NEW MEMBER HERE, SOME PICS OF MY 68 I JUST GOT

[CHASWINGMAN2]

This was my Christmas present to myself, I picked this up Dec 23rd in Fla.
68 Charger  383 4bbl, auto on column, silver with black top and interior.  Very odd (early 68) features on the car.  I've read some of the posts about the door pad medallions and mine are red white & blue.  My car also has the 67 style vent pulls (don't look like they have ever been messed with), 67 style sunvisors (chrome plated bases with the more rounded corners),   2 piece trunk lid, tailpanel reinforcement braces, totally wired trunk spring configuration, tamper proof bolts on gas cap, 67 GTX style air breather.  I'm sure I'll find other early 68 stuff as I enter this site (come on guys, educate me)

This car has had one re-paint with a minor repair to rt rear quarter.  The paint is less than perfect (kinda yucky actually) and it looks like they painted right over dirt under the hood and in the trunk.  The front seats have been recovered but the rear was left alone, has since blistered and popped along the top.  I have owned over 25 68-70 chargers over the years and parted out (long time ago) another dozen or so and have never seen this early stuff before.  I guess everyone I ever had was mid to late year model 68's.

I started driving her as soon as I got her home, I've only missed one day of driving (heavy rain) since and I have to tell you, I feel like I am 20 years younger.  I love this old beast.  I own a shop and tinker with it almost every day, I'm in heaven.  I'm going to try to post some pics now, I hope they come through.  I'm brand new to this site, but not to Chargers.  I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable when it comes to 68-70 Chargers, but I sure would love to learn more from you guys.

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Another pic

[CHASWINGMAN2]

And another

[CHASWINGMAN2]

And another

[CHASWINGMAN2]

I just can't stop, is my excitement obvious?

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Another

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Another

[Shakey]

Well done & welcome to the site!   

[Charger-Bodie]

you found the place man what do ya think?

[mikepmcs]

Welcome to the site.     Car looks pretty nice to me in the pics.

So is this a numbers car?  If so do you have a buildsheet and fender tag info.  If so, you can decode the info right here and know what was on your car when it rolled out. This site will tell you everything.

http://www.mopar1.us/tech.html

2 piece trunklid???

v/r
Mike

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Stayed up almost all night checking out all the posts,  Yeah, I think I found a home.  I'm a little nervous about one thing though, we reproduce a lot of Charger parts and I of course sell them, what are the rule on here about peddliing parts and such.  I'm sure lots of guy will want to ask questions about our parts, but I really don't want everyone to think that I am here for a venue to sell my wares.  I'm a charger nut first, parts maker/peddler second.  Any advice from you guys.
Thanks
Todd.

[mikepmcs]

Yes you can put things like this in the services/business section of the site.   go to the home page and go to the online swap meet section, then scroll down and you'll find the services business section.

v/r
Mike

[Troy]

Would you be the same Todd that I met at the Garlits show? I was there with Bill Allphin (he hangs out here too). Welcome to the site!

Oh yeah, pretty cool car too!

Troy

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Welcome to the site.     Car looks pretty nice to me in the pics.

So is this a numbers car?  If so do you have a buildsheet and fender tag info.  If so, you can decode the info right here and know what was on your car when it rolled out. This site will tell you everything.

http://www.mopar1.us/tech.html

2 piece trunklid???

v/r
Mike

No build sheet, had turned into little tiny fleks of paper by the time I yanked the seat out (gently).  Fender tag intact and very nice, still on the car.  The bonus for me was the original window sticker.  The 68 Sales brochure lists the Silver paint and an added cost option, howver my window sticker denoted the color, but did not upcharge for the option.  I was excited to see the Mag style wheel covers on the sticker, of all the cars I've ever had, none came with those.  I have collected several of those heavy monsters over the years, but never had a car that they came on.  Here is a shot of the Trunk lid, notice that the panels are made like the hood, unlike the later 68's and of course 69's. 
    The vin is stamped on top of the block and transmission just behind the left head, hard to get a shot of it though.  Is there anyway to tell by vin where this cars falls into place as far as production goes?  VIN is XP29H8B11484*

[mikepmcs]

Todd
yup take your full vin and go to that web site above(i put in an earlier post) and punch it in.  It will tell you.   If not this site also can decode vins, but I find it finicky at times.

http://www.mymopar.com/tools.htm

v/r
Mike

[Back N Black]

Nice Charger and welcome.

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Would you be the same Todd that I met at the Garlits show? I was there with Bill Allphin (he hangs out here too). Welcome to the site!

Oh yeah, pretty cool car too!

Troy

Hey Try, Yep it's me.  I'm home now.  It seams Bill is everywhere it counts.

[hemi68charger]

Wow,,
Sweet ride......... Looks to be a very early production car.. I noticed the red/white/blue upper bolster Charger medallion and the trunk reenforcements...

Troy

[mikepmcs]

I punched in what you gave in the other post.

68, built in hamtramck, michigan, 383ci 330hp or 335hp 4bbl

14,84*th  car built.


The fender tag codes would really be interesting to decode and find out what options it came with.

v/r
Mike

[67_Dodge_Charger]

Welcome to the site.  Nice Charger.

Robert

[4cruzin]

Welcome aboard!  Sweet looking car for sure!  Enjoy the site!   

[CHASWINGMAN2]

I punched in what you gave in the other post.

68, built in hamtramck, michigan, 383ci 330hp or 335hp 4bbl

14,84*th  car built.


The fender tag codes would really be interesting to decode and find out what options it came with.

v/r
Mike

Mike, Here' what I gater from the fender tag.

383 hp
auto trans
Silver Metallic paint
Black bucket seat interior
3:23 peg leg rear gear
Buffed paint
Wheel lip molding
Belt molding
Drip rail molding
A/M radio with rear speaker option
Tinted windshield
Black vinyl top

Window sticker denotes:
AA1/C6X--Buffed silver metallic paint with black bucket seat interior.  No upcharge for the color listed on window sticker.

62--383 4bbl for a whopping $144.45 added option

306--Vinyl roof, black  $83.05

355-- Charger light package $17.00

395--Torqueflite Transmission $227.05

422--Radio, astrophonic $91.40

426--Rear seat speaker $14.70, too bad it don't mean Hemi.

456--Power steering $99.65

517--Hood mounted turn signals  $11.00

522--Tinted windshield  $22.35

579--Undercoating  $16.10

587--Wheel covers, simulated Mag $67.30

53--8.25x14 Whitewall tires  $67.00  Yuk!

274--Destination Charge $70.00

Car cost new=$3945.05

Delivered to Owen Motor Company, Oxford North Carolina.

[CHASWINGMAN2]

It had air added by the dealer when new, york compressor and all.  most of it was gone when I got the car.  I'm not going back with that stuff, too big and nasty under the hood.  One bonus was that the ashtray was never opened dut to the fact that the unit was mounted just below and since 68 ashtrays slide down, no access was possible.  I don't think I ever had an old mopar with such a nice ashtray.

[mikepmcs]

That's awesome, thanks for the info.  Looks like you got a pretty sweet ride there, congratulations!!!
v/r
Mike

[Brock Samson]

welcome fellow nut job! 

[41husk]

welcome aboard, love those 68s

[OttawaCharger]

Welcome aboard!  Nice car. 

2 piece trunklid???

v/r
Mike

Here is a shot of the Trunk lid, notice that the panels are made like the hood, unlike the later 68's and of course 69's.
The vin is stamped on top of the block and transmission just behind the left head, hard to get a shot of it though. Is there anyway to tell by vin where this cars falls into place as far as production goes? VIN is XP29H8B11484*

Mine has the same trunklid  and was made just 4 weeks after yours

[tan top]

nice looking charger  , a real early one two piece trunk lid , & rear panel braces  ,tri color inner door emblem , awesome deal

[bull]

Stayed up almost all night checking out all the posts,  Yeah, I think I found a home.  I'm a little nervous about one thing though, we reproduce a lot of Charger parts and I of course sell them, what are the rule on here about peddliing parts and such.  I'm sure lots of guy will want to ask questions about our parts, but I really don't want everyone to think that I am here for a venue to sell my wares.  I'm a charger nut first, parts maker/peddler second.  Any advice from you guys.
Thanks
Todd.

Well, no need to be nervous unless you sell crap, rip people off and lie because then you'll be justifiably crucified in about as long as it takes you to ship your first part. If your parts are half-decent, priced well and you do what you say you're going to do you'll become a great asset to the site and make a lot of friends and money. Pretty simple, really.

Welcome to the site, and nice '68.

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Stayed up almost all night checking out all the posts,  Yeah, I think I found a home.  I'm a little nervous about one thing though, we reproduce a lot of Charger parts and I of course sell them, what are the rule on here about peddliing parts and such.  I'm sure lots of guy will want to ask questions about our parts, but I really don't want everyone to think that I am here for a venue to sell my wares.  I'm a charger nut first, parts maker/peddler second.  Any advice from you guys.
Thanks
Todd.

Well, no need to be nervous unless you sell crap, rip people off and lie because then you'll be justifiably crucified in about as long as it takes you to ship your first part. If your parts are half-decent, priced well and you do what you say you're going to do you'll become a great asset to the site and make a lot of friends and money. Pretty simple, really.

Welcome to the site, and nice '68.

Thanks for the welcome,  The quality isn't the problem, though I've learned that some folks cannot be satisfied no matter what you do.  Reproducing parts was a dream I've had for literally decades (cut up 12 chargers to fix my first car, no bashing please, most were too far gone to do anything with)  I wish I would have had another avenue for parts at that time.  Ano Uno was a joke and it was a crapshoot on when you would get anything.  When Pete started selling parts, Mike and I got with him and basically picked his stuff apart, convinced him to up the quality and make better parts.  Well, we had to put our money where our mouth is an jump into product development.  Then we had to convince Chrysler we could do this and make parts worthy of their standards.  Fast forward a couple of years and here we are.  Over 350 part numbers done, over half are licensed parts and our biggest customer is Damlier Chrysler.  Our roots though, was to provide the little guy with the 318 powered driver, parts he could afford.  Some of our parts are pricey, not because of greed, but because they are just plain expensive to make.  Every part we make has tooling involved, some more than others.  Every part we decide to do takes some education, planning and forecasted sales guessing (read guessing).

A lot of what we are currently selling are short run products, meaning we didn't make a lot, for several reasons that require too much typing here to explain.  Some of the parts require a lot of hand detailing that take a lot of time and increases the risk of error (poor quality).  Peter moves a little faster than Mike and I would like with the "Next project", but it's not an issue, we just have a hard time keeping up.  He has made some parts that others already make, and that pissed a few folks off.  We are trying to smooth that over as best we can.  Some folks make parts without telling anyone what they are doing and then when they are ready to release their parts, we are in their way because we already did it.  Not an easy issue for any of us.  Communication is the key.
    I know you Charger guys don't care about all that stuff, but I thought a little insight as to what we are doing and who we are would be helpfull.

Our pricing is fixed, and we only have a few dealers that sell our parts.  We offer discounts to restoration shops and customers that buy in volume, and frankly the only reason we do that is because they fully expect that kind of treatment.   We are so far away from making a profit that we refuse to give away our parts.  Imagine you buy a set of 69 Charger taillights, complete with chrome bezel (attaches with screws instead of the b.s. that came originally) and paid lets say $550.00 for the pair.  You put them on your car, they are perfect and better than you could have ever dreamed, correct part numbers, pentastar, the whole works.  A month later you see a guy selling them in MCG for $275.00, you are gonna be mad, feel raped, feel stupid, and my name will be dirt, mud, &^%$ @ss, etc.   That is why we set our retail and all of our dealers cannot change it.  If they do advertise for less, then we cut them off, no more parts, simple as that.   If you look at the big parts dealers, Mother Mopar for example, she will be selling these parts for more than we are, but the advantage for the consumer is that you can go to your local dealer and have the part in a day or 2, hold it in your hand before you take it home and they stand behind everything they sell (of course we honor all parts we make for them).   Some guys will complain about the price no matter how reasonable we think it is, and all I have to say to them is " you try to make this part and sell it at a cheaper price"   If I sound defensive, well maybe I am, but I have been around this hobby for over 20 years and I do know what I am talking about.

    Take Bill for example, He has researched every part he sells, scrounged, made calls, studied cars, books, posts on the web, and a million other things just to bring his products to your door.  He may never get paid for the time he has put into your restoration, he does it because he has the passion (and he's anal) (sorry Bill).   When you order from Bill, don't think about the cost in dollars and cents, think about his time and accuracy in what he is doing for you.  As arrogant as I am about Chargers, I have to pick Bill's brain everytime I talk to him so I can learn more and spend a few more bucks.  I saved every fastner, nut and bolt from every car I've ever taken apart, and I can pull one out of the bin and have a 95% chance of being accurate as to where it came from, but those bins are getting empty in a hurry.  The luxury of calling bill and having him fill my bins is priceless to me.

  Ok, I'm rambling, but I think you guys understand that I'm in this for the long run, I want you guys happy with our stuff and I want to see these old cars cruising in style again.   These cars were thrown together and the parts were always much better, we all have a big job on our hands trying to restore these cars, I hope the guys like Bill and us can make that adventure a little easier on you.  For now I'm going to enjoy my Charger, but some day I will embark on a nut and bolt restoration that I will do myself, I can't wait.

[Shakey]

Stayed up almost all night checking out all the posts,  Yeah, I think I found a home.  I'm a little nervous about one thing though, we reproduce a lot of Charger parts and I of course sell them, what are the rule on here about peddliing parts and such.  I'm sure lots of guy will want to ask questions about our parts, but I really don't want everyone to think that I am here for a venue to sell my wares.  I'm a charger nut first, parts maker/peddler second.  Any advice from you guys.
Thanks
Todd.

Well, no need to be nervous unless you sell crap, rip people off and lie because then you'll be justifiably crucified in about as long as it takes you to ship your first part. If your parts are half-decent, priced well and you do what you say you're going to do you'll become a great asset to the site and make a lot of friends and money. Pretty simple, really.

Welcome to the site, and nice '68.

Thanks for the welcome,  The quality isn't the problem, though I've learned that some folks cannot be satisfied no matter what you do.  Reproducing parts was a dream I've had for literally decades (cut up 12 chargers to fix my first car, no bashing please, most were too far gone to do anything with)  I wish I would have had another avenue for parts at that time.  Ano Uno was a joke and it was a crapshoot on when you would get anything.  When Pete started selling parts, Mike and I got with him and basically picked his stuff apart, convinced him to up the quality and make better parts.  Well, we had to put our money where our mouth is an jump into product development.  Then we had to convince Chrysler we could do this and make parts worthy of their standards.  Fast forward a couple of years and here we are.  Over 350 part numbers done, over half are licensed parts and our biggest customer is Damlier Chrysler.  Our roots though, was to provide the little guy with the 318 powered driver, parts he could afford.  Some of our parts are pricey, not because of greed, but because they are just plain expensive to make.  Every part we make has tooling involved, some more than others.  Every part we decide to do takes some education, planning and forecasted sales guessing (read guessing).

A lot of what we are currently selling are short run products, meaning we didn't make a lot, for several reasons that require too much typing here to explain.  Some of the parts require a lot of hand detailing that take a lot of time and increases the risk of error (poor quality).  Peter moves a little faster than Mike and I would like with the "Next project", but it's not an issue, we just have a hard time keeping up.  He has made some parts that others already make, and that pissed a few folks off.  We are trying to smooth that over as best we can.  Some folks make parts without telling anyone what they are doing and then when they are ready to release their parts, we are in their way because we already did it.  Not an easy issue for any of us.  Communication is the key.
    I know you Charger guys don't care about all that stuff, but I thought a little insight as to what we are doing and who we are would be helpfull.

Our pricing is fixed, and we only have a few dealers that sell our parts.  We offer discounts to restoration shops and customers that buy in volume, and frankly the only reason we do that is because they fully expect that kind of treatment.   We are so far away from making a profit that we refuse to give away our parts.  Imagine you buy a set of 69 Charger taillights, complete with chrome bezel (attaches with screws instead of the b.s. that came originally) and paid lets say $550.00 for the pair.  You put them on your car, they are perfect and better than you could have ever dreamed, correct part numbers, pentastar, the whole works.  A month later you see a guy selling them in MCG for $275.00, you are gonna be mad, feel raped, feel stupid, and my name will be dirt, mud, &^%$ @ss, etc.   That is why we set our retail and all of our dealers cannot change it.  If they do advertise for less, then we cut them off, no more parts, simple as that.   If you look at the big parts dealers, Mother Mopar for example, she will be selling these parts for more than we are, but the advantage for the consumer is that you can go to your local dealer and have the part in a day or 2, hold it in your hand before you take it home and they stand behind everything they sell (of course we honor all parts we make for them).   Some guys will complain about the price no matter how reasonable we think it is, and all I have to say to them is " you try to make this part and sell it at a cheaper price"   If I sound defensive, well maybe I am, but I have been around this hobby for over 20 years and I do know what I am talking about.

    Take Bill for example, He has researched every part he sells, scrounged, made calls, studied cars, books, posts on the web, and a million other things just to bring his products to your door.  He may never get paid for the time he has put into your restoration, he does it because he has the passion (and he's anal) (sorry Bill).   When you order from Bill, don't think about the cost in dollars and cents, think about his time and accuracy in what he is doing for you.  As arrogant as I am about Chargers, I have to pick Bill's brain everytime I talk to him so I can learn more and spend a few more bucks.  I saved every fastner, nut and bolt from every car I've ever taken apart, and I can pull one out of the bin and have a 95% chance of being accurate as to where it came from, but those bins are getting empty in a hurry.  The luxury of calling bill and having him fill my bins is priceless to me.

  Ok, I'm rambling, but I think you guys understand that I'm in this for the long run, I want you guys happy with our stuff and I want to see these old cars cruising in style again.   These cars were thrown together and the parts were always much better, we all have a big job on our hands trying to restore these cars, I hope the guys like Bill and us can make that adventure a little easier on you.  For now I'm going to enjoy my Charger, but some day I will embark on a nut and bolt restoration that I will do myself, I can't wait.

Best thing I've read in a while!   

Thanks for the insight.   

[Charger_Fan]

Welcome to the site! We love to see members totally excited about their Chargers. With your background & current interests, I'm sure you'll prove to be an absolute asset to our little community.

Those are some interesting differences pertaining to your early build-date Charger. We had a discussion about the tri-colored door medallions a while ago; http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22149.0.html Yours sure look clean!

[bull]

This was my Christmas present to myself, I picked this up Dec 23rd in Fla.
68 Charger  383 4bbl, auto on column, silver with black top and interior.  Very odd (early 68) features on the car.  I've read some of the posts about the door pad medallions and mine are red white & blue.  My car also has the 67 style vent pulls (don't look like they have ever been messed with), 67 style sunvisors (chrome plated bases with the more rounded corners),   2 piece trunk lid, tailpanel reinforcement braces, totally wired trunk spring configuration, tamper proof bolts on gas cap, 67 GTX style air breather.  I'm sure I'll find other early 68 stuff as I enter this site (come on guys, educate me)

I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable when it comes to 68-70 Chargers, but I sure would love to learn more from you guys.

What's the build date on your '68? Mine left the factory on Jan. 8, '68 and like you said there are some quirks with these early cars. One thing I thought of off the top of my head is the slider ash tray as opposed to the pivoting trays. Four speed cars got the Inland shifter instead of the Hurst. The seatbelts were sometimes different front to back too. There are other differences but they escape me at the moment.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Welcome to the site Todd

Look forward to hearing about what parts you are reproing

PS---sweet ride!

[Brock Samson]

again welcome cool car etrc... but what about the little delta behind the charger script on the roof?...
WHAT ABOUT IT!!!???
lol... 

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

Sweet Car Dude!!!


all u need 2 do now is get a silver paint marker and paint the fins in the grille and add charger emblems to the roof and that car would be done

[CHASWINGMAN2]

again welcome cool car etrc... but what about the little delta behind the charger script on the roof?...
WHAT ABOUT IT!!!???
lol... 

Brock, 2 sets of holes, spacing looks about right, the only example I can go by is the sales brochure from Aug of 68.  Anybody have pics of their cars with the medallion on the roof?

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Sweet Car Dude!!!


all u need 2 do now is get a silver paint marker and paint the fins in the grille and add charger emblems to the roof and that car would be done

Thank goodness I have 2 extra 68 grills that I can reference from.  This grill was painted by a hack and 2 verticle bars are missing.  I just don't look forward to taking that booger apart, not fun.  I think I'll just drive it for now, maybe graft in some bars to help it out a little.  Anyone have any damaged grills I can nab some bars from?

[Johnny SixPack]

Man, a silver "68! 

Sweetness!

Almost bought one myself (long story involving VoloAuto in IL).

Silver really looks stunning on the 2nd gen body. 

Post a pic over here when you get a chance:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,6.0.html

Welcome to the board!

[Troy]

Sweet Car Dude!!!


all u need 2 do now is get a silver paint marker and paint the fins in the grille and add charger emblems to the roof and that car would be done

Thank goodness I have 2 extra 68 grills that I can reference from.  This grill was painted by a hack and 2 verticle bars are missing.  I just don't look forward to taking that booger apart, not fun.  I think I'll just drive it for now, maybe graft in some bars to help it out a little.  Anyone have any damaged grills I can nab some bars from?

I'll trade you some grill bars for some of that 68 tailpanel trim you said you had (center bottom).

Troy

[charge-it]

Todd,
Welcome to the sight. We met at Garlits last November. My buddy sold you that green Road Runner fender. I have a 68 Charger as well.

[CHASWINGMAN2]

Todd,
Welcome to the sight. We met at Garlits last November. My buddy sold you that green Road Runner fender. I have a 68 Charger as well.

Yep, I got that fender hanging on the wall, that's why I bought it.  Now I need to find a 72 runner to stick it on.
Post a pic of your charger.

[Silver R/T]

welcome, nice project

[Charger-Bodie]

thats a really awesome charger Todd, piece of mopar history if you ask me almost be a shame to turn that one into a show poodle slap some chrome magnumd on that beast and go cruzin arout the orange belt