Given the success of the Ford Mustang in 1965, Dodge launched a bigger version of the pony car in 1966 and dubbed it the Charger. It was based on the B-body Chrysler intermediates. Sales were lackluster for the first two years, but the car had a serious breakout session with the 1968-70 redesign. This 1966 Charger is a semi-survivor given that the engine has been rebuilt. Located in Bend, Oregon, this cool Mopar is available here on craigslist for $25,000, as the seller is moving and can’t take the Dodge with him/her. Barn Finder Barney comes through again!
First-generation Chargers were personal luxury cars with fastback styling. They had individual bucket seats for all four of their passengers, a perfect setup for two couples on a joint date night. Chargers only came with V8 engines, beginning with a 318 cubic inch engine like in the seller’s machine. This one was rebuilt about seven years ago and was tweaked with an Edelbrock carburetor, though the seller doesn’t know if any of the important numbers match.
We’re told the dark green paint is original (looks black to me), and it’s in good shape save 60 years’ worth of dings and scratches. Rust is not a problem, so it should redeem itself nicely at Cars & Coffee with 85,000 miles on the odometer. The headliner, upholstery, one door panel, and some of the interior hardware have been replaced. The carpeting is a non-matching color and looks faded, suggesting the buyer should purchase a kit.
Mechanically, the seller has replaced the exhaust, tires, wheels (aftermarket), and shock absorbers so you won’t have to. If you keep the car in-state, its permanent license plates should be transferable. The seller was waiting to transfer the title into his/her name when the last of the little work was done on the car, but that did not happen. So, it reads in the former owner’s name. Is this a Dodge you can get charged up over?
Nice looking Charger!! The first gens are rare anymore!!
Yep – good ones for sure and this is a nice one…..missed a few in my late teens and early 20’s….one was a Hemi parked in the bank parking lot and another was the light yellow the barber bought new….was buying a house at 19 and just didn’t see the money in my account….great color and really good shape….
This looks like a fair price on a nice clean Charger the only thing I would changed are the rims. Either way you are getting a great looking cars that needs nothing always liked these more than the 68-70 Chargers.
It is a fair price and I like the period correct rims with the tires. I remember growing seeing Mopars looking this set up. I just wish he took pictures of the 318. I really hope he is not hiding a mess under the hood. The carpet is faded and replaced it will be a lot of work. Mopar but carpet everywhere on the early Chargers 😂. I also hope the dash lights up at night correctly. Special bulbs were used then. I would check for bondo in the usual places. These Chargers are great for cruising. Yes its a Big car but lots of fun. Good luck to the next owner. 🇺🇸🐻
I owned one- the instrument panel does not use bulbs; the gauges light up by ‘electroluminescent’ lighting. All the gauges are ‘powered on’ by a transformer system that was expensive to manufacture. Get this- for example- the needles on each gauge have a conductive wire attached to them to make them glow.
Thats what I was thinking of. But forgot what they called it.. Thanks Chris… 😊
Beautiful looking car. This has always been my favourite year for the Dodge Charger.
No bulbs were used in them. Electroluminescent gauges glow a bluish color when energized by a 12v DC to approximately 300vAC converter in the dash. Stop talking if you’re misinformed.
No need to be harsh.
Definitely green and still my favorite style of Chargers, even with the small block in it!
Great write up Russ.
I like the styling of those first gen Chargers, although I understand they are less popular than the second gen models. I like that rear fastback styling, & the interior styling with the rear buckets.
Neat mid sixties cars. I like those, although for some unknown reason they don’t seem to be near as popular as the second gen Chargers. I think that rear fastback design looks great, along with those folding rear buckets with the extended console divider.
Well the dash lights are electroluminescent they glow no bulbs. The rims are not period correct nor the tires. They would’ve been painted the same color as the car with dog dish hub caps bias ply tires. The interior should all be black since the rest looks black seats door panels headliner etc… You had a choice of a color combo same as the car color or black or white but all colors were not mixed matched the tan carpet was put in later. But a great find for sure worth the money asking. Rare
NOPE…..dog dish were a super rare to see….they had a special 3 bar spinner type that was heavy as heck…..
Chrome reverse wheels were popular in the mid-late 50’s through the early 60’s “Mags” were the thing in the mid 60’s and up through today.
I’d say longer than that. In 1970 I put chrome reverse wheels on my 67 Mustang. They were still common, and mags beyond Cragars were not.
These Chargers came with the opposite of dog dish hubcaps, you might say. They were impressive stainless full wheel caps with large, chromed steel spinners.
Correct….the style it’s wearing would be a “day 2” car….
Beautiful car! I’ve always loved this generation Dodge Charger, probably more than the 1968-69 Charger.
I agree! I like these more than the next Gen model!
Original Green… I had a ’65 New Yorker, a ’68 300 and a 72 Fury Gran Coupe that same color. The carpet looks like the complementary gold that was offered. The first one of these I saw was for the season opening ARCA race at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville. It was purple with a big number 6 on the door, driven by Les Snow. He sat on the pole and one the race.
“Old School” chrome reverse Nice!
Aren’t those rims what we use to call chrome reverse?
Askin for a friend lol
When I saw the words “Semi-Survivor” I thought of someone or something that is still around after being struck by an 18 wheeler.
No bulbs were used in them. Electroluminescent gauges glow a bluish color when energized by a 12v DC to approximately 300vAC converter in the dash. Stop talking if you’re misinformed.
Odd. Somebody went to a lot of trouble installing the wrong color carpet. Brown, really? Nevertheless, great looking example of a seldom seen body style. I actually liked these better than the next generation Charger.
Now, that’s a center console!
For the dash questions – yes – and there are people that restore them now if you have issues….
Nope, not a fair price. Gotta be one of the only 318s made! Yes, rust free is nice, but $10k too high IMO. These were never desirable cars (although I love them, good buddy had a 66 with a 361).
They made more 318 engined ’66 Chargers than any other choice, believe it or not. Even slightly more than the 383. (12,514 318 and 12,328 383).
That 361 your friend had was a rarity @ around 5900 made.
Hen’s teeth = the 468 hemis that were made.
Nice car but I agree $25K sounds high for a base 318. Two big questions – Do the front headlights properly rotate and are all the EL dash gauges and radio lighting up? Restoring those two systems could easily run $4 – 5K. Their are guys out there that will restore both the headlight and EL systems but it a highly time consuming and tedious process hence the high costs. Hard to tell from the pics the condition of the paint? Professional paint jobs have gotten super pricey. Nice orginal car but a buyer needs to calculate their “all in” costs.
Another unique feature was the system used to rotate the headlights. They used a complex assortment of relays that used an electric motor on each side for a slow 360- degree turn of the heavy assemblies. Very ‘007’, I guess, but cost much more to manufacture than the vacuum operated hidden headlights of others at the time.
There’s pictures of the headlights on and off. So, it looks like those rotating motors and relays are operational. That’s a big plus. Should show a picture of the dash lights if they work.
That’s Good Stuff to read because we all LOVE Muscle cars. You can’t beat nice rides like these.