how rare is my car?

[Hudson Hornet !]

Hello, I thought I had a garden variety charger but I was told that my car ( 1968 383 4-speed) is one of 200 - odd produced, where can I find some info on my car like production figures, how many are left. etc. Thanks!

[Back N Black]

2 barrel or 4 barrel carb.?

Welcome to the site. 

[Brock Samson]

 not really rare, but increasingly desirable, I came across one or two while looking for parts cars in the '80s but i doudt today I'd be thinking of a four-speed B.B. as a parts car,.. today they're alot less likey to even be cloned into R/Ts with the 440/or 426 as they are far more appreciated today then then... then then?... yeah that's it.. 


Anyhow, i've noticed most of the 383 4 speeds tend to be either red yellow or green... there are some great example of these in the post up your chargers thread up top, or, doing a "383 4" search with the quotes will give you pages of hits...

  I bet some '68 expert owners here have better information then I.
So anyhow,..  Welcome and yes it's true we love pictures.
 
Great Name & you remembered the ! too...
BTW: I'd love a convert!

[Hudson Hornet !]

Thank you guys, My car is a 4 bbl, and has an interesting history. As for my name, well my old man is a hudson guy and it runs in the family! I have a question for you guys... this is my first unit body mopar, and I am wondering about the trunk floorpans on the charger. How much stress is on them? Mine has a couple golf ball sized rust holes close to the spring mount. From what I can see, everything else is solid, but the trunk floor. Is this something I need to worry about now (structural) or is it something I can fix in time? It is my understanding that the leaf spring mounts are welded to the trunk floor. Most of my experience has the mount directly on the frame rail. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Hemidoug]

Most of the stress is in the a pillers, c pillers and lower sills. BTW...it's uni body, not unit body......I wouldn't worry about a little rust in the trunk floor weakening the rest of the chassis as long as the frame rails are solid. If the frame rails are rotted they will need to be replaced....

[dodgecharger-fan]

then then... then then?... yeah that's it.. 

Actually, it should be, "than then."     

Welcome HH!. As for the leaf spring mounts, they are tied in to the frame rails out back and ... as for the stress on the trunk floor, I'll hazard a guess that since we're talking about an area that is supported by the rear sub-frame, it's not that big of a concern in terms of structure. Those rear frame rails are tied to the uni-body and the rear crossmember. However, I'd wait for someone else to jump in on this as well.

But back to the holes... if you blast everything clean and see no other big problems, you could get away with repairing the holes if you're not too worried about the looks. Just be careful around the gas tank with a welder.... it'd be worth it to drop the tank out of the way.

[Hudson Hornet !]

I appreciate the replies, however where I am from it is Unitized construction,  uni body was always a slang term. LOL! Thanks for the help and I believe I have found a new home on the internet!

[Brock Samson]

  how about some pics when you getta chance of your dad's Hudsons,.. I don't care much for charger pics,..   i see plenty of those...

LOL 

Thanks for the enounciation lesson D.C.F...  brain fart, senior moment, C.R.S. take your pick. 

[Hudson Hornet !]

No problem, he's got a '49 commodore, a '51 Hollywood, and a '27 Super Six with an aluminum Biddle & Smart Body!

[472 R/T SE]

I guess it depends who you ask.  IMO, it is. 
21,455 383-2 barrel w/ only 74 being 4 gears.  Who's to say a previous owner didn't change out the intake.  Fellow member new Charger lover "bull" has one of the 4 gears.

19,013 383-4 barrel w/ only 259 being 4 gears.
Again, it's all depends who you ask and if it's a true 383 4 gear it doesn't matter if it's 2 or 4 barrel, with those numbers it's on the rare side.    Hell, they made 211 4 gear Hemi cars. 

All #'s from Galens fifth edition March '97 book.

[69CoronetRT]

Hello, I thought I had a garden variety charger but I was told that my car ( 1968 383 4-speed) is one of 200 - odd produced, where can I find some info on my car like production figures, how many are left. etc. Thanks!

If you have the broadcast sheet, i'd be interested in knowing what engine assembly the car recieved.

thanks.

[Dans 68]

Welcome to the site! I also have a '68 383 4-bbl 4-speed Charger and it is a rare car.    The last one that Ebay sold was for a bit under 30K and it needed body work. Enjoy it, and share pictures when you have some time. My original color is QQ1 (metallic blue)...someday it will return to that color.   

Dan

[Brock Samson]

    o.k. o.k. so it is rare...  good for you,.. really.. 
i thought there were alot more since i stumbled across both '68 and '69s back in the ye' olden times of yore.. 
i guess i should snapped em up but all i was lookin for were '69 R/T SEs...

  Posted by: 472 R/T SE
"Fellow member new Charger lover "bull" has one of the 4 gears."


that made me laugh out loud.. 

(Bull absolutly HATES  the new ones) 

[The Kid]

Like others stated, it is a fairly rare car. There were 74 383 2bbl 4spds and 259 383 4bbl 4spds produced in 1968. I don't think anyone has any hard numbers on how many have survived, but you can bet there aren't a ton.

[Chad L. Magee]

Like others stated, it is a fairly rare car. There were 74 383 2bbl 4spds and 259 383 4bbl 4spds produced in 1968. I don't think anyone has any hard numbers on how many have survived, but you can bet there aren't a ton.

I don't have any hard numbers to give you guys, but I would say probably around 15 to 20 of the 383-2bbl., 4-speeds from 1968 are left in any condition in my opinion.  Maybe 50 -100 of the 4-bbl. versions exist now.  Most just did not survive in orginal conditions as they would make excellent donors for RTs and a basis for a 4-speed RT clone.  I have my 2bbl. version registered with TDC and Wayne Wooten commented on there not being many in the registry at the time (a few years ago).  Wayne was more interested in my interior combo than the engine/transmission combo on that car......

Due to my interest in oddball Chargers, I have been keeping tabs on the ones I have spotted on ebay and the 4-bbl. show up alot more than 2bbl. ones (and usually in better shape).  Two 2bbl. versions were completely parted out (cut up) and sold on ebay before the seller realized what he had done back around 2003 or so.  It always pays to check the numbers before doing something you would regret later on........ 

[JimShine]

I remember a couple popped up on this board all in a short span of time. There was this one that I was trying to get, but it never hapened http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,11386.0.html

Some others

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,9081.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,11152.0.html

[bull]

Fellow member new Charger lover "bull" has one of the 4 gears.

Ah, wise guy, eh?

The VIN will tell you what engine the car came with. For example, my VIN starts with XP29G8B and the G in my case tells you that the engine combination is 383 290HP 1-2BBL 8 CYL so an XP29H8B VIN (which is what you're assuming yours is) means 383 330HP OR 335HP 1-4BBL 8 CYL. Use this: http://www.eastcoastmusclecars.net/moparvindec1966_1974.htm Or this: http://www.dodgecharger.org/html/numbers.html

The VIN does not address the transmission option so for that you need a fender tag. If you have one there should be a 3 in the first line (bottom line) which denotes floor mounted four speed, just like what you see in Dans68 signature picture above. Use this: http://www.mopar1.us/build.html

So, where are the pictures of this car? We need pictures.

[Hemidoug]

I appreciate the replies, however where I am from it is Unitized construction,  uni body was always a slang term. LOL! Thanks for the help and I believe I have found a new home on the internet!

No...sorry to disagree...it has always been unibody from it's conception.......unibody is the proper name for Monocoque construction in an automobile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocoque

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7155079/Repair-decisions-when-is-sectioning.html

The slang term is "Unit Body". You just happend upon one of my pet peeves.......

[69CoronetRT]

I appreciate the replies, however where I am from it is Unitized construction,  uni body was always a slang term.

Don't worry about it. Mopar used both. It depends on the context.

[Goodz]

Hello, I thought I had a garden variety charger but I was told that my car ( 1968 383 4-speed) is one of 200 - odd produced, where can I find some info on my car like production figures, how many are left. etc. Thanks!

I have 75 of them in mint condition in my backyard.  I just keep them there in case a war breaks out and I want to supply the neighborhood with Tanks. 

[bull]

Hello, I thought I had a garden variety charger but I was told that my car ( 1968 383 4-speed) is one of 200 - odd produced, where can I find some info on my car like production figures, how many are left. etc. Thanks!

I have 75 of them in mint condition in my backyard.  I just keep them there in case a war breaks out and I want to supply the neighborhood with Tanks. 

Huh?

Anyway, Hudson, did you figure it out yet? What's the VIN and fender tag say?

[Goodz]

It was a joke/sarcasm.    

[bull]

It was a joke/sarcasm.    

I figured that but I didn't get it. Still don't.

[Goodz]

Was saying that I had a bunch of them in my backyard, implying that it wasnt rare and that they are coming out of the woodwork.  The tank thing, well, I couldnt think of anything funny to say as to why I had so many in my backyard.  Was just supposed to be funny.  Guess it just wasnt.  Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some.   

[bull]