69 Charger 500 Debut timeline

[nascarxx29]

Page 6
•-«-• • • • t_*.i t •
Richmond County Daily Journal, Rockingham. N.C. THURSDAY, Januar y 16, 196$
m
& •
| Sport Scope
,X !
Sunday, Jan. 19 a Dodge Charger 500 is scheduled
to race at Riverside International Raceway for the
first time as a "Stock Car" on the NASCAR circuit.
But Just what is a stock car as far as motor sports
is concerned? A stock car is a race car which has
been specially modified for racing .. . but first it
must be ' 'stock". This means that it must be manu-
factured in a quantity which exceeds 500 units.
Second, it must be publicly announced and publicly
available through dealerships throughout the nation
for sometime before it races.
Third, it is powered by an engine which is readily
available for sale to the public through established
dealerships.
Fourth, it is then modified for the special racing
conditions. Roll bars are installed. Special instru-
ments are added. And each racing mechanic has his
own special touches.
It is rules such as these, created and enforced by
ACCUS, NASCAR, USAC and SCCA which guarantee
that "stock" is really stock.
The Dodge people had to follow the above rules and
used a six month campaign to convince racing organi-
zations and the public that their Dodge Charger 500
was eligible for competition.
Here is the story, play by play as we have been
aoie to get it, of now the 1969 Charger, witn its Hemi-
426 engine, qualified for stock car racing.
CHELSEA, MICH. - JUNE 26, 1968 — Magazine
press invited to Chelsea to see, drive and test the
Charger 500.

ATLANTA. GA. AUG.
10.0-J 1968 r h n Charge
500 shown to some 300 writers and broadcasters at
National Press Preview. They had an opportunity to
ride and drive the unit at Stone Mountain. Car also
shown to NASCAR tech. director, Bill Gazaway.
DETROIT, MICH. - AUG. 29, 1968 — Charger 500
featured in text and pictures in press kit sent to some
18,000 publications throughout the world.
DETROIT, MICH. - Aug. 30, 1968 — Charger 500
also featured in 1969 Dodge performance models,
4-color brochure, #81-205-9042. First run of 250,000
copies sent to dealers.
DETROIT, MICH. - SEPT. 3, 1968 — Charger 500
picture, two views, (#69-586) mailed to performance
press.
NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, DETROIT - SEPTEM-
BER, 1968, TO PRESENT — Charger 500 models
made available for road tests to magazines, news-
papers and radio-TV writers in each of these three
cities. Additional tests still in process.
Among the press who have driven/tested the Char-
ger 500 are:
Bob Irvin, Detroit News; Bob Talbert, Detroit Free
Press; Terry O'Brien, Ward's Reports; John Spears,
WWJ-TV; Joe Callahan, Automotive News; Steve
Kelly, Hot Rod; Allen Girdler, Car Life; Tom Madi-
gan, Motorcade; Marty Schorr - Cars Magazine;
Fred Mackerod*-<F'ree-Lancer) Cars Mag.^Kfignum
Royal; Brock Yates - Car & Driver; Dick Demske,
Science & Mechanics; Pat Bedard, Car & Driver;
Bob Brown, Car & Driver; Vince Slavin, Neward
News; Marshall Spiegel, Scholastics Magazine; Geo-
rge Engel, American Rodding; Jim McCraw, Super
Stock & Drag Illustrated.
NEW YORK, SEPT. 6, 1968 — Charger 500 an-
nounced to Dodge dealers and their guests via a
closed-circuit television beamed to 20 different cities.
DETROIT, MICH. - SEPT. 7, 1968 — Charger 500
featured in Dodge, 4-color, full-line catalogue #81-
205-9041. Over 2,900,960 copies of this were run on
first printing and distributed to 3,000 dealers and
public.
DETROIT, MICH. - SEPT. 20, 1968 — Charger
500 featured in story to performance press, auto
editors, magazines, radio, TV.
ROIT, MICa - SEPT. 24, 1968 — Charger
Bob Irvin, Detroit News, for road test.
MICH. - SEPT. 26, 1968 — Charger
price bulletins mailed to all Dodge
500 to
DETROIT
500 listed
dealers.
»
in
A

— DETROIT, MICH. - SEPT. 29, 1968 — Char-
ger 500 models started shipping from Dodge Main
Plant.
CHARLOTTE - OCT. 8-13, 1968 — Charger 500
displayed in garage and paddock areas at Char-
lotte Motor Speedway.
IRISH HILLS, MICH. - OCT. 13, 1968 - A Char-
ger 500 was on display at the Pre-Race Parade Car
& Inaugural Race at Michigan International Speed-
way.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - OCT. 14, 1968 — Char-
ger 500 made available to Bud Lindeman for test on
his nationally syndicated Car and Track television
show.
USA AND CANADA, OCTOBER TO PRESENT—
Charger 500 models available for sale at Dodge
dealerships.
ROCKINGHAM, N. C. - OCT. 22-27, 1968 -
Charger 500 displayed in garage and paddock areas
at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
HONOLULU, OCT. 23-27, 1968 - Charger 500
featured in the Honolulu Auto Show.
ATLANTA, GA. - Oct. 28, 1968 — Charger 500
made available to NASCAR Technical director, Bill
Gazaway for several weeks so that he could prepare
the complicated templates to assure that race cars
will conform to that production shape.
ATLANTA, GA. - NOV. 1-5, 1968 — Charlie
Glotzbach and a Charger 500 were featured at the
Atlanta Auto Show.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. - NOV. 11, 1968 —
Charger 500 proved its popularity in an odd (and to
us unfortunate) way. It was stolen from the Union
OH Station at 9055 Wllshire Boulevard.
HONOLULU, NOV. 20-23, 1968 — Charger 500
featured in Custom Car Show.
DETROIT, MICH. NOV. 30-DEC. 8 — Pete Hamil-
ton and a Charger 500 were featured in the Detroit
Automobile Show.
DETROIT. MICH. - DEC. 4 , 1988 — Line draw-
Charger 500 sent to all racing writers.
CHARLOTTE, N. C. - DEC. 12-14, 1968 - South-
ern Racing Public Relations meeting at Ramada
Inn, Charger 500 used to demonstrate the new tem-
plates to press and racing PR men and promoters.
Only car in demonstration by Bill Gazaway. NAS-
CAR V-P Lin Kuchler in attendance. A list of 240
Charger 500 models and dealers who got them was
provided to Lin Kuchler.
CHICAGO, ILL. - DEC. 18, 1968 - Fiberglas
body of Charger 500 completed for drag racing by
Mr. Norm.
DETROIT, MICH. - DEC. 20, 1968 -- Letter to
Bill France advising him of various steps we had
taken to publicly announce the 1969 Dodge Charger
500. (Letter outlines items listed above.)
NEW YORK, N. Y. - JAN. 4, 1969 - Bill France
Jr. advises that the ACCUS Committee approved the
public announcement of 1969 Dodge Charger 500.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. - Jan. 7, 1969 — List
of 540 Charger 500 models and dealers to whom they '
were shipped submitted to Bill France at NASCAR,*
RIVERSIDE, CALIF. - JAN. 17-19, 1969 — Char-
ger 500 will be on display at Riverside Raceway for
the ««500»\

www.fultonhistory.com

[odcics2]

Interesting...

Good find!

Thanks!

 

[nascarxx29]

The stolen 500 That was found on crates in Watts.Mentions stolen from a Union OH down to the address. 9055 Wilshire Blvd Nov 11 68

[held1823]

good stuff

[odcics2]

The stolen 500 That was found on crates in Watts.Mentions stolen from a Union OH down to the address. 9055 Wilshire Blvd Nov 11 68

Be interesting to know when the car was actually stolen.  (guessing mid October)
Now we know when the PR came out about the incident.

Watts is about a 1/2 hour drive from the gas station. 

[hemi68charger]

Thanks Dave !!!
I will read over this when I get home from AutoRama and church..  Thanks for the diligence.. 

Also like the articles mentioning a "provided list" of 240 cars, then 540 cars, etc.. Then there's the famous list of 392..

[nascarxx29]

Maybe you can timeline when your car was tested.I had seen this article before.Just wanted to share it

[odcics2]

 
A team could build a car in 4-6 weeks.

[nascarxx29]

Nov 11 68
There after starting point.

[aerolith]

Nice one nascarxx29!

If the C500's had 'WON' at the Super Speedways then maybe, just maybe, there would be NO Wingcars!!!

Just think about that...

NO WINGCARS!!!

[tan top]

interesting stuff 

[odcics2]

Charger 500s  would have been good competition for the standard Ford fastback cars in 1969.   
It would have been equal, IMO.

When Ford upped the ante by drooping the fronts, then upped their wager with the 429,
the 500s were out classed on speedways.   It was a game of which Ford product would win.
Daytonas brought parity back with vastly improved aerodynamics, overcoming the HP advantage of Ford.   

(Keep in mind the 500s were GREAT on short tracks!  The 426 had more usable torque off the corners than the 429.)

[hemi68charger]

Nice one nascarxx29!

If the C500's had 'WON' at the Super Speedways then maybe, just maybe, there would be NO Wingcars!!!

Just think about that...

NO WINGCARS!!!

Another "what if".. If Richard Petty could have driven a Daytona ( all he wanted was one of those Winged-cars ), there would be no need for a Superbird.....

[41husk]

Nice read, thanks for posting.

[odcics2]

NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, DETROIT - SEPTEM-
BER, 1968, TO PRESENT — Charger 500 models
made available for road tests to magazines, news-
papers and radio-TV writers in each of these three
cities. Additional tests still in process.

Be interesting to know what cars went where, prior to production starting on Sept. 29th.

[hemi68charger]

NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, DETROIT - SEPTEM-
BER, 1968, TO PRESENT — Charger 500 models
made available for road tests to magazines, news-
papers and radio-TV writers in each of these three
cities. Additional tests still in process.

Be interesting to know what cars went where, prior to production starting on Sept. 29th.

The making of 6 in 8/'68, 3 manuals and 3 autos, paired up, to three different cities in different geographical areas makes sense... The earliest known place for my car before South Carolina, where the previous owner to me bought it, was Tennessee... It is highly unlikely my car went to the LA location and came back to Tennessee. More than likely, there was a previous owner to my car in another state north of Tennessee... Does Tenn. have the capability to run a history check on a car this old?

[nascarxx29]

Worth checking dmv to findout if they can do a historical research

[RallyeMike]

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. - Jan. 7, 1969 — List
of 540 Charger 500 models and dealers to whom they '
were shipped submitted to Bill France at NASCAR,*

Wonder if anyone has ever thought to ask the Frances if they keep old records?

[odcics2]

NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, DETROIT - SEPTEM-
BER, 1968, TO PRESENT — Charger 500 models
made available for road tests to magazines, news-
papers and radio-TV writers in each of these three
cities. Additional tests still in process.

Be interesting to know what cars went where, prior to production starting on Sept. 29th.

The making of 6 in 8/'68, 3 manuals and 3 autos, paired up, to three different cities in different geographical areas makes sense... The earliest known place for my car before South Carolina, where the previous owner to me bought it, was Tennessee... It is highly unlikely my car went to the LA location and came back to Tennessee. More than likely, there was a previous owner to my car in another state north of Tennessee... Does Tenn. have the capability to run a history check on a car this old?

Another "what if".   Didn't Hot Rod get 3 cars to test in the summer of 68?  If anything, there is certainly a case for more than 6 cars being lent out to magazines and being tested across the country by influential writers.     
So far, no documents exist that there were 6 cars produced.  But it seems that at least 6 were, probably a few more. 

When I worked on Press Release cars, we'd make dozens.  The logistics for having so few, in this case 6, doesn't make sense.

Off the subject line a bit, but what did Ford do for the Talladega and Cyclone II cars??   

[Ghoste]

Could it have been 6 designated and rushed to use to get the buzz started and then others released to press duty as time and need demanded?

[odcics2]

Could it have been 6 designated and rushed to use to get the buzz started and then others released to press duty as time and need demanded?

No vintage Chrysler documentation to back anything up regarding the amount of press cars built....   

Something from Chrysler like the info I presented on the first Charger 500 race car would be cool to see.   

Apparently, 6 cars known??   Maybe 2-4 more unknown?    Reminds me of the early attempts at figuring out the types of engines in wing cars, done by extrapolating.    At one time there were thought to be 70 hemi Daytonas. (Special Interest Autos, late 70s issue) That turned out to be wrong.

[Ghoste]

Where did the "6" first come from then?  I've seen it in print so often I can't recall the first time I saw it.  This is another moment when it might be helpful to see the rumored documents held by GG.

[odcics2]

Where did the "6" first come from then?  I've seen it in print so often I can't recall the first time I saw it.  This is another moment when it might be helpful to see the rumored documents held by GG.

[nascarxx29]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=67342.0

[odcics2]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=67342.0

Been a long time the info has been out there, but not shared.