70 Charger with 68 front end, possible?

[RoscoePColtrain]

hey guys,

Here's the situation: I can get a fairly decent driveable 70 Charger at a very decent price, but I love the front end look of the 68/69.  Yes, I could just get a 68/69, but not at this price.  Question is, besides the quarters, hood, bumper(& grille), and maybe rad support, how easily is this possible to convert the front end to a 68?  Will the quarters, hood, etc. bolt on and/or will the lines not match up?

[Charger_Fan]

Sure the lines will line up, but...WHY? That's just needlessly bastardizing a Charger. If the front end is a mangled mess or something, then I can almost see doing it, but not if the current front end is useable. Besides, I bet you'll find that with the costs involved in getting a '68 front end, you could have just waited for a '68-'69 to come along.

[bull]

If I were you I'd buy what you want instead of trying to build a FrankenCharger. I don't think round front markers would look very good with rectangular rear markers either.

Why not buy the '70, drive it around and enjoy it for a while and if it's that good of a deal just sell it at a profit? Then you'd have more money to buy a '68 or '69.

[RoscoePColtrain]

The 70 front end has low impact front end damage, nothing unfixable.  The oval bumper is badly dented, hood is slightly bent upwards and both fendors are slightly damaged near the bumper.  The guy is a client of my fathers and wants only about 6G's for it, so if the 68 front end fits, I'll do it.  In terms of the markers lights, I'm gonna have them all removed, so thats not a problem.

[Troy]

You'll need all of the removable sheet metal (fenders, hood, valence) along with the bumper and brackets. You can purchase reproductions of all of that except the bumper brackets. You'll also need the complete grill, trim, vacuum can and hoses, headlight switch (inside the car), forward light harness, and hood latch assembly. I believe there may also be a difference in the splash shields underneath the fenders. The hood is contoured slightly different so you'll need turn signals/delete plates to match. The turn signals in the lower valence are also different. Most everything will be readily available except the grill. Looking at current prices, expect to spend about $3,000-3,800 for the front end (assuming you get parts that won't require a huge amount of labor to make right).

If you want the back to match, the tail panel, tail lights, wiring harness, and valence need to be changed (which will require welding).  Expect to pay $800-2,000 without labor. It would be cleaner to use a 69 front end as the rear of the car is nearly identical.

Assuming $6k to start and the high end of my estimates you're looking at nearly $12k for a car that still needs assembled and painted. Low end you're near $10k. I'm positive you can find a 68 or 69 in similar condition for that price or less.

Troy

[Mike DC]

   
The short answer about all these year swapping questions is roughly the same: 


--  If you just want a fun street car and you don't care about factory-correctness up close, then it's do-able.  The signal lights won't match, and this is an example of the kind of "30 footer" mentality that you should have in order to be happy with this setup. 


--  But if you're ever going to care about the factory appearance up close, then it's not worth it.  Buying a car with the correct year may cost more, but the factory changed way too many aggravating small things every year.  Getting everything, even just every major visible piece, let alone the show-judge details, would cause you to end up re-buying 2/3rds of the car. 

(I mean, the factory did things like changing the surface grain pattern on the vinyl interior pieces every year.  We're talking really INFURIATING stuff if you try to make the year-swap look 100% right.)

   

[moparstuart]

isnt that the way millers car is set up ?  68 front

[hemigeno]

The '68-9 fenders mate up to the inner fender differently than a '70 does.  '68-9s mate up to the "side" of the inner fender area, whereas '70 fenders bolt to the front of the radiator yoke.

I know it's possible to put '70 fenders on a '68-9 chassis (a la Daytona style), but I'm not sure if they're backwards-compatible.  Hadn't looked at a '70 inner fender setup to know if you'd have to do anything other than drill holes/slots for the fender mounting bracket.   

Daytona inner fender picture, showing primer from former '69 fender mounting location and '70 style front mount:

[69bronzeT5]

Just get a '68 or '69

[68charger383]

Assuming $6k to start and the high end of my estimates you're looking at nearly $12k for a car that still needs assembled and painted. Low end you're near $10k. I'm positive you can find a 68 or 69 in similar condition for that price or less.

Troy

Plus you'll probably lose $6-8K on the resale of the car at the end of the day since the interior/dash will still be a dead give away to it being a 70.

[69*F5*SE]

Waste of time and money in my eyes.   

[Old Moparz]

You can purchase reproductions of all of that except the bumper brackets.

Troy

Now you can add $149.95 more to Troy's expensive parts list.   

http://www.stephensperformance.com/newandreproductionpart/bumpersandhardware.html

[b5blue]

Go and add the fact that the steering column, flasher switch ignition switch and glove box door are going to be wrong....what the heck is wrong with just getting it and repairing the damage...you don't see the nose when you drive it! 

[moparstuart]

as i said before here is millers car  68 front 70 rear

[hotrod98]

Just find a guy with a 69 that's building a Daytona clone and buy his front clip. Don't worry about the incorrectness. Just drive the wheels off of it and enjoy it. You just missed out on a complete 69 front clip in New Jersey. Bigblocksam sold the entire front end off of his 69 for around $2500.
I still have my 69 front clip that I removed to build my Daytona clone, but it's not going anywhere. I may decide to put the car back original some day.
I say go for it.

[RoscoePColtrain]

Thanks guys for all the input.  I'm still debating wheather the mods are a worthwhile cause.  My hope was to build a nice looking ride and I'm not worried about model year correctness, I just happen to like the look of the 68/69 moreso, but the 70 price tag is tempting.  I think I'll keep up the search for a 69 front end.

[BROCK]

Hey Roscoe.  Cooter could do it for a lot less