1969 Charger R/T SE: they are still out there........

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang..
Well, the ole' sayin' that "They're still out there", "diamonds in the rough" holds true. On the 2nd of July, I get a call from a long-time local car show acquaintance. He knows I'm the sort of Charger-guru here in Houston. He's looking for a way to make a set of keys since he lost them during Hurricane Ike. Not from flooding, but accidently threw them out... I asked out of curiosity why and he was looking to sell the car. He's getting up there in age and finally realized he's not going to get her running again. He has a '87 Grand National and that's his dependable toy now. He's own the Charger since 1971, bought it locally off the used car lot at Sharpstone Dodge.. I saw the original bill of sale, that was cool. Well, it developed a freeze plug leak in 1980. He took the radiator out in '80 and carb ( not sure why, but still has the original carb )................................................................ And, never touched it again. He wanted to know if $9000 was too cheap for he had a neighbor's friend that was interested............ I have known about the car for over 15 years, but never saw it... Only through stories Bruce told me at shows..

Heck !!!! Well, I told him I'd be down in an hour to visit. I don't have the money since I'm in the middle of restoring my Superbird, so I called a real good friend of mine who's been looking to add a Charger to his mopar stable... He's own some pretty cool cars, but never a Charger. So, I called him up and told him to meet me at my house...... Off we went.

Man, boy were we surprised !!! The car was just it, an R/T... I didn't know it was a SE as well..... Lordy, this thing is STRAIGHT !!! The car did get some water in it from the April 15th flood here in Houston, but nothing bad. Just the floor pans of the interior. The interior is in GREAT shape. Heck, the leather seats and woodgrain dash are like new...

We looked it over and I told my friend, if you don't buy it, I'm going to try and figure something out........ Well Bruce stated what he would have liked to have gotten ( over the $9000 obviously ).. Friend said he couldn't give him that.......... So he gave him $5000 more !!!!  I'm not going to say what, I'll let Dave chime in if he wants... But, I'm here to tell you, the car is extremely nice....... Bruce was happy, Dave has happy and I was stunned......... Dave did the right and honorable thing..... There are so many people out there that wouldn't bat an eye to try and get something on the cheap ( human nature ). But there are few people that will step up to the plate and give MORE because it is worth it and there's no taking advantage of someone who doesn't know....

The sheetmetal is NICE !!!  We took the soggy carpet out on the 4th since it was going to be a while to pick it up.. The floor pans were great. I even found a perfect broadcast sheet in the rear cushion.

The car is:
R/T
SE package
B3 blue with blue interior ( leather front seats )
440 4bbl
console 727
am/fm
tach
power steering/disc brakes and windows
6-way seat
rocker panel molding
a/c
rear speaker with fader
tips

Been sitting there since 1980 !!!

[hemi68charger]

Slowly uncovered..

[hemi68charger]

First time out into the Sun since 1980, 36 years !!!

original spare tire and jack too.. Main jack has probably never been pulled out......

[hemi68charger]

Up onto the trailer to its new home....  

[hemi68charger]

Finally, the end of a very good Mopar day..  

The seats were incredible........... Sooooo, that's how they are supposed to feel new..........

[cdr]

.

[69B3RT]

   I sure am loving that car. Very similar to mine, only mine is white interior with 4 speed. I believe that vinyl top is pearl white.

[hemi68charger]

   I sure am loving that car. Very similar to mine, only mine is white interior with 4 speed. I believe that vinyl top is pearl white.

Nice......... 

[tan top]

wow !!      , what a find !!    looks awesome !! love the rear slots    I spy a power steering cooler ! axle package  maybe ? thinking A36 & the 3.55 gears  is / was ,  the only one that could be had with AC , but did it include a power steering cooler    ....

great stuff AB Troy , thanks for sharing your adventure & pictures  

[DixieRestoParts]

 

Awesome! Love the color!

[ws23rt]

That car looks like something I would really enjoy cleaning and detailing.

I've done all the things like cut, weld, blast, prime, etc and always felt those steps to be chores to endure to get to the good stuff.  Great find.

[crj1968]

Most awesome ! Very cool to get your hands on something like that. Good times ahead !

[hemi-hampton]

Wow, nice car. Reminds me of the day I bought my 70 R/T that was stored in a garage since 1982. Congrats LEON.

[Richard Cranium]

That's awesome!!!!   

[Laxy]

Wow, what a find. Absolutely love it.

[hemi68charger]

Yeap...  I had a mission to find Dave a Charger, think I nailed it..... Talk about timing.... if that Superbird wasn't in the paint shop already, the poor Bird would have had to wait....

I'm going to have fun helping with the car....

Troy

[bigdsul]

Reading this sure gives me hope! Glad to see that there are Chargers still out there and not for out of this world pricing. Mind you this story is the extreme opposite of what has been the norm for years it seems.

Hopefully it won't be long before this car is taken back to its former glory.

[RallyeMike]

These cars look so good in B3, I'm not sure why so few were painted that color. Super cool combination with the white top and stripe delete. 

[1974dodgecharger]

A flipper would of gave him the 9k and ran and cleaned it up and resold it for 20k plus, but your friend is VERY HONORABLE!!!! 

[bill440rt]

Wow, that Charger is beautiful! What a find.
Kudos to your friend as well for honesty.

[chargerman69]

Ill come get it for 19k if able to

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

WOW!!!!!! 

[Kern Dog]

I am impressed with the integrity of the buyer. I am of the mind that if a fair price is asked, I'm not going to try to offer less. I hate seeing assclowns try to beat down people on a fair price.

[charger chris]

Nice find

[66FBCharger]

Very nice!