Need an opinion..

[68 General]

All right, I know this is probably going to upset some people, but I bought my '68 for the sole purpose of building a General Lee, so if you're going to hate on this thread, then stop reading right now, because I dont want, or need it.

On the other hand, I'd like to ask you guys' opinion on what I should do..I LOVE the '68 tail lights, but it simply isn't what the General has..Now, because I have the option at the moment, I can either replace the tail panel with the original '68, or I can swap in a '69 tail panel..only problem would be the rear valance panel (already got one for the 68 without the backup lights) ..and I already have new '68 fenders and quarters...

SO ..what do you guys think? Have a General with the correct tail lights, but round marker lights? or just go with the '68 stuff all around? I know I've seen plenty of episodes of the Dukes where the cars have painted-over 68 markers, but still..lol..

I'm trying to keep motivated, I really am...not giving up yet.

[elacruze]

A General Lee is only cosmetics. Get the car right as a '68, then add GL as necessary. I prefer '68 taillights in any scheme over '69s.

If you ever sell the car, having a mix-and-match would hurt the resale value if somebody wanted to un-Lee it.

[7chargers]

Here is my  , I like you have a 68 that I'm currently converting to look like a 69, GL. Alot on here would say leave it a 68 and I would agree with a few exceptions, unless your 68 is a RT, 4 speed car, 383HP car or numbers matching why not change it. I have also have a 68 Charger that is a maching numbers 383HP car that I would not change, it will stay correct and numbers matching.  Now for the one on working on (maybe simular to yours) its a non numbers matching car, it needs new front fenders and quarters so now is the time to change it over to the 69 for the correct apperance. Some may say well if you want a 69 charger you should have bought one!! Well we all no how hard these cars are to come by so if it was that easy then sure save this 68 and get a 69.

It will take a few modifications to change it over but remember its your car and your the one that has to be happy with it, not the rest of us... but i can tell you from the past most members are supporters of these cars no matter what you decide to do as long as its a charger... I have been collecting both 68 and 69 parts so i have most to do the conversion, trust me because these cars are so rare most will just enjoy it because its a charger not because you converted it, and like you said the original series has almost the same amount of 68's used than 69.... Good luck with your project...

[oldgold69]

if your worried about it being a 68 and not a 69 then you will have to change the grill and the side markers and tail lights if you want a gl build a gl and hang what everyone say

[Old Moparz]

I've got a similar problem with the same decision in changing the tail panel. My car is also a '68, but I am building a Daytona replica & not sure if I will change it. The car is 100% rust free, & the existing tail panel is perfect. It really bugs me to remove a part like that. If the panel was damaged or rusty it would be a simple decision, but there is nothing wrong with it. Too bad it wasn't a bolt-on part.

What kind of shape is yours in? This may help you decide if you want to rip it apart.

I am leaning towards keeping my '68 panel unless I go full force & do the entire conversion with the rear window plug & trunk lid mods. At this point there is no turning back & I'd go for the tail swap too.

[DC_1]

A General Lee is only cosmetics. Get the car right as a '68, then add GL as necessary. I prefer '68 taillights in any scheme over '69s.

If you ever sell the car, having a mix-and-match would hurt the resale value if somebody wanted to un-Lee it.

I agree. First, If you ever decide to sell it you really limit the potential buyers. GL guys will not like the fact that it is not a true-to-form GL. Regular Charger enthusiast won't like the mismatch of years. If you build it as a 68 in GL attire I think it could appeal to both camps as it would be easily un-General Lee'd (if that is a word?) or kept as is for a GL fan to appreciate. Secondly, I'm not sure why you would change the most difficult part to make it more like a GL - that being the tail - changing the grille would be much easier. The amount of work and money put into that conversion would, in my opinion, never be recuperated. If anything it will decrease the value. Not only will your efforts be unrewarded from a financial stand point in the future they will result in the car being under valued to other cars in similar condition but without the mismatch of parts.That being said. If you are going to loose $5-10K between the extra work and diminished value (and a GL is really what you want) why not sell the 68, add in the additional money you would spend on the conversion and buy a 69 requiring less work?

[68 General]

Yeah, mine is an R/T, 440 car which is making me want to stick with the Original tail lights, (and 1500$ fenders that are '68 too) but it's non numbers matching..I guess the General wont look too bad with round tail lights..lol

I haven't researched all thats involved in a conversion yet, I know of some stuff thats different, but not everything...just trying to get all my ducks in a row first...doesn't help that I'm indecisive as all hell..lol

and sometimes I wish mine would have been a '69, but I'm happy with my car either way, it was one of two chargers in ohio for sale at the time
..and mine wasn't even advertised..

[bill440rt]

An original '68 R/T car?? 

No brainer. Sell it to someone who wants to restore it properly & buy a clean base model '69 to do your GL conversion.

[Old Moparz]

If you are going to loose $5-10K between the extra work and diminished value (and a GL is really what you want) why not sell the 68, add in the additional money you would spend on the conversion and buy a 69 requiring less work?

This is a good point, which I also considered with my Daytona conversion, but it doesn't seem as simple as swapping the tail. I say that because the car that's already owned & in possession will need to be advertised & sold & may take a long time to do. The correct year vehicle will now have to be found, which as a lot of us already know, can be even harder than selling. From reading stories of people searching for the right car, it could take several months or years to get it.

The ideal situation would be to find a person to make a trade with, but that's like winning the lottery.  

[NorwayCharger]

An original '68 R/T car?? 

No brainer. Sell it to someone who wants to restore it properly & buy a clean base model '69 to do your GL conversion.

[68 General]

The back half of mine is rotten, as is typical..it was restored by someone many years before I got it, and they really messed it up..I mean, we dug a chunk of mud out of the passenger fender, that was about as big as two fists side by side, and was several inches thick..where the fender had been smashed in, and they just opened a can of filler, poured the hardener in, stirred, and poured it into the dent...the quarters weren't much better, the bodyline was non-existent ..I think the rear valance caps were carved out of bondo as well..granted, it looked good..so whoever the mud-artist was that did it, did a fairly good job of making it look good.

Have since bought most of the sheetmetal (fenders, quarters, trunkfloor and extensions, rockers, both valance panels, wheelhouses, etc.) to replace..it's just the metalwork thats slowing me down at this point..But as Old Moparz stated, '69's are getting increasingly hard to come by, especially in/around ohio..unless I'm just not looking hard enough..lol

and if I could find a '69 roller that didn't need eons worth of metalwork, I would consider buying it for the conversion, and restore mine later, or maybe sell it..I've got SO much stuff to restore it at this point, I dont even know where to begin putting a price on it..

[Troy]

Yeah, mine is an R/T, 440 car which is making me want to stick with the Original tail lights, (and 1500$ fenders that are '68 too) but it's non numbers matching..I guess the General wont look too bad with round tail lights..lol

I haven't researched all thats involved in a conversion yet, I know of some stuff thats different, but not everything...just trying to get all my ducks in a row first...doesn't help that I'm indecisive as all hell..lol

and sometimes I wish mine would have been a '69, but I'm happy with my car either way, it was one of two chargers in ohio for sale at the time
..and mine wasn't even advertised..

A non-numbers matching R/T will be worth more than a numbers matching non-R/T every time.

First of all I wouldn't bother making a GL out of anything other than a 69 but that's just me being "correct" (and yes, I'm fully aware that the show used 68s too but they hacked them and "normal" show goers and people on the street wouldn't understand why your car is tacked together). Realistically, 95% of the people who look at it in the real world (away from shows, car clubs, and forum members) won't know if it's right or wrong as long as it's some shade of orange and has numbers and a flag. If it were mine, I wouldn't mess with anything that can't be easily changed back. I'd even put a black interior in it! The reason is that you may find yourself getting tired of the GL after a while and then you'll have a HUGE dilemma. One of our Canadian members recently converted ("killed" some would say) a fairly nice blue/white 68 and was rid of it within a year or so. Of course the grill and interior are easy to change and a tail panel isn't the most difficult thing in the world but the marker lights are an issue if you're buying new sheet metal. If you're going to make structural changes then seriously consider how long you're willing to live with it.

As much as I prefer 68s to remain 68s there are a whole mess of people out there who would have a complete breakdown if you bought a rust free, nice looking 69 "driver" and turned it into a GL. It would be cheaper in my opinion to go that route and it would be

Troy

[68 General]

100% agree with you Troy, I was perfectly happy driving my car around with it red, with a black vinyl; and then later, after rust repair, painted top..but the intended result of the restoration is a General Lee, whether that means converting it, leaving the '68 effects (tail, grille, markers, etc.) or in some roundabout kinda way ending up with a '69 (preferred)..that will be the outcome of whatever charger I end up with. I'd be the last person to "ruin" an R/T car by swapping panels, and making it something that it's not..or having mix-matched panels (69 tail/grille, and 68 markers/everything else) ..

I just dont know what to do..on the one hand, I want to get crackin on mine, but lack of a place to work on it is killing the motivation for me..On the other hand, I wouldn't mind sinking the money of the resto on a '69 to convert, or even a '69 thats already been converted into a GL ..

decisions decisions....sigh....lol  go in debt a "little bit" and work on mine, or go in alot more debt, and buy a finished car..or sell mine, and hopefully cut that bigger debt down quite a bit...

[PocketThunder]

Here you go, since your going to be doing a ton of metal work anyways, this is a 69 small block car ready for GL conversion.

http://iowacity.craigslist.org/cto/2200573100.html

[Bobby41909]

An original '68 R/T car?? 

No brainer. Sell it to someone who wants to restore it properly & buy a clean base model '69 to do your GL conversion.

That's it right there  Too many 69's to choose from at good prices.  You can even find one already as a General.  I think you'll end up ahead in the end (by selling it and buying a 69) as it will cost alot to convert everything.  Also, I am sure the re-sale value on 68 R/T (not modified) but GL orange won't be the same as if it were the original color.

[68 General]

Nice! Iowa would make a decent roadtrip, I think...would depend on truck/trailer availibility though..

I can't believe I forgot about this guy that lives not too far from my hometown..I should kick myself in the ass right now for EVER forgetting..A few years back I was visiting a little junkyard that happened to have quite a bit of mopar stuff..well, that dude sent me to his neighbor that had a chopped up charger (he rolled his, took the top from the other car for his) ..who once again, turned me to his brother, who has several very nice Mopar cars under resto ..well this dude also had, I'd say..6-7 68/69's down in his field ..some of which were good for parts, some seemed to be a decent base for resto ..and after some nagging, he offered to sell me 2 of them for VERY cheap..like, 300$ cheap...for both

Looks like road trip this weekend, and I will try to get pics. God I still can't believe I forgot about him.. 

[68 General]

An original '68 R/T car?? 

No brainer. Sell it to someone who wants to restore it properly & buy a clean base model '69 to do your GL conversion.

That's it right there  Too many 69's to choose from at good prices.  You can even find one already as a General.  I think you'll end up ahead in the end (by selling it and buying a 69) as it will cost alot to convert everything.  Also, I am sure the re-sale value on 68 R/T (not modified) but GL orange won't be the same as if it were the original color.

I think the original color was that wierd light green metallic color, and it had a black vinyl top, and black Interior..and was later repainted to the red that it was when I got it (avatar pic)

[BIGBLCK11]

Not sure how much this guy is asking, but he is in Northwest/Central Ohio.  The first link is an already restored car, unfortunately you missed out on a nice original 69,  he looks to have sold it in January (second link).  He has a couple, so def. give him a call.  Says no trades for the completed car, but he may be interested in your R/T and the parts for something else he has??  He posts under 69chargerrt440.  Seemed nice on the phone, when I spoke to him on another one, he ended up selling out of the country.   The buyer of that car was very happy too, as posted on here somewhere.  

Skip68 has a nice looking 68 GL, he may chime in later.  As said earlier, a good number of people wouldn't even notice, depends what you can live with.  I like the round 68 tail lights, but I prefer 69/70 tail lights, they match the rigid lines of the rest of the car better.  I probably wouldn't swap out the tail piece for a different year, but numbers matching, base or R/T they are all getting hard to find.  Personally, I think once you replace a large percentage of the sheet metal, it is not as valuable regardless of what original model.  Although, it doesn't actually seem to affect what some people will pay.  The other issue is, you already collected all the metal for the correct year.  I guess it depends on if you can find a decent priced 69  , possibly in better shape than your current one.  Sounds like a good road trip to take a look.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,77054.0.html

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,75058.0.html

[Nacho-RT74]

I would build a GL just being the right year car... IMHO

[Darkman]

IMO you wouldn't be building a GL just to sell it later on. So I would restore your 68 R/T back to original, paint that sucker orange, slap an 01 on the side and a flag on the roof and enjoy it for what it is and what you have done with it.

If the body work and paint prep is done correctly, then a coat of paint would be all that is required to change the car back if so desired. Just keep the 68 a 68.

What ever you decide to do, good luck with it and will be looking forward to see the progress

[G-man]

Hi

I have an original 383ci charger, front disc option, 3 speed on the column, body panels are all original, never has rusted and I am going to change the rear tailights for the 1970 tailights. That also means I gotta change the rear valance panel to have those blinker lights besides the number plates. However I do prefer the round marker lights not the rectangle ones. Considering this, I just need to change the tailpanel out. Why would I do that? Because to me the 68 tailights just dont look as aggressive as the 70. To me the 70 rear suits the aggressive front of the 68 more. So I am just fixing what the factory should have done in 68 themself.

Why not just buy a 70 charger and change the grill? Because I like the fact my charger is the very first model of the 2nd gen chargers and a 1960's car not 1970's.

So to me, you got a 68 and you want to change the rear out  to 69, do it. But at the same time, if you are building a lee not half half like I am (wanting round markers, 68 grill, with 70 rear) then why make a 68 look exactly like a 69 when you can go buy a 69 and then at least it 'is' a lee so to speak.

[elacruze]

Automatic or stick car?

[nvrbdn]

also g-man the front end of the 70 swap would mean fenders hood valance grill electric hidden headlights. of course they are bolt ons instead of welding, but imo i like the 68 rear lights on the 68 charger. the three are all the same and they are all different. thats what makes them their own awesome do what makes the owner happy and enjoy.

[68 General]

Mine's an auto

[bull]

Nothing wrong with owning two Chargers. Leave the 68 as-is and buy a 69 for the GL. Better yet, buy a driver 69 that's already a GL since people are going to be pawing it, sitting on it and generally messing with it everywhere you go.