How many still want a 440?

[greenpigs]

Just wonder if the ever increasing gas prices will have an impact on the number of 440 or larger engine swaps.

For most including myself the Charger is a toy so it doesn't matter much till it is complete. The flip side is it would be darn expensive to drive it often & a 318 might be a better choice to maximize the amount I could drive.

If nothing else it gives Skip another thread to post in

[Charger4404spd]

Yep just a toy. Ill keep the 440 

[Musicman]

I'll keep the 440-6 thank you very much

[Ghoste]

Yep, its a toy so big block for me too.

[FC7 V code]

Its a big toy so I'll stick with the big motor

[KillerBee1972]

yup just a toy, ill keep the 440 even though it will be a while till it sees the road, i will drive the 340 

[Back N Black]

I would like to have a nice fuel injected Hemi to drop in for the gas mileage and reliability. I want to drive the wheels of her.

[bakerhillpins]

Ill go with how the wife describes it... big toy.     It will still suck paying the    but getting enjoyment out of the money makes it all worth it.

[jar1292]

the hell with the 440! i went the extra to punch it to 540! (it has been done for 2 years now)of course by time it will be in the car they will come come down in gas price..... 

[Charger RT]

the charger will keep the 440 cubes the factory build my charger with but to extend cruise time I'm working on a 66 dart GT with a factory 273. It should be fun while not drinking too much gas plus it will have A/C for the hot days.
Tim

[kab69440]

Unless you change your rear end ratio, you won't see that much of a gain dropping in a 318 where the 440 once resided. My 440 powered Charger with 2.76 got more than twice the mpgs than my 318 Power Ram with 4.11s.

[greenpigs]

Unless you change your rear end ratio, you won't see that much of a gain dropping in a 318 where the 440 once resided. My 440 powered Charger with 2.76 got more than twice the mpgs than my 318 Power Ram with 4.11s.

What did that power ram weigh? How tall were the tires on it?

Not the best comparison IMO.

[UH60L]

I'm gonna touch on some of that "dead horse" territory again, but I gotta ask:

Really, who nowadays buys a '66 to '74 Dodge Charger with the intent of using it for a daily driver or family car?

I'm not saying they don't work well for either, my '69 was a great daily driver the first 4 years I owned it from 2004 to 2008, but we also owned a family car with a V-6.  The '69 was bought specifically as a toy (and fulfilment of my childhood goal   ).

I've asked the same question on other forums regarding a certain other car, and I always get slammed for it, but really, practicality isn't a factor for me when I look at a muscle car, new or old, and said practicality should not be used to justify putting a muscle car name on a decidedly family oriented sedan (regardless of how good that car may be on it's own merit, as I hear from many people that they are great cars).

If I am going to buy a musclecar, I could care less if ANYONE else could get into besides me.      I could care less if you could carry a single apple home from the store in the trunk, and I could care less if it gets 7 gallons to the mile.

If it is a true muscle car AND happens to have room in the back seat for my kids and a huge trunk for groceries, that's just a huge bonus.  My 2011 Challenger has that AND gets 29 mpg on the highway    (thank you MDS!).  We didn't go looking for a family car and buy a Challenger.  To be honest, we didn't go looking to buy anything.    (dang car salesmen)

There was no "halo car suck in - then buy something else", we knew there was only one car we would be willing to buy from a dodge dealership, and it was a muscle car.  Beyond that, our concern was the size of the payment, not gas prices.

Sorry for the rant, but the family car versus muscle car thing is sort of a pet peeve of mine.   (the bad thing is I talk almost as much in real life as I type on here, sometimes I get carried away with the paragraphs...    )

[nelson_audet]

Here in Québec, 1.40$ for 1 litter of gas and i keep m'y 440

[The70RT]

Like they say...you wanna play you gotta pay. My 01 ram 318 350 gears gets 12 in town....so no biggie running a 440 in the RT

[elanmars]

I'm gonna touch on some of that "dead horse" territory again, but I gotta ask:

Really, who nowadays buys a '66 to '74 Dodge Charger with the intent of using it for a daily driver or family car?

I'm guilty as charged (heh) of this. Every Charger I've owned, whether it had a 400, 440 or 383, I've made into a daily driver. Yes, obviously I'm insane, most people think so...but I haven't owned them to just drive them here and there every other weekend, have them sitting in a garage, trailer queens, etc.

I'm not knocking those who do that-that's the majority.

If i had my way, if I had the money right now, I'd make my next 68-69 a pro-touring car. I rather have a 5.7/6.1 than a 440 or a 318.

For now, I'll have to settle for a 318 car-if I even find one. Haven't lucked out so far and I've been looking since the day of my wreck. Either the ones right up my alley are sold, too high priced or the ones within a 5 hour radius have turned out to be overpriced junk. Then there's the craigslist people that never answer emails when they don't list a phone number, don't know how to post or send any pictures (and the majority that do, holy crap are they blind, parkinsons diseased people who take these pics while drunk!?), dodge (heh) the usual questions like floors, frame rails, bondo, rust..

[1974dodgecharger]

I guess I used my chargers as daily drivers myself, but the kicker is that I always have a Honda civic in tote for the days sometime the charger does nto want to start up or something odd or getting it fixed etc. SO YES daily driver on the charger I would not have it any other way Back in 2005 when I had a 2nd gen charger with a 440 I was filling up on gas every 2 days and mind you gas hit me 4.30/gallon I didnt care I just kept driving like I stole it.

On a side note I had a co worker who had a ford bronco with a 350, 42inch tires, 1 foot lift, daily driver that got 5mpg he didtn care either he drove it daily. Got looks of AWE and WOW and some some flack from the workers at the company though cause everyone was going GREEN at the time and everyone flipped him off and telling him he is polluting the air they breathe and what not. They were driving those hybrids and SMART cars, but after the gas prices went down the folks HATED those things...they only bought it for the moment to save gas, but soon they found out that the intital price of 20k plus did not off set the gas price vs a car THEY COULD BE DRIVING THAT THEY LIKED AND ENJOYED!!!!

I'm gonna touch on some of that "dead horse" territory again, but I gotta ask:

Really, who nowadays buys a '66 to '74 Dodge Charger with the intent of using it for a daily driver or family car?

I'm not saying they don't work well for either, my '69 was a great daily driver the first 4 years I owned it from 2004 to 2008, but we also owned a family car with a V-6.  The '69 was bought specifically as a toy (and fulfilment of my childhood goal   ).

I've asked the same question on other forums regarding a certain other car, and I always get slammed for it, but really, practicality isn't a factor for me when I look at a muscle car, new or old, and said practicality should not be used to justify putting a muscle car name on a decidedly family oriented sedan (regardless of how good that car may be on it's own merit, as I hear from many people that they are great cars).

If I am going to buy a musclecar, I could care less if ANYONE else could get into besides me.      I could care less if you could carry a single apple home from the store in the trunk, and I could care less if it gets 7 gallons to the mile.

If it is a true muscle car AND happens to have room in the back seat for my kids and a huge trunk for groceries, that's just a huge bonus.  My 2011 Challenger has that AND gets 29 mpg on the highway    (thank you MDS!).  We didn't go looking for a family car and buy a Challenger.  To be honest, we didn't go looking to buy anything.    (dang car salesmen)

There was no "halo car suck in - then buy something else", we knew there was only one car we would be willing to buy from a dodge dealership, and it was a muscle car.  Beyond that, our concern was the size of the payment, not gas prices.

Sorry for the rant, but the family car versus muscle car thing is sort of a pet peeve of mine.   (the bad thing is I talk almost as much in real life as I type on here, sometimes I get carried away with the paragraphs...    )

[elanmars]

I also wanted to add, the backseat has plenty of space, big enough to comfortably fit my 2 year old's huge car seat. Was it sometimes a pain to get back there, being a 2 door? sure...but I didn't care, 'cause I had a 1969 Dodge Charger. The 383 for half the time I had it, was a gas hog and the car ran like a turd...fixed that. Got better gas mileage for a 383 (12-15) with AC and if I wanted to mash it down, I could go fast too...

I'd just be happy with another 1968-1969 Dodge Charger, period. 440, 318, whatever, the right one for me I should find soon. I can feel it. 'Cause 6 months without one has sucked badly!!

[PocketThunder]

I would rather have something that gets good mpg so i can drive it more, vs a big honking 440 that is blast to drive but i pass everything but a gas station.  My /6 69 Charger got 22 mpg..  

[greenpigs]

Really, who nowadays buys a '66 to '74 Dodge Charger with the intent of using it for a daily driver or family car?

I think MOST here understand what I was asking.

Does having the power of a 440 trump the poor gas mileage. How much you can drive it depends on how deep your pockets are I guess.

[TK73]

440 just went in...   

[NYCMille]

Don't get all crazy on me here, but I'm SERIOUSLY considering putting an LS7 under the hood of the '68 and mothballing the 440. It's literally thousands less than a 6.1 or 6.4 HEMI, they're bulletproof, have a MASSIVE aftermarket and at days end make GOBS of power for not a lot of money.

And no... this is not a joke. I've been doing a lot of research and for my needs (long distance rallying, road racing and auto cross) it makes sense. If ya'll have a well thought out alternative let me know. Also, I don't want to hear "It's not a Mopar" or any of that BS - understand that this is a car I'll NEVER sell, so look at the big picture here and not just the brand.

[myk]

You've got my support there.  The LS7 is legendary.  Along with your car that's a matchup I can't argue with...

[TK73]

Still doesn't "feel" right...

[Kern Dog]

I'm not commuting in mine. 493, 727 with Gear Vendors and a 4.10 diff add up to about 12 mpg. What would the $1.00 more per gallon add up to in a 900 mile trip anyway? maybe another $100? So what?