Steve Strope 70 Charger

[Big Lebowski]

Does anyone have a pic of the dash? I havent seen the magazine and cant find a good dash pic. the 68 tail and the 70 nose really don't work well for me. It's like two different cars depending on how you look at it.
I'd be happy if these guys stuck with 69 camaros and left Chargers, or any Mopar, alone.

  Picture a '71 Charger's dash w/ '80's racing seats, that's all.

[Charger_Fan]

And you bring up a good point.  Are there any good custom ideas left?  There used to be a guy here locally that we called Dr. K-Mart because he would butcher up a car with every option in the auto accessory aisles from the nearby K-Mart store.  We would watch him wreck good cars and I would always insist that the automakers spend millions of dollars hiring the best designers in the world and then drawing sculpting and approving cars for assembly and some knucklhead with a sawzall and 100 bucks thinks he can improve it's appearance in his backyard.  An extreme point of view maybe, and the 06 Charger blows my theory all to hell from a personal opinion standpoint, but customizing in general?  What's good for 32 Fords maybe isn't such a good idea on 60's era supercars and especially Chargers which were more or less Dodge's styling flagship at the time.
Is it just me, or do all of these high profile customizers seem to have a very piecemeal approach to the changes they make on these cars?  68 taillights, 71 instrument cluster, aftermarket seats?  Change for the sake of change?

Some bodystyles lend themselves easily to customization...Charger's aren't one of those. Mr. Angry & Autodynamics cars are about as customized as the body style will allow, IMO.

[Brock Samson]

  dont forget daytona guy's yellow daytona clone and high bank's 500, though it's debatable it could be called a custom, those are still two of my favortite modded rides.. 

[twenty mike mike]

I like the '71 instrument panel mod. Dodge really blew it with the 2nd Gen panel, particularly after the outstanding one in the 1st Gen. The speedo is in the right place but the tach is way offset...the whole panel just looks haphazard. What were they thinking?

But that was the only thing I liked about the car. If they wanted '68 tail lights, why not just mod a '68? And the paint...ugh.

[TripleBlackGator]

Some bodystyles lend themselves easily to customization...Charger's aren't one of those. Mr. Angry & Autodynamics cars are about as customized as the body style will allow, IMO.

I would add NorwayCharger to those two. 

[Brock Samson]

I think kenny's (Kabb's) will suprise you..

[blackcharger]

 

[MadScientist]

You know..... if the car had a butt stripe the same color orange as the nose, the car would look like its wearing a thong....

MS

[Mike DC]

     
The custom-car world is a joke these days.  It hardly matters which specific car we're talking about anymore because they're all basically the same thing.

Expensive old bodystyle + expensive/modern drivetrain + impractical suspension/wheels + plastic-model fit and finish = Wins awards. 

Doesn't matter if it won't actually run worth a crap, won't clear a 3" speed bump, is too shiny to risk driving, and just isn't creative at all.

   

[autodynamics]

Thanks for the compliment guys... As far as the Mopar world goes it seems like there is a big problem with a "custom " charger, or a custom mopar! I think our hobby  has come along way. For so many years mopar's were left to rot and there were not that many upgrades available unlike for the  Ford and Chevy guys. Finally Mopars have caught up to the rest of the  automotive world and we bash customizers for that. I don't get it. Strope's car's aren't  the best but he does bring a new type of interest into the hobby. Maybe i don't agree totally with Strope's newest creation but you guys are very close minded when a car is not done "concourse". The truth is the cars 68-70 are one of the sexiest bad ass designs of all times. Sometimes a different wheel, a different stance really helps the cars appearance out. Sometimes i wonder how many of you guys really like cars like mine Mr. Angry and Norways chargers? seems like "we ruined our rides by not making them "concourse" but then if we did we would be just like everybody else. Its a shame to read that the "paint is too shinny" and the "wheels are to big" When all that in fact is bringing more attention to our hobby than ever. I don't agree with how big some of these wheels are or the interiors or big "hemi motors" I think that we should all see the car in person before driving an axe through the heart of the build. We all know that our cars really don't handle and steer or brake very well in factory trim. Upgrades like suspension brakes and steering are not just"cosmetic pieces" these really DO work and hopefully one day everyone of you "concourse" guys get to ride in a custom mopar and feel the difference, and give a thumbs up to all the mopar world. Ilove all types of chargers, for what they are and represent. Im not bashing anyone but it would be nice to read "not bad" "too much for me" or "man that looks good" instead of "should of left it stock" We should love our hobby not hate the build....
Pete

[Ghoste]

Personally I just prefer the stock look.  Subtle mods maybe?

[Charger74]

Thanks for the compliment guys... As far as the Mopar world goes it seems like there is a big problem with a "custom " charger, or a custom mopar! I think our hobby  has come along way. For so many years mopar's were left to rot and there were not that many upgrades available unlike for the  Ford and Chevy guys. Finally Mopars have caught up to the rest of the  automotive world and we bash customizers for that. I don't get it. Strope's car's aren't  the best but he does bring a new type of interest into the hobby. Maybe i don't agree totally with Strope's newest creation but you guys are very close minded when a car is not done "concourse". The truth is the cars 68-70 are one of the sexiest bad ass designs of all times. Sometimes a different wheel, a different stance really helps the cars appearance out. Sometimes i wonder how many of you guys really like cars like mine Mr. Angry and Norways chargers? seems like "we ruined our rides by not making them "concourse" but then if we did we would be just like everybody else. Its a shame to read that the "paint is too shinny" and the "wheels are to big" When all that in fact is bringing more attention to our hobby than ever. I don't agree with how big some of these wheels are or the interiors or big "hemi motors" I think that we should all see the car in person before driving an axe through the heart of the build. We all know that our cars really don't handle and steer or brake very well in factory trim. Upgrades like suspension brakes and steering are not just"cosmetic pieces" these really DO work and hopefully one day everyone of you "concourse" guys get to ride in a custom mopar and feel the difference, and give a thumbs up to all the mopar world. Ilove all types of chargers, for what they are and represent. Im not bashing anyone but it would be nice to read "not bad" "too much for me" or "man that looks good" instead of "should of left it stock" We should love our hobby not hate the build....
Pete

Don't think it could have been said any better than that Pete.  I don't mind customizing, heck, my 73 certainly isn't going to be concourse or even stock.  But then again, restored to concourse it isn't worth it in the end.  Some people are just closed minded.  I like what he did, I'm just not a big fan of 70, in this case, not to sure about the paint job either with the lipstick front end.  Other than that, it's a very nice car.

[Brock Samson]

  i dunno about the strope '70 with it's mix and match style and the stripe don't follow the cars lines at all...
i like the other's mentioned but they seem more in character with the original design intent...
i love a good kustome ride but that ain't a good one... IMO, Autodynamics, Mr angry, Daytona Guy's even Black and Blown's are...
IMO... 
Man, I wish i had the dough to do mine up... with all the mods i've dreamed up over the years...


                    Kenny Git cracken man!!! Jeanine is a Custom I wanna see!!!

[Orange_Crush]

Thanks for the compliment guys... As far as the Mopar world goes it seems like there is a big problem with a "custom " charger, or a custom mopar! I think our hobby  has come along way. For so many years mopar's were left to rot and there were not that many upgrades available unlike for the  Ford and Chevy guys. Finally Mopars have caught up to the rest of the  automotive world and we bash customizers for that. I don't get it. Strope's car's aren't  the best but he does bring a new type of interest into the hobby. Maybe i don't agree totally with Strope's newest creation but you guys are very close minded when a car is not done "concourse". The truth is the cars 68-70 are one of the sexiest bad ass designs of all times. Sometimes a different wheel, a different stance really helps the cars appearance out. Sometimes i wonder how many of you guys really like cars like mine Mr. Angry and Norways chargers? seems like "we ruined our rides by not making them "concourse" but then if we did we would be just like everybody else. Its a shame to read that the "paint is too shinny" and the "wheels are to big" When all that in fact is bringing more attention to our hobby than ever. I don't agree with how big some of these wheels are or the interiors or big "hemi motors" I think that we should all see the car in person before driving an axe through the heart of the build. We all know that our cars really don't handle and steer or brake very well in factory trim. Upgrades like suspension brakes and steering are not just"cosmetic pieces" these really DO work and hopefully one day everyone of you "concourse" guys get to ride in a custom mopar and feel the difference, and give a thumbs up to all the mopar world. Ilove all types of chargers, for what they are and represent. Im not bashing anyone but it would be nice to read "not bad" "too much for me" or "man that looks good" instead of "should of left it stock" We should love our hobby not hate the build....
Pete

Don't paint everyone with the same brush my man..

As far as Mr. Strope's cars are concerned, it all went downhill after the Dust Ya.  That is just my opinion.  Based on the media coverage Steve gets, my guess is that I'm the one in the wrong and not him.  The GTX-R just looked a little "off" to me...the color scheme was weird and the wheels looked lost in the wheelwells.  The concept, however, was pretty cool as far as I'm concerned.  The Hammer was just OK...thhe white '68 he did was very nice.  This Charger, however, is awful. 

Like I said, these are my opinions.  I just can't seem to understand why steve makes it a point to make the LOOKS of the car and the engine dazzle and then make it completely ho-hum under the skin.  In my opinion, its no different from the pro-street novas tooling around in the eighties with big-n-littles and eye-popping paint jobs...and that's it.  That Charger is going to look great until it hits the first corner and the the leaf springs and torsion bars are gonna make their presence known. 

Lastly, the Charger body style is so close to perfection as it came out of the factory that anything that gets painted or tacked on just looks superfluous.  Gilding the lilly if you will.

Like I said, that's just my opinion.

[MadScientist]

I liked the way the pushed the bumper back to get rid of the rubber seal.  Some of those types of mods were nice.  I also thought the use of the 71 dash was interesting as well. I need to see it in person though.  I thought the Poteet Charger was a nice custom too. 

the one thing I like about Stopes stuff is that he does retain alot of the original character of the cars. 

MS

[NorwayCharger]

Only thing i did not fancy much is the paint design, other than that it is quite nice..

I really love the body lines of the 68-70 chargers, but when i bought mine in may 2000 first thing i did not like was the handling.
When i hit the gas pedal, it was scary .......all over the road.
Turning corners in hi speed felt like the car was made out of jelly..
So my dream was to make the nose heavy Charger to handle better, and more fun to drive.
And i tell you guys, IT IS A LOT OF FUN TO DRIVE
Better brakes, stronger engine, more hi-way friendly, better handling, better sound insulation, better car IMO.

If some people do not like it, it´s ok.
I like it.

[Charger-Bodie]

Only thing i did not fancy much is the paint design, other than that it is quite nice..

I really love the body lines of the 68-70 chargers, but when i bought mine in may 2000 first thing i did not like was the handling.
When i hit the gas pedal, it was scary .......all over the road.
Turning corners in hi speed felt like the car was made out of jelly..
So my dream was to make the nose heavy Charger to handle better, and more fun to drive.
And i tell you guys, IT IS A LOT OF FUN TO DRIVE
Better brakes, stronger engine, more hi-way friendly, better handling, better sound insulation, better car IMO.

If some people do not like it, it´s ok.
I like it.

Norway , im more of a make em look stock guy myself but i really doo like youres and i think the reason im ok with the mods you did on youre charger is that they were done well not sloppy hack stuff like some attemps

[autodynamics]

 

[Mike DC]

         
Imagine that same Strope '70 Charger, but with no big names attached to it, and cheaper enamel paintwork, and a 383/auto:

The same magazine would probably have run nothing but a tiny little picture of that car, maybe snapped from the show field at the Nats or something.  It would have a caption like: "This poor '70 custom was at the show, looking like the bastard-child of several different aborted Charger projects."



But when a builder like Strope does it, the same ideas get a lot more money/resources & name-recognition. 
In the custom car world, THAT is the difference between "trend-setting" and "groundbreaking" rather than just "ugly" or "ill-concieved."


       

[Ghoste]

Mike, you are SO right.

[autodynamics]

hey norway..... i bet you grin from ear to ear when you drive your car!!!!! you have one awesome ride.

[69bronzeT5]

i see for once no one wants pics.. 

Hmmmmmmm.....god I am gonna get hated for this

[69bronzeT5]

Now if that Charger had a 70 rear end, 70 interior and was all black then it would look cool

[808mopar]

i think its a nice car.  i would drive it.  but id be weary of the hemi crate motor though.

[Mike DC]

 
Good point.  Does ANYBODY actually get one of those things and not immediately send it out to be completely torn down & looked over?