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Should I buy this project 1969 Charger?

Chrysler styling was always a little off, but they truly caught lightning in a bottle when they designed the 2nd gen Chargers.
 
How much of the inside parts are their. Even small part's missing are costly. I would think twice about that price. No motor. Car cut up here and their. If you can do welding and body work your in for a long haul. Sheet metal has gone up in the past 6 month's. Think I would try to find a more solid car if it where me. Good luck on the build if you get it. Keep us posted.
 
It is true Charger got Charger only panels. Charger is a Dodge. That got more resources. It was a broader baseline. One could get a 6 cylinder if they so ordered. Not true with GTX. Plymouth took a big gamble in '67. It was "Muscle" or bust. For this and the fact that Plymouth all but carried Chrysler thru the performance wars of the Muscle car era (64-71) is why I prefer Plymouth. In the A and E body world? It's not close. Barracuda out duels Dart. Cuda out paced Challenger. Including in today's sales markets.

In 1969 they made a little over 15k GTX. They made about 90k Chargers.

I've never owned Dodge. For me? Plymouth's look better. And have a better performance pedigree. (For lack of a better word.)

JMO of course.
You should be making that comparison as how many GTX vs Charger R/T for the same year. That would be more of an apples to apples comparison.

The Belvedere, Satellite, Road Runner, and GTX 2 door hardtop and pillared coupe models all used the same exterior sheetmetal. Not so with the Dodge. Nothing exterior sheetmetalwise interchanges from a Coronet to a Charger.

This being said, compare all plymouth 2 door hardtop and pillared coupe production for any given year, to all charger production for any given year and charger is a lot lower production.
 
Chrysler styling was always a little off, but they truly caught lightning in a bottle when they designed the 2nd gen Chargers.

Amen, brother. I'm usually the only 2nd gen Charger at shows with as many as 1000 cars and it is a show stopper. It looks out of place in a good way compared to other vehicles.
 
It is true Charger got Charger only panels. Charger is a Dodge. That got more resources. It was a broader baseline. One could get a 6 cylinder if they so ordered. Not true with GTX. Plymouth took a big gamble in '67. It was "Muscle" or bust. For this and the fact that Plymouth all but carried Chrysler thru the performance wars of the Muscle car era (64-71) is why I prefer Plymouth. In the A and E body world? It's not close. Barracuda out duels Dart. Cuda out paced Challenger. Including in today's sales markets.

In 1969 they made a little over 15k GTX. They made about 90k Chargers.

I've never owned Dodge. For me? Plymouth's look better. And have a better performance pedigree. (For lack of a better word.)

JMO of course.



It's amazing how bulge hoods (and hoods with scoops), stripes, trim appointments & factory mags dressed up average daily drivers back in the day. This goes not only for Mopar, but Ford & GM also.
 
Chrysler styling was always a little off, but they truly caught lightning in a bottle when they designed the 2nd gen Chargers.


I've had people follow me (my car) when I pull in to a show and then just stare at it after it's parked. Many times they are stunned in to silence and then multiple times I've had people say: It's perfect.
I know as the owner it's not perfect but I also know what they mean because they are looking at the body style.
Different car, E body 70 'Cuda, had a crowd gather around when I parked at a 600 car Cars and Coffee. Surprisingly a young man said: Now THAT'S the United States of America!
You're right, Hawkeye, they made some butt ugly cars but really hit their stride with this one.
 
The new charger shoulda been more retro with a 68-70 look to it, like the new challenger is a retro to the 70-71 models
 
It's amazing how bulge hoods (and hoods with scoops), stripes, trim appointments & factory mags dressed up average daily drivers back in the day. This goes not only for Mopar, but Ford & GM also.
It is. And I believe it started with the GTO. (At least the Muscle car era) That was nothing more than a Tempest/Lemans with as big of motor available and a little bling badging? Damn. Now I feel even more gullible? "Here phishy phishy!"

I have teased lady friends in the past for being easily distracted by shiny items. (Thus why diamonds are so expensive.) But in reality? Us men might be worse?
 
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The new charger shoulda been more retro with a 68-70 look to it, like the new challenger is a retro to the 70-71 models


The problem with the new "Charger" is it says: Charger on it. And generally speaking, they are butt ugly in my opinion. The new Challenger on the other hand, is a great looking car, again in my opinion. It's also a BLAST to drive! The way that car performs will never get old.
 
My 74yo father bought a ‘18 392 6 speed T/A. Zero options but the larger touch screen. That car is awesome!!
 
You should be making that comparison as how many GTX vs Charger R/T for the same year. That would be more of an apples to apples comparison.

The Belvedere, Satellite, Road Runner, and GTX 2 door hardtop and pillared coupe models all used the same exterior sheetmetal. Not so with the Dodge. Nothing exterior sheetmetalwise interchanges from a Coronet to a Charger.

This being said, compare all plymouth 2 door hardtop and pillared coupe production for any given year, to all charger production for any given year and charger is a lot lower production.
Why? GTX didn't have sub models? It was Muscle of Bust. It's no secret Dodge got credit while Plymouth carried the weight. RoadRunner was car of the year for '69. Not sure Charger was in top 5. Look at Nascar then? (Chrysler boycotted '65) Most wins. '66 Plymouth. '67 Plymouth. '70 Plymouth. The only reason they didn't win manufacturer championships is because they didn't have enough cars overall.

I'm sorry. But it's not close on the performance side. Plymouth waxes Dodge. Now Dodge will scream. We were the same performance? Now wait a minute. Didn't this start how Charger was so different? What was different? Dodge had 3 times the marketing efforts. Plymouth did it on tracks. Funny how 1st Gen hemis were not available to any Plymouth. And they still held their own. Thank God Chrysler didn't make that mistake again for 2nd gen? If so? Hemi would be a footnote to Ford's domination. So on behalf of all Plymouth lovers? You're welcome Dodge!

Ok. I think I vented enough lol.
 
It is. And I believe it started with the GTO. (At least the Muscle car era) That was nothing more than a Tempest/Lemans with as big of motor available and a little bling badging? Damn. Now I feel even more gullible? "Here phishy phishy!"

I have teased lady friends in the past for being easily distracted by shiny items. (Thus why diamonds are so expensive.) But in reality? Us men might be worse?
Not worse, just different kind of bling bling. We are attracted to Tits and ***, and shiny things with wheels. The tits and ***, accessorizes with shiny bling bling to attract us away from the shiny things on 4 wheels.
 
Not worse, just different kind of bling bling. We are attracted to Tits and ***, and shiny things with wheels. The tits and ***, accessorizes with shiny bling bling to attract us away from the shiny things on 4 wheels.
Me likey blingy! Lol.
 
My 74yo father bought a ‘18 392 6 speed T/A. Zero options but the larger touch screen. That car is awesome!!

I test drove 2 Scat Pack 6 speeds, beautiful cars, too beautiful to be my driver. I'd end up treating it like a show car and I have enough of those. I found a used 2018 R/T that is good enough for daily use. What happens is the car is such a pleasure to drive that it endears itself to "you" and you want to baby it and buy stuff for it. I found a pair of leather bucket and back seats and door panels so changed out the cloth interior. It may be just an R/T but the insurance and maintenance is cheaper than higher performance pkgs and I can run it on 87.

How does your dad like it? I do at least 100mph almost every time I drive mine.
 
I test drove 2 Scat Pack 6 speeds, beautiful cars, too beautiful to be my driver. I'd end up treating it like a show car and I have enough of those. I found a used 2018 R/T that is good enough for daily use. What happens is the car is such a pleasure to drive that it endears itself to "you" and you want to baby it and buy stuff for it. I found a pair of leather bucket and back seats and door panels so changed out the cloth interior. It may be just an R/T but the insurance and maintenance is cheaper than higher performance pkgs and I can run it on 87.

How does your dad like it? I do at least 100mph almost every time I drive mine.

He loves the car. When he was younger his uncle owned a Dodge dealer and he always talked about a new Challenger then that he had passed on. He liked the new ones and I saw a white T/A that we test drove.
He wanted the scat pack. I pressured him into the T/A. He ordered it bare bones with the large screen and he checked the block heater too. He figured maybe he’d have the only one ordered like that for kicks. He’s got a single car garage it’s parked it. I think he’s got 16k miles on it. Uses it when it’s nice out. Still works 2 days a week.
 
Chrysler styling was always a little off, but they truly caught lightning in a bottle when they designed the 2nd gen Chargers.
Bill Brownlee,Head of the Dodge styling studio,wanted the second generation Charger clay mockup scrapped. He told Richard Sias,who had drawn the original double diamond sketches of the second generation Chargers,to get rid of it. Fortunately for us,Brownlee took a two week vacation, and Sais and the other designers finished the project. Brownlee's boss,who I believe was Virgil Exner saw the mockup and said that is what a muscle car is supposed to look like! Brownlee was livid when he returned and saw the mockup finished in the studio,he ranted and raved about how he told them to scrap the design. Once he found out that his boss loved the design he had to suck it up and accept it as the new Dodge Charger for the 68 model year The one thing that he did was walk over to the mockup, rip the fuel cap off the center of the rear tail panel and place it on top of the left rear quarter panel and turned to his subordinates and said, this belongs here! Sais got little to no credit for the second generation Chargers design, and Brownlee begrudgingly took the accolades for the cars success,as well as almost an 80% increase in sales over the 67 Chargers sales. It was the price Sais paid for going over the bosses head. When Sais left to work for an air craft company as an interior designer, his coworkers never believed him when he said that he designed the second generation Charger, and often laughed behind his back about it. One day one of his fellow former colleagues from the Dodge design studio showed up at the aircraft company with the design award for him,for designing the 68 Dodge Charger and gave it to him in front of his coworkers! That's how close the design was to going in the scrap bin. Sias also designed both the Charger and Challenger script emblems.
 
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Very similar stories out of Ford and GM. DeLorean sneaking GTO out the doors. Iacooca believing Ford needed to get sexier and faster. Ford fell a bit flat on the Muscle car front. Mustang saved some grace. (Actually started the Pony wars.)

It's true to this day. Suits who are successful in business start believing they are artists as well. True success is those who let their creative staff create.
 
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Richard Sais also firmly believed that a convertible version of the car should have been offered,and built the very first known convertible Charger from a 68 Charger. Brownlee is credited for the design of the third generation Chargers.
 
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