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Does anyone remember when second generation Chargers were cheap?

chargervert

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I was posting a few pictures of some of my Chargers that were my daily driver cars in another thread,and I recalled what I paid for them in the early to mid eighties and if I had known what they were going to bring in these times even for basket case rust buckets, I probably would not have beaten and cut up so many of them back then! These pictures are of the 68 318 car,that I paid $80 for in 1987,it was my daily driver for years. It was beige with a black roof and a red interior. I hated the beige so much,that within an hour of getting it home,it was primed red,with a white tail stripe. later I put half quarter panels on it,and painted it scorch red. I eventually put a 440 in it from a 71 New Yorker.

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This is my 70 Charger R/T, I paid $350 for it in 1981.440 4 speed manual, Dana 60. I still have it.
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Sure do, I paid $500 for a 69 R/T back in 1976. Completely stock down to the road wheels.
 
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I bought a lot of cars from my friend Jack,two 68 Chargers, one was an R/T, a 70 Challenger R/T 383 4 speed, and an A12 Super bee.I think I paid $700 for the two 68 Chargers, $1100 for the R/T Challenger and 5 grand for the A12 Super bee. That is the Challenger being prepped for paint in the backround.
 
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I paid $75 for this running driving Charger in 1983. Those were the days! I had more than 100 of them, I have 8 now.
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I ‘m in a different market then y’all but from what I can see it’s only been the last few years that prices have gone crazy. Certainly through to the end of the nineties into the new millennium they were the same as any other B body. All of the attention was on ‘70 and ‘71 ‘cuda and challenger cars. Once all of the flippers and investors snapped all of them up focus shifted to other cars. Second generation chargers are the current golden child. Deservedly so, they are beautiful.
When I was retrieving my ‘70 Coronet from a yard in 1994 there was a triple black ‘68 charger 500 there. They had flattened it with a bulldozer and partially buried it. I still have days when I think about renting a back hoe and going and getting it.
 
I paid $500 for this roller last weekend ,I had sold it too a friend of mine two years ago, and he is selling his house, so he wanted it gone,so I bought it back for what I sold it to him for. I was going to build a Daytona clone out of it, but then I bought the Daytona stock car, so I no longer needed this roller. I used to cut them up in the eighties, but now I save them in any condition. I already bought all the AMD sheetmetal to put this car together.
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I think the reason most of the muscle cars were dumped was because of the rising cost of gas, insurance sur charges and Govt. with more restrictions. I had a 71 340 Duster I sold in 1980 to buy a new more economical car to commute 50 miles one way to work. If I had the insight or the room I would have kept my 55 chevy, 58 Fury, 68 Road Runner and the 340 Duster. Also in the mid 80's most of those cars were rust buckets because we never cared for them like we do for cars now.
 
When I got my license in 1983, Mopars were not exactly plentiful in my area. I did want a Charger but the ones advertised were either too nice or too beaten to death. Dad wouldn't allow me to buy a project car, whatever I bought had to run. I ended up buying a 69 Dart.
 
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i was stationed down at fort bragg for a long time and after service i moved to Nc for 15 years.
during those 15 years,i met some of the most famous hardcore guys and unknown collectors as well mopar people of the eras.
talk about being in Awe...and the cars those guys had!!
there was a few of us younguns back then that used to do nothing but mopars and we had a **** ton of them.
sometimes,the owners would actually Pay us to remove the cars...truth.
half the fun of mopars was usually the reason the car didnt run was the ballast resistor was bad,
or something extremely simple and easy to fix and you had a running beast.
i was very fortunate to have lived thru the times when and where i did.
nowadays im running the m bodies,because they are cheap simple fun and hey mopars.
got some damm good memories of the Good old days tho.
 
I knew a guy who traded a rusty,and beat 70 Road Runner,for a nice 70 Charger R/T because the guy tried to do a tune up,and couldn't get the car to run again. He waited until the guy wasn't home,corrected the plug wires into the correct firing order,and in 10 minutes,it was running nicely!
 
I was best friends with a guy since kindergarten and knew his parents had a red '68 Charger for a daily driver, and they knew I loved just standing there looking at it when I would hang out at their house . A few months before I got my license I didn't see the car anymore. I asked if it was getting repaired, and the father said no, there was this young guy that stopped by and asked if it was for sale, so I sold it to him for $100. That was 1983. They could tell I wasn't happy with that news and he told me "you never said you wanted to buy it". So 4 years later I found the R/T I still have today.
 
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This is the A12 Superbee that I also bought from Jack,next to my $350 Charger R/T. I paid 5 grand for the bee,it was the most I had ever paid for a Mopar at that time. My daughter in the picture is 32 years old now!
 
Paid a $150 for a 68 RT 383 AT red w/black interior back around 1980 or so. Had a 70 RT roller but was 440 4 spd car I think I paid $100 for that was yellow around 81.
 
Reading some of the stories posted, I feel like I got ripped off. I paid $1200 for a 69 318 car with a fresh paint job in 1987. Bronze metallic with a black vinyl roof and black R/T stripe. I installed a 440 from a motor home in HS auto shop and had the fastest car in my neighborhood. I've had the Mopar bug ever since.
 
I grew up in a delco town (Dayton, where delco started, and harrison radiator) but we did have an AirTemp plant.

Mopars were not plentiful, but we did have some Mopar heads.

I looked at a 69 RT/SE with a sunroof and power windows for $700 in 1987.
Typical buttress and quarter rust, slightly worse than the car I was driving.

The owner also had about 5 71 Super Bees and a couple Super Birds.

One of the Birds was also for sale.
White with blue int, auto on the column. Decent body $2000!

I had recently bought a 67 Coronet 440 with a super sweet running 22 MPG 318 but rusty quarters for $500.
 
Yes, in 2001 I bought my 68 Charger R/T in triple black 440 4 speed for $1800. Fender tag and build sheet included. All numbers matched.

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