Cain Velasquez (@officialcainvelasquez)
17. Kenny Wayne Shepard (@kennywayneshepherd)
18. Parris Goebel (@parrisgoebel)
19. Joc Pederson (@yungjoc650)
20. Chanel Iman (@chaneliman)
21. Swae Lee (@swaelee)
22. BarStool Sports (@barstoolsports)
23. Westen Champlin (@westengw)
24. Omar Raja (@omar)
25. Doug Marcaida (@dougmarcaida)

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Old Cars is turning 50. In honor of 50 years of the privilege of bringing the old cars hobby to our valued and faithful readers, Old Cars will revisit 50 of our past featured cars in 50 days, to commemorate the half-century of Old Cars. Here’s to fifty more years of Old Cars!

 DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: 1969 Dodge Charger 500 Hemi

While organizing a special “Icons of Design” category for the annual Eyes On Design car show in 2016, I caught wind of a special Hemi-powered MoPar hidden away in the Great White North. Apparently, a private individual has quietly built up a world-class collection, the Manny Collection in Ontario, Canada, that consists mainly of unrestored MoPar muscle cars from the 1960s and early 1970s.

Among those cars is a red 1969 Charger 500 that, as it turns out, was the first Charger 500 built. It was originally used by Dodge at major auto shows and for promotional purposes. “It’s pretty much an original, unrestored Charger 500 with the 426 Hemi engine and four-speed Hurst shifter,” the collection’s owner told me. “I’ve known about this special muscle car for a very long time.”

The Charger 500 was developed specifically for NASCAR racing. The 1969 Charger’s standard sheet metal — particularly the concave grille opening and the shape of the back window and rear roof section—created aerodynamic problems at high speeds. Chrysler designers addressed those issues by replacing the Charger’s stock grille with a Coronet grille mounted flush with the leading edge of the car’s nose, and reshaping the backlight and its surrounding sheet metal into a fastback-like form. According to a letter Chrysler sent to this car’s first post-Dodge owner, the changes were good for an “increase of 3 to 7 mph…on the super speedways.”

 To learn more about this piece of MoPar history <CLICK HERE>

CHECK OUT DAY TWENTY-SEVEN OF 50 CARS IN 50 DAYS, CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF OLD CARS HERE

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You wouldn’t know it by listening to self-assured talking heads pushing for autonomous cars and essentially declaring that the traditional concept of an automobile is all but on its death bed. But as far as I can see the passion for the “traditional” internal combustion variant is alive and well. Don’t just pull the plug yet!

At Old Cars Weekly we write about the “Classics” and hold their lore as the cornerstone of our collecting hobby. Much of our love affair with classic cars stems from our lingering memories of them. As with all memories we tend to glaze over the faults and emphasize the positives. Sometimes the stories take on a life of their own and certain aspects are embellished and become legendary. Every MoPar had a 426 Hemi, every Torino had a Cobra Jet and every Camaro was a COPO. Don’t get me wrong, I love every single one of the classics, but were the “good old days” the pinnacle for collector cars?

Before the pitchforks, tar and feathers enter into the discussion, I acknowledge the old cars’ design aesthetics and over all awesomeness will always set the high mark. Now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, I would like to look to the present and future and recognize the virtues of the next breed of cars to carry the torch.

As you have probably noticed we [OCW] have been broadening our scope of classics lately. With articles about the “malaise era” cars we are expanding the collector car scope into cars that normally weren’t thought of as collectible in the past. The late ‘80s-early ‘00s check many of the boxes in the collectors’ tally sheet. A huge aspect of the car-collecting hobby is the connection with the owners’ youth and what part the car played in it. That connection was present in past generations of collectors who sought out the ‘50s-‘60s cars of their youth and consequently have made those cars the “gold standard” in the hobby today. Though the ‘80s-‘90s historically have been seen as the “lost years” with the lack of power and style (subjective), these cars were the cornerstone of the Gen X – Millennial groups’ childhood and adolescence. I have seen more and more cars of this vintage making their way into the shows lately. This year at the Iola Car Show I gawked over many fine examples of ‘80s Monte Carlos that harkened back to my own high school days. They seemed right at home next to the Camaros and Bel Airs.

The ‘80s-early-‘00s are not the only cars that have piqued interest. Modern iron is as hot as it has ever been. The prevailing sentiment has always been that the heyday of horsepower was in the 1960s. Somehow the planets aligned and some of the burliest and power-crazy inspired vehicles made it to showroom floors. For god sakes the winged MoPars were considered “too fast” for racetracks and somehow were available for the buying public. Fast forward and Dodge is at it again with a new Demon that once again is “too fast” for a production vehicle on the quarter mile. Granted, it is not easy to get your hands on one of these special beasts, but they are available nonetheless. Bench racing aside it is hard to deny that these new muscle cars are something special. The power levels and handling are insane and they would more than likely trounce the muscle cars of yesteryear. Many will argue, but numbers do not lie. We are in the greatest era of automotive power ever! In the past I had speculated about who would hit the 1000-hp number. It didn’t take long; there is a 1000-hp Corvette (2019 Yenko/SC Corvette Stage II ) available at GM dealerships. These absurd numbers will rarely be tested on the street because most of these mechanical miracles will become investments tucked away for years to come. These halo cars are not the only cars that are packing a punch. Even lowly base models are pumping out around 300+ hp. Will these become future collector cars? Absolutely. I am sure there is a kid who is sitting in the back seat of the family sedan Charger or Taurus unaware of how they will someday be drawn to the car Dad or Mom used to drive them to soccer practice in. Many will also long to have one of those “cool” Mustangs, Camaros, or Challengers or, dare I say it… a Kia Stinger. That is what car collecting dreams are made of. This is how it was for the kid in the 1980s longing to get his hands on a menacing looking Monte Carlo or Grand National.

I do not see that fire being extinguished any time soon. The older I get the more I catch myself starting to slip into the old-as-time lament that the past was always better and the kids do not get it. Apparently they do get it, and the hobby is far better for it. It is easier moving forward looking ahead than looking behind. Although many only accept the gold standard we must accept the silver and aluminum standards because they are what will drive the hobby into the future. Don’t look past the car you drive today because your kids might make it into the classic of tomorrow.

The post Looking Forward appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by Brian Earnest

The Charger was Dodge Division’s answer to the fastback craze and it was dramatically different than all competitors when it arrived. It was big and wide, which gave it a distinctive “flat” look to distinguish it from other muscle cars. It combined MoPar’s bright, clean interior styling with some of the company’s best engine options to create a package that had no peers.

Dodge called its 1966 Charger a “Sports Sedan,” even though it was really a Sport Coupe. This was an attempt to widen its sales appeal beyond the youth market and to stress its cargo-carrying abilities. With a full-size 117-inch wheelbase and 203.6 inches of overall length, the Charger was certainly roomy. And its 75.3-inch width didn’t hurt either. With seating for only four on its front and rear bucket seats, the Charger was not really sedan-like in the passenger-carrying category, either. Its real appeal was its sporty flavor.

Nevertheless, young-at-heart American dads canny enough to convince their better half that the Charger was really a “kind of station wagon” were likely to go for the base 318-cid 230-hp V-8 or the one-step-up 361-cid/265 hp option, both fitted with two-barrel carburetors. Once you got to the big-block 383 or the even heftier 426-cid “Street Hemi,” you were talking “muscle car” when you talked about a Charger.

The 383-powered Charger was honestly not the ultimate muscle machine, but it was entirely adequate for many buyers. The 383-cid V-8 had a 4.25 x 3.38-inch bore and stroke, a 10.0:1 compression ratio and a single four-barrel Carter carburetor. This added up to a package delivering 325 hp at 4800 rpm and 425 lbs.-ft. of torque at 2800 rpm.

A nicely outfitted Charger with power steering, power brakes, power steering, a limited-slip differential, a Rallye suspension, a few other goodies and the 383 hooked to a three-speed automatic transmission went out the door for just over $3,100. And two nice performance enhancements included at the regular price were dual exhausts and the well-known responsiveness of the Chrysler automatic gearbox.

On the test track, a ‘66 Charger 383 could move from 0-to-60 mph in 7.2 seconds and zip down a quarter-mile drag strip in 15.6 seconds at 89 mph. It was, and still is, a kind of “everyman’s muscle car” with body lines that set it apart from other muscle machines of the era.

A Light Blue Beauty

When he was young, Jeff DeLapp pretty much had all his bases covered when it came to the “Big Three” auto makers.

“I was a Ford and Chevy guy,” he says. “Those were my dad’s favorite cars and I dorve a ‘64 Chevy and a ‘65 Comet. But my favorite cars were always the Dodges and the MoPars. So when I decided to go looking for a collector car I started looking at my Dodges.”

The Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., resident found pretty much exactly what he was looking for not far away 20 years ago when he located a nice, original, low-mileage 1966 Charger. The car hadn’t been abused, wasn’t rusty and mostly likely had sat through a long slumber at some point in its life.

“My favorite Dodges were the ‘Dukes of Hazzard Dodges,’ so I was looking for one of them, but everybody and their brother has one of them, so I decided no, I rally don’t want a copy cat car. When I found this one, I said that’s it – I want the ’66 or 67, preferably the ’66 because that was the first year of the Charger. That’s what sold me on it.”

DeLapp, who had been involved on the local stock car racing scene for years both behind the wheel and in the pits, knew his way around the garage, but he wasn’t interested in a full-blown restoration. Luckily, the ’66 Charger didn’t require one, and after some minor bodywork, a new coat of Light Blue paint, some upholstery work on the front seats, and some other TLC, the Dodge was hard to tell from new.

“I pulled the interior and I was real pleased with that because when I got into the rear quarter panels and stuff it was excellent — no rust, no nothin’… It took about a year between working for a living and working my car to get the engine back in and get all the pieces repainted. I kept it stock and when I bought it it had mag wheels on it and took all that of. It had a chrome air cleaner and I got rid of that. It always had the original air cleaner, but it was never on the car. I kept everything that was original for the car, but I have a different air cleaner on it now because it runs better with the big one, but I kept the stock one.”

DeLapp had the engine rebuilt just because of the car’s age and for some piece of mind. With only 58,000 miles on the 383-cid V-8 today, the engine rebuild was probably more for preventative measures than necessity.

DeLapp hasn’t learned much history on the car or its whereabouts before he found it on a dealer lot in 1996. Since the interior is original from the front seats back — including the carpeting — it’s unlikely the car ever had many back seat passengers. The lack of corrosion underneath and condition general condition of the Dodge make it highly unlikely it was ever used as a family hauler or as year-round transportation.

“The only thing was the trunk was pretty much a disaster area,” DeLapp notes.
That I was able to bring it back much faster than I thought I was going to be able to to. Somebody must have got some water in the trunk area and they drilled a hole in the trunk to let the water out. That’s what I’m guessing. When they did that they drilled right through the gas tank. I was going to buy a new gas tank but I couldn’t get one. So I had to send it out.

“The engine compartment I left alone for probably the first three years and just drove it. About the only thing that doesn’t look original on the car now is the battery.”

DeLapp has plenty of company in his affinity for the first-year Charger. The legendary model gained a big following almost immediately when the rookie year 1966 models were introduced.

DeLapp’s Light Blue example was one of 37,300 Chargers built for the 1966 model year.

HANDING OVER THE KEYS

The Dodge Charger was one of the feature cars at this year’s Iola Old Car Show in Iola, Wis., and DeLapp’s car was one of the invited guests. While he was at the show, DeLapp met fellow MoPar lover John Martin of Oconto Falls, Wis., who was smitten with the blue ’66 Dodge.

Martin asked if DeLapp would consider selling the car, and after mulling the offer for a while, DeLapp signed over the title, ending his 20 year-run as the car’s caretaker.

“If I was going to sell it, I wanted it to be to somebody who wasn’t going to do all kinds of stuff to it. I wanted that car to stay stock,” DeLapp said. “I wasn’t going to sell it to just anybody. I wanted that car to go to the right owner — somebody who would take care of it and keep it the way it is. I had it for 20 years and I’m getting older, so I figured it might be time for somebody else to have it.”

Martin and DeLapp had one thing in common: they both loved the 1966 Charger from the first time they saw one. “I’m 64 years old and I’ve been wanting a ‘66 charger since I was 18 year old,” Martin says. He got to ride in a fellow student’s car when he was in college in 1970 and “I said, ‘Oh, I gotta have one of those some day.’

“I just love the styling inside and out,” he said. “I love everything about. Sixty-six was the last year of the full-length console, and I like that.”

Martin had been looking for the right car for a year or two and finally found it in Iola this year. It wasn’t really for sale, but Martin was in the right place at the right time when he walked up and started talking to DeLapp for the first time.

“I just love it. For a car that is 50 years old, it runs like a top,” he says. “There are no flat spots … You are almost afraid to park it anywhere. The body and everything is in such super shape. Every place I stop I have somebody come up and ask about it. People come up to you at the gas station. I’ve had it parked in my garage at home with the door open and had several people stop and want to talk about it. It’s really an attention-getter.”

“It’s been a big nostalgia trip, definitely. They way I feel right now, I’ll probably keep that car until I die.”

____________

Show us your wheels!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

The post Car of the Week: 1966 Dodge Charger appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by John Gunnell

Beautiful new styling characterized the second-generation Chargers, which saw a huge sales boost from 14,980 cars in 1967 to 96,100 new 1968 cars, all of which were two-door hardtops. What made the Charger so popular for ’68 was Dodge’s introduction of “airplane fuselage” styling that featured a smoother, rounded Coke-bottle-shaped semi-fastback body and wheel bulges.

Hidden headlamps were continued into 1968 and a blacked-out grille was used to give a taped-headlamp look of the day’s race cars. A race-style gas filler was also added. Scallops in the hood could be optioned with turn indicators, and the doors were also scalloped. There was an integral rear spoiler and a blacked-out rear beauty panel with two round taillights on each side.

Standard on Chargers were all federal safety features plus all-vinyl front bucket seats; carpeting; a three-spoke steering wheel with a padded hub and partial horn ring; a heater and defroster; electric clock; cigar lighter; ashtray lamp; heavy-duty suspension; sway bar; heavy-duty rear springs and torsion bars; front and rear bumper guards; wheel opening moldings; concealed headlamps; quick-fill gasoline cap; the 145-hp/225-cid “slant six;” and 7.35×14 tubeless blackwall tires.

The base six-cylinder Charger (only 908 were built) listed for $2,934 and weighed 3,500 lbs. The 230-hp/318-cid V-8 could be added for $106 and was a far more popular choice with 76,893 were built. The R/T (for “Road and Track”) listed for $3,500 and weighed about 130 lbs. more. It had a production run of 18,307.

Charger options included the 318-cid V-8; 290-hp/383-cid V-8; 330-hp/383-cid V-8; 375-hp/440-cid V-8; and 425-hp/426-cid V-8. Buyers could add muscle car features including a limited-slip differential for $42.35; a tachometer for $48.70; custom wheels for $97.30; and a console for $52.85. Power brakes were $41.75 and if you wanted front disc brakes, they were a $72.95 option.

As standard equipment, the Charger R/T model included the 375-hp/440-cid Magnum V-8; TorqueFlite automatic transmission; dual exhaust (with chrome tips); heavy-duty brakes; R/T handling package; racing stripes; and F70-14 Red Streak or whitewall tires.

Motor Trend summed up the new R/T model-option as a “Charger with a set of mags, Wide Oval tires and a bumblebee stripe.” The R/T also included name badges, heavy-duty underpinnings along with the 440 Magnum V-8. This engine was good for 0-to-60 mph in 6.5 seconds and a 15-second quarter at 93 mph in the 1968 Charger.

The featured Bright Blue R/T has a white vinyl top and belongs to Greg Fox of Franklin, Wis., and is one of dozens of Chargers scheduled to appear at the 2016 Iola Car Show. Under the hood is the standard R/T Magnum 440 V-8 attached to a column-shifted TorqueFlite. The interior features matching blue bucket seats with an armrest-style console and a wood-rimmed steering wheel. Fox did what most new Charger owners did on the second day of ownership: he added a set of five-spoke mag wheels to his car for that period look. All the features add up to one heck of a “looker.”

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The post Car of the Week: 1968 Dodge Charger appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

By John Gunnell

The folks at the Fashion Bazaar, of Miami, Fla., considered the ’69 Dodge Charger a “fashion statement.” The car’s svelte looks and outstanding performance sold them on buying one. On Sept. 13, 1968, they visited Trail Dodge Inc. to purchase a red Charger R/T with a black vinyl interior.

Bob Steele, of Wild Rose, Wis., owns the car today. The veteran body man restores Mopar muscle cars in a shop near his home. Steele knows that Chargers are popular with collectors today. Good looks, great performance and lots of starring roles on TV and in movies have added a lot to their cache.

Steele’s car bears serial number XS29L9B111149, The “X” indicates a Charger. The “S” indicates it is an R/T. The “29” indicates a two-door Sports Hardtop. The “L” indicates a 440-cid high-performance V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor. This motor produced 375 hp and was standard in Charger R/Ts. You could add the Six-Pack option or the 426-cid Hemi, but apparently the Fashion Bazaar people did not feel they needed more than 375 hp.

The 1969 Charger was a modestly updated version of the Gen 2 Charger that arrived in 1968. Small changes included a new divided grille, new horizontal taillights and new side marker lights. The patterning on the bucket seats was revised, too. The R/T was the high-performance model.

All Chargers came with the then required assortment of federal safety and anti-pollution features, plus all-vinyl bucket seats, carpeting, a three-spoke steering wheel with padded hub and partial horn ring, a heater-defroster, an electric clock, a cigarette lighter, an ashtray light, Dodge’s heavy-duty suspension (including a hefty sway bar, fatter front torsion bars and sturdier-than-stock rear springs), bumper guards, wheel opening moldings, concealed headlights and a racing style quick-fill gas cap. R/Ts also had at least the Magnum 440 four-barrel V-8, dual exhaust with chrome tips, TorqueFlite automatic transmission, heavy-duty manually-adjusted brakes, F70-14 Red Line tires, an R/T handling package and Bumblebee stripes.

The base price for an R/T was $3,575. The full-size, unit-body performance machine had a 117-inch wheelbase and 207.9-inch overall length. It weighed in at 3,646 lbs. Dodge wound up making 19,298 Charger R/Ts for the model year.

Like many collectors, Steele has original paperwork for the car, including a factory broadcast sheet that lists all factory equipment. A partially filled-in Warranty Validation card from 1969 gives the name of the selling dealer and the original owner. Steele also has an old warranty for the Motorola radio in the car.

An undated receipt for Motor Vehicle Inspection Fees paid in Orange County, Fla., and a business card from Orlando Dodge Inc. show the car passed through a second factory dealer’s hands at one point. The business card has the name of dealership salesman Mike Smith printed on it with the Dodge logo, then the name Ken Smith is written in by hand. The area code for the number on the card was changed from 305 to 407. This change took place in 1988, so the car must have been traded in to Orlando Dodge at about that time.

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The post Car of the Week: 1969 Dodger Charger R/T appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

Story and photos by Al Rogers

In the fall of 2006, Old Cars Weekly reader Richard Gies took ownership of a well-used — and perhaps abused — 1966 Dodge Charger. His nephew had owned the Charger for nearly 10 years with the dream of one day restoring the Mopar. As years passed and time ticked away, reality set in. One day, while sizing up the car, it hit him. “There’s only one person who could take this car and give it a new life – Uncle Richard.” He contacted his uncle and soon got to the point: “Would you come and get the Charger out of my shed and take it to your shop?”

Richard Gies’ passion for cars and the craft of restoring them began in his 20s. For the next 40 years, he perfected his skills at the local Ford dealership as an auto body technician. As new car prices started to escalate in the ’70s, he started purchasing rebuildable late-model cars, fixing them up, then using them as daily drivers. However, his first total restoration project was a 1979 Mustang Indy Pace car that he purchased in 2002. The pony car was in decent shape, and although it was not a wreck, it was still a project. In less than three years, Richard had restored it to show car level, and he still owns it.

His skill level, patience and ability to stay the course would be tested during the 1966 Dodge Charger’s restoration.

“I knew the Charger would be a challenge, but I looked at it as an adventure to see just how many of the things I’d learned and performed on automobiles in the past could find their way into the restoration.

“Besides, the unique body style of the 1966 Charger was only manufactured for two model years (1966 and 1967), and this one is the rare, one-year-only offering with the 361-cubic-inch engine,” Richard said. “I was satisfied with the 1979 Mustang Pace Car results and figured it was time to give the Charger a try.”

To give perspective to the challenge posed by the Charger, it was so rusted that the rear leaf springs touched the top of the inner quarter panels. The floor pan, trunk pan and frame rails required replacement.

The car had a history in Bay City, Mich., which is in the heart of the Midwest “rust belt,” and the harsh Michigan winters did a number on the Charger’s metal. To compound the effects of salt exposure, many automobile manufacturers used a simple process to treat sheet metal prior to the application of primer and paint in the 1960s. Years later, they started using a salt test booth within the factory to monitor the effect of salt on specific models.

The 1966 Dodge Charger came with a slew of replacement parts that Richard’s nephew had begun collecting early in his ownership. Included was a set of new OEM fenders, a used right-side quarter panel and a new left-side quarter panel. In his quest to find additional parts, Richard had earned the trust from a parts collector. The two had struck up a friendship, and without their mutual respect, the restoration of the Charger could have been delayed and the results detrimental. A used trunk lid purchase kicked things off and started the bond between the two men.

Richard put his hands on every part of the car during the restoration. He replaced the floor boards from the firewall rearward and restored the rear frame rails. A neglected cross member was repaired while the front frame rails were replaced and new side aprons were installed.

The 265-hp, 361-cid V-8 engine and TorqueFlite automatic transmission were removed and rebuilt. Everything in the engine was replaced except the crankshaft. The engine block was painted the correct Mopar blue. With safety in mind, a dual master cylinder was added with power brakes, but the Charger retains the front and rear drum brakes.

The exterior of the car was sanded, primed and painted the correct Turquoise Blue color. Most of the trim moldings were damaged, and with replacements nearly impossible to find, Richard was forced to repair each piece. The restoration process required straightening and extensive polishing. This is an art in itself for which few possess the patience and knowledge to complete.

Richard reupholstered the front and rear seats himself and installed new carpet. Using the Internet, Richard restored the instrument cluster. Metal interior parts were repainted and new carpet was installed.

Mice had taken up residence in the heather box and it had to be disassembled and restored. With the exception of the windshield, the glass is original.

The fully documented 1966 Dodge Charger exemplifies class, attention to detail and sophistication with better-than-factory fit and finish. Richard, with the help of his son Paul and his nephew, turned this Mopar into a show-stopping beauty. The restoration was completed in the fall of 2011 for the Frankenmuth, Mich., Autofest. It was an award winner at the yearly event and has gone on to earn best-in-class awards in a handful of 2012 events.

Back in the day, the car was ahead of its time. The same can be said today. One can only dream about what this body style would look like paired up with today’s technology.

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If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

The post Car of the Week: 1966 Dodge Charger appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.