How about an original owner's or old fart's thread?

[RECHRGD]

Most of you guys are pretty young, well everybody is, compared to me.  I bought one of those beautiful new Chargers back in 1968 and I'm sure there's a few more of us original owner's on this site.  Although I only kept the car for a little less than two years, it implanted a wealth of memories in my now shrinking brain.  I thought it would be interesting for you youngsters to hear some stories from back then, when every stop light on Pasadena's Colorado Blvd. was basically a christmas tree.
My Dad loved car payments and never kept a car more than a couple of years.  He use to alternate between Corvettes and Cadillacs,  always living beyond his means.  He had '58, '61 and '68 Corvettes and I loved them.  I had a pretty good job at a Standard Station in Tuhunga, Calif. and was saving for a new car.  I was reading the L.A. Times one morning and saw a ad for the new '68 Charger.  It was love at first sight.  I wanted to be just like Dad, so it was time to get a car payment of my own going.  A week later I had a new yellow Charger R/T on order.  Pasadena Dodge took my little 250cc Suzuki X6 Hustler motorcycle in on trade, so I had to get something for transportation in the meantime.  A $50.00 1946 Plymouth Deluxe fit the bill just fine.  Man that back seat was made for partying, but dates were hard to come by when driving that old junker.  I had a month to wait before the charger would arrive and needed to drive down to Torrance for a job interview.  Not trusting my current ride to make the trip down there, I called the salesman at the dealership to see if they could provide me with a loaner for the day.  The car they gave me was a white Coronet R/T that had been used in the famous Rose Parade on New Years day.  It still had pretty little roses painted on each front fender.  I didn't get the job (I think they thought I was a hippy with flowers painted on my car).  Anyway I had a good time getting a taste of things to come while burning rubber all the way to and from Torrance.  A couple of weeks later I got the call, my car had arrived.   When picking it up, I noticed a small dent in the front passenger fender right next to the grill.  The dealership took care of that a few days later.  Man, was that yellow beast beautiful.  My Dad got jealous and bought his '68 Vette a couple of weeks later.  My Charger would run circles around the Vette.  It had a small block and automatic.  Anyway, life for this 20 year old was about to change for the better in regards to my love life and life in general.  More to come------  Bob

[mikepmcs]

cool little story, thanks for sharing.  i'm in for some interesting reading.

[tan top]

good story Bob ! makes for a very intresting read stuff like this    ......   

[CB]

cool little story, thanks for sharing.  i'm in for some interesting reading.

 

thanks for sharing!
CB

[skip68]

    Thank you for a little sample.  More please.    OH, any pictures would be a bonus too. 

[RECHRGD]

   Thank you for a little sample.  More please. 

OK, I'm a little groggy after the turkey dinner and a few cocktails, so I'll keep this one short;
After I got the car and had it parked at the Standard Station where I worked for a few nights, an old guy (40 ish) drives in one night with a yellow R/T just like mine (except it was a stripe delete car).  He wanted to race, but I couldn't leave the station while on the clock.  He kept coming back night after night until I gave in because it was so slow that night and my co-worker wanted me to kick his ass.  He had his fat little son with him and he had him get in the back seat.  We went to a little used residential street in the Sunland area.  Race #1-his son was bouncing up and down in the back seat and he got the jump on me by a car length and stayed there.  Race #2- I got better at coming off the line and got him by a length.  Race #3- dead heat.  We were side by side until shutdown.  We both had 323 rear ends, so both cars were evenly matched.  Month's later I ran into him at Irwindale Raceway and he had installed 391 gears in the car.  More on that later.   Bob

[jaak]

Cool! I love hearing these old car stories.

Keep on!!!
Jason

[tan top]

Cool! I love hearing these old car stories.

Keep on!!!
Jason

:yesnod:that was a good one bob ..love hearing about back in the day action

[69 OUR/TEA]

Cool stories,thanks!!

[The70RT]

    

[MoparManJim]

I like reading these old car storys as while. Thanks for shareing as while. 

[RECHRGD]

I was at a party one night and the local rich kid wanted to race.  He had a new 427/435 tri-power Vette that was wicked fast.  I knew I didn't have a chance, but I was never one to walk away from a race.  The street in front of the house was a wide four lane road with little traffic.  Everybody emptied out of the house to watch the event, lining the side of the road.  Just like in the movies, a sweet young thing stood between the front of the cars to give us the go signal.  I got lucky with a good launch and the fact that the other guy didn't know how to drive.  He just nailed it and that Vette was all over the road though 1st and 2nd.  By the time he hooked up I was too far gone for him to catch me.  I didn't go back to the party, as I figured the neighbors would have called the cops.  I'll take a win anyway I can get it.   Bob

[WingCharger]

Here:
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,5670.0.html

LOTS OF STORIES!!!!

[mikepmcs]

jeremy, don't spoil it man.

[WingCharger]

jeremy, don't spoil it man.

Wish I had a car to tell stories about...

WAIT! I know where a '72 Duster is sitting around the corner from me...wish I could go look at it.

[2much2learn]

40yrs later that car is still kickin @$$   
more please

[RECHRGD]

One night a friend and I decided to drive to Palmdale (just a small town at the time) and go jack rabbit hunting when the sun came up.  We went up Angeles Crest Hwy and then north toward Palmdale.  There is/was a very long straight stretch of road out in the middle of nowhere before you come to the town.  My friend wanted to see how fast the car would go and I was curious myself, so down went the pedal.  Alot of people say that these cars couldn't reach the 150mph mark.  That may be true, but, the needle buried itself past the 150mph mark on the speedo, so it was going pretty darn fast.  Just when I started to let off the gas we ran into a fog bank so thick that you could not see a thing.  It seemed like an eternity, but was only a few seconds later that we popped out of it into the clear night sky.  If that fog bank had lasted any longer, I'm sure I wouldn't be sitting here writing this today.  I made contact with that old friend several years ago and he still remembers that night like it was yesterday.  He also said that he has never gone faster on land than we did that night.   Bob

[skip68]

No disrespect intended RECHRGD,  but the price of gas must have been nice and low back then.     

[RECHRGD]

$0.34 for Chevron Custom Supreme (white lightning).  Wages were about 1/8th of what they are now, so it's all relative I guess.

[firefighter3931]

$0.34 for Chevron Custom Supreme (white lightning).  Wages were about 1/8th of what they are now, so it's all relative I guess.

My first memeories of gas prices were in 1978 when i got my first car....which just happened to be a 68 Charger.  Sunoco 96 was 70 cents a gallon and i was making less than $2.00 an hour as a HS student changing tires and doing oil changes at a GoodYear tire center. Good times....my Senior year was a blast. 



Ron

[RECHRGD]

Nice old picture Ron.  Ever here of 1/2 mile drags?  They used to have them a the old Riverside Raceway on the back straightaway.  No helmets or roll bars required, just weld a small chain under your driveshaft and you were good to go.  I went their once with my then girlfriend, Marcia.  She was a drop dead gorgeous blond that, oh never mind.  I wish I still had those old time slips.  As I recall the car ran around 126mph and I think around a 19 second E.T..  I remember a friend of mine with a small block El Cameno kicked my butt.  Not too many guys in my crowd did engine mods to their factory hot rods back then, but this guy's dad was a mechanic and had that little chevy rocking.  I think he turned about 130mph with some big slicks on the back.  My engine mods consisted of headers and that was it. 
Right after I bought the car I took it to a shop in Pasadena that was well known for VW exhaust systems.  They said they had been waiting for one of these cars to come in because they wanted to design a set of headers that would work on them.  They said if I could leave it there for a couple of days that I could have the headers built and installed for only $50.00.  Well, when I went to pick it up and saw that they had cut big holes in my wheel wells for one of the pipes on each side I was not too happy.   The guy apologized for not clearing it with me, but the damage was done.  Bob

[CB]

Well, when I went to pick it up and saw that they had cut big holes in my wheel wells for one of the pipes on each side I was not too happy.   The guy apologized for not clearing it with me, but the damage was done.  Bob

WTF


CB

[tan top]

Well, when I went to pick it up and saw that they had cut big holes in my wheel wells for one of the pipes on each side I was not too happy.   The guy apologized for not clearing it with me, but the damage was done.  Bob

WTF


CB

        Damn .... 
  .......... Nooooooooo  not fender walls 

[jb666]

Great stories!! Keep'em coming!! 

[John_Kunkel]

In February '68 the local TV commercials continually advertised basic 4-speed Roadrunners for $2888 so I decided I wanted one. But.....they were selling so well that not a single dealer in Northern Calif had a "basic" RR, the dealer I was visiting had only one RR, a $4200 red Hemi automatic, so a salesman was trying to sell me a $4000 GTX which I couldn't really afford.

While he was laying down his sales pitch he talked me into giving him the keys to my potential trade in '63 Dodge (ex-Max Wedge, now a street 426) for a test drive to determine the trade in value. While on the test drive the transmission totally quit, they had to bring it back in on the hook.

I was tired of working on that car so I bought the GTX that I really didn't want just to get something new and reliable. First new car I ever bought.

[RECHRGD]

In February '68 the local TV commercials continually advertised basic 4-speed Roadrunners for $2888 so I decided I wanted one. But.....they were selling so well that not a single dealer in Northern Calif had a "basic" RR, the dealer I was visiting had only one RR, a $4200 red Hemi automatic, so a salesman was trying to sell me a $4000 GTX which I couldn't really afford.

While he was laying down his sales pitch he talked me into giving him the keys to my potential trade in '63 Dodge (ex-Max Wedge, now a street 426) for a test drive to determine the trade in value. While on the test drive the transmission totally quit, they had to bring it back in on the hook.

I was tired of working on that car so I bought the GTX that I really didn't want just to get something new and reliable. First new car I ever bought.

Thanks for chiming in John.  Yea, 4K was a ton of money back then.  My R/T only ran me about $3,500.00.  I think if the HEMI had been a $300.00 option rather than over $700.00 alot more people would have bought them and they would'nt be such a big deal today.  Bob

[SeattleCharger]

     

[472 R/T SE]

$700 is $4356.35 in today's world. 

Neat stories John & Bob.  I never bought a new rig until marriage.  I could afford one just didn't want to be strapped 2 the insurance costs to go with payments.

[tecmopar]

I went down to Ft. Hamilton in Brooklyn for my Army induction physical back in '69 and when I was finished I wound up finding my self in front of the local Chrysler/Plymouth dealership. Sitting inside was gorgeous yellow 440-4bbl, 4-speed Superbird. Well, a salesman sees me and of course slowly starts the sale pitch with the hint that they were dying to get it out of there so I'm almost on the hook. In his last ditch effort he writes down a price and slides it across his desk, 3550.00 out the door and I almost fell over. He has the guys open the side doors and I knew what was next, the test drive, onto the Belt pkwy we go which doesn't have a lot of straight runs but big sweeping curves and I don't think we ran under 90 except to get on and off the Hwy, I'm hooked now. So I call my mom to see where my finances were at and even with a loan from my Dad I kept coming up 35.00 short per month which shows just how much that was back then because I took the train home, never to see it again. So sad but what a ride.

[skip68]

   Keep them coming guys.    And thank you for letting us younger guys dream of what it must have been like. 

[RECHRGD]

I went down to Ft. Hamilton in Brooklyn for my Army induction physical back in '69 and when I was finished I wound up finding my self in front of the local Chrysler/Plymouth dealership. Sitting inside was gorgeous yellow 440-4bbl, 4-speed Superbird. Well, a salesman sees me and of course slowly starts the sale pitch with the hint that they were dying to get it out of there so I'm almost on the hook. In his last ditch effort he writes down a price and slides it across his desk, 3550.00 out the door and I almost fell over. He has the guys open the side doors and I knew what was next, the test drive, onto the Belt pkwy we go which doesn't have a lot of straight runs but big sweeping curves and I don't think we ran under 90 except to get on and off the Hwy, I'm hooked now. So I call my mom to see where my finances were at and even with a loan from my Dad I kept coming up 35.00 short per month which shows just how much that was back then because I took the train home, never to see it again. So sad but what a ride.

Yep!  Superbirds and Daytonas were hard to sell when new.  Most people considered them to be ugly or just plane goofy looking.  A crystal ball and some money would have been great.  Just think if you could have bought up a dozen or so and stored them for 30 or so years.  I remember driving through Glendale one day in late '68 or early '69 and seeing a strange Charger in a dealership's showroom.  I stopped and went in to look at it.  It was a gunmetal gray 500 with a HEMI and 727.  A salesman accosted me immediately with a trade in offer for my '68.  I thought that the flush front grill was unattractive and didn't need any larger car payments, so I passed.  I think the sticker price on it was something over 5K.  Bob

[Khyron]

$700 is $4356.35 in today's world. 

Think of the price difference for the SRT package.. seems about right

Keep it up guys.. what about going to school.. up hill.. both ways I love the storys! :thumbsup:

[The70RT]

I was only 9 years old in 70 so no story about a new one. Here is how I got it though. My nephew got it in late 78. He is 2 months older than me  . I was at school one day and my sister and her husband lived two blocks from our high school. My nephew decides to stop over lunch at their house (he attended another high school). I was driving by in my 69 GTS 340 Dart and said oh Eric's here. I never rode in the car, I just sat in it the day he got it a week before. I pulled up and jumped from my car to the Charger. I put my key in and BAM it fired up! I was going he he. He came running out and said WTF! He said get out  He took me and a buddy for a ride though. Well he had it for like 6 months and told me he was selling it and going into the army as soon as school was out. I said I have first dibs. Well with the 50 dollar a week dishwashing job didn't allow me to save before school was out. I begged my mom to cosign for a 1000 dollar loan. I ended up paying 38.00 a month for a 3 year loan  oh yeah I never could get it to start with the dart key when I got the Charger 

[RECHRGD]

This is before the Charger's time but may be interesting anyway.  My older brother has always had a few screws loose and was a pain in the ass for the family from puberty on.  I haven't talked to him in years.  Anyway, as I previously mentioned, my dad always had new cars in the driveway whether he could afford them or not.  In '59 he had a new white T-Bird. That was the first year they turned it into a big boat rather than the original little sports car.  One evening, he went with my parents to a party.  The son of the party givers was my brothers best friend at the time.  So, after they had been getting their share of booze while the parental units weren't looking.  They took the T-Bird for a joy ride and promptly wrecked it while trying to take a corner too fast.  He only had a learner's permit at the time.  As I recall, he didn't get in much trouble for his antics and never did.  Fast forward to '61 and dad's latest temptation in the driveway was a new Corvette.  I loved that car, it had the 270hp 283 with dual quads, 4 speed and positraction.  Of coarse, dear brother was not allowed to take out the vette on his own.  So, somehow he managed to get a spare set of keys made and was just waiting for the right time to have his way with the fawn beige beast.  One day, mom and dad were again over at a friends house and took the other car, whatever that was at the time.  This time he wants little brother (me) to be his accomplice in grand theft auto and talks me into going with him.  It took all of about 15 minutes for him to total the vette.  He didn't want to wait for a car to turn right and open up his field of vision of oncoming traffic.  He just floored the vette at an intersection crossing Angeles Crest Hwy. in La Canada and promptly t-boned a 56 ford with a family inside, almost rolling it.  Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.  He tried to run after the impact, but the poor vette didn't go so well after having it's front end torn off.  The Cops drove us home.  He wouldn't let me call our parents.  I had to wait until he emptied the liqueur cabinet and was incoherent.  Again, I don't think he really ever got his ass kicked for that either.  I promise to be back in mopar territory on the next post.   Bob

[68charger383]

I went down to Ft. Hamilton in Brooklyn for my Army induction physical back in '69 and when I was finished I wound up finding my self in front of the local Chrysler/Plymouth dealership. Sitting inside was gorgeous yellow 440-4bbl, 4-speed Superbird. Well, a salesman sees me and of course slowly starts the sale pitch with the hint that they were dying to get it out of there so I'm almost on the hook. In his last ditch effort he writes down a price and slides it across his desk, 3550.00 out the door and I almost fell over. He has the guys open the side doors and I knew what was next, the test drive, onto the Belt pkwy we go which doesn't have a lot of straight runs but big sweeping curves and I don't think we ran under 90 except to get on and off the Hwy, I'm hooked now. So I call my mom to see where my finances were at and even with a loan from my Dad I kept coming up 35.00 short per month which shows just how much that was back then because I took the train home, never to see it again. So sad but what a ride.

Yep!  Superbirds and Daytonas were hard to sell when new.  Most people considered them to be ugly or just plane goofy looking.  

I was pretty young in the early 70s, but remember that they had an unsold orange superbird in the back of our local chrysler dealership until almost 1973. As funny as it may sound today, it was like each dealership got forced to take or got stuck with 2 of these cars by Ma Mopar, like it or not.

[PocketThunder]

I was born in 1975, so i grew up hearing all these stories from my Dad and his friends and that is what got me hooked on muscle cars.  My High School ride was borrowing my parents '83 Ford Escort Diesel, poop brown and the heater took 30 minutes to warm up.  I'm suprised my girlfriend at the time would still get in that car durring the winter months when i picked her up on dates.

[BROCK]

This story is from 82 & is about my first 70 Charger R/T.  I was in college & like most young broke guys
was headed to the town square to hang out for the night.  I stopped at a store to get a drink on my
way & this guy with a 69 428 Grand Prix pulls in.  He starts going ga-ga over my car & says we have
to race so he can see how his car compares.  I'm like fine but I'm not gonna break the speed limit. 
My 727 auto had a bad habit of not shifting into 1st so I tended to overcompensate for it with the
throttle.  I easily got him from a green light & from a rolling start (yeah 2nd gear).  When we parked
up at the square, he wanted a ride.  When I floored it to pull out onto the road it really was in 1st
gear.  It shot over to the fast lane & boiled tires through to 3rd as my passenger held on for dear
life.  Another MoPar convert

[moparstuart]

428 ?   GM         

[The70RT]

428 ?   GM         

Yep...you young guys 

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0602_1969_pontiac_grand_prix_sj/index.html

[moparstuart]

428 ?   GM         

Yep...you young guys 

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0602_1969_pontiac_grand_prix_sj/index.html

wow learn something new everyday  

[The70RT]

428 ?   GM         

Yep...you young guys 

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0602_1969_pontiac_grand_prix_sj/index.html

wow learn something new everyday  

Or something old    JK buddy 

[SeattleCharger]

This story is from 82 & is about my first 70 Charger R/T.  I was in college & like most young broke guys
was headed to the town square to hang out for the night.  I stopped at a store to get a drink on my
way & this guy with a 69 428 Grand Prix pulls in.  He starts going ga-ga over my car & says we have
to race so he can see how his car compares.  I'm like fine but I'm not gonna break the speed limit. 
My 727 auto had a bad habit of not shifting into 1st so I tended to overcompensate for it with the
throttle.  I easily got him from a green light & from a rolling start (yeah 2nd gear).  When we parked
up at the square, he wanted a ride.  When I floored it to pull out onto the road it really was in 1st
gear.  It shot over to the fast lane & boiled tires through to 3rd as my passenger held on for dear
life.  Another MoPar convert

Look at the headline of that grandprix article:   

        "1969 428 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ - Banished Brute
Unwanted By A Mopar Collector, This '69 428 Grand Prix SJ Exhibits
  High Class With High Power" 
                                                

[The70RT]

This story is from 82 & is about my first 70 Charger R/T.  I was in college & like most young broke guys
was headed to the town square to hang out for the night.  I stopped at a store to get a drink on my
way & this guy with a 69 428 Grand Prix pulls in.  He starts going ga-ga over my car & says we have
to race so he can see how his car compares.  I'm like fine but I'm not gonna break the speed limit. 
My 727 auto had a bad habit of not shifting into 1st so I tended to overcompensate for it with the
throttle.  I easily got him from a green light & from a rolling start (yeah 2nd gear).  When we parked
up at the square, he wanted a ride.  When I floored it to pull out onto the road it really was in 1st
gear.  It shot over to the fast lane & boiled tires through to 3rd as my passenger held on for dear
life.  Another MoPar convert

Look at the headline of that grandprix article:   

        "1969 428 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ - Banished Brute
Unwanted By A Mopar Collector, This '69 428 Grand Prix SJ Exhibits
  High Class With High Power" 
                                                 

Ha Ha.....I never noticed. I remember the 428 back then and googled 428 and picked that link. I was at work and the page was loading slow so i never read it.

[moparstuart]

This story is from 82 & is about my first 70 Charger R/T.  I was in college & like most young broke guys
was headed to the town square to hang out for the night.  I stopped at a store to get a drink on my
way & this guy with a 69 428 Grand Prix pulls in.  He starts going ga-ga over my car & says we have
to race so he can see how his car compares.  I'm like fine but I'm not gonna break the speed limit. 
My 727 auto had a bad habit of not shifting into 1st so I tended to overcompensate for it with the
throttle.  I easily got him from a green light & from a rolling start (yeah 2nd gear).  When we parked
up at the square, he wanted a ride.  When I floored it to pull out onto the road it really was in 1st
gear.  It shot over to the fast lane & boiled tires through to 3rd as my passenger held on for dear
life.  Another MoPar convert

Look at the headline of that grandprix article:   

        "1969 428 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ - Banished Brute
Unwanted By A Mopar Collector, This '69 428 Grand Prix SJ Exhibits
  High Class With High Power" 
                                                 

Ha Ha.....I never noticed. I remember the 428 back then and googled 428 and picked that link. I was at work and the page was loading slow so i never read it.

dennis is really a closet or not so closet GM man 

[BROCK]

WOW!  I had to go back & look at the link just to be sure
That is just too priceless

[The70RT]

This story is from 82 & is about my first 70 Charger R/T.  I was in college & like most young broke guys
was headed to the town square to hang out for the night.  I stopped at a store to get a drink on my
way & this guy with a 69 428 Grand Prix pulls in.  He starts going ga-ga over my car & says we have
to race so he can see how his car compares.  I'm like fine but I'm not gonna break the speed limit. 
My 727 auto had a bad habit of not shifting into 1st so I tended to overcompensate for it with the
throttle.  I easily got him from a green light & from a rolling start (yeah 2nd gear).  When we parked
up at the square, he wanted a ride.  When I floored it to pull out onto the road it really was in 1st
gear.  It shot over to the fast lane & boiled tires through to 3rd as my passenger held on for dear
life.  Another MoPar convert

Look at the headline of that grandprix article:   

        "1969 428 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ - Banished Brute
Unwanted By A Mopar Collector, This '69 428 Grand Prix SJ Exhibits
  High Class With High Power" 
                                                 

Ha Ha.....I never noticed. I remember the 428 back then and googled 428 and picked that link. I was at work and the page was loading slow so i never read it.

dennis is really a closet or not so closet GM man 

  Yeah I got 4, but hey I got a couple of fords too. I would have more mopars but they don't give them away 

[firefighter3931]

Nice old picture Ron.  Ever here of 1/2 mile drags?  They used to have them a the old Riverside Raceway on the back straightaway.  No helmets or roll bars required, just weld a small chain under your driveshaft and you were good to go.  I went their once with my then girlfriend, Marcia.  She was a drop dead gorgeous blond that, oh never mind.  I wish I still had those old time slips.  As I recall the car ran around 126mph and I think around a 19 second E.T..  I remember a friend of mine with a small block El Cameno kicked my butt.  Not too many guys in my crowd did engine mods to their factory hot rods back then, but this guy's dad was a mechanic and had that little chevy rocking.  I think he turned about 130mph with some big slicks on the back.  My engine mods consisted of headers and that was it. 
Right after I bought the car I took it to a shop in Pasadena that was well known for VW exhaust systems.  They said they had been waiting for one of these cars to come in because they wanted to design a set of headers that would work on them.  They said if I could leave it there for a couple of days that I could have the headers built and installed for only $50.00.  Well, when I went to pick it up and saw that they had cut big holes in my wheel wells for one of the pipes on each side I was not too happy.   The guy apologized for not clearing it with me, but the damage was done.  Bob

That's a cool story Bob....especially Marcia !   

I have read about the 1/2 mile drags but never participated myself....at least not on a sanctioned track. 

Good lord....i can just imagine the look on your face when you saw those inner fenders hacked up....OMG ! 


Great stories guys...keep em coming. 



Ron

[RECHRGD]

My first trip to the drag strip was at the San Fernando Raceway, out in the valley.  Rumor had it, that the track had a slight uphill grade to it.  It's probably a housing tract now.  My first run was against a vette.  He got me off the line, but I was able drive by him on the top end.  I don't remember much else about that day, so it must have been cut short or something.  Most of the time I would go to Irwindale Raceway on Saturday nights.  I ran in the 'B' Pure Stock class.  You could run headers, but no slicks or other performance enhancements.  I usually did pretty good, but there was always a guy there in a yellow GTX that would keep me from getting that trophy.  Our cars were very close to the same except he had 3.91 gears and I was running 3.23's.  He would always pull me off the line and then I'd be gaining on him at the end, but never enough to pass.  The last time I raced him, I tried to get a hole shot on him and ended up red lighting.  We both kept racing and I did beat him, but he took home the trophy.  I think he was running 13.8's at 100mph and I was running 14.0's at 101/102mph.  Out of all the muscle cars back then the Charger would hold it's own and actually win more encounters than otherwise.  I had a friend that had a '68 Mustang GT with a 390 and 4 speed (think Bullitt).  That thing was a slug, the Charger would just walk away from it.  I remember one night going up against a GTO.  My plug wires were going bad and the engine was missing like crazy, but I still managed to beat him.  One night the "old guy" with the Charger that I had previously had a dead heat with out in Sunland, showed up.  He had since put 3.91's in it and was running 13.7's.  He managed to take down that GTX and took home a trophy.  These old Chargers were just badass back in the day.    More later.   Bob

[tan top]

       .....................good story Bob 

[PocketThunder]

These old Chargers were just badass back in the day.    More later.   Bob

That is just bitchen....      

[MoparSam]

Hey guys and gals just joined and while I ain't an original owner or old fart just yet, I'd like to tell a little bit about my Charger.  As we all know the Dukes got a lot of people to turn to the 2nd gen. Charger as "the car of cars", well I'm one of them.  Growing up a '69 Charger was what I wanted..... until the day in high school I was in awe of the infamous triple black '68 R/T assassin's car in Bullit.  I set out on a quest to find one, but they were out of budget and none locally.  I finally succumbed to want any kind of Mopar (It's in my blood).  Until November 18 2006, a customer in my dads gun store relayed that he had a Dukes car (its orange) and its sitting outside at his dad's house.  I brushed it off as a '69 until dad informed me it had round tail lights.  Well I couldn't get to the bank fast enough so, that Friday I took off work and went to the bank and money changed hands when I realized an R/T!!!  It had a '76 440 out of a New Yorker and a 727 to back it up with 3:91 gears out the back (factory 3:23).

[tan top]

 hello & welcome  Mopar sam    .... good deal an R/T    would like to see pictures sometime     

[MoparSam]

Thanks tan top, pictures will soon come, I have to figure out exactly how to post them (kinda new to the whole forum idea).

[Brock Samson]

Over the five or six years I been here annoying folks on DC.com I've posted a variety of back in the day posts,..
here one i could find...

'm a Car Nut!
  Absolutely certifiable. If I could, I'd have as many cars as possible, dozens, hundreds even, just like some folks who collect old 45s or L.P.s, magazines, newspapers, spoons or refrigerator magnets, beany babies, Stamps or Coins.
However,.. Living on a tight budget and in the inner-city means  I can really only afford and have space for two cars,* a "Daily Driver" which has to be supremely tractable and my "Hot Rod" which is not limited to mundane considerations like size, the number of cup holders or miles per gallon.
   I remember My late uncle Smiley arguing with my dad who finally relented and allowed  me to accompany him to a southern Ca. airport race track in the early '60s where beautiful finned turquoise Jaguar D-Types mixed it up with  Mercedes 300 SLR s the occasional Corvette and home built specials.  Peering out the back of my moms' '54 Bel-air I learned to judge the speed of cars by their Animalistic anthropomorphic  grilled faces in front  and the number of chromed tail pipes sticking out in back, The aggressive leer of  early '60s Thunderbirds and the sound of  dual glass packs is forever etched into my consciousness. When I was an impressionable youth American muscle cars ruled the roads, the older guys in the garages hung out listening to the latest Motown or the groovy new sounds of the British invasion on small one speaker AM radios while chain-smoking Marlboros which dangled from quiet but occasionally swearing lips and in the case of the really cool guys,  filterless camels came from packs tucked into Tee-shirt sleeves, THE Official uniform of gear heads which incl. blue jeans and black high top Keds .
   At the age of 10 in my area the one car that most caught my imagination was the copper colored 1967 Plymouth GTX, powered by a now as then legendary HEMI engine that you could hear shaking windows from two blocks away, that, plus the tales I was told by the older dads who owned the huge Chrysler 300s and 4-door New Yorkers and who swore their "Chryslers are over engineered.. 'cause you know, Chrysler built the mighty -29 Super-fortress in W.W. II". These Stories seemed to me like those told in caves around the tribal fire of the ferocious Cave bear and Mighty Mastodons clinched me as a MOPARIAN, a  Chrysler Gear-head for life.
    Someyears after I started hanging out in garages I found myself at age 11 working my first long 10 hour day helping to swap an oil pan gasket in a puddle of dirty oil under a '57 Chevy on Geneva Ave. right where it broke. After that it was my mom's '63 Galaxy 500 which needed a head gasket. A few months later a trip with a family friend to Champion raceway off U.S. 101 where in a borrowed and way too big, blue metal flake helmet I sat, knees knocking uncontrollably in the fiberglass passenger seat of a 427 engined '58 Ford Highboy called "The High and Mighty".
Most all the hot drag race cars were named back then in large metallic letters, The Brother up the street had a '67 Goat (G.T.O.) named "Soul Shaker", and  there were many others on Friday and Saturday nights prowling for girls and kicks on El Camino and the Great Highway. and hanging out both before and after at Mels' Drive in on South Vann Ness .
  Finally, after "some college", I started working two jobs to pay for my long dreamed of  Ride. I had my Daily Driver, a  ten year old Dodge Van in which I hauled my Rock band's gear which quickly became other bands gear and then solely through  word of mouth became a weekend gig moving folks stuff around the bay area, the modest extra income meant I could finally afford a project car. I didn't want a new car, or even a perfect old car, because My dream was to build my own car, to soup-up a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T - Special Edition. The R/T option was the 440 or 426 Cubic Inch engine performance package offered from 1968 to 1972 and the S.E. package was the luxury package that could be ordered on various models,  both designations are a nomenclature still in use on Dodges today.
  Finding a '69 Charger R/T S.E. was a long shot especially at a price I could afford but, nonetheless only two weeks after beginning my intensive search, A call from a friend who spotted a stripped example in a wreaking yard was just what I had been waiting for. Oh it was rough, rust had eaten away the rear quarters, roof and the drivers' floorboard, there was no engine, transmission, axles or interior but soon a wreaked parts car '70 500 provided seats and  working if basic mechanicals which powered the loud, smoking black and white striped automotive Dinosaur, dubbed by my best friend Steve "Skunkenstein".
  My initial rectification estimate of two years and ten thousand dollars  proved wildly optimistic, because I lacked the funds, repair skills, tools and garage space to quickly transform her into a perfect show car, but run she did, trailing oil smoke and gas fumes, occasionally overheating, steering like a clipper ship rounding the horn and yes -occasionally breaking down, there were a few minor accidents too but no one was hurt, even when I launched off a dead deer in the road at 90 M.P.H. at 2:00 A.M. in the Gold Country and still I managed to make it to many local car shows where I was teased by the well-healed "experts" for arriving in a cobbled together, under powered and unfinished mongrel.
   I proceeded slowly, collecting parts as funds permitted. One day an ad in the Chronicle classifieds offered a genuine 440 Six-Pack, my engine of choice, the motor I  had been saving and searching for ten long years... I arrived at the home of an ex-drag racer just a couple minutes ahead of  another motor head longing for the same motor. The short block engine was claimed to be "perfect, needing only to be bolted in", however a closer examination reveled an oil pan filled with granulated pistons.
  Finally in 1999,  I completely rebuilt my Charger using all the special parts I had been collecting since 1984 at the start of my long endeavor. She may not be the fastest or the most beautiful, the most expensive or all original but she's mine.
  By the way, my Daily Driver?.. It's a Chrysler. 
  (February 21, 2006)

* Since I posted this three years ago I've also aquired a stock '71 Plymouth Road Runner and a '78 Dodge 440 powered Class A Motor home.

[skip68]

   Wow, what a journey and great story.    A deer at 90mph.   

[RECHRGD]

Great story Brock!  You may not fit into the original owner category, but I think you fall into the 'old fart' realm just fine. Bob

[472 R/T SE]

Spelling, thought process & a well written story all top notch.  Is this the same Dave? 

[The70RT]

I was at my highschool back in 78 or 9 and a friend told me another friend got a 70 Monte with a 402 and wanted to run me. He said he thought my car was slow because I was funnin around and put some of these prism stickers on my front fenders that showed 340 CID  He knew I had a big block but didn't know what. So we met at three different stoplights and left him in the dust all three times. He still wanted to race and to hit the interstate  I told him to give it a rest.  I was on the boulevard that night and a friend said a Duster was looking for me and the guy with the Monte was with him. I just laughed. I soon seen the Duster 340 with a tunnel ram with 2 4bbl I thought WTF. He had a four speed and mines an auto. We started off about at a 20 mile an hour roll and we both hit it. He spun like hell then hammered 2ed and by then I was hooked up and pulled away. He started gaining when he hit 3rd and I was still in 2ed. In a block I had him by a fender and just shifted to 3rd at about 75 or 80. About a half a block up the light just turned green and I figured cool.......well some idiot pulled a right from the corner and I thought oh shit! It was a 67 Satelite and I was in the outside lane and was hoping like hell he stayed in the right lane. I let off and my foot covered the brake. I look right and the Duster hammered the brakes and the rear was jacked up pretty high because he had wide tires and we know Dusters can't fit much meat under the fender well. He takes a nasty fishtail beside me and almost took me out me and then swerved behind me. I was looking in my mirror and thought wow when he somehow saved it  He actually left marks in the street from it. So the Satelite gunned it (4spd) Hammered 2ed then 3rd and soon was beside me at about 70 so I punched it too and then he hit 4th and left me sitting there. We pulled over a couple blocks later and it was a Hemi car with 10" slicks. The Duster pulled in and the guy got out and said he about shit his britches. He said he freaked out and probably would have been ok if he didn't hit the brakes. The guy in the hemi said "I knew I could get out ahead of you guys" 

[PocketThunder]

I was at my highschool back in 78 or 9 and a friend told me another friend got a 70 Monte with a 402 and wanted to run me. He said he thought my car was slow because I was funnin around and put some of these prism stickers on my front fenders that showed 340 CID  He knew I had a big block but didn't know what. So we met at three different stoplights and left him in the dust all three times. He still wanted to race and to hit the interstate  I told him to give it a rest.  I was on the boulevard that night and a friend said a Duster was looking for me and the guy with the Monte was with him. I just laughed. I soon seen the Duster 340 with a tunnel ram with 2 4bbl I thought WTF. He had a four speed and mines an auto. We started off about at a 20 mile an hour roll and we both hit it. He spun like hell then hammered 2ed and by then I was hooked up and pulled away. He started gaining when he hit 3rd and I was still in 2ed. In a block I had him by a fender and just shifted to 3rd at about 75 or 80. About a half a block up the light just turned green and I figured cool.......well some idiot pulled a right from the corner and I thought oh shit! It was a 67 Satelite and I was in the outside lane and was hoping like hell he stayed in the right lane. I let off and my foot covered the brake. I look right and the Duster hammered the brakes and the rear was jacked up pretty high because he had wide tires and we know Dusters can't fit much meat under the fender well. He takes a nasty fishtail beside me and almost took me out me and then swerved behind me. I was looking in my mirror and thought wow when he somehow saved it  He actually left marks in the street from it. So the Satelite gunned it (4spd) Hammered 2ed then 3rd and soon was beside me at about 70 so I punched it too and then he hit 4th and left me sitting there. We pulled over a couple blocks later and it was a Hemi car with 10" slicks. The Duster pulled in and the guy got out and said he about shit his britches. He said he freaked out and probably would have been ok if he didn't hit the brakes. The guy in the hemi said "I knew I could get out ahead of you guys" 

Holy Crap!!!!   

[RECHRGD]

I had a friend back in the 60's who's father owned a Chevy dealership that seemed to specialize in high performance cars,  Kind of like Mr. Norm's I guess.  His dad would let his older brother bring home a different car every weekend to impress the local youth market and maybe drum up a few more sales.  I remember several times he took us cruising down Hollywood Blvd. in whatever new 396 chevelle he was driving at the time.  I'm sure I would have ended up being a GM guy if I hadn't been blown away by the '68 Chargers design.  I remember one night he let me wring out one of the hot new 396 Vettes that had just come out.  Pretty heady stuff for a teenager back then.  Another night he had a new chevelle that he said had just arrived and had been special ordered by Dan Blocker (Hoss on the old Bonanza show).  I didn't (and still don't) understand how his dad would let him take a car that had been ordered by a celebrity and let some young clowns beat on it.  Anyway, that car was amazing, you could take off in 3rd and fry the tires just like in 1st.  I think it was some special aluminum block 396.  A couple of years later, when I had the Charger I went up against him in a 427 Vette he was driving.  It had the 390hp so I figured I might have a chance.  I ended up beating him by about a fender, much to his dismay.  But, the Charger started blowing some smoke after that race.  Bob

[66FBCharger]

I stumbled on this thread and I love these stories!
I'm hoping maybe there are some new members that have stories from back in the day.
Great thread!

[wingcar]

My first car was a 1966 Charger with a 383, I paid 500.00 cash for it and still remember carrying what seemed like a Million dollars in my pocket.  I was very glad to finally get to the car lot and hand over the cash as it was a big relief.   I fixed it up with the help of my dad and then traded it in on a 1969 Charger RT/SE from the used car lot at Downey Dodge.   Later I wanted a 1970 Challenger and found a 440 6-pak 4-speed RT/SE at "Stick City" a hot rod dealership on Whittier Blvd.  Came home and told my parents, but they wouldn't let me buy a car from a hot rod dealership, so I went back out to found something else.  (You know kids...I had decided was going to get another car no matter what).  I found a really nice 1969 Big Block Camaro and couldn't wait to get home and tell my parents.  And, it was sitting on the lot of a major Chevy dealership...so how could they say no?  Well they were gone and I remember waiting and waiting for their return so I could drag them over to the Chevy dealership and show them the Camaro.   Then I hear something outside...sounds like the rumble of a car, so I go outside.  And, what do I see but what I thought was the most beautiful 1970 Dodge Challenger.  It was a triple black RT/SE with Mags, and powered by a 440 automatic.  They basically throw the keys to me and tell me that the car is mine and that they are taking the '69 Charger in trade....to say I jumped on the deal would be an understatement.  They had gone out and purchased a used Challenger from Huntington Beach Dodge just to keep me away from any more Hot Rod dealerships.  And, what of the Camaro you ask....what Camaro, I totally forgot all about it!  So I had my Challenger and my '69 Charger was still in the family...we were a Mopar family for sure.  Ironically, the 440 in the Challenger committed suicide about a year later....I bet that 440 6-pak in the Challenger I originally wanted was still running strong long after I had to rebuild my 440....LOL.  Later, my dad came home from work and told me that a co-worker had a '68 Charger RT in his garage that he raced and had damaged the engine...my dad said let's go check it out as he only wanted $500.00 for it.  It was in excellent condition, needing only the engine repaired and new paint.   I remember using the cam and headers he had raced the car with and that I had to change both out since they were not really streetable.  I traded the '68 plus some cash for the ultimate Mopar with a year or so....a 1970 Hemi 4-speed Plymouth Superbird.  The kid had to sell as the local police told him that they would pull him over every time they saw him as he was known for being a big street racer.  His lost was my gain.
 
While I may have missed seeing these cars in the dealer showroom, I grew up during a time when these same cars were considered nothing more than old used cars.  They could usually be found on the back row of most used car lots.   And, the prices were within the means of a high school student with a good part time job (and understanding parents).  It was a good time to be a car guy........

Many other cars came and went during this time, including an Olds 442, a Pontiac Trans Am, a 1965 Dodge Coronet, and three other 1966 Chargers plus a 1938 Chevy.  (And, don't get me started on the cars I almost purchased...that list is really long)!  

[cbrestorations]

im 29 years old and i love hearing these stories, i was definitely born in the wrong era. the cars of today will never have the heart that the old muscle cars did and still do to this day. i cant afford to restore my charger yet, but atleast i still own my all time favorite car, 68 r/t red black tail stripe charger

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

My 2nd car was a 68 Charger (first car was a new Corvette, which I still have). Anyways, the Charger was $1,400 and while it was a cool car, I sold it (had a third car by then, too (Trans Am). I had just turned 18, and my Mom thought it was too much for me to have 3 cars. Fast forward today and I now have nine. The sky is apparently going to fall soon. :Two cents:


Charger was cool. It wasn't that old of a car yet, and already needed to be repainted. The cylinder heads replaced, and engine resealed. Fun times. 

[lukedukem]

I had a friend back in the 60's who's father owned a Chevy dealership that seemed to specialize in high performance cars,  Kind of like Mr. Norm's I guess.  His dad would let his older brother bring home a different car every weekend to impress the local youth market and maybe drum up a few more sales.  I remember several times he took us cruising down Hollywood Blvd. in whatever new 396 chevelle he was driving at the time.  I'm sure I would have ended up being a GM guy if I hadn't been blown away by the '68 Chargers design.  I remember one night he let me wring out one of the hot new 396 Vettes that had just come out.  Pretty heady stuff for a teenager back then.  Another night he had a new chevelle that he said had just arrived and had been special ordered by Dan Blocker (Hoss on the old Bonanza show).  I didn't (and still don't) understand how his dad would let him take a car that had been ordered by a celebrity and let some young clowns beat on it.  Anyway, that car was amazing, you could take off in 3rd and fry the tires just like in 1st.  I think it was some special aluminum block 396.  A couple of years later, when I had the Charger I went up against him in a 427 Vette he was driving.  It had the 390hp so I figured I might have a chance.  I ended up beating him by about a fender, much to his dismay.  But, the Charger started blowing some smoke after that race.  Bob

what happened after the smoke, what caused it.
great stories

luke

[chargermick]

I was a senior in high school in 1975. My first Charger was a '69 R/T A/t with a few upgrades but mostly stock. I bought it with a custom paint job already done. Previous owner claimed it won best paint at the '71 rod and custom show in Chicago. It was really cool coming out from school to find a crowd around my car. One day I'm at a party at a buddy's house, and I walk over by a group of 5 people and they all stop laughing as I walk up. I just know they're laughing at me. I say what's so funny and my buddy's girlfriend blurts out "You can't pull a hole shot like Tommy can, his car is faster than yours." Tommy is staring at the ground because he knows he's busted. Tom had a '69 Roadrunner with a 383 and stock skinny tires, while I had L 60.s on the ass end. I had damn near 20" of rubber on the ground. So, I said let's put your tires on my car and see what happens. Tommy wants no part of this, but now everyone is prodding him to do it. We put his tires on my car and I light em up. You would have thought I had a line lock, my speedo was sitting steady at 80 mph, I'm barely moving forward and my ass end is waving back and forth. Now, we're on a side street in Chicago, I'm filling the whole neighborhood with black smoke and Tommys screaming that I'm burning up his tires. I just pretend that I can't hear him. When I got done tearing up his tires, I said to his girlfriend that maybe if I got the same tires as Tommy has, maybe my car would be fast too. I'm pretty sure Tom had a talk with her about keeping her mouth shut.

[Challenger340]

[MGBRingo]

I will add my old days stories also.

I am 66 years old and have a 1970 Charger RT/SE that i purchased in 1980.

I grew up in a GM family. My dad worked at the local Pontiac, Buick, GMC garage and that is all we owned. I had at least 10 Pontiacs before i graduated from high school in 1966. Dad was OK with Fords but did not like Dodges. He said they sounded tinny when you slammed the doors. He was right. I still think of that when I slam my Charger doors.
I loved the Chargers and wanted one. During college there was a brand new Superbird that sat on the showroom floor for a couple of years. I went in there regularly to look at it because I liked it. They tried to sell it to me at a big reduction but I as a college student with a wife and daughter couldnt afford their price of just over $3,000. I think the sticker price was around $3,600 if I remember right.

In March of 1970, just before I graduated from college I went down to the Dodge dealer and had them configure a new 1970 Charger RT green with a hemi. The price came to $3,960, as I remember and I couldnt afford that either. I remember them telling me there was no warranty on the hemi if That is what I ordered. They were trying to talk me out of the hemi. So I had to leave the dealership with my dream still in place.  Couldnt afford one.

A month after that I saw a green Charger RT Hemi on a used car lot. I tore in there to find out the owner had just been drafted to Vietnam and the car had 5,000 miles on it. I told them I was looking and they let me drive it. The sales person went with me of course. I remember him telling me this car had a lot of power and if I wanted to step on it to be careful and not lose control.

Well I drove it nicely and did not lose control. When I got back to the lot my legs were shaking so bad I could hardly walk I was so excited. It was a crazy nice car in my color (green was very popular on the early 70's) but still couldnt afford that kind of money. A friend told me a few weeks later that a guy was trying that car out and lost control and took it into a tree. They totaled it.

Finally in 1980 i saw my Charger on a used car lot for sale. I boight it for $2,500. It had 71,000 actual miles on it. I had just changed jobs and had $2,500 from cashing out my retirement fund that I talked my wife into using for the car.  

Two weeks later I found an exact twin to mine on another lot for the same money. It was the same color with the same options as mine. Except it had an aluminum maniford on it. I didnt have the money to buy two of them.

I still have my Charger. It has 72,000 actual miles on it now. I dont drive it much other than maintenance miles each summer.

I have lots more stories from the past I can share later. It was a great time to grow up, except for the Vietnam issue. Like many others have said our cars were just normal old cars back then. You could find them on the back row of used car lots cheap. They burned lots of gas and people couldnt afford to pay 50 cents a gallon for that much gas.

[jessejames]

 I love these old stories!! I often wonder what it was like to live in that time period or even go back in time to surf the car lots back then. My mother tells me stories about certain cars in the area where she and my dad grew up that were really fast and it seems most of them were dodges. I have heard so many stories about these cars getting wrecked back in the day. My dad's 69 green charger had the same fate after he sold it in '76. Keep these stories coming!! Thank you all for sharing!

I will add my old days stories also.

I am 66 years old and have a 1970 Charger RT/SE that i purchased in 1980.

I grew up in a GM family. My dad worked at the local Pontiac, Buick, GMC garage and that is all we owned. I had at least 10 Pontiacs before i graduated from high school in 1966. Dad was OK with Fords but did not like Dodges. He said they sounded tinny when you slammed the doors. He was right. I still think of that when I slam my Charger doors.
I loved the Chargers and wanted one. During college there was a brand new Superbird that sat on the showroom floor for a couple of years. I went in there regularly to look at it because I liked it. They tried to sell it to me at a big reduction but I as a college student with a wife and daughter couldnt afford their price of just over $3,000. I think the sticker price was around $3,600 if I remember right.

In March of 1970, just before I graduated from college I went down to the Dodge dealer and had them configure a new 1970 Charger RT green with a hemi. The price came to $3,960, as I remember and I couldnt afford that either. I remember them telling me there was no warranty on the hemi if That is what I ordered. They were trying to talk me out of the hemi. So I had to leave the dealership with my dream still in place.  Couldnt afford one.

A month after that I saw a green Charger RT Hemi on a used car lot. I tore in there to find out the owner had just been drafted to Vietnam and the car had 5,000 miles on it. I told them I was looking and they let me drive it. The sales person went with me of course. I remember him telling me this car had a lot of power and if I wanted to step on it to be careful and not lose control.

Well I drove it nicely and did not lose control. When I got back to the lot my legs were shaking so bad I could hardly walk I was so excited. It was a crazy nice car in my color (green was very popular on the early 70's) but still couldnt afford that kind of money. A friend told me a few weeks later that a guy was trying that car out and lost control and took it into a tree. They totaled it.

Finally in 1980 i saw my Charger on a used car lot for sale. I boight it for $2,500. It had 71,000 actual miles on it. I had just changed jobs and had $2,500 from cashing out my retirement fund that I talked my wife into using for the car.  

Two weeks later I found an exact twin to mine on another lot for the same money. It was the same color with the same options as mine. Except it had an aluminum maniford on it. I didnt have the money to buy two of them.

I still have my Charger. It has 72,000 actual miles on it now. I dont drive it much other than maintenance miles each summer.

I have lots more stories from the past I can share later. It was a great time to grow up, except for the Vietnam issue. Like many others have said our cars were just normal old cars back then. You could find them on the back row of used car lots cheap. They burned lots of gas and people couldnt afford to pay 50 cents a gallon for that much gas.