Charger stuff I plagiarized from Wangers book

[Ghoste]

Okay, so I'm reading Jim Wangers autobiography, Glory Days" and there are a couple of sections in it where he mentions the Dodge Charger.  The first time was when he was still with the ad agency for Pontiac and he found out throught the grapevine that the 68 Charger was virtually a shoe-in for the Motor Trend Car of the Year.  He got on the phone to DeLorean and convinced him to fly out to LA and talk to the editorial staff at Motor Trend.  Apparently they had never been feted by a such a highly placed Detroit executive before and that combined with DeLoreans very impassioned plea to choose the 68 GTO resulted in the Charger being passed over.  Luckily all of us have more sense than that.
The second time was after he left the ad business and went to work for Hurst.  They came up with this concept Charger as a proposal for Dodge but it was never pursued.
I believe this car has been mentioned on the forum before but here it is all the same.

[Drache]

Someone really needs to build a clone of that car! 

[Ghoste]

I wonder what happened to it?  Could still be around hiding in a Detroit garage someplace.

[terrible one]

That would have been a really cool car.

[hemihead]

I think it's ugly

[6pkrunner]

I think it's ugly

Agreed. Just too much accent. Every crease in the bodyline does not have to give cause to genetate a stripe.

[pettyfan43]

I've always fent that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation Chargers don't need geegaws and garish stripes to look cool. They ARE cool already. I like the stripe packages on the 3rd gen cars and the subtle accents that Mopar put on the second gen cars is a nice accent without going overboard. I've never been crazy about the bumblebee rump stripes personally. I like the longitudinal stripes on the 70. 

[Ghoste]

What if you were looking at it through a set of far out over the top groovy 1970 glasses?  In a world of wing cars, high impact paint and too much everything it seems understated.
Personally I'm neutral on it but I still wonder what happened to it.

[6pkrunner]

While the stereotypical hippie psychedelic micro bus and posters for upcoming concerts were twisted in colors to entice the viewer, even in 1970 I liked my cars pretty much solid colors. A single tasteful stripe was okay, but the multihued customs never did much for me. And as mentioned above the Charher's clean lines and curves had enough points of interest to catch the viewer's eye.
However for the 5 tabs of acid a day club, that may have been the hot ticket.

[Brock Samson]

thanks Ghoste!
allways good to learn more about my favorite!
didn't know about the COTY politics though,.. i have read in many places how the '68 knocked the sock s off all the magazine testers..
and that pic is really cool, though i'd imagine a hurst version a bit differently... 
  what else that book got to say?.. any good?..

[1BAD68]

Someone really needs to build a clone of that car! 

I agree, especially because I always thought white Chargers were boring looking and need something to jazz it up.

[Ghoste]

It's a good story.  Wangers has an ego but he was quite successful during the 60's and in my experience a little ego can go a long way to success.  Some of his facts are wrong but he was intensely focused on Pontiac so things that were going on at the other carmakers were only viewed by him as necessary.  The rest of the time I think they were just a peripheral event.  He has an excellent grasp of sales vs marketing vs branding and image and how they all tie together.  I haven't quite finished it yet but what I gather most of all is the distinct difference in Detroit between "car guys" and bean counters and the politics involved.  A lot of it is why the American car industry is where its at today.
His promotions at the dragstrips are fascinating as is the whole Ace Wilson Royal Pontiac thing.  Some of his Woodward exploits are pretty good too.
The books only real downfall is not enough Mopar in it. 

[Charger1973]

Its a cool idea, but it just doesnt work.  Thats too many stripes.  It looks like a giant candy cane. 

[Ghoste]

  Now that's funny.  Personally, the wheels with the gold caps bug me more than the stripes.