A tale of my dad's former 1970 440 6-pack sun-roof Charger.

[smithenhiven]

Here's a little story of "the one that got away", or rather "the one left behind".  The year was 1980, my dad was 20 years old, and his car was a triple black 1970 Dodge Charger R/T 440-6 pack, with sun-roof and power windows.  My mom and dad were married that same year in June, and by the end of that summer, they were packed up and moving from Pittsburgh PA, to a town in Texas called Victoria where my dad got a new job.  With a packed U-haul truck, and the Charger being towed behind on a tow dolly, they made their way forward on their 1500 mile journey.  As the story goes, within blocks of their new apartment, one of the rear wheels came off the Charger, causing significant damage to the quarter panel and other parts of the back of the car.

With little money to fix it, my dad parked it at his buddy's house (who was already down there from PA and somewhat established) with plans to quickly get it fixed and back on the road.  But needing a car to get back and forth to work, he decided to just finance a new car as a daily driver.  One thing leads to another, months pass, the Charger remains unfixed.  Fast forward to 1982, I'm now the "bun in the oven", and my mom doesn't want to start her new family in TX, she wants to be back home in PA.  My dad agrees, and once again, they are packed up in a U-haul, this time headed back to PA.  Only this time, he's in somewhat of a dilemma: my mom is very much pregnant and doesn't want to drive by herself, behind my dad in the U-haul, for 1500 miles in the "new" car.  So which car does he trailer back; the wrecked, now 12 year old Dodge Charger, or his 2 year old "new" car that he still owes money on?  As I'm sure you can guess, he picked the later. 

His buddy promised to keep the Charger safe until he was able to return for it, or have it shipped home, and the two would occasionally call back and forth to chat about the car, but months turned into years and my dad never went back for it, and never sent a shipper after it.  More years went by, and he eventually lost contact with his buddy.  At the time his thought process was "why spend $1,000 to have a $500 car shipped home".  At the time he didn't think or know it was special, to him it was just a wrecked Charger, and he figured would get another one.

And get another one he did.  My dad has had several other 70 Chargers after that one, but none as special; that's the one he remembered most, and would talk about the most.  We briefly tried finding the car in the late 90's, I helped my dad dig through piles and piles of old paper work trying to find an old registration card or title, or insurance card, or something that had a VIN number on it, but no luck.  We then tried tracking down ANYONE, family, friends, etc..., of my dad's old Buddy who he left the car with, hoping that someone might have a way to get in touch with him, again no luck.  Even if it was to find out that his buddy had the car towed to a junkyard, it would have put my dad's mind at ease.  We even briefly considered a trip to Victoria TX, but quickly dismissed that idea after talking about how low the odds of actually finding his buddy, and/or the car would be. 

So there it is, the tall tale of my dad's 70 V-code Charger.  Figured you folks might enjoy the read, and who knows, it's a super long shot, but maybe someone knows of a triple black 70 6 pack Charger that came out of TX.  I'm not trying to insinuate in any way that the car is still ours today, I would fully agree it's not as he abandoned it, and where ever it is now, in what ever condition, is the property of who ever is in possession of it (we would have conceded to that fact in the 90's as well if someone did have it with a bonded title or whatever, we were more or less just trying to see if by chance his buddy was still around, and by a miracle of god still had the car).  Sadly, my dad passed away in 2014, I just wanted to tell his story that he'd told me so many times, which was just one his Charger stories that lead me to be a Charger fan as well.

[cdr]

thanks for sharing the story.  sorry about your dad.

[hemi68charger]

Amazing how life works............. Dad did what Dad had to do... God bless him........... Thanks for sharing........   

[tan top]

 sorry to hear about your Dad ,   good story , thanks for sharing  ,

  have your contacted the 70 registry

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=152


  also ,  Scott , below  , has a registry for sun roof chargers , he may well have heard or ....

  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=29163

[DixieRestoParts]

thanks for sharing the story.  sorry about your dad.

[lukedukem]

I've lived in Victoria, Texas my whole life. I'm only 36. Unfortunately I've never heard of that car. Not to say it doesn't exist still. I know of a 68 r/t that still around after disappearing about 20 years ago from off the road. You never know. I'm not saying I can find the car, but I can help if you'd like. I rent and sell construction equipment and I drive almost everyday from halletsville to el campo to bay city. Im always asking about mopars and if any one has seen or heard of any. It's how I found out about the 68, a 67, a general Lee, and a purple 70, of course they were all not for sale.  Send me a PM if you'd like my help.

Luke

[crj1968]

Sorry about your dad passing (RIP)

That car obviously had a big piece of his heart. Thanks for the story. 

[sdweatherman]

I have not run across a 70 triple black 6 pack sunroof Charger yet. That would be a pretty cool car if it is still around. Sending you a PM.