Awesome post about Scott Crawford's 68

[Daytona R/T SE]

As a proud heathen, I am completely offended.   

[Lennard]

Because in reality, no one is righteous, no, not one, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish. And God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I clicked on this thread to look at Scott Crawford's '68, not to be saved! Please leave the religious stuff off of a car forum.

[AirborneSilva]

Don't know whom Mr. Crawford is but he's sure got a beautiful car 

[nitrus68]

Hi All, Scott Crawford here. Thanks for the interesting post about the Charger. A couple of comments about "the seam". The vinyl top is indeed original so I have never been able to look under it. I have been told over the years that the materials used to hide the seam tended to shrink over time resulting in it slowly becoming more visible. A clarification though, the seam isn't close to that obvious in person.  In order to get the effect I wanted on this particular photo I darkened the photo significantly, heightened the contrast way up (most likely the culprit), and sharpened it a bit. The result was the photo I wanted "with" a more visible seam. A larger sampling of photos are available on Flickr as "1968 Dodge Charger R/T"

Take care,

Scott

[1974dodgecharger]

Awesome article, but what go me was that it claimed, 'the 70 charger was attainable for 600 bucks off used car lots' is this true back in late 70s? I do not remember them selling that cheap. My uncle sold his in 81 for 2500 bucks mind you though......it was a 68.

[nitrus68]

Hi 1974dodgecharger,

It's a fair question and I will do my best to answer it. I couldn't tell you how the market looked nationwide but in the Inland Northwest in the late 70's, 1968 ,99, and 70 (only because that's what I was looking for) Chargers were fairly plentiful and inexpensive. I don't know if it was because of the oil crisis that started in 1973 and peaked in 1979 with the oil embargo or if it was because they were truly entering the secondary (and more probably third owner) market, but they could be found on a number of lots at bargain prices. I need to clarify that "I" wasn't in the market for a perfect well maintained used Charger, Nope, I was looking for a bargain and that's what I was finding.  These cars had been ridden hard and put away wet. But, with some Armor All, fat tires, big wheels, and loud pipes it was easy to overlook the myriad of problems that they had for only being a 8 to 10 years old. You just have to understand why people bought these cars in the first place and how HARD they drove them and how HARD they ran. ;-) I got really lucky with my Charger in both price and condition. Except for having 87,000 miles on it it was truly exceptional. I think the mint cars that would garner the biggest bucks were still sitting in the garages of their original owners. The ones I saw on the secondary car lots had definitely been around the block "really quickly". Well that's the best I can do. Thanks again for the great question.

Scott

[1974dodgecharger]

scott,
thanks for explanation man awesome story bro  wish now the cars were plentiful and cheap same style of course.

[RECHRGD]

Good to see you on this site Scott.  Your car sure has come a long way from when I first saw it about ten years ago.  Just beautiful!  Hopefully we can gey together and get some cruising time in this summer, if the weather ever dries up........   Bob

[nitrus68]

Hi Bob, Yeah as I am writing this it is POURING down rain. At least the Car d'Lane cruise had nice weather. Really looking forward to the all Mopar show coming up, hopefully see you there.  Not sure how much the Charger has improved since the last time you saw it. Since I bought it in 1977 about the only thing significant I have done to it was in 2007 fix the retread caused dent on the lower rear quarter that happened 2 weeks after I got it, put new wheels and tires on it in 2006 and a new killer stereo in 2010 (without drilling one hole). It must be the embarrassing amount of photos I have taken of it over the last 2 years. ;-)

[bull]

It's nice to see people hanging onto these cars from the get-go. I should have kept the 70 and 68 I had when I was younger but there have been few years in my life spent Chargerless. Congrats on being able to hang on to her.

[70charginglizard]

nice car Scott. Cool you've had it over all these years. I could have only dreamed of having such an awesome big mopar back in high school but all dad would let me drive around was his little dodge colt station wagon. oh well. I still had fun in it back then.  

[HeavyFuel]

Yeah...ok....talking about where the quarter panel meets the roof....where the lead(?) is....not the vinyl itself.

only  factory non vinyl top cars got lead !!

Um, not quite. Of the three 68 Chargers I've pulled vinyl tops off of only one had filler. That one was a late (May) build. The other two are leaded just like my hardtop car. I believe this practice changed later on and, by the 1969 model year, they were all plastic filled under the vinyl. I'm sure there are a few threads discussing it.

You guys obviously don't have enough going on in your lives if you're worried/offended by the rest. Ridiculous.

Troy

D'oH
yes i remember something about that now !!  now you mentioned it ,
sorry for any confusion & duff infomation Guys  , thanks for the correction Troy

My vinyl top car...built in late Jan '68.   Smooooooth......not much to see as far as a seam.

[nitrus68]

Hi HeavyFuel,

I hope it's OK that I use your photo as an example of when you work with an image to give it a certain mood it can turn out mostly like you want it but with some unintended results.

[nitrus68]

This one shows the seam in a bit more natural light.

[Silver R/T]

Yeah...ok....talking about where the quarter panel meets the roof....where the lead(?) is....not the vinyl itself.

that seam was filled with a fibre-ish  putty type filler from the factory  ,  almost always look like that to a greater or lesser extent , unless it has been all dug out replaced at some time !!   only  factory non vinyl top cars got lead !!

My car had vinyl from factory and there is lead on those seams

[billfury]

Seam or no seam that Charger is gorges with a great story .  I love that second picture with the roadrunner (fury) in the back ground . That car was brand new in the picture. I do have a soft spot for those Cordoba, Fury b-bodies. 

[tan top]

Hi All, Scott Crawford here. Thanks for the interesting post about the Charger. A couple of comments about "the seam". The vinyl top is indeed original so I have never been able to look under it. I have been told over the years that the materials used to hide the seam tended to shrink over time resulting in it slowly becoming more visible. A clarification though, the seam isn't close to that obvious in person.  In order to get the effect I wanted on this particular photo I darkened the photo significantly, heightened the contrast way up (most likely the culprit), and sharpened it a bit. The result was the photo I wanted "with" a more visible seam. A larger sampling of photos are available on Flickr as "1968 Dodge Charger R/T"

Take care,

Scott

hello & welcome Scott   thanks for sharing your story  

Yeah...ok....talking about where the quarter panel meets the roof....where the lead(?) is....not the vinyl itself.

that seam was filled with a fibre-ish  putty type filler from the factory  ,  almost always look like that to a greater or lesser extent , unless it has been all dug out replaced at some time !!   only  factory non vinyl top cars got lead !!

My car had vinyl from factory and there is lead on those seams

they must of been cutting costs for the 69 model year , or  maybe depending what assembly plant it come from  
 did originally think at one stage that vinyl top cars found with lead seam , might have been dealer installed tops , but seen those roofs finished like all other vinyl top cars about 5 inches of  paint under the top & rest primer

[RECHRGD]

Hi Bob, Yeah as I am writing this it is POURING down rain. At least the Car d'Lane cruise had nice weather. Really looking forward to the all Mopar show coming up, hopefully see you there.  Not sure how much the Charger has improved since the last time you saw it. Since I bought it in 1977 about the only thing significant I have done to it was in 2007 fix the retread caused dent on the lower rear quarter that happened 2 weeks after I got it, put new wheels and tires on it in 2006 and a new killer stereo in 2010 (without drilling one hole). It must be the embarrassing amount of photos I have taken of it over the last 2 years. ;-)

That's right, I remembered the dent and probably thought there were other issues.  Sure looks good.......  Bob