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Hemi Survivor: 1970 Dodge Charger R/T

When I first saw the ad for this car, I read the words Hemi, Survivor, and Charger and thought to myself “This car is going to sell for over $100,000.” Sure enough, the bidding is at $100,001 with the reserve not met! There are many over-priced collectible cars of the 1970s, but given the sale prices of similar cars in recent years, this one is priced accordingly. This Charger has almost all of the things that Mopar collectors consider valuable when car shopping, and is something of a survivor given that it has never been repainted or restored. Find it here on eBay in Vancouver and see for yourself!

It remains to be seen whether or not this car will actually bring whatever the seller’s reserve is, but it is easy to see why the seller puts such a high value on this Charger! The interior is completely original and look nearly new, as the seller says. The carpet, seats, and headliner are all original and in immaculate condition. While this car has seen some repairs in order to bring it out of its 35 year slumber, the interior is exactly as it was sold.

The condition of this car will bring the seller good money, but here under the hood is where the money really is: this is the original 426 Hemi that this car was built and sold with at the beginning! It is numbers matching, not only date-code but in fact the engine this car was “born with,” as the seller puts it. How original is it? According to the ad, “Carbs, original carb tags & idle solenoid, air cleaner assemble, exhaust manifolds, intake, block, distributor, trans, drive shaft, recored 956 Hemi Rad” are all present. This car also has the original U-joints and NOS Hemi resonators!

This car was pulled from 35+ year storage in 2007 and brought back to roadworthiness! The paint is almost completely original and this car has never been wrecked. The black Bumble Bee stripe is the original sticker the car came with. The wheels are not the original Mopar Road Wheels, but the original Road Wheels are included with the sale. This car was not restored, but preserved. Any parts that needed to be replaced were replaced with NOS Mopar parts when possible so as to keep this Charger as original as possible. While it owes its condition to spending most of its life in storage, it is still a wonderfully preserved survivor that is sure to be the star of most shows!

Comments

  1. Bill

    This’ll go for a fortune and it should. I still like the blue with the white top one recently featured better.

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  2. Chuck Simons

    My first look at this was “Survivor? Looks to good’ Then I read the description. WOW!!!

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  3. Juan Maldonado

    I will go for this one and put 2k on paint job and 2k on tires-rims and 2k on mechanics, 1k on sound and i will have a 70 RT CHARGER with 6,340 miles for the half of that insane price https://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-Dodge-Charger/302555317590

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  4. 86 Vette Convertible

    That will undoubtedly go for big $$ just because of what it is. It will be interesting to see what it ultimately goes for.

    It’s a nice car but way out of my price range.

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  5. SnuffySmiff

    One very nice survivor! Am a bit curious as to what the odd “F” stamped above the right hand side of the ID tag(just above the new-looking screw head) means. Anyone know for sure?

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    • Brad

      It stands for “F”‘n expensive!!!

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  6. Madmatt

    Where are all these 70 Chargers coming from??,
    I always thought that They have always been
    harder to find than 68/69?
    Amazing car…super amazing interior!
    Someone knew what they had way back then,
    and thankfully preserved it really well,…..
    I just wish I could afford this guys insurance…yikes!

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  7. Richard Ochoa

    Scrap Iron!!!!! (Sorry, I’m 100% Bow Tie!!!)

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    • 2cool2say

      If you are “100% Bow Tie”, then why are you looking at this Hemi Charger? It’s very possible that you are a closet Mopar lover and perhaps just reluctant to come out of the closet… It’s ok, you are with friends now.

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    • Jeffro

      If we put a BBC in it, would you like it a little better?

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      • glen

        Then put the Hemi in the Chevy!, I wonder if that has ever been done? A Hemi powered Vette!

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      • Miguel

        Like the Hemi powered 55 Chevy on Roadkill?

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    • Derek

      To Richard: Great I happen to love ALL old cars not that silly High School my team vs. yours baloney. I happen to love looking at all of these ads regardless of whether or not I want it. If you want to be so negative go somewhere else.

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  8. Rx7turboII

    Cars and prices like these are exactly why the hobby has gotten so expensive. NO 1970 car is worth this kinda money…not even a Lambo or Ferrari. The hobby is dying one greedy seller at a time…sad.

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    • 2cool2say

      The reality is that most 50 year old cars need a $100,000 restoration. So, unless you were emotionally attached to a specific car, almost no car would be restored at that cost if the finished car was worth, lets say $20,000. Bottom line, if it cost a ton to restore a car, it must yield a high sales price or you’d be foolish spending all that money to restore it. Lastly, then original cars like this would be even more special and expensive because it is one of a hundred in nice shape. Image going to a car show and there were no restored cars, only very rare nice originals, like this one, or trashy beat-up non-running cars on trailers because it isn’t worth dumping a fortune into a car. The sellers aren’t greedy; it’s the numerous prospective buyers who determine the price/value.

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      • Billy

        It is not just greedy sellers, it is greedy suppliers, greedy restorers, greedy parts makers, and most of all, foolish buyers. Can’t blame people for cashing in but it has taken Joe Sixpack out of the game, and these cars are not really being used anymore, they are investments and rich boys show off items. Funny, the kind of cars these were, are the kind of cars the snobby rich boys would have frowned on in the day, they didn’t have a warm heart for them then, like we did. We would buy and drive out of love of the past, they are just doing it because it is the latest craze. I recall adding an addition onto the house back in the crazy housing bubble. I was astounded at what the contractor charged. I figured out the cost of materials and a generous hourly labor rate, plus a healthy profit for the company, and it was over double that. I called him on it and he said that the addition was going to add such and such value to the house and he wanted his piece of that. I said I was not going to sell the house, but he could care less, said the price was that, even if it was double what a very fair profit for him would have been. This is the way I see the market in cars. Suppliers, and restorers have driven the market way above a fair profit margin because they can, and it has driven most of us out of the market. In a perfect world, parts and labor would be reasonable and everyone would make a fair living and average guys could have a piece of their youth. The rich by buying at prices that most of us can not, have ruined our hobby. I could get into a discussion of the ethics of the 1%, but I have crossed that line here in the past, and BF management is correct, this is not the place for that.

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    • Suttree

      The winning bidder will determine the final price, not the seller.

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      • Rx7turboII

        Really? If that’s the case why is there a reserve on it? Touche’

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    • Stevee

      The sellers ain’t the problem– its the buyers. Old retail saying: set the price whatever you want, but the buyer will tell you when they will buy it and what they will pay for it.

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    • carsofchaos

      It’s a bit tricky to blame the seller. There is a buyer on the other side willing to pay that $100k+ price tag. Can’t fault the seller for that.
      Consider this: I recently was selling a 72 C20, nicely re-done with it’s original 402ci, AC, etc. etc. All the goodies. I priced it at what I thought was a fair market price in my area of $11,500. I quickly had multiple people interested. One offered me $13,500. What am I going to do, say “Sorry, that’s not good for the hobby, please only give me the $11,500 I asked for”? Not bloody likely, I’ve got student loans to pay.
      On the other side of the coin, the price of entry to the hobby (especially for unrestored project cars) has gotten to be ludicrous. Every guy who has a Mustang, no matter the condition, thinks he’s sitting on a pile of gold (when most times he’s sitting on a pile of rust). I recently saw an 84 Ford Tempo advertised for $7500. Seriously….a Ford freaking Tempo.
      The car featured here has all the goodies, is about as original as you’re ever going to find, and buyers are willing to pay for it. Look at it this way: at it’s current price ($105k), it’s a bargain compared to the “Holy Grail 401 Matador”!

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  9. David

    Wow! is all you can really say!

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  10. glen

    So this was parked in ’72? It was 2 years old. What’s that all about? No matter what, I want it!

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    • Billy

      Ahhh, Glen my friend, re due your arithmetic and then sit down and have a cold one. In “1982”, these cars were almost give away items,. Pretty hard to sell. We had recently seen the price of gas double and were terrified that it would double again. A new Dodge Omni with a spiffy VW engine was a much easier sale, then even a fire sale price for this. I am surprised he stored it. Well, good for him. Frankly, outside of a drag track, these are poor cars anyway. Hard to keep tuned. ,5, maybe 6 MPG on the road, if you were lucky. Insurance was pretty much unattainable. By 1982, even high test regular gasoline was hard to come by outside of a race track. The 440 was so much a better road engine, or better yet, a reliable 318. I am surprised this car wasn’t sold to a drag racer and used up, that is where most of them went before long. I drove a Challenger Hemi once, for a short while one evening. Mind you, it was a beat of POS, but I could still see the compromises there. The mystic soon was gone for me. Chrysler never wanted these on the street anyway, too expensive to make and warranty. The only reason was so they could meet race track rules. Kind of disingenuous, sort of like a Daytona or Superbird, not good for the road..

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      • glen

        I do have some beer in the fridge!
        This is how I read this; “this car was pulled from 35+ year storage in 2007”
        So ,2007-35=1972, or did I screw this up?, it’s happened before!

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    • Billy

      Holy cow Glen, I may be wrong! My goodness, that hasn’t happened for a while. Thank you for your strong mind, and the willingness to set this senile old man on the straight and narrow path of enlightenment. As far as two year old car being parked, I have two thoughts. One- these were premium priced when new and only a criminal or a trust fund baby could practically afford one, so maybe they got tired of it and it wasn’t a great financial hardship to do so. And 2- if they did get tired of it, well, maybe for the reasons I said above. They were not the greatest street car, best at showing off in a high school parking lot, but not much beyond that.

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      • glen

        You got me thinking, did the original owner put it in storage because he new he had something special?

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      • Troy s

        Maybe he got embarrassed by some small block nova and parked it, haha! Probably just too expensive to drive and then the first gas price hikes came and rendered it useless. Who knows, really.

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      • Billy

        Probably got tired of it and moved on to another toy. When you have money, pretty much anything is possible. If you don’t have to sell it to move on, why?

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  11. wuzjeepnowsaab

    Stunning car. I’m amazed at the condition of it. It’s the perfect color too…love that Burnt Orange, especially with the “cop wheels.”

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    • John D

      Troy S. That sounds plausible. I saw another hemi in the 1980s that was parked because of gas prices and shortages as well as the increasing insurance rates. The owners did not have long to wait to realize ther cars were investment quality assets. The cars carried a premium in the late seventies and in 1984, I sold a new base Chrysler Turbo 5 speed Laser and took two cars on trade, a Taurus SHO and a 1969 Charger 500 with a hemi. I sold the Dodge that summer and hemi cars took their first big jump that fall.

      Including the fellow who traded it and the guy I sold it to, with myself, I can think of three people who regret selling it in that decade.

      Starting in 1970, I prepped a lot of new cars and the muscle cars either had a road wheel or the standard full wheel cover. I only remember those ‘bottle cap’ center hub caps on very cheap Valiants/Dusters. I did use them with the trim rings on standard steel wheels that we had mounted snow tires on for my demo… The cop wheels look, I believe was started by hot rodders.

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      • PRA4SNW

        John D: Do you mean 1994? The SHO was not out yet in ’84 and neither was the Laser, I think.

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      • John D

        The Chrysler Laser came out in 1984 with its sister car the Dodge Daytona. No SHO in 1984? Then it must have been a plain old regular Taurus. Who the heck pays attention to a regular old trade in when you make a two trade deal and one is a hemi? The guy who brought me that deal, brought me another 10 years later that was a SHO plus a Nissan 300 ZX
        for a Grand Cherokee Ltd. I drove that Nissan to Watkins Glen to see the September vintage races, nice ride.

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  12. Crazyhawk

    If someone loves it enough to pay over $100,000, I’m fine with it. It’s their money. It’s a beautiful car that didn’t get beat to death back when it wasn’t worth squat. Those Mopar designers had it going on back then! Gorgeous.

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  13. Edd Cline

    They’re only original once. Like the other guy said look what it cost to restore a car. It will probably be a bargain when it’s all said and done.

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  14. Rustytech Rustytech Member

    The high prices are not the fault of the sellers, they are the fault of buyers who climb all over each other to see who as the bigger wallet. When they force the prices up then owners of projects think their junk is more valuable, parts suppliers figure they can jack up parts prices, and restoration shops want a piece of the action and raise labor rates. Before you know it, this is the result. A great car that only a millionaire can afford.

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    • John D

      Rustytech, I agree with what you have to say, but would also like to point out the value of the dollar is considerably less than in 1970. Somewhere around 15 years ago, I read an article comparing a new 1965 Chevy Impala to the current new Ford Tarrus. The author of the article chose the number of work weeks to pay for the cars. The Ford came in as the winner in fewer work weeks before you toke into account the standard a/c, power disc brakes and power steering, also the air bags and structural improvements. So, blame those high prices on the devaluation of our dollar by the Fed also.

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      • Billy

        Lets also not forget the high cost of employee health care, but also beyond that, good old fashioned greed. Much of todays car prices are what the market will bear, and since none of the few auto companies left care to compete on price, then thats all we have to pick from and them there are those prices. Adjusted for inflation, cars and houses seem to be twice what they should be, only gasoline seems reasonably priced as judged by that standard. Somebody is getting mighty rich here. Just think of the public happiness that would occur if a pickup truck was 25K, not 50K…or a Civic around 10K. Think of the jobs that would be created. My buddy always used to blame the rise in costs on womens lib in the 1970s. He said that when women went to work, suddenly there was more money available and retailers took advantage of it. Not sure about that, but it was his opinion.

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  15. Troy s

    At one time we used to actually have fun with cars like this, cruising at night, maybe some light to light scraps, grudge night at the drag strip, etc.,etc. That was all a car like this, especially with this motor, was good for really. Those days are long gone, have been for a while.

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  16. Chuck Moorehead

    Hemi in a Vette most definitely. I saw them at the drags in late 60s with injection…for real!
    This survivor is amazing. Im thinking over two hundred thousand easy. I like it better than my friends 1969 Boss 429 Mustang and he turned down over $250.00 more than once. Scary!

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  17. Derek

    Prices these days are insane but if some insane person wants to pay 150k then let them. These cars shouldn’t be driven daily anyway especially in 3.00 a gallon gas times. It is a stunning car and I hope whoever buys it at least takes care of it.

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    • Miguel

      Why “shouldn’t” the car be driven?

      If the guy has money to buy this car, I would think he has money to buy the gas.

      Maybe you mean a car like this shouldn’t be driven in order to save the gas for other cars.

      What did you mean by “shouldn’t”?

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      • Billy

        I think he meant to be used as a daily driver. To get to work and such, though I doubt anyone who could now afford this punches a time clock. Besides, like I said, these cars are crummy on the street, they handle and idle poorly.

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  18. johnfromct

    Right now you can go out snd buy a perfectly fine late 90’s, early 00’s pickup for $4K. Will people reminisce about how cheap they were 15 years from now? Probably, yes.

    Remember the hemi was quite an expensive option compared to a 440 sixpack that was very close in performance and easier to maintain. Thus the rarety factor today. Also, there are parts that simply arent made for them anymore. An idle solenoid for hemis, 440 six packs and AAR 340 six packs was a $20 part then, that now goes for $400 to $1,000.

    Rare, factory correct cars demand the highest prices.

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    • Fred w.

      If I were a long term investor I would be concerned about how long cars like this will hold their value. What is super popular and expensive today usually isn’t tomorrow, and I can’t see kids that grew up in the 90’s having much interest in these, driving prices down. That being said- I’d sure love to do a burnout in one!

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      • Billy

        Yes, our son who is 24 could care less about this, just as I just smiled when my Dad pined over pre war cars. He wants a 90s Jap car.

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  19. james burton

    in 1977 my bro bought a 72 orange 383 4 spd. rr for $1500. a very rare and perfect car and no one wanted it. I bought a 68 triple black charger for $150. the eng. had a spun bearing. a 70 chan. 383 4spd. chall. $300. with spun bearing. no body wanted. wouldn’t even spend the money to fix the eng. cause nobody would invest the money in them .i’ve crushed 8 chals. in my lifetime one was a convert. cause they were unwanted. hindsight is a kick in the but when you look back in your car hobby life

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    • Fred w.

      James, it’s the same in the world of antiques and collectibles- the now valuable baseball cards you used on your bike to make noise, or left in Mom’s attic to have her later throw them out. Or all the cardboard toy boxes you tossed that are now worth more than the toys. I’s love to leaf through an old Hemmings from the 70’s and see what a 21 window VW bus was worth then! “Hindsight is 20/20”.

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      • Billy

        About 20 years ago my brother in law’s brother in law sold 10 of his childhood baseball cards and made a down payment on a brownstone in Chicago. Needless to say I called up Mom and asked where mine were. (My cards dated back to the 1940s!) She replied that she got tired of dusting them under my bed and tossed them when I was in college and obviously I didn’t miss them, had I? Yep, lost opportunities. Dad talks of all the old things he burned and buried in the mid 1950s after they sold the farm that had been in the family since the 1880s. Apparently lots of “junk” was worthless in 1955 at the auction. The 150 acre farm, BTW, sold for $1500 at the time. 10 dollars and acre in Buffalo County Wisconsin. If you know anything about land values there today, you will either laugh or cry. I myself cry.

        Like 0
  20. Karl Kretschmar

    Back around ’73 or ’74 there was a guy that cruised Central here in Phoenix with a ’70 Hemi Cuda convertible. It was red with a white top and white leather interior, automatic and power windows, off all things. I remember he wanted to sell it. I can’t remember the exact price but I think it was somewhere around $3500. I had the money at the time but thought: “Man, gas is 58 cents a gallon and that thing is gonna be thirsty.” And $3500 was a chunk of money back then … LOL!! … If I only knew then what I know now, huh?

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  21. PRA4SNW

    This will be another “Reserve Not Met” E-Bay no sale, I’m afraid.

    These cars have even priced themselves out of the EBay buyers market. The only way the seller will get what he wants is at one of the big time auctions.

    Like 0
  22. Ed

    I loved all the 70 muscle cars but couldn’t afford them back then I think we are all still living those days when we’re in our twenties and still would love to have the car of our dreams and really don’t give a dam how much it costs We want one more hot rod before we bite the dust I still would love to have a 55/56/57 Chevy with a 427 four speed with all the goodies but looked all original on the outside A sleeper as we called them back then I thought when I got older I would grow out of it but I still jerk my head around when I hear a V8 rumble

    Like 0
  23. leiniedude leiniedude Member

    Good call PRA4SNW. Ended: Dec 15, 2017 , 10:21AM
    Current bid:US $115,100.00
    Reserve not met
    [ 33 bids ]

    Like 0
    • Rspcharger Rspcharger

      Correction, “This listing was ended by the seller because the item was lost or broken.” Someone made a deal outside of ebay. Way cheaper for the seller that way.

      Like 0
    • PRA4SNW

      I wonder if it ended with Reserve not met, and a bidder contacted the seller and made them a deal. Of course, that could happen at any time during the auction.

      I guess there’s not much that EBay can do about it.

      Like 0

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