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1969 Dodge Charger 440 steady 120mph Cruising

Michael_

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Hi,

I may have the chance to buy a 1969 dodge charger with a 440/727 here in germany. According to the seller the car is in very good condition so i will have a look and see. The 69 Charger is my favourite car so if its good i think i will buy it.

Im living in germany so i have the joy of the german autobahn where you can drive without a speed limit. I want to do this with the charger. :)

I discussed this in another forum too and already got good advices, but now bevor i am maybe shelling out big bucks for a charger i wanted to talk to guys who are b body experts. :)

What do you guys think i would have to do to the STOCK charger with a 440/727 to be able to cruise steady 120 mph for long distances?

Do you think it would be enough to upgrade the oil pan, pump and cooler?
What would you do?

At the moment i do not have the cash to buy the car AND perform a complete reconstruction of the car with a modern drivetrain, brakes, suspension etc.
Also i would like to leave the car as original as possible.

In another forum they said i might have to install a modern transmission with more gears? like the one from the new challenger.
do you think i can avoid this? or is this really necessary?

Of course i would like to spend as little as possible and would like to avoid rebuilding the engine, if possible.

Also what is a good price for a good condition 69 charger with 440/727 and factory ac?
 
In 1978, I had a rental Dodge that had a 3 speed auto (likely a 727) and a 440. My brother and I drove it from Philadelphia PA to Houston TX at speeds (120 MPH) for long periods of time along the trip (we had a CB radio and cleared ahead with the truckers). We put 4,000 miles on that car in about 10 days. (Free mileage and the rental company almost **** when we returned their brand new 100 mile car with 4,100 miles on it.). The car most likely had highway cruise gears like 2.71 on it and it purred the whole time.
 
Bee did that and then some every night when I was 18/19/20, absolutely stock the way it was designed, except for my 2.94 rear end. They didn't put a 150mph speedo in it for show, at least in my case! :D
 
TKO or Gearvendors. The Coronet gets squirrelly at about 130 due to aerodynamics. Or so I am told. Feels best around 105.
 
Never notice squirrelly with the Bee, speedo needle straight down most Friday nights, and that was on cheap Tornado tires. Amazed those things never blew. Same tires took me 45,000 miles. Why I also loved the manual steering box!

beepics 006.JPG
 
Last edited:
Thanks that sounds great!!! Here in germany there are a lot of guys talking **** about the cars couldnt handle that kinda speeds. guess their all driving a prius. :D

Okay than i will have a look at this 69 charger and if its good i will buy it. :)

thanks a lot!!!
 
If it has drums on the front the brakes will be worthless at those speeds. Most of us here know the feeling I'm sure. Anyway the typical suspension and tires will be critical. Gear ratio too............
 
Yeah i will do a few decent upgrades/mods directly when i buy this or another 69 charger.
including checking/changing the gear ratio, bigger oil pan. pump etc.

I will also go through the suspension and brakes later one, but i guess i will be a little broke after buying the car for a while. :D So i will simply do this later.

I know i am in germany so this is may not representative here but what is a fair price for a good condition 69 charger with a 440/727 here in usa? nadaguide says avarage 36960$? does this nails it?

Edit:

A 1969 Charger 318 with options 440 and ac is just 27300$ but why does the car is named 318 if you could add a 440 option???
 
Hi,

I may have the chance to buy a 1969 dodge charger with a 440/727 here in germany. According to the seller the car is in very good condition so i will have a look and see. The 69 Charger is my favourite car so if its good i think i will buy it.

Im living in germany so i have the joy of the german autobahn where you can drive without a speed limit. I want to do this with the charger. :)

I discussed this in another forum too and already got good advices, but now bevor i am maybe shelling out big bucks for a charger i wanted to talk to guys who are b body experts. :)

What do you guys think i would have to do to the STOCK charger with a 440/727 to be able to cruise steady 120 mph for long distances?

Do you think it would be enough to upgrade the oil pan, pump and cooler?
What would you do?

At the moment i do not have the cash to buy the car AND perform a complete reconstruction of the car with a modern drivetrain, brakes, suspension etc.
Also i would like to leave the car as original as possible.

In another forum they said i might have to install a modern transmission with more gears? like the one from the new challenger.
do you think i can avoid this? or is this really necessary?

Of course i would like to spend as little as possible and would like to avoid rebuilding the engine, if possible.

Also what is a good price for a good condition 69 charger with 440/727 and factory ac?
I'd get a gear vendors or swap to a T56/TR6060 for those speeds if you could swing it.

Other than that, upgrade the water pump and radiators, probably a bigger trans cooler. and upgrade the brakes. Plus get some good speed rated tires for it.
 
Yeah i will do a few decent upgrades/mods directly when i buy this or another 69 charger.
including checking/changing the gear ratio, bigger oil pan. pump etc.

I will also go through the suspension and brakes later one, but i guess i will be a little broke after buying the car for a while. :D So i will simply do this later.

I know i am in germany so this is may not representative here but what is a fair price for a good condition 69 charger with a 440/727 here in usa? nadaguide says avarage 36960$? does this nails it?

Edit:

A 1969 Charger 318 with options 440 and ac is just 27300$ but why does the car is named 318 if you could add a 440 option???
Think your better off buying a 440 powered Charger. Up grading a 318 car is way more than an engine swap.
 
My 69 Charger feels glued to the road at 125mph, it's lowered 2" with a 6 speed. Do you need overdrive... no, is there a better option for running those speeds for long periods of time.. absolutely not.. maybe cheaper but not better. Some don't like to see them lowered but less air getting under the car means better high speed stability.

We can offer plenty of advice but it comes down to what you can afford or what your willing to do. At 125 mph I'd be focusing on keeping it tight to the road first.
 
I really feel that the aerodynamics of these old cars are unsafe to cruise with traffic, over 100 mph. The cars do lift and get flighty. You would really have to be able to afford the car and afford modifying it.
 
Hi,

I may have the chance to buy a 1969 dodge charger with a 440/727 here in germany. According to the seller the car is in very good condition so i will have a look and see. The 69 Charger is my favourite car so if its good i think i will buy it.

Im living in germany so i have the joy of the german autobahn where you can drive without a speed limit. I want to do this with the charger. :)

I discussed this in another forum too and already got good advices, but now bevor i am maybe shelling out big bucks for a charger i wanted to talk to guys who are b body experts. :)

What do you guys think i would have to do to the STOCK charger with a 440/727 to be able to cruise steady 120 mph for long distances?

Do you think it would be enough to upgrade the oil pan, pump and cooler?
What would you do?

At the moment i do not have the cash to buy the car AND perform a complete reconstruction of the car with a modern drivetrain, brakes, suspension etc.
Also i would like to leave the car as original as possible.

In another forum they said i might have to install a modern transmission with more gears? like the one from the new challenger.
do you think i can avoid this? or is this really necessary?

Of course i would like to spend as little as possible and would like to avoid rebuilding the engine, if possible.

Also what is a good price for a good condition 69 charger with 440/727 and factory ac?
You have all the right ideas.
1. Larger radiator
2. Transmission cooler
3. 2.76 : 1 rear end gear ratio
4. Hi-speed rated tires
5. Power steering pump cooler ???

Obviously, some type of overdrive transmission set up would be better, but more expensive. 120mph is right about the maximum speed you can drive that car at for long distances, safely.
 
I ran my old '70 RR 440 several times at up to 150mph. The difference between 150mph and 120mph, was the increased amount of concentration required at the wheel.
Car could handle it, but can the driver? I never had problems, but others might. :D

Invest in hood pins, and check your brakes & suspension thoroughly.
 
I ran my old '70 RR 440 several times at up to 150mph. The difference between 150mph and 120mph, was the increased amount of concentration required at the wheel.
Car could handle it, but can the driver? I never had problems, but others might. :D

Invest in hood pins, and check your brakes & suspension thoroughly.
You're right kiwi & I've been that fast too (on tires only rated for 112mph), but I started noticing "float" around maybe 130mph (?) which I assume is just due to bad aerodynamics. At 150mph I was "floating" about 1/2-lane every time I went over a rise/bump in the highway. The car was slightly lowered on a stock-type suspension, fyi. You're hood-pin idea is a good one...didn't think of that.
 
When you are shopping for a Charger, be patient and get a big block car. High speed requires updated disk brakes and the proper tires. Some suggestions would be a quality engine oil cooler and an external heavy duty transmission cooler. On my own car, the limiting factors are the rear end gear ratio which is 3.91 and the 15 inch series tires that have a speed rating of "S". 112 MPH
However it does handle well at high speeds. So yes, with the correct configuration these cars can get in the left lane of the Autobahn. But plan on some 16 - 17 inch wheels to get a high speed rated tire.

Build your car the way you want it and have fun!!
 
i guess i will now go and buy a 69 Charger, then doing the mentioned cooling/oiling, gear ratio etc. mods and save up for further improvements. :)

I will see how good it will handle and brake "stock" and wont do something i feel is unsafe until it will be upgraded. :)

i guess thats the best thing i can do. :)

But maybe someone can tell me a bit about the pricing?
On Nadaguides i can add a 440 option to a 318 charger??? is this a system error from nada guides or was that really possible?

Also do you think 40000$ is a realistic price for a 440/727 charger in good condition with factory ac?
 
I used to drive my 70 Charger from Reno to Vegas many times. Pretty much stock 383 Mag 727 3.23s with all poly suspension with 235-60-15 275-60-15. Any thing over 100 and it got sketchy with front end lift and if you hit a cross wind Holy Crap. I think if it was lowered with a front spoiler it would have been better. Over 100 is still a big ticket and a trip to see the local Judge. Now if it was a Hemi Daytona Hell Ya.
 
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