440 V8 Project: 1969 Dodge Charger R/T

Dodge’s success story of the late 1960s had to be the second-generation Charger. After a lukewarm sales response to the 1966-67 models, production would go through the roof for 1968-70. That was when Chrysler gave all its B-body intermediates a redesign, including a “tunnel” roof on most of the Charger models. This ’69 Charger R/T (which stood for Road/Track) has been out of commission for a time and is devoid of some of its original equipment. Located in Camarillo, California, this Mopar is available here on eBay where the reserve is unmet so far at $15,100.

At just 15,788 Chargers built in 1967, the future of the reasonably new automobile didn’t look optimistic. Fast forward a year and everything had changed. Dodge assembled 96,100 Chargers in 1968 and followed that up with 104,978 copies in 1969. It didn’t hurt that Steve McQueen’s Hollywood movie, Bullitt, featured the Charger in one of the all-time great car chases. In 1969, 19,298 of the Chargers were R/Ts, most of which were built with a 440 cubic inch V8 as standard equipment. The seller’s car came fitted with a 4-speed manual transmission, making for one hot Dodge Boys product.

While this forlorn Charger has a period-correct engine and transmission, they’re not original to the car. Supposedly the motor was rebuilt several years ago but was never fired up (fortunately, it turns freely by hand). At a minimum, the radiator is missing, so some new hardware will have to be sourced before trying to get this Charger in running order again. The important fender tag was removed, so you must wonder if it now adorns someone else’s Dodge.

A fair amount of rust will have to be dealt with, including the floor and trunk pans, and there are several holes in the frame that shouldn’t be there. There is some glass missing, too, such as the windshield and back window. The grille with the hideaway headlights looks to be okay, but no mention is made as to whether they open and close properly. We see project Chargers show up regularly on Barn Finds, and this isn’t the worst example – but it isn’t the best either.