Number of 68 Chargers in Existance???

[Mopar Crazy]

In 1968 Dodge put out 17,665 Charger R/T's.  Dose anyone have an estimate how many are still in existance?

[Chad L. Magee]

Don't have specifics, but usually there is around a 20-30% survival rate for cars of this era.  I would estimate 6-7,000 are left of the 68 RTs.  RTs might have survived a little better than that because they were notices as special cars since they were new.  That also worked against them as most were dragraced to death, leaving the remains to be picked over at the junkyards.  Of the ten 68-70 Chargers that I have, three are RTs (the ones in the worst conditions for the 69 and 70).......

[Bandit72]

I would estimate 6-7,000 are left of the 68s.

thats all, that seems like a really low number....

[Chad L. Magee]

I would estimate 6-7,000 are left of the 68s.

thats all, that seems like a really low number....

I might be low in that number (for 68 RTs only), but I have seen quite a few RTs that did not survive.  I have a 4-speed out of a 70 RT six pack Charger that does not exist anymore (it was rolled and sold for scrap back in the 80s, but not by me).  Remember, owners of RTs were usually a lot wilder with them when they were younger.......

[694spdRT]

I would estimate 6-7,000 are left of the 68s.

thats all, that seems like a really low number....

Any number is just a guess. Because the 6-7,000 he mentioned was for R/T's only I don't think it is low. If you apply that logic to all 1968 Charger's you would get a number in the 20-30,000 range. That seems a little high but, there is no way to truly know what is still left out there. One things is for sure.....there are not enough left judging by the supply vs demand out there now.

[Bandit72]

ok, i missed the part of it being for R/T's only ...that makes alittle more sense..

[Chad L. Magee]

That was my fault.  I forgot to say "RTs" after 68 when I posted it orginally....

[Mike DC]

I think the numbers greatly depend on how you define "surviving." 

We all know of plenty of "totalled" cars that have been brought back by restorers.  And they are often brought back using framerails & floors sawed out of parts-cars that still wear legit street-going VINs.

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Whatever the numbers, I think it's got to be way less than 25% of the cars originally produced.  1/4 of the 1969 Chargers produced would give us about 425 '69 Chargers still "surviving" in each state.  I can't imagine the true number being anywhere near that many.

.

[bull]

I think the term "surviving" means "restorable," ie., not scrapped, and the definition of "restorable" has changed over the years too to include a lot more cars than it used to.

[dd44068]

I have one

[Mopar Crazy]

Me Too    Thats why I was woundering approx. how many were still out there.
Thanks for the input....

[69_500]

I don't think that the 425 69 Chargers per state would be too high. I would agree with Chad on this of R/T's i'm going to guess about 6-7,000 are left out there. Not all running, some just as parts cars, but are still around.

[will]

425 in Rhode Island?Delaware? I think northeast cars disolved too much for these rates.

[694spdRT]

425 in Rhode Island?Delaware? I think northeast cars disolved too much for these rates.

Maybe not but, California probably has a couple thousand to make up for some of those states. Keep in mind there are a lot of guys that have cars around noone even knows about. They might be project cars that have not seen the light of day in 20 years but, they are still around. Just in our shop there are 5 2nd generations and I doubt many people know about them that are not from our area.  I know off hand of 4 others within 20 miles of me that are running and driving restored or original cars and 2 others were just sold out of state last year.

[69charger2002]

yeah i think chad is right on with his guess. R/T's now are much more sought after, and somewhat more in 70's and 80's but not so much. R/T in the 70's just meant beat the hell out of it.. so i think more got destroyed/beat on to death.. there are more and more 318 cars popping up everyday, and there seems like an endless supply of 383 cars, of course they made many more.. i'd say 5000 or so 68 R/T's left junkyards or not, because if they are around, technically they still count. i have 35 chargers, and i know of at LEAST 20 within a 50 minute drive of me in any given direction. and this is just louisiana.. can you imagine texas?? and even oklahoma seems to have an endless supply of chargers
trav

[NorwayCharger]

Hi.
These are the numbers for norway:
42 . 1968 Charger
16 . 1969 Charger
25 . 1970 Charger.
Don´t know how many RT´s

Thats what are registred in the Norwegian mopar club.
It´s not a big country( 4,5 mil people)

In sweden there are:
44 . 1968 Charger, includes 1 hemi and 15 RT´s
77 . 1969 Charger, includes 5 hemi, 1 daytona and 26 RT´s
60 . 1970 Charger, include  4 sixpack, 1 hemi and 29 RT´s

Numbers from swedish mopar club

[hemihead]

There are more R/T's left than what was produced lol.They are like Camaros anymore,everyone has one.

[41husk]

I wonder how many 68 Chargers there are out of the U.S. I remember seeing a few nice chargers in Mexico.

[Jon Smith]

theres loads of chargers in england
not so many RTs though
I think there are more surviving cars left than there was 10 years ago as people change their views on whats restorable
a lot of cars that have been sat in junkyards for years are getting fixed now

[chargervert]

I parted out about 50 Chargers over the years,5 of them were R/Ts, 1)68 2)69s and 2)70s. About 30 of the 50 were 68s,about 13) 70s,and 7) 69s! Most were New England rust buckets. The 68 R/T is the one I regret the most! It was fixable,but I was new to the hobby,and didn't know enough to junk the 68 318 car,I was driving,and fix the R/T! The outcome would have been the same,though,because,the 318 car(that had a 70 383 magnum in it)was totaled,by being rear ended,by a Duster,I had just blown off!

[Dave22443]

I have two '68's.  One I drive, one wrecked one for parts (I didn't wreck it)  But the longer I look at the parts car, I think, you know... I could fix this.  Which I guess is why I've spent a fortune on parts for my driver and pulled almost nothing off the "parts car"  (wife wants to know WTF?)  I'm finally starting to convince her that the parts car would make a great father-son project in a few years.  (My son just turned 4)  Just think of the pride he would have of having his very own '68 Charger, just like his dads!

Neither of mine are R/T's

[Mopar Crazy]

Thats what it all about.....  I have 3 boys. I have pic's of them literally taking my 68 Charger apart for restoration. After that was done, I went and bought 2 Challengers for 2 of them. The oldest will get the 68. All this did was bring us close together.... Father and sons...........

[skip68]

  SKIP's GOT A SECRET !!!!!!!! There are more than you think out there. I'm getting a few friends to go in with me to try and buy as many as we can. My father-in-law told me about the cars that are out here in the west...They are on private land and he can get me in. Not sure what I can buy or not but there is lots of them along with other cars as well.  These same people have them in three western states.  I'm sure there must be at least one other member on this site that knows what I'm talking about and knows you can't just stumble on these cars.  IF YOU KNOW, PM me and lets talk. Most of them (if not all) don't run but are complete cars....I'm not greedy, I just want what I can get...I'm not going to lie and say I'm not doing it for profit cause it's 50/50. I'm planning my trip in March-April and see what happens Wish I would have known about this years ago. ...........................Chuck

[BlueSS454]

For what it's worth, I have a 68 non R/T car I was given as a parts car when I bought my 69.  The guy said it was not restorable, I think it is, but I'll never be able to get around to it since I still have to finish my 69, and the 70 Chevelle convertible I recently bought.
It's a 383 car that came with buckets/console, factory A/C, was originally white.

[JimShine]

I am as Northeast as the USA gets and there are lots of 2nd gen Chargers up here. In my storage building there are 5 including my two. I can go to 22 within an hours drive and I KNOW there are more I don't know how to get to or don't know about at all. There are plenty of them around all over this country, just in stashes and hidden from view.

[derailed]

There are more R/T's left than what was produced lol.They are like Camaros anymore,everyone has one.

you beat me to it 

[chargervert]

I'm from Rhode Island,and I have 5 second generation Chargers! Although the rust did get a lot of them,theres still quite a few left here in New England!

[Chad L. Magee]

SKIP's GOT A SECRET !!!!!!!! There are more than you think out there. I'm getting a few friends to go in with me to try and buy as many as we can. My father-in-law told me about the cars that are out here in the west...They are on private land and he can get me in. Not sure what I can buy or not but there is lots of them along with other cars as well.  These same people have them in three western states.  I'm sure there must be at least one other member on this site that knows what I'm talking about and knows you can't just stumble on these cars.  IF YOU KNOW, PM me and lets talk. Most of them (if not all) don't run but are complete cars....I'm not greedy, I just want what I can get...I'm not going to lie and say I'm not doing it for profit cause it's 50/50. I'm planning my trip in March-April and see what happens Wish I would have known about this years ago. ...........................Chuck

If you are talking about the midwest area, I know of the stash you are mentioning.  Don't count your chickens before you hatch though, all of those cars in that stash are not for sale...........

[Mopar Crazy]

What Stash?? can you let a fellow 68 Charger in??

[Chad L. Magee]

What Stash?? can you let a fellow 68 Charger in??

They are part of a friend's collection and due to that, I can't say much more.  He has collected them for a long time (since the early 80s).  You could consider them carsinbarn material for the future........

[skip68]

  Sorry Chad L. Magee, That's not the stash I'm talking about.. Is the one your'e talking about the guy that has like 50 +_ with truck loads of parts in a warehouse that was trying to get Warner Bros. to buy some last year???Oh well, These people were not collecting them or the old chevy's, they just used the cars when they were cheap and parked them when they were done(wrecked,motors shot, trans. ect......) Trust me, if this pans out I will let everyone know, not where they are but what's for sale.   Chuck..........................

[Chad L. Magee]

Sorry Chad L. Magee, That's not the stash I'm talking about.. Is the one your'e talking about the guy that has like 50 +_ with truck loads of parts in a warehouse that was trying to get Warner Bros. to buy some last year???Oh well, These people were not collecting them or the old chevy's, they just used the cars when they were cheap and parked them when they were done(wrecked,motors shot, trans. ect......) Trust me, if this pans out I will let everyone know, not where they are but what's for sale.   Chuck..........................

Well, part of the stash I mentioned before is stored at two closed high school buildings the guy bought at an auction.  One is filled with just parts for his cars..................

[skip68]

SWEET, maybe he will kick you a little here and there? I would keep info to myself and play the waiting game.!!! He may throw you a bone or two and that would be sweet   Chuck.............................

[Mopar Crazy]

Chad and Skip. Sounds like you guys have a pretty good in. I can undetsand why you want to keep this to yourselves.
So far I have only bought and restored. These days, I try to get some inside info and grab the cars before some other guy does and takes them apart. I've seen where guys know the value of these parts and start cutting up good cars.
It kills me to see these cars sit and rot away, or someone cutting them up.

[Chad L. Magee]

I'm looking at buying a very special project that I have been offered by friend of the mass mopar collector I was talking about before.  It is a 1968 Charger 318, three on the tree manual.  The funny thing is that he actually has two of them (they are now registered in DCR)......

[skip68]

Hey Chad, I was wondering if this friend of the collector is the same guy I talked to last year??? .  This guy I was talking to said he was helping his friend sale some cars because needed the cash do to a divorce I think and some other reasons...HEY, is Vince the name of the guy selling the cars for his friend ?  If it is then I know about that stash too Man, I guess I know where alot of cars are......Anyway, if it's not the guy you're talking about I do have this guys phone # and he is/was selling...I can call him and find out and, if he says it's ok I'll give you his phone#    Maybe he's got something for you too ? Oh well, just thought I'd throw that out there. Let me know, Skip................................................

[Chad L. Magee]

No, his name is Don.  He is only selling a few chargers that he got off of the mass collector, or that the mass collector missed.  The mass collector has not sold anything of his except occationally a part or two.  I am at the stage that I am getting picky over rarity and prefer the really oddball ones.  I just wish I had more storage space (and more $) or I would buy up all the second gens that I could.  Yeah, send me his numer if he OKs it. Thanks.....

[skip68]

I'll call him today, and btw, a 318 3 on the tree would be a nice car to add to collection GRAB IT if you can...................Chuck.......