Alternative '68: What do you think of this thing?

[bull]

I don't know if anyone has posted this link yet but I thought it was an interesting read and treatment on this particular car. Like it?

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/45098_1968_dodge_charger/photo_01.html

[Charger-Bodie]

Bull, You can install that grille after the bumper

[Ghoste]

Personally, yuck!    I don't care for it all.  I appreciate the whole pure business attitude and all but for me a great part of the Charger is the styling and the grille is a significant part of that style signature.

[bull]

Bull, You can install that grille after the bumper

Don't give me any ideas. A piece of 1/4" plywood can go a long way.

[SFRT]

that car is 100% bad-assed.

[BigBlackDodge]

It has that 'Avanti' front end look to it..................ew.



BBD

[SFRT]

191 MPH

bad-assed.

[Khyron]

Looks very "nascar"

[sick dawg]

One word...

"U-G-L-Y"

[Mike DC]

The car is cool.  That brute, purpose-built kinda cool. 

If I was doing one, I'd probably look into doing the 1968 Coronet grille conversion.  It looked nice & clean on the C500s and it uses existing pieces.  (I dunno what a decent '68 Coronet grille is selling for these days, though.)

[RallyeMike]

Did anyone actually read the article or see the asphalt slicks? It's a race car. Function rules over form. The grill plates probably added 30mph to the top end not to mention making it even remotely drivable at full speed. The original set up had no headlights at all - the owners only added them at the urging of the magazine editor so Hot Rod Magazine could pretend it was a semi-street car.

And Yes, it's the baddest Charger I've ever seen   

[T3/RT]

Looks like (_i_)

[Hemidog]

looks totally badass, and i guess it dont hurt the cooling one bit?

[tan top]

awesome charger     sure would love to see & here it run  thought about doing something like that  as a experement to see what difference it would make when i first got my charger , with clear plastic  , but did not fancy pop riveting it to the original grill  , but i was only 17 & did not think at that  time of taking the  stainless trim off & drill  small  holes behind it or use the excisting ones  , so it would not show .

[Shakey]

I don't know if anyone has posted this link yet but I thought it was an interesting read and treatment on this particular car. Looks like it would save you lots of money on building the perfect OEM grille :

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/45098_1968_dodge_charger/photo_01.html

Exaclty - it looks as though the owner ran outta money before he finsinhed the front end.

No doubt the car looks cool, but the grille looks like a cheap shortcut.

[ChargerSG]

It looks badass but i would never do that to a Charger myself, looks like he ran out of money when finished it and was thinking hey this is cool

[JR]

Keeping in mind it was done entirely for aerodynamics, that car is awesome. I've kept that issue from '96 and have been drooling over that Charger ever since. It's perfect. I agree a stock grille would look better, but at almost 200 mph, that isn't much of a concern.

[JR]

Keeping in mind it was done entirely for aerodynamics, that car is awesome. I've kept that issue from '96 and have been drooling over that Charger ever since. It's perfect. I agree a stock grille would look better, but at almost 200 mph, that isn't much of a concern.

I also forgot, at my work we had some muscle car calenders made up. For October there is a 68 with a half assed General Lee paint scheme. The car looks like a quickie makeover, but the grille has been replaced with some kind of mesh screen painted black. I wish I had a scanner to show you guys.

[69_500]

I personally like it, but then again who doesn't like the 69 Charger 500's grille's which are close to that one right? I mean he did add the flush grille for speed, as well as adding the A pillar mouldings that a 500 and a Daytona wear as well. He would actually do well on the whole aerodynamics package if he would add in the rear window plug of a 500 or a Daytona as well.

[Hemidoug]

Well, if you think you have engine temp problems now, just wait until you put that Darth Vader looking thing on. Not very functional for a street car......

BTW....it's FUGLY

[RallyeMike]

Exaclty - it looks as though the owner ran outta money before he finsinhed the front end.

No doubt the car looks cool, but the grille looks like a cheap shortcut. 

Cheap shortcuts are at the heart of a lot of racing. You spend your money and time working on things that make the car go fast. Everything else is secondary. In the events that this car was built to compete in, the use of duct tape to improve aerodynamics on race day is extensive. It's cheap, it works, and nobody cares what it looks like!

From the looks of it, it appears that it might be built such that it can be removed and replaced with a stock grill fairly easily. I think he did a fine job for the purpose it was intended. It's very clean and flush-fitted.

[SFRT]

191 MPH

[bakerhillpins]

Not my favorite at all. Not even sure why someone would do that to the signature part of the car but hey, each to his own. 

Can't help thinking of Mad Max though.

[Troy]

Is it just me or are half the people not reading the part about it being an open road race car??? It is NOT going to look stock and stay planted on the road at those speeds. I doubt he was going for "pretty" - more like "functional". As long as it ended the race in one piece then it accomplished the goal.

Troy

[Ghoste]

I read it and I fully agree that it is an awesome road race car.  I still think the grille is ugly.

[Brock Samson]

it's really a Block Off plate, it would look alot better with four headlights... if those are actually headlamps...
or even a grill of a '68 charger or charger 500 like Kab is workin' on...

[Troy]

Just wondering...

It's hard to believe that they'd add the grill and A-pillar covers and then slap a giant scoop on the hood. Wouldn't it have been better to run cold air ducts and if more clearance was required then bulge the hood instead? I remember that car from when it first came out and I have always thought it was pretty cool. They seemed to have tried hard to keep it original - I'd have probably flared the fenders like a stock car (as long as it wasn't really rare). I have enough Charger love to go around for stock, modified, and race cars.

Troy

[Lowprofile]

This car was built with one mission in mind, and it does it quiet well. As a matter of fact, this was always my plan with my car.....to build a road racer type resto-mod. This car and "HibankHauler's" C-500 are my favorites.




"The grille was blocked off for aerodynamics—at high speed, a grille opening acts like a parachute. When we first saw the car, it didn't have headlights. To make it a true street car, we coerced them into installing a pair, and they work. Nowaczek opened up the lower valence panel and built an aluminum airdam to grab air for the radiator and to try to keep the nose of the car on the ground. Just visible in front of the oil pan is a plastic skid plate that protects the pan if the car bottoms-out at speed".

Also.....

"With everyone telling them they'd never get the car over 150 miles per hour, every little aero trick was mandatory. An aluminum filler panel smoothes off the stock molding on the A-pillar, the mirror mounting hole was filled with a smooth aluminum piece, and the cowl vent was closed off except for a little vent to allow air in to cool off the driver. Engle and Nowaczek are true Mopar guys in that they didn't want to cut up the car, and that's why the bolt-on filler panels were used instead of just cutting, filling, and smoothing. The windshield clips ensure that the glass doesn't pop out at speed and really lend to the NASCAR look. Even though the hoodscoop probably negates everything shown here, it's an example of the work that went into the car. Engle said the car was rock solid, and he couldn't detect the slightest bit of lift at speed.

[RallyeMike]

Good observations. I'm pretty impressed that the car hit 191 with that air scoop and such a small front spoiler. The drag from the air passing under the car had to be substantial.

[bull]

Wouldn't a cowl induction setup (basically turning the scoop around 180-degrees) be much more aerodynamic and yet achieve the same intake results?

Is it just me or are half the people not reading the part about it being an open road race car???

Troy

That's sort of my fault. I kind of focused the thread title on the looks of the car rather than it's overall function. Even though the looks are a secondary consideration I still think it looks pretty cool the way it is. Like Shakey said, I think they could have come up with something a little more attractive in a traditional sense that did the same job but it serves its purpose.

[bakerhillpins]

Is it just me or are half the people not reading the part about it being an open road race car???

Troy

That's sort of my fault. I kind of focused the thread title on the looks of the car rather than it's overall function. Even though the looks are a secondary consideration I still think it looks pretty cool the way it is. Like Shakey said, I think they could have come up with something a little more attractive in a traditional sense that did the same job but it serves its purpose.

That is the way I read into the topic. Looking for comments on form, not function.

[bull]

I was kind of looking for both but I'll fix it right now. Originally I was going to post some other pictures of different grilles that I had found but I got distracted looking at something else and didn't fix the title. Anyway, carry on.

[CaptMarvel]

Looks like all business...but I dont like it as a "beautiful charger", its just utilitarian and tough looking, kind of like Special Forces meets Ma Mopar.....The classic grille on 68/69s are part of what makes the look. Dont get me started on those ugly 70 front ends though (heh heh heh) 

[Ghoste]

"Special Forces meets Ma Mopar".   I like that.

[69bronzeT5]

IMO, put a normal '68 grille in it and it would look sweet! Love everything but the grille.

[NMike]

all they'd have to do is slap a coronet grill over the front. have looks and function.

[Jon Smith]

Thats the car that made me put black stock car steels on mine
I seem to remember something about them using that hoodscoop because they ran out of time to fabricate a cowl hood....
Does anyone know where it is or if it ever raced again? or what became of the hemi roadrunner they were building

[NYCMille]

That car probably one of my favorite Chargers out there - all business, no BS... I love it. 

[PocketThunder]

Can i buy Goodyear tires with lettering that size?  Those would look good on my C500.

[ChargerSG]

191 MPH Thats fast!

[Joshua]

You mean this car has never been posted here before??? The HOTROD issue it was in is OLD (mid-late 90's?).......I have it somewhere.....

Was built to run the Silver State Challenge in Nevada..............function BEFORE form.....sometimes fast isn't pretty.

But it IS badass.......

[Ghoste]

I think it was or maybe even on the old site.  Never hurts to be reminded again though.

[MoParMetal]

just the picture brings one word to mind



FAST

[NYCMille]

One of my all time favorites... that's nuthin' but a good ole' fashion kick ass muscle car 

[myk]

Good observations. I'm pretty impressed that the car hit 191 with that air scoop and such a small front spoiler. The drag from the air passing under the car had to be substantial.

Heh, you can feel that drag anywhere over 90mph on a street car.  Driving these cars at those kinds of speeds is downright frightening.  My T/A on the other hand...

[speedfreak68]

I think that its completely badass. it would be cool to do something like that with my 68  does anybody have any pics of the rear spoiler mods that they put on?

[Vainglory, Esq.]

This has got to be almost 10 years old.  Tell me I'm not the only one who remembers this!

[69*F5*SE]

Hell, I'd burn down the dragstrip in it.