The Charger was in its third model year in 1968, which was also the first year of the second generation of Dodge’s sporty personal luxury/muscle car. This one is a roller as its engine and transmission are no longer in unison with the rest of the car. There is plenty of rust to deal with, so this could be considered a clean slate project to work with. As an Oklahoma car now in Midway, Arkansas, it’s available here on eBay where the no reserve bidding is hovering at $11,000.
When the Chargers (and all of Chrysler’s B-body intermediates) were redesigned for 1968, Dodge’s goal was to reach the broadest audience possible. One of the most famous advertising campaigns was the “Dodge Fever” spin that highlighted the Charger’s style and performance potential as a car for the young and the young at heart. It must have worked as Dodge sold more than 74,000 “standard” V8 Charger coupes that year and – with the R/T model – the total tally was 96,000 units.
We don’t have a lot of background on this 53-year-old Charger other than the seller has owned it for about a year. He tells us he thought about just putting an engine in the car and have some fun, but apparently economic times have changed and the car needs to move on. It had a 318 cubic inch V8 and a TorqueFlite automatic transmission in it to begin with, but they’re gone now. Overall mileage is estimated at 120,000 so this car has given its all.
This car appears to have rusted from the inside out, with the floorboards being almost non-existent in the back seat area. The floors will need patching as will the trunk pan and lower quarter panels. One of the rockers is dented and rusted underneath and the overall chassis is crusty most everywhere you look. On the plus side, the seller tells us the frame rails, front torque box, and back window and windshield areas are all good. The blue car once had a vinyl top that has been stripped away.
In an interesting twist, the seller posts a picture of the car’s clear title with the well-rusted fender tag removed from the car. Why is the tag no longer on the car? This is not meant to be a transferrable item. This car is a rusty roller that has been bid to at least $11,000 with $45,000 being the absolute top dollar for a ’68 Charger in pristine condition with original non-big block hardware. This is not going to be a cheap project to complete. So, is there enough car here for you to catch Dodge Fever?
Again the only question is how high will the crazy azz Mopar fans bid this non running NOM rusty POS. Just don’t get it when there’s tons of cars you could drive now in this price range or slightly higher and this one will cost you another $30-50k over the purchase price to be a nice driver.
The late Gary Meadors from Goodguys could probably understand this car’s condition better than most. His Viper-Powered 1948 Town & Country was also heavily rusted, but he was able to turn it into a pro-touring hot rod yet making sure to keep the stock appearance … with a little help from a professional hot rod builder.
Whoever buys this Charger will probably have to follow the same approach that Meadors did with his Town & Country, and they better have deep pockets, too.
There is a big difference between your two examples. The Town and Country is an incredibly rare car, someone that wants to build one doesn’t have many options, you almost have to start with what you can find. That isn’t the case with 68 Chargers, they were mass produced and are still relatively plentiful. It makes no sense to use a Charger as rough as this one is for the foundation of a high end Pro Touring build. In the long run it is far cheaper and less time consuming to spend more up front and start with a better car.
Steve R
If “having fun” means falling through the floorboards, well then, by all means!
The naysayers on this thread don’t understand how much FUN it is to take one man’s junk [68 Charger] and turn it into another man’s treasure after the rebuild/restoration. In brief, if you are a muscle car restorer with a shop and equipment eventually you run out of projects to work on if you are any good at restorations.
This 68 Charger is a whole tonne of FUN because it needs EVERYTHING and a new drivetrain too. It’s perfect for restoration rotisserie build with a Crate Hemi-426 and a four speed.
It’s worth the asking price, but not more. If the seller gets over asking you will know that the car market restoration business is still reaching new heights.
May Barrett Jackson go to Heck, I agree, but the 68 Charger is still a favorite of the muscle era and always will be too.
Bob
Too many sellers assume simply because a vehicle is old it’s worth money. Time, parts and labor involved would far surpass the value of a complete project.
Can you imagine if you’d have blatted onto a Chevy lot in this wreck back in 1990 and asked to trade it for a new Corvette? You’d have been laughed right out of the dealership. Today, this is worth more than that C4 in mint condition with 5,000 miles on it.
Oh please………..bidding @ 11 large for this?!!!!! Do people really have that many rocks in their heads? If the answer is yes….than true insanity has taken over the BF/Classic car market.
Back in the 80s, this was only worth the scrap price, and even then, YOU had to haul it there to collect even that. The bubble has to burst on this, where else can the prices go? On the other (older) Charger listing, people were saying that people are going to lose 401K money when it bursts. Is that true? Are people allowed to use 401K money on collector cars? Man, I pity the fool that tries doing something that absurd. GM says in ten years it will produce no more IC engines. Wow, electric here we go. Say, in 20 years, will gasoline even be produced? Produced economically? Picture the 45-50 year old of today that foolishly puts a big chunk of his retirement in restoring an old car. (An investment he can drive!) The bottom falls out of the market way before he can retire, so he can never sell it. Now, he is a poor retiree, but will he even be able to drive a car that gets 8 MPG at Lord knows what gasoline will be selling for?
You can take an early 401K withdrawal if you pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty and income taxes on the full withdrawal.
So if I want to buy a 1969 Charger for 62k, I would need to withdraw 100k to cover the $38,000 in penalties and taxes (assuming a 28% tax bracket).. I’d also of course lose the opportunity to build interest on that hundred thousand dollars in the fund. Depending on how close you are to retirement, that could be tens of thousands of dollars, or more.
It’s not fiscally smart but I’m afraid people are doing it. They feel the values are going to go up up and up, or money’s value going down, down, and down, so they must see it as worth it.
This is crazy, all your buying is a title and a fender tag. Stop the madness, this is a $1000 car tops!!!