Your Charger: Did you buy the one you wanted, or settle for what was available?

[GreenMachine]

I settled, but it was for the best.

I originally wanted a '68, '69, '70 in that order. In the fall of 2001, I had about $5000 saved up. I hadn't been looking to long when I saw an ad on Auto Traders website for a 1970 Charger 440 $5500 that was about 30 min. from me. I met the guy that night after he got off work, looked it over, it had an older amatuer restoration and hadn't been taken care of since. I bought it for $5000 and drove it home, although it was scary on the interstate due to alot of play in the steering.

Now, the '70 has grown on me and is in a tie with '69 as my favorite year.

[tan top]

 had to be  the most  original 69  charger R/T i could find with the money i had available   , must be  original yellow Y2      , black interior ! black top !   power discs & steering , floor shift / console ,  black  stripe , did not care about matching numbers back then !!

course this was 22 + years ago long before the internet !

Wernt that fussed on an R/T SE  , as at the time did not go much on  the woodgrain dash & se nameplates on the  sail panel !!   still prefer the charger name plate  
had a look at  a couple   , but  none were originally yellow !
but when i saw this R/T SE ( & it was a daily driver )  i was just like a kid on christmas morning   ( still am now every time i look at it !!      ,    
original yellow , black interior & top  , later decoded to find out it was originally tan  ! ticked all the boxes except
except manual drums &  stripe delete !!   wood grain dash & SE name plates have grown on me  

[Cooter]

Had No money...Saw a buddies General Lee done up all wrong. Said "One day i'm gonna show you how to build a GL the correct way dammit". Then found out bout a junk '70 Charger he had in the woods. Traded an engine block for it with no title, no engine, no trans, no wiring, no interior, Holes in the roof and quarters, no front clip, no grille, etc....

Got it loaded and the first thing I know, it falls off the trailer into the creek damaging what was left of the right rear quarter. Began work on it and after 2 1/2 years, I was able to drive it on it's own powerplant. No, I didn't settle. I had to work for a POS. No "Buy it now" for me. Never has been, never will be I guess.

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

My first Dodge Charger was a 1968...

I bought the car my senior year of HS while taking auto shop. We had a choice - work on the junk that "customers"" brought in, work on the donated school cars, or bring your own...

Since my car was less than a year old, it did not need any work and was already fast, as-built... That left me only one choice...

Bought the Charger on Halloween night. One of my friends, a cheerleader, thought it was the ugliest car she ever saw... It was a boat - old and smelly... She had trouble seeing over the dash and may have only ridden in it one time (good!).

Anyways, I DID settle for the 1968. If I could have bought a 1969 then, I would have - but I also didn't want to work on someone else's junk in shop class. This 1968 Charger was all mine...

I learned a lot from the car - had about $5,000 in the car when I sold it (for $3,000) but needed it gone - hard lesson to learn - car needs cyl. heads that are not cracked and a carburetor that works, exhaust, etc., just to sell for more than the $1,200 I paid for the car...

Also learned, never buy a car that does not run - unless you pay "does not run" prices... $1,200 was a lot of money back then (over 20 years ago) and the principles learned with that car still apply today...

Keep the stories coming 

[Charger_Dart]

I looked for many years for a 69 4 speed Charger, but just found junk or overpriced nice cars. I stumbled across my 68 auto car and thought it could be converted into a 4 speed so I bought it. Well its 21 years later and its still an auto LOL, but I love it. I guess I settled, but don't regret it for a minute. 

[projectanimal]

We were looking for any 60-70s muscle car but my wife's favorite....Dodge Charger  , was far down on the list due to budget!    We didn't believe we could find one and looked for several months through all the usual places, online, magazines, friends...   We were bouncing back and forth with a few chevy's and Pontiacs when I stumbled on the 1970 Charger a few states away!     with our budget in mind we were looking for a little project and a non-matching numbers car....Found it!!      so we had a picture of what we wanted but don't feel we settled on what we found.  we're excited to have a little project knowing that the car is running and driving, but will be better by the Spring.       

[69_500]

Going to have to say that I settled. I have wanted a Daytona for about 30 years now. Gave in 7 years ago and bought a 69 Charger 500 to hold me over until I can finally get a Daytona.

[bakerhillpins]

After many years of wanting a Charger but realizing it wasn't the right time in my life I was finally able to start looking about 4 years ago. I didn't get serious though until 2 yrs ago. I didn't have a clue about these cars 4 yrs ago and my want's were not all that clear. In the end my most wanted options were a blue 68/9 with white interior, no vinyl, 4spd, AC and a fender tag. Broadcast sheet and #s were very desirable but wouldn't kill the deal.  383 or RT didn't matter too much (I realize an RT 4spd didn't have AC). I can't say why but I wanted to find a car with the options I wanted, not just make one. Not exactly a dime a dozen. Did find one in Detroit though it was overpriced and not really that wonderfully restored.    God I wanted that car though.    In May of this year I hit the jackpot, or so I though, 68 RT 4spd, QQ1, black top/interior, #s and fender tag. I sent a deposit and the guy dissed me for someone who said they would give 4k more.    At least he sent the deposit back.  With some help from friends here I had a second chance at that car but being dissed on it already I wasn't eager to work an angle to get the car. Gave me bad vibes... plus it sent me over budget. Another 68 RT 4spd QQ1 came into view after Carlisle this year but the owner decided that he really did want to keep it. Frankly, I am glad he did, the car is important to him and it has a good owner. I still would have snatched it up though.  Frankly after 2 years of looking, missing cars because of distance, or just plain old junk, I was starting to get to the point of taking ANY Charger.  The car I have now, 69 RT, console Auto, Q5, AC, black interior/top, non numbers but broadcast sheet showed up 3 hrs from me. Went to check it out and bought it the next day. It's not a 4spd, it isn't a white interior car, and it's black now but I can't stop smiling when i get near the thing and it's so dam much fun I don't feel like I settled at all since what I really wanted, A blue Charger, is mine now!

[mauve66]

really wanted a 73-74 RR, on a whim i test drove the 66 and the dash lights sold me

[Topher]

I met my car in '88 when a guy in school wanted me to go look at a car with him to see if I thought it was a good deal. We went to a fella named John McBride's place, walked by 2 funny looking pointed nose cars with big wings on the back of them(had no idea what they were at the time-I was 17)  , through the barn that had huge valve covers with holes in the middle of them(thought: those are cool, but what do they go on?)  , on into the back yard to see about 12 cars sitting in a couple lines(probably some cool rides  ) to one black fast back ride. "What is it?" I asked, "a 67 Charger" I thought to myself "they didn't make a Charger in 67".........then I thought"Damn that things ugly, I wouldn't park that thing in my driveway". It had a 383(I guess that's a big block), and a 4 speed(that's cool), so I told him as long as it runs get it. His mom bought it for him. Not long after he bought it I wrapped my low mileage-second owner(me) 72 Chevelle around a telephone pole(23 years ago today  ). I began looking for another car, and in January of 90 I heard about a car for sale not far from me. I went to the address given to me and it was this car. It had sat in the driveway since they bought it because his mom was afraid he'd kill himself in it. I asked how much, and when they said $1000 I jumped on it. Did I settle? Nah, the car did.

[RallyeMike]

That's a hard question, because if a Charger was available, I wanted it !

[Ponch ®]

I settled. Sort of. Sometime in late 2000-early 2001 I decided that I no longer wanted to drive the dorky 91 Accord I had at the time and wanted a "muscle car" (without exactly knowing what that was). So I sold the accord and, armed with $1500, started scouring the Recycler and AutoTrader for Chevelles, Camaros, Chargers, Novas, Firebirds, etc. I wasn't looking for a Charger or a MOPAR specifically. Most were crap. I had always liked the 2nd gen Charger, but couldnt find one within my budget. Then I saw an ad for a '74 a few blocks away from me for $800. Went to look at it and the guy said he'd take $600. I didn't pull the trigger, and a few days later he called me and said that he'd take $400 if I went and picked it up. And the rest, as they say, is non history.

I still want to get a 2nd gen some day.

[bull]

I can't say I settled really but I guess in essence I did. What I started out wanting was a '68 R/T but wasn't hellbent on it. The basic premise was that I wanted at least a big block '68 but preferred an R/T 440. After messing around with nationwide searches I finally decided to exhaust my local options but there were no R/Ts to be had around here. Several near misses later (including a brief stint with a '69) I happened upon the 383/4 speed I have now. And once I found out that it was one of the 74 2bbl versions made that year I pretty much forgot about the R/T thing and bought it. Now I don't think I would trade this one for an R/T. It's too rare.

[Sendero]

I had sold my 71 Charger SE at 19 while in the service.


When I was sent to a new base, I started looking for a Dodge Diplomat to drive around. While reading through the classifieds, I saw an ad that simply stated: 1970 Charger R/T -$2400. Since I was bored on a Saturday morning, on a whim I called to look at it.

So I guess "it became" what I wanted rather suddenly.

[Kern Dog]

Jeez, Sendero....How long ago was THAT ??
Nice score!

[Fred]

I wanted a 68, I saw it, I bought it and then I went ahead and restored it!
It was an Arizona car with very little rust and completely unmolested.
I'm so happy can somebody please slap me!   

[Brock Lee]

My parameters were , it had to be a 1969, it had to be drivable with some body issues, or solid with a bad/missing engine, and it had to be complete. i was open on engine sizes as swapping an engine is cake. I got what I wanted. I paid $4K for my car. I repainted it and recovered the seats. That is it and its been on the road 10 years now. It needs a freshening up, but I feel like I got my moneys worth out of the thousands of miles of enjoyment I have received. If I went with the basket case R/T for the same money, I would have way more in it by now and far fewer years of enjoyment. Yes it would be worth more, but my car is mine until I die. Value is only significant for insurance.

[Vainglory, Esq.]

I absolutely settled, and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't do it that way again.  My only parameters were: 1) second-gen Charger, and 2) within my [tiny] budget.  I got a '70 for $2200 back in early 2002, and after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears it's finally mostly done some 9 years later.

[drifter69]

I settled because I wanted a 69 that did not need a whole lot of sheet metal work and I wanted to buy local so I could see the car with out alot of driving. I ended up with a triple green 69 and after 4 years of working on it, it will be the car I would of bought if I could have at the time. But I will tell you after spending the amount of money I have on the car I should have just saved and bought the car I wanted( would have been cheaper in hind sight) but I will love this one forever.

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

I settled...  But I will tell you after spending the amount of money I have on the car I should have just saved and bought the car I wanted( would have been cheaper in hind sight) 

Those words are SO TRUE!!! 

[A383Wing]

I got the first one that came along to me back in 1974...just turned out to be a factory 4spd big block car...

[440]

I settled too,

I wanted a numbers matching 69 Charger 440 with a tan interior that was pretty much complete and needing very little. I over paid for it though being the pickings here are extremely slim, and if I were to restore one myself it would end up costing more then this anyways. The one I settled on is a non-numbers R/T but has some pretty cool un-original to 69 Mopar goodies, I debated buying it extensively but ended up getting it anyways due to the lack of cars to chose from.

I ended up tearing some of it apart anyways and restoring it to my standard, which still cost more than I wanted it to      

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

Great stories - keep 'em coming

[JB400]

Beggars can't be choosers.  I got what was available at the time.

[myk]

When I was shopping for Chargers I could find just about anything I wanted: rusted out project, bone stock survivor, resto-mod and even drag strip only cars.  66's through 74's, slant 6's, 383's, 440's and 4 speeds were everywhere with the exception of Hemi's and wing cars; prices ranged from $500 for rollers all the way up to about $7K for solid, local-car-show-trophy quality cars.  I was about to graduate high school in '93 and had an auto-trader and the classifieds with me on top of all of my school books for most of the senior year.  I grew up a DOH fan but fell in love with Bullitt so I knew I wanted a '68 R/T.  Graduation was coming but who cared-I was getting ready to buy my dream car.  

One day, I was riding my bike through the neighborhood and passed by a church when I saw a newly painted '69 parked out in front; the body was so straight and smooth I decided that I had to have it.  Being impatient, I snagged this fake R/T-SE '69 painted in re-sell orange and a poorly reskinned interior when my schedule allowed me to go look and buy it, for $2K.  The GENUINE red '68 R/T with the black stripes, Cragars and better condition than the '69 I hurriedly bought came up in the Auto Trader a week later, and for only $1K more than what I had already paid.  

The point of the story is I could've had just about anything I wanted, but my own lack of discipline ended up netting me a lesser car.  My '69 has come a long way and after 20 years I can say it's better than when I bought it, but I wish I had gotten my hands on that red '68.  I wonder whatever happened to her...