Keep the stripe and top or not?

[Dino]

My wife likes the car as it sits.  She loves the contrast between white and black and wants me to keep the stripe and top and change the green interior to black.

I would love to get rid of the top and the stripe, maybe repaint it something more colorful and change the interior to saddle.  Initially I wanted a black car, no top, no stripe and saddle interior.  Of course the black paint will be a pita to keep clean and the saddle interior will need plenty upkeep as well.  My daily has the same color scheme and it's literally never clean.

Now I do like the white because it really shows the body lines and I have no problem with a black interior.  But I still think the car would look better without the top and stripe.  I just love the look when there's no divider between roof and quarters.  This morning I stopped at the store to grab some food and when I walked out and saw the car in the parking lot I had to admit it looks pretty damn good.  I know it needs bigger and fatter tires which will actually make the whole package more interesting if I get raised white letter tires.

The car is a full R/T clone, all that's missing is the badges.  I don't really want the R/T badges on there as I don't want to have people bitch about the xp vin.  I really don't think there's any shame to not having a real R/T so IF I keep the stripe I would rather have a full stripe without the R/T cutout.  The stripe is a bit crooked anyway so a new one would be nice, do they sell solid stripes?

Please tell me what you think about the proposed color schemes, I know everyone's opinion is different but I value what you guys think and want to consider all my options.

[moparstuart]

    looks great with both 

[elanmars]

it looks super fine now but then I'm biased because my destroyed '69 looked just like it, except with a white vinyl roof...

it's your car though and if you feel black with saddle interior will look better, go for it! I wanted to eventually turn my white one into a black car too, so I understand.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Best of luck whatever you decide...   black / white whatever.

  Yes.  stripes can be had without the R/T.   70 stripes were that way.

[Back N Black]

I like it with the black top and stripe. For the interior you can spray dye it black (SEM dye). i sprayed my complete interior 5 years ago and its holding up great. My seats were white and the rest of the interior pieces were green.

[bill440rt]

I generally am partial to Chargers with vinyl tops, but it depends on the car, color combo, etc.
But it's your car so do what your heart tells you. Should be no ill-feelings on a non-numbers non-R/T.

You could put a '70 stripe on it, they are solid with no R/T call-outs. 

[daveco]

Looks great as is.

[NHCharger]

The solution is rather obvious. Time to buy a second Charger 

[tan top]

   looks awesome   , white &  black top 

my  weather it makes sence or not 

  is if it was an R/T & it was coded for a stripe ,  put a strip on
  if its a sripe delete V88  , would never put one on !!

if i was ordering a R/T new , would have a stripe    if i was buliding a R/T clone , would still put a stripe on it   
 
having said this  chargers look awesome with out too   

[bakerhillpins]

Personally I prefer hard top chargers over the vinyl. I also like the stripe.  Neither of which I have on my car.    

The solution is rather obvious. Time to buy a second Charger 

+1

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Keep the stripe but ditch the top.   

[1969chargerrtse]

I agree with the wife. Love the contrast of the black roof and stripe on the white body. Wish my car had a vinyl top but SE cars without  vinyl top are rare. My car did have the vinyl top originally.

[cdr]

dont let the R/T THING take anything away from your joy & love for your awesome CHARGER ,some people are just ate up with ,well its not a real R/T,wrong wheels,wrong lug nuts,wrong color,LMAO ,if its not an R/T so what, a 2nd gen charger with a slant six ,is still a very cool car i am in the process of a resto mod on my 68 non R/T ,no vinyl roof,yes on stripe,yes on R/T emblems,its my car & will do it the way i want it,i dont care what others think,if the car impresses me thats all that matters, only thing is never ever try to represent a clone a the real deal, now that will   you have a very nice car be proud of it R/T or not.---------PS gotta have big fat tires

[RallyeMike]

You want to change the color, top, stripe and interior of what looks to be a car that is in pretty good shape.

I just have to ask..... Why did you buy it ? 

[Dino]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far, please keep them coming!

I would never represent it as something it is not.  I really do not care what badges are on it but since I simply do not wish to hear some smartass at a show bitch about it not being a real r/t I figured I'd leave them off.  I actually like the look of the arrow emblem.

Mike I hear what you're saying so let me explain.  I wanted a 318 car or something that was run of the mill, nothing rare or special about it.  My initial plan was to paint it the color I wanted, change the interior (unless it was mint to begin with) and drop in a 360 efi.  I wanted a car I could drive anywhere while I tinkered with some things on weekends.

When I found this car it had a rebuilt 440 and after driving it the first weekend I thought it'd be nuts to pull it, it's a blast to drive and it's as reliable as my little Honda.

Yes the car looks fine but it's not perfect.  Bubbles are starting to form in front and behind the rear wheels, the rear valance was bent in at some point and repaired badly, trunk floor started to rust so the previous owner coated it in epoxy.  It's a functional trunk but eventually it needs to be replaced.  The body is not perfect but it's pretty damn straight, no complaints there.  The top has a tiny bit of the seam coming lose near the rear window and there's a bunch of glue lumps under the top, most noticable on the c pillars.  Chrome is decent to very good depending where you look.  Interior is good and bad.  All seat covers are worn as is front seat foam.  Headliner is good, door panels have very minor tears here and tear, nothing I can't fix and redye.  Upper pads and headrests need some work but again nothing I can't fix.  Dash is good, a/c surround pad is warped but I'm pretty sure I can fix that as well.

Mechanically it's very good.  Especially once I get rid of the eddy carb and fix the header leak.

I really didn't mean to complain about it, I love the car and would love it in any color but it's nice to hear other opinions as you guys don't look it it the way I do.  We all see our own cars differently.

It's sitting right outside my office as I type and it's just crazy how many people stop and go check it out.

[twodko]

It's your car so do what makes you happy. For me, if it's not on the vin it's not on the car. 

[Indygenerallee]

Looks good the way it is!

[Brightyellow69rtse]

i used to hate vinyl tops too. mine had one when i got it. over the years it grew on me and i really like the contrast it brings. i say leave it and dye the interior black if you wish. mine was triple green and the interior was all dyed black. it covers pretty easily as ive re dyed pieces over the years.

[BIGBLCK11]

Definitely a tough call.  Black is my favorite color on a Charger.  While triple black is cool, I like them even better with no top in black.  That being said, I like the way the black vinyl top breaks up the silver on my car.  But, it does break up the flow of the C pillar to the quarter.  This is one of my favorite cars, of course 70's rule.  No stripe too. 

[cdr]

Definitely a tough call.  Black is my favorite color on a Charger.  While triple black is cool, I like them even better with no top in black.  That being said, I like the way the black vinyl top breaks up the silver on my car.  But, it does break up the flow of the C pillar to the quarter.  This is one of my favorite cars, of course 70's rule.  No stripe too. 

nice car

[AirborneSilva]

I like both the top and stripe but as you said ditch the R/T in the stripe, oh and yes to the black interior 

[irish_in_ny]

I love the way the car looks. If I had to remove one of the two things, I'd remove the stripe but keep the top 

Either way best of luck with it.

[White68RT]

Your car looks great as is. My 68 is white with saddle interior and no top. Although it's a stripe delete I always thought it looked a bit "plain" so I put on the stripe and love it. If I walked into the dealer in '68 a black, no top, stripe delete with saddle interior would've been hard to pass up though.

[Patronus]

Keep the stripe but ditch the top.   

[dads_69]

Doc, I started to read your topic and then decided, heck with it, I'll save ya the PITA time of decisions and give ya $600.00 cold hard cash for it as it sits and you won't have to worry about what to do anymore.
hey, what are old friends for anyways right but helping old buddies out in times like this!?

Mark 






I vote leave it as it is btw...

[1974dodgecharger]

Definitely a tough call.  Black is my favorite color on a Charger.  While triple black is cool, I like them even better with no top in black.  That being said, I like the way the black vinyl top breaks up the silver on my car.  But, it does break up the flow of the C pillar to the quarter.  This is one of my favorite cars, of course 70's rule.  No stripe too. 

FCKING drool so hard over that....LIke I said modern cars cant even compete with the styling of such as this.

[hatersaurusrex]

dont let the R/T THING take anything away from your joy & love for your awesome CHARGER ,some people are just ate up with ,well its not a real R/T,wrong wheels,wrong lug nuts,wrong color,LMAO ,if its not an R/T so what, a 2nd gen charger with a slant six ,is still a very cool car i am in the process of a resto mod on my 68 non R/T ,no vinyl roof,yes on stripe,yes on R/T emblems,its my car & will do it the way i want it,i dont care what others think,if the car impresses me thats all that matters, only thing is never ever try to represent a clone a the real deal, now that will   you have a very nice car be proud of it R/T or not.---------PS gotta have big fat tires

Amen.  Only total douchebags say 'oh, well it's not a real R/T, and those door handles aren't correct for the year, blahblah scoffscoffscofff'.  If you're building a trailer queen, then OK - you want it correct, but for a driver, who cares?  I'm not ever putting R/T badges on mine.  I don't feel the need to pretend to fill some vanity need and I sure as hell don't care what anyone else thinks of me.   If someone gives me shit over it then I won't talk to that person again, pretty simple.   Call it a douchebag-ometer. 

Chargers are more badass than anything else on the road anyway, R/T or not.   Hell a slant-6er is still more wicked than 90% of anything else built in the last 20 years either way.

[Sublime/Sixpack]

On this particular car I'd probably go with black exterior and black interior, or orange exterior with saddle interior, or blue exterior with white interior, with no vinyl top or stripe.

[charger Downunder]

I would leave it as is.