Introduction to my 1968 Charger, long overdue...

[VegasCharger]

Well I've been on this site for awhile (almost 5 years) and I really never gave you DC.com members a proper introduction to my 1968 Charger. So I figured what better time to do so than on my post number 1968.

I bought a 1968 Dodge Charger about 3 years ago. I have always wanted one since my high school days but never acted on it. However I have owned different Chargers since then: 1974 hardtop, 2 1973 SEs, 1966 and a 1972 SE. I had a 1970 but it was a shell parts car.

About my '68, it's a base 383 4bbl H-Code originally from California. The car was purchased as a complete running car. Barely road worthy but running and complete. However it needs attention as most of them do. It has it's matching number motor. My best guess is that it has not ever been pulled. I don't think any original body panels were ever replaced. Left quarter has something funky going on near the wheel well area. Looks like a ripple of dents filled in with bondo. It has been repainted with a cheap paint job done poorly with lots of over spray and touched up with rattle can gold paint. It has most of it's documentations, title, VIN, fender tag, matching number on rad support & trunk lip. No build sheet.

This Charger came with some nice options. PW, A/C, power front disc brakes, 3:23 Sure Grip, tic toc tach, AM Radio. It is an auto console on the floor. No vinyl top. The color code is JJ1 (referred to as poop gold I've heard) gold with white interior although it's not like that now.

I bought this at MATS (Mopars at the Strip) in Las Vegas. I was up there vending as I do every year since '06 and this car pulled up to near my spot that was across the way from the car coral. This was on the Sunday show of that weekend's event which was the first time he brought it up there for that event. Had he brought it up there on Friday or Saturday who knows if I would've ended up getting it. Everyone was on that car as soon as the owner got out and started to put for sale signs on it including myself. He was a local guy and he drove it up there to the show some 20 miles away from his home. The owner and I finally came to a deal.

Since he was local we made arrangements to do the transaction the following Wednesday. He actually drove the Charger to my house as I requested if he could. He lived approximately 4 miles from me. He pulled up in my driveway on time, I handed him the cash, he signed over the title and handed me the keys. And off he went. I didn't have a chance to ask him about the history of the car as he didn't have time to stick around with his wife waiting in the other car.

The car was solid as 2nd gen Charger terms go. The floor boards absolutely has NO RUST! The trunk floor has NO RUST! However the typical lower rear windshield channel had started to rust through and water made its way to the trunk floor in which the original trunk mat was in place. Another year or 2 of sitting and this car would've had a crusty trunk floor. But just some flaking on the trunk floor, not enough to poke through. Lower quarters had rust both sides but none on the quarter extensions. No rust on the rear valance or the valance corners where they typically go quick. No frame rail rust anywhere from front to back including torsion boxes. However there is rust where the door jamb meets the belt line of the rear quarter glass area, strange. This is identical on both sides. The rear pass. side quarter got bumped at the extension area. The grille is operable, complete with very few unnoticeable cracks and a hole that was drilled by the PO(s). This is on the upper underside of the grille between the center and the driver's side end. The hole was drilled so that they could put a bolt thru it because one of the original mounting tabs had broke. I didn't notice this until after a month or so of owning the car. It's hard to tell unless you're on the ground looking up.

Plenty of pics to follow as I know the protocol for posting pics in here lol. Keep in mind that I will be posting pics from the past and getting you up to speed. Not to be fooled thinking that I'm buzzing right thru the process in current time. Trust me, I'm slow as molasses when it comes to working on my 68. Currently my Charger is still not on the road.

My plans for the car is to just make into a plain simple driver. Purely stock except wheels and tires, rattle can flat black with a black interior. No scoops, no spoilers, no side pipes, no tach the size of saucer (I will use the factory equipped tic toc tach), no mods to the suspension (for now) and maybe some slight mods under the hood. Such as an upgraded radiator (if needed) and maybe a Saden A/C compressor/lines to replace my originals, but I will keep all original components from the car aside.

DodgeCharger.com is a wonderful community as I've seen over the years. Lots of valuable info in here as well as many members with tons of first hand experience with these Chargers. I have no problem asking questions as well as sharing info that I've experienced. I've met members in here, bought parts from members in here and sold parts to members in here. Such a great experience.

Thanks, Bryan  

Here she is the day of the show. Mostly close-ups, only one distant pic. Gotta love those AMC rallies.

[VegasCharger]

And here she is at home shortly after I bought it. The AMC rallies eventually were sold and replaced with 14" steelies to go towards funding the Charger. Note the funky multi color scheme for the interior lol. A victim of the late 70s early 80s retro custom job.   Original spare tire and bumper jack.

[Cncguy]

It's about time! Lol. For some reason I find cars in disrepair desirable. Maybe it's the potential diamond in the rough. Great looking car.

[Lennard]

Nice solid original '68! The interior/upholstery can use some help though.  

[timmycharger]

Yes!  awesome platform to start with  thank you for posting!! 

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Nothing like a complete car with a rust free body. That's 3/4 of the battle right there.   

[chargerboy69]

Gotta love cars which have spent their life in the desert. Very nice ride.  


Being in Vegas it may be cool to run the car over to The Count and turn him loose on her.   

[Baldwinvette77]

Awesome freaking car man 

[cbrestorations]

dang that car is solid...its about time you showed pics of this car...we almost didnt believe you owned one lol

[68pplcharger]

Damn that's a solid car to start with. Nice ride! 

[Dino]

Wow nice car! I'm glad you finally came out of the closet! 

[ACUDANUT]

Gotta love cars which have spent their life in the desert. Very nice ride.  


Being in Vegas it may be cool to run the car over to The Count and turn him loose on her.    

Not unless you want to pay $500 a hour on anything done.
Great car. 

[slumbers]

That's in amazing condition for it's age 

[RallyeMike]

Not gold poop. Gold nugget. Hard to find anything that solid that isn't already restored, and with a quite rare selection of options too. Neato 

[Polygon]

LOVE it!   More original the better!!!!

[cbrestorations]

i dunno...i wanna see a pic of brian standing next to this charger, he might have got these pics off google lol

[Mytur Binsdirti]

i dunno...i wanna see a pic of brian standing next to this charger

No you don't. Trust me.

[Lennard]

i dunno...i wanna see a pic of brian standing next to this charger

No you don't. Trust me.

Can't be worse than that picture of you next to a Viper.

[Kern Dog]

Pretty cool, Brian.
I recall having a decent time tooling around in my 70 before it was painted. The 70 was far rougher in appearance than yours but it still got attention. The moment you paint it, you lose the freedom to drive in the rain, down a gravel road, park in a tight parking spot or leave the car parked on the street. I will not go so far to say that my car is am UNreplaceable work of art.....BUT I do not feel as comfortable driving it as I did when it was still ratty looking.

[ACUDANUT]

Big #1 question. Does your A/C work ?

[cbrestorations]

Pretty cool, Brian.
I recall having a decent time tooling around in my 70 before it was painted. The 70 was far rougher in appearance than yours but it still got attention. The moment you paint it, you lose the freedom to drive in the rain, down a gravel road, park in a tight parking spot or leave the car parked on the street. I will not go so far to say that my car is am UNreplaceable work of art.....BUT I do not feel as comfortable driving it as I did when it was still ratty looking.

thats why ratty muscle is better. hell just last night it was a nice night and i just hopped up on the hood of my charger, laid down and starred at the sky. like you said, sliding around on dirt road, not carring about scratches...just having a blast. even just the extra work bench area using the hood to lay parts on 

[VegasCharger]

It's about time! Lol. For some reason I find cars in disrepair desirable. Maybe it's the potential diamond in the rough. Great looking car.

Thanks 

Nice solid original '68! The interior/upholstery can use some help though. 

Thanks Lennard 

Yes!  awesome platform to start with  thank you for posting!! 

Thanks Mike 

Nothing like a complete car with a rust free body. That's 3/4 of the battle right there.   

Thanks Mark 

Gotta love cars which have spent their life in the desert. Very nice ride. 
Being in Vegas it may be cool to run the car over to The Count and turn him loose on her.   

Thanks, Count's a cool guy but I can't afford him lol.  But I do go to his bar once in a blue moon. 

Awesome freaking car man 

Thanks 

dang that car is solid...its about time you showed pics of this car...we almost didnt believe you owned one lol

Thanks Chris. Yes believe it! 

Damn that's a solid car to start with. Nice ride! 

Thanks  Your purple 68 kicks A$$ 

Wow nice car! I'm glad you finally came out of the closet! 

Thanks Dirk 

Not unless you want to pay $500 a hour on anything done.
Great car. 

Thanks Mike  Yep CC too expensive for my budget. 

That's in amazing condition for it's age 

Thanks   

Not gold poop. Gold nugget. Hard to find anything that solid that isn't already restored, and with a quite rare selection of options too. Neato 

LOL   Thanks 

LOVE it!   More original the better!!!!

Thanks  Yea I plan on keeping it pretty close to original. 

Pretty cool, Brian.
I recall having a decent time tooling around in my 70 before it was painted. The 70 was far rougher in appearance than yours but it still got attention. The moment you paint it, you lose the freedom to drive in the rain, down a gravel road, park in a tight parking spot or leave the car parked on the street. I will not go so far to say that my car is am UNreplaceable work of art.....BUT I do not feel as comfortable driving it as I did when it was still ratty looking.

Thanks KD  Well it's pretty much going a driver car with flat black paint. Not quite beater status but I will have no problem sitting on my hood to stare at the stars such as CBR did on his beater. 


I really appreciate all of the great compliments. Thanks 

I will try my best to get this thread up to speed of where I'm currently at with my 68 as well as answer all of your questions the best that I can in a timely matter. 

[VegasCharger]

i dunno...i wanna see a pic of brian standing next to this charger, he might have got these pics off google lol

This is the best that I can do for now. Not the greatest pic. It's actually a screen shot from a self made video I did when I was testing my head lights and vacuum system.

Yep that's me, long hair, gray beard, red glasses, Slayer T shirt & Slayer hat.

[VegasCharger]

Big #1 question. Does your A/C work ?

Never did from day one. But I plan on having it working when I get it on the road. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to use the original equipment on the dash side (box, controls, vents etc.) but I'm debating on weather using aftermarket on the engine side. I have all of the OEM A/C components when I got the car. Should I chose to use any parts that are aftermarket I will definitely save the original parts.

[tan top]

  good stuff   

[Charger_Fan]

Thanks for sharing your pics, that's really cool that it's as rust free as it is. Do all the power windows work as well? Any idea why the small strap is screwed to the top of the steering column cover?

Back when my '70 was our daily driver, the A/C worked awesome...almost TOO awesome, it would freeze the hell out of us if we left it on high too long. It also got the engine bay really cooking on hot days, and if we didn't turn off the A/C before heading up a long hill, the engine would vapor lock & die before we reached the top. Ahhh, good times.

[VegasCharger]

Thanks for sharing your pics, that's really cool that it's as rust free as it is. Do all the power windows work as well? Any idea why the small strap is screwed to the top of the steering column cover?

Back when my '70 was our daily driver, the A/C worked awesome...almost TOO awesome, it would freeze the hell out of us if we left it on high too long. It also got the engine bay really cooking on hot days, and if we didn't turn off the A/C before heading up a long hill, the engine would vapor lock & die before we reached the top. Ahhh, good times.

When I got my Charger the driver's side front and rear power windows worked good. The passenger side front power window worked okay and the passenger side rear power window barely worked and not even full travel up or down.

Since then I fixed the rear RH window. It needed track/roller repair and the motor rebuilt. The previous owner(s) made a mess in attempts to repair the window and probably just left it alone. Looking back I wished I went with a new Dorman pw motor instead of having the OEM repaired (what a nightmare). I spent too much $$$ because I ended up having two services touching my motor to get it fixed. Eventually I will end up replacing all 4 pw motors with the Doorman replacements. I will save the originals.

The driver's side rear power window works the best, I almost want to leave it alone.

Any idea why the small strap is screwed to the top of the steering column cover?

Great eye and good question. Realistically this whole car in general had a bunch of makeshift idiotic repairs. In this case the PO(s) tore the steering column down and when it came to putting it back together I guess they couldn't figure out how to re-assemble the upper portion of the steering column so they use pop rivets, a brass tab and some long screws to secure the housings together (see pics). I torn it down and in the process of putting it back together. I filled the drill holes with epoxy, sanded and paint.

Thanks for asking.

[Charger_Fan]

Any idea why the small strap is screwed to the top of the steering column cover?

Great eye and good question. Realistically this whole car in general had a bunch of makeshift idiotic repairs. In this case the PO(s) tore the steering column down and when it came to putting it back together I guess they couldn't figure out how to re-assemble the upper portion of the steering column so they use pop rivets, a brass tab and some long screws to secure the housings together

Oh good grief!

Your repair job looks really good though, nice work.

[BDF]

I like the car & story  !
Thanks again for posting pics for me 

[Hemidog]

I love rough looking Chargers, especially ones that are that rust free
Also love the Slayer shirt 

[VegasCharger]

good stuff   

Thanks TT 

I like the car & story  !
Thanks again for posting pics for me 

You're welcome. Anytime you need me to post pics in here you let me know.

I love rough looking Chargers, especially ones that are that rust free
Also love the Slayer shirt 

Thanks.

Me on the left and Kerry King of Slayer on the right. Total random and rare coincidence meeting him at an off the beaten path bar in Las Vegas.

[1974dodgecharger]

badass...love it.

[VegasCharger]

badass...love it.

Thanks   

[VegasCharger]

Here are pics of the trunk floor area shortly after I bought my Charger. I removed the factory floor mat and started scaling the flakes with a screwdriver and gave it the probe test to see if it would poke through. It held up and no protrusion. Then I took one of those paint stripper disc on my angle grinder and removed most of the floor paint/rust down to bare metal. The last two pics are what the floor looked like after down to bare metal. Up close you can see some very slight cavities. I mean if it were to be media blasted would it protrude through? Make the metal thinner? I don't know and I'm not having that done anyway. I will try to find the best solution to preserve it moving forward. And being in the desert climate definitely helps.

[VegasCharger]

 

[68pplcharger]

Damn you charger is solid as hell... 

[comet_666]

good stuff   

Thanks TT 

I like the car & story  !
Thanks again for posting pics for me 

You're welcome. Anytime you need me to post pics in here you let me know.

I love rough looking Chargers, especially ones that are that rust free
Also love the Slayer shirt 

Thanks.

Me on the left and Kerry King of Slayer on the right. Total random and rare coincidence meeting him at an off the beaten path bar in Las Vegas.

I met him at a show in Albany NY, was very cool. My favorite band of all time!

[Charger_Fan]

That's one of the least rusty original trunk floors I've seen yet! Very cool.

[VegasCharger]

That's one of the least rusty original trunk floors I've seen yet! Very cool.

Thanks 

When I went to remove the fuel tank and knowing how the sheet metal for the trunk floor was on the top surface, I was curious of how it would look on the underside stuck between the tank and the tank mat. Let's just say I was very surprised.

[BDF]

That is SOLID! Nice car 

[Mytur Binsdirti]