Finding a 69 Charger today, still isn't easy, though over 70,000 were made.

[1969chargerrtse]

About a year and half ago when I bought my charger, I was on the net everyday for over a year.  Looking for something under 30,000.00 and hopefully an R/T.  It was very hard to find one in good condition done right.  I finally bought my RTSE on ebay with "Buy it now" for 29,500.00 sight unseen ( it wasn't done right either ).  I've been through a lot but really have no regrets and still today, just thrilled to be part of the Mopar crowd and proudly driving around in my charger.
My point being.  Back in 2007 it was really really hard to find a Charger under 30,000.00 restored, I'm sure if I didn't grab it on day 2 at 6:00 in the am on my way to work, someone might of and then I would be back to looking again and again.  I was on Hemmings, and my local paper everyday, I searched and googled and ya-hood daily until I bought that car.
I just checked ebay this afternoon and there were only 11, 69 Chargers listed.  Of that, 1 was 85k, one was 45k 1 was a rotted project car a General Lee and a RTSE or two. 
Point being, to me it looks just as hard today to find a nice Charger around 30k as it was almost 2 years ago.  Really, there were only a handful of cars available for the average Joe.  For a car so popular that they made over 70,000!  It amazes me that the market is still tight for this car.  For those of us that are lucky to own one of these cars says a lot about the car market and demand, still for this car.
Markets go up and down, but I think the Charger market is as special and appreciated today as it ever was.  I really believe time stands still when it comes to the admiration and love for this car since it was first produced.  I'm sure most of the Charger years are similar, I've just been watching the year I was interested in.  What do you think?   

[TruckDriver]

I really regret selling my '69 383/4spd Charger. I got it for $1,000 in 1999, sold it because of my now ex-wife for $400 only 2 years later. The body wasn't bad, had new rear quarters installed, but it need floors and the left rear frame rail. But either way, by now, that stuff would of been done

That was the Charger I owned when I joined this forum, (well, the old one anyway). Now because of the prices on these cars, chances are I'll never be able to own or find one I can afford

[500hp_440]

hard as *****
took my 3 years to fing my 69 rt se lucky my 440 bigblock no 318 wuss
but i say took my 1 1/2 years to find her but i only had $10,000 and mine was $9,700 thank God for craigslist, but i bought her in september as a basket case

[Mike DC]

   
 
These cars are still barely worth the price of the parts & labor that have been invested into most of them by now.



It's not politically correct to say a $30K old musclecar is not overpriced.  But I think it's the truth. 

 

[SFRT]

I bought the Scow exactly 1 year ago this week, and in that year have been ALWAYS on the lookout for Chargers on the road....and have been all over California, Oregon and Washington and have only seen 1 living example, that being Brock's out there on the streets. They are very scarce out this way.

seen  maybe 4 rotted out dead ones. rumour is a guy has a green 69 r/t he drives once in a while in town but I have yet to cross paths with it in 15 years.

my friend and fellow Chiseler Jon has a '70 that he drives when it runs.....which is not often.

lots of superbees tho. theres at leat 5 or 6 I see all the time.

[Brock Samson]

yeah the green R/T of which you speak belongs to an ex-cop I've seen it a few times at fisherman's Warf... it's also got the rare hood blackout treatment,..
the's several around here Frank, check the "chargers in the wild" post... a few of each Gen.
more to the topic though,.. I think the prices peaked about june three years ago when the DOH Movie came out...
Just my obsevation at the time.. i dunno about now seems the market is pretty seriously depressed just now.

[1969chargerrtse]

I really regret selling my '69 383/4spd Charger. I got it for $1,000 in 1999, sold it because of my now ex-wife for $400 only 2 years later. The body wasn't bad, had new rear quarters installed, but it need floors and the left rear frame rail. But either way, by now, that stuff would of been done

That was the Charger I owned when I joined this forum, (well, the old one anyway). Now because of the prices on these cars, chances are I'll never be able to own or find one I can afford

Well, now is the time more than ever with the way the economy is.  To me that's always the problem.  When times are hard and prices drop, Few people have the money to take advantage of the deals.  I got mine via the old 2nd mortgage trick when Banks were giving out money cheap.
As for 500hp__440, atta boy! Is that car Y2 yellow?  It took me until I was 50 before I got my Y2 yellow RTSE. Love the thumps up shot.  That is how we all feel.   I just can't fiqure out what bad word has 5 letters?  I must be getting old, **** it. 

[autodynamics]

there is one on ebay now for 8500 in canada car is all there needs some metal work... but damn you have a complete car i think it worth it!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___1969-dodge-charger_W0QQitemZ320329474949QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item320329474949&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A727|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

[1969chargerrtse]

there is one on ebay now for 8500 in canada car is all there needs some metal work... but damn you have a complete car i think it worth it!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___1969-dodge-charger_W0QQitemZ320329474949QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item320329474949&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A727|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

See, I would pass on that.  A 318 2bbl car in green.   But the body work that is needed is pretty serious for my taste.  Plus I'm sure the whole car, interior , trim and all needs complete replacement or restoring.  I'd pass for 8,500.  Hard to say sight unseen but I wouldn't pay more than 5k for that one.  Lots and lots of work and money ahead for a XP car?

[Harlow]

Your not kidding man. 2nd gens are hard to come by. I've only been able to find 3 locally (one shown to me by 73ChargerSE), 2 about an hour away, and one of those doesn't have a vin. These were cars I've found just from cruising around. I'm still trying to find a 2nd Gen or 68-70 B body that someone wants to sell...

[Mike DC]

 
These cars are out there. 

But the 2nd-gen Charger is ALWAYS  the owner's "keeper" even if he's got 3 other old musclecars from 3 different brands.  It's always the one that he won't risk damaging and he won't sell. 


He'll cruise the 1977 Camaro that never really got too hard to get parts for.  Or the 1965 Mustang that gets brand new repro parts cheaper than a self-pull junkyard. 
   

[Ghoste]

There are still a lot of people who want to sell their Charger but are afraid to right now because the market has tanked.  They either overpaid to begin with or it's folks who have had the car for a while and bought it right but they are scared that if they sell now, intwo months the economy will undergo it's miracle cure and the car they gave away will suddenly be worth 50k.

[CB]

My car would be for sale for the right amount of cash. It took me some weeks browsing the net for a 4-speed B body. I was at a point to check out a restored 68 RR 4-speed and prolly would have bought it.
Now I ended up with a 69 Charger which BTW I got 1500 knocked off (actually Chuck had). The seller was desperate we assume. But I think it was the right price for the car. Not a deal of a lifetime , not an overpriced 4-speed. I am happy!
CB

[Belgium R/T -68]

I bought mine from Texas 2005 for 28000$, a matching number R/T but with some rustissues. Now I'm busy putting another 30-40K in it.
Overhere the demands after 2nd gen chargers is enormuosly high, every year a new generation 18 year old guys/girls (drivinglicense age here)
comes out on the market wanting one of the few cars available. I think we are not yet at the point where the older chargerguys/girls are passing
away and the younger takes over so the growing demand will be there for a while.

If you remember I got scammed buying a supposed to be -70 383 matching, restored and the whole kit. Car was a -73 400 with a lot of s**t.
Thing is, I advertised it here and the next day it was sold. It was an honest deal, all issues on the table but I got my money back.

[rustafarian]

I think $8500 is too much for that car in todays market.  A year ago I would've called it quite the bargain. I just sold a damn near perfect restored '69 GTX 4-speed non #s 440 for $25K.   And it wasn't green.  Try restoring one for that money,  or bringing back this Charger for less than that either.

[CB]

I bought mine from Texas 2005 for 28000$, a matching number R/T but with some rustissues. Now I'm busy putting another 30-40K in it.
Overhere the demands after 2nd gen chargers is enormuosly high, every year a new generation 18 year old guys/girls (drivinglicense age here)
comes out on the market wanting one of the few cars available. I think we are not yet at the point where the older chargerguys/girls are passing
away and the younger takes over so the growing demand will be there for a while.

If you remember I got scammed buying a supposed to be -70 383 matching, restored and the whole kit. Car was a -73 400 with a lot of s**t.
Thing is, I advertised it here and the next day it was sold. It was an honest deal, all issues on the table but I got my money back.

Hi Per I thought you were restoring a 68 Charger. You got a 69 too?
CB

[Mike DC]

AMD's catalog is steadily moving towards an entire reproduction 2nd-gen unibody.  That changes everything. 


The Charger situation may still be a "some assembly required" situation for years to come.  But right now you can already take the worst piece of sh*t you can find and make a repro Charger out of it.  Even a $600 hulk that breaks in half while you load it onto the trailer is theoretically becoming fixable now. 

It won't give us solid street driveable $3000 '69 Charger project cars again, but nothing else ever will either.  If you're being realistic (and not expecting to get a cruisable low-rust Charger for less than a 150,000-mile Toyota econobox costs), then a '68/69 car is steadily becoming a catalog deal. 

[Belgium R/T -68]

I bought mine from Texas 2005 for 28000$, a matching number R/T but with some rustissues. Now I'm busy putting another 30-40K in it.
Overhere the demands after 2nd gen chargers is enormuosly high, every year a new generation 18 year old guys/girls (drivinglicense age here)
comes out on the market wanting one of the few cars available. I think we are not yet at the point where the older chargerguys/girls are passing
away and the younger takes over so the growing demand will be there for a while.

If you remember I got scammed buying a supposed to be -70 383 matching, restored and the whole kit. Car was a -73 400 with a lot of s**t.
Thing is, I advertised it here and the next day it was sold. It was an honest deal, all issues on the table but I got my money back.

Hi Per I thought you were restoring a 68 Charger. You got a 69 too?
CB

Hej CB,
No I don't have a -69, I was reffering to 2nd gen in general. Are you going to sixpack the 25th? Would be time to meet.

[six-tee-nine]

I bought mine from Texas 2005 for 28000$, a matching number R/T but with some rustissues. Now I'm busy putting another 30-40K in it.
Overhere the demands after 2nd gen chargers is enormuosly high, every year a new generation 18 year old guys/girls (drivinglicense age here)
comes out on the market wanting one of the few cars available. I think we are not yet at the point where the older chargerguys/girls are passing
away and the younger takes over so the growing demand will be there for a while.

If you remember I got scammed buying a supposed to be -70 383 matching, restored and the whole kit. Car was a -73 400 with a lot of s**t.
Thing is, I advertised it here and the next day it was sold. It was an honest deal, all issues on the table but I got my money back.

Hi Per I thought you were restoring a 68 Charger. You got a 69 too?
CB

Hej CB,
No I don't have a -69, I was reffering to 2nd gen in general. Are you going to sixpack the 25th? Would be time to meet.

Per,

Am I missing something, but what's happening the 25 th @ Sixpack?

[1969chargerrtse]

Right now, there are only 6, 69 chargers on ebay. Wow?

[1FastCharger]

Ghoste hit the nail on the head. I have two Chargers (68 & 69) I want to sell, but the market is so bad I don't even want to try. I have a Road Runner I paid 15K for when the market was good. Now I have it on Ebay for under 10K. I paid just under 20K for each Charger & would hate to see what they would bring now. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the miracle market turn around. 

[BlueSS454]

70,000 total units is a drop in the bucket compared to the quantites that GM put out.  Just as an example, there were 62,372 1970 Chevelle Super Sport cars built.  That's not including the non SS cars.  Total 1970 Chevelle 2 door coupe and convertible production was 323,522 units....5 times that of the 69 Charger production which includes the higher optioned R/T and base model cars.  Finding a decent Chevelle (SS or not) to restore is a chore in itself even with production totals in the hundreds of thousands.  When I was looking for a 69 Charger to do, it took me 5 years of looking to even find one that was restorable for sale.  The finished ones were far and few between and well out of what I could ever afford to pay for one which at the time was in the under $20K range.  I think the reason that so few of the 2nd generation Chargers are out there is due to the amount of them built compared to the population of the United States at the time they were new which was in the 150M range which if you do the math was 1 car per every 2300 people or so.  That along with the fact that alot were either wrecked, scrapped, crushed, junked, or parked and forgotten about because they were just plain old cars then, is why they are so scarce now.  Just my thoughts on it 

[1969chargerrtse]

70,000 total units is a drop in the bucket compared to the quantites that GM put out.  Just as an example, there were 62,372 1970 Chevelle Super Sport cars built.  That's not including the non SS cars.  Total 1970 Chevelle 2 door coupe and convertible production was 323,522 units....5 times that of the 69 Charger production which includes the higher optioned R/T and base model cars.  Finding a decent Chevelle (SS or not) to restore is a chore in itself even with production totals in the hundreds of thousands.  When I was looking for a 69 Charger to do, it took me 5 years of looking to even find one that was restorable for sale.  The finished ones were far and few between and well out of what I could ever afford to pay for one which at the time was in the under $20K range.  I think the reason that so few of the 2nd generation Chargers are out there is due to the amount of them built compared to the population of the United States at the time they were new which was in the 150M range which if you do the math was 1 car per every 2300 people or so.  That along with the fact that alot were either wrecked, scrapped, crushed, junked, or parked and forgotten about because they were just plain old cars then, is why they are so scarce now.  Just my thoughts on it 

Let us not forget, and RUSTED OUT.  Good points, plus look at all the ones that went over sea's.  And from what I'm hearing the world is getting bigger.

[The70RT]

I just took a 3,750 mile road trip and besides Skip 68's and CB's car I seen one other 2ed. gen and it was a rough yellow 68 driving in Cali. seems to be far and few in between anywhere you go. I seen 2 70 SS Elcaminos on the highway on our trip. 

[Mike DC]

       
How much difficulty does anyone have finding a Charger for sale for $35-50K?

How about $500?





We're not running out of Chargers.  Nothing even close. 

We just all want them in a certain range of prices/conditions.  And then the first thing we do when we get one is start working to move it out of that price/condition.  After several decades of this we're finally running out of these kinds of raw material cars.