Who likes '69 Charger 500s?

[375instroke]

I thought the uprights aided directional stability.

[A383Wing]

I thought the uprights aided directional stability.

They did on the race tracks, but in order for the public to get into the trunk, they had to make the wing that high to open trunk lid. Early tests with different wing heights on the rear of the Daytona showed that lower wing about 1 foot or so above trunk lid showed best stability

(or so I heard)

[nakita7]

You asked...

Can't stand them. Never have, never will.

Oh, the history. So? Ford Talledegas are historic, but much uglier than regular Torinos, so does that mean they are cooler? Nope.

Oh, they're worth more. Wow, shows where you're at when it comes to collecting Mopars...

Oh, they're different. So are AMC Pacers.

I would venture an educated guess that some of the Armchair Stockbrokers who bought them as 'investments' when they were worth less and sold them later for big profit really love them. I apologize if I have offended any C500 owners who TRULY love them, regardless of price, rarity etc. Hey, I love 71-72 Chargers. Most Mopars guys don't. I'm 100% OK with that. Each to his own, but what I find really interesting is that every time C500's are discussed, the other factors (price, history, etc) are somehow more important than whether (or not) how stupid the grille looks. Be real for a second. Take the Charger nameplate off, forget the 'other' factors for a sec and look at the car, with the beautiful shape and look at the plain, boring grille. 71-74 Charger (non-hideaway) grilles are more intricate and exciting than that, and they aren't greatest, I'll admit that! To change a near perfect front-end, as on the 68-69 Chargers, to something 'better' like the flush mount, is exactly the same as putting a 68 Coronet grille on a 71 Cuda and saying it's better... Sorry, I don't see it.  

[richRTSE]

Personally, I love the 500's. I'm in the slow (okay, VERY SLOW) process of cloning my '70 Charger into a '69 500 440/4-speed clone and was lucky enough to find a real 500 project car (440/column shift auto) this last summer. I still plan on finishing the clone first, and then begin the resto on the '69. I'd like to keep them all, but if I ever need to sell one of my cars, it will probably be my '69 R/T SE.

There was a time when I thought they were kinda ugly, but they've really grown on me. It's hard to argue that a '69 Charger R/T isn't one of the best looking cars ever made. Its definately the best looking Charger ever made. But the 500 was a purpose-built car. Dodge wasn't trying to make the car prettier, they were trying to make it faster. You can argue the effectiveness of that, but to me thats the difference between a regular '69 and a '69 500: one was made to appeal to the masses and one was made to win races, and that appeals to me.

With the 500, Mopar was ready to be bold, to pull out all of the stops to be first, and I think thats a big part of the Mopar appeal to many people. Look at the A12 cars, the big block Darts (heavy, not much faster that a 340), the Hemi A-bodies, the high impact colors, all the wild stripe packages, Mod Tops, Wing cars, etc. To me, the 500 is another example of Mopar trying to out do everyone else, and the fact that they are rare and worth more is an added bonus.

I imagine there might be a few Ford guys out there that would argue that Shelby really screwed up the '68 Mustang by bolting on those '65 T-Bird taillights....well, maybe not.

[4forty]

Sorry but the 500 grill is butt ugly with the exposed headlights, along with the Talladega, (even though I wouldn't throw it out of bed) compared to the 68-70 front ends which are the epitome of the muscle car front end, mean & tough and generally awesome!

[tricky lugnuts]

I'd take one. While I'm at it, I'll take two!!!

Anybody seen this? It's an old review of the 1969 Charger 500, Dodge's new "Supercar." It's awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqtbaQL8K9Y

[hemi68charger]

I'd take one. While I'm at it, I'll take two!!!

Anybody seen this? It's an old review of the 1969 Charger 500, Dodge's new "Supercar." It's awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqtbaQL8K9Y

That was cool !!!!

[375instroke]

As to what Chrysler's true costs were?    I am sure they lost money on the cars themselves.    But they got a ton of free advertising and publicity.   It got people talking.  

How much are they spending now, with zero versions sold to the public?  Every car hand fabricated.

[375instroke]

The link to the Top Gear video sums it up for me--"Bill Bradley, the guy who designed it, was a big fan of aerodynamics, and he crafted this shape very carefully.  Unfortunately, he didn't actually know anything about aerodynamics...but who cares?"

[richRTSE]

I like this quote from that clip:

"That great gaping mouth at the front sucks up air like a whale sucks up plankton, and the rear screen makes the drag even worse..."

precisely why the needed to make the 500, to fix those engineering "flaws"...

[69charger2002]

well, here's my opinion on the 500. aside from history, value, blah blah blah. looking at a regular 69 and a 69 500.. the regular 69 is so much more appealing. i don't necessarily mind the back flush window on a 69 500, but the grill is something i just can't get over.. when you look at regular 68 69 70 chargers day in day out, a 69 500 front grill just looks so out of place, almost homemade on that car.  if i never knew about chargers before now, and a 69 500 had come up for sale, i would have gotten all excited, went to look at the car, glanced at the back end and still been excited.. then once i would have seen the front end  my reaction would be "oh damn what happened here".. if i ever bought one it would be simply because i got a screaming deal on it and knew it was worth more money than what i paid. just being honest.

[DC_1]

Like I said earlier, I would take a C500 over any other 2nd gen other than a Daytona, even with what some say is an ugly grille. That brings up my question. Did they use the Coronet grille because it was a quick off the shelf cheap solution? They could have made a more flush mount grille with flip up head lights to stay true to the Charger design. Even if they went back to something like the 67 design. It was more flush to the front panels and  in race form looks to be as aerodynamic as the Coronet grille

[richRTSE]

Like I said earlier, I would take a C500 over any other 2nd gen other than a Daytona, even with what some say is an ugly grille. That brings up my question. Did they use the Coronet grille because it was a quick off the shelf cheap solution? They could have made a more flush mount grille with flip up head lights to stay true to the Charger design. Even if they went back to something like the 67 design. It was more flush to the front panels and  in race form looks to be as aerodynamic as the Coronet grille

It was a quick off the shelf, cheap solution. I think they knew they only needed to build a few hundred of them and retaining the hideaway headlights wasn't a big concern. They were just looking for a few extra MPHs. And since all the 500s were built in the second half of 1968, they probably just used what they had laying around.

I'll admit the regular grill on a '69 is probably the best looking grille ever, but I still like the looks of the 500, and I'd argue that it looks pretty similar to '68 grille with the headlight doors open...

[375instroke]

It's not a horrible grill.  It's just boring.  I've always wanted to put a '68 Charger grill on a '68 Coronet.

[Mike DC]

 
I'm amazed that they found something so perfect to slap into there for a grille when they made the 500s.  It had to fit just like it was made for it, the headlights had to be included, it had to be flat enough across the front to be an aero gain, it had to be made within the couple recent years so the factory would have the spares and the styling would look current, etc.  


Imagine if Mopar today was trying to find a suitable other grille/headlight assy to slap into the Challenger front ends for an aero gain.  Somehow I don't think it would be that easy.  

   

[69_500]

  I like my 69 500 because it is different and only about 231 people on this planet have one, the down side to owning one is almost no one knows what it is  , so almost every time i go to a car cruse with it you spend lotts of time explaining the different things about a 500 over a regular 69 Charger. O well  The price of having one.  Jay.

231, that's the number of 500S that exist??

I'd venture to say that there are around 231 or so of the 500's still left. I have information on 261 of them and of those I only have about 20 that are listed as "gone". Either gone by the way of a crusher at a junk yard, or totaled, or burnt.

As far as why I like the 500's its purely because of their pedigree, history, and because of how rare they are. I love Chargers, but I don't want to be one who pulls into a show and parks in a row of 25 other cars that look the same as mine. Then again would it be cool to have 25 or more of the 69 Charger 500's all lined up in a row for a photo? Yes I think so. Will it ever happen? I think now. I can't think of any photo's I have ever seen with more than 10 Charger 500's in it. Even the panoramic photo of Talladega has less than 15 500's in it.

[Ryan]

Im sure some would hate me for this but if I ever had a 500 it would be a NASCAR or some kind of racecar clone / themed car. Since those cars were designed to be "racecars" I think they should be racecars.