Elwood | Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

The second generation Dodge Charger was launched in 1968 with a commercial cartoon urging customers to visit “those great Dodge boys they’re the good guys in white hats.”

The new body was designed by a team that included Richard Sias who was responsible for the overall profile.

Engine options included a standard 5.2 litre / 318 cui V8 a 3.7 litre / 225 cui straight six, a 7 litre / 426 cui Hemi or a 7.2 litre / 440 cui Magnum was available for the top of the range R/T versions. This particular car appears to be powered by a 6.3 litre V8 which was available with either 290 hp 2 barrel carburetor or 330 hp 4 barrel carburetor variations.

The dual scallops on the bonnet / hood

and front doors added to the performance “Lets stir things up a bit” appearance of the car despite there complete non mechanical or aerodynamic functionality.

Among the options for the Charger was air conditioning, cruise control, electric door locks, tachometer, rear window demister, and a wood-grain steering wheel.

Safety options included head restraints for the front seats, lap belts for center seat passengers, shoulder belts front and rear and a padded steering wheel.

The integrated rear spoiler mimicking aerodynamic devices seen on Can Am and sports car racers of the period further enhanced the competition bred appearance of the Charger, the paired round rear lights were added at the suggestion of Styling Vice President, Elwood P. Engel.

Around 96,100 Chargers were built in the 1968 model year, 75% of which were fitted with factory option Vinyl roofs. 17,000 top of the range R/T Chargers were built of which just 500 were fitted with the fabled 426 Hemi.

The ’68 Charger, which share the same platform with the Dodge Coronet, is probably most famous for it’s movie appearance in Bullitt, which features a couple of hit men in a black Charger R/T dualing for tarmac with Steve McQueen driving his green Mustang GT. By all accounts the R/T was the superior machine.

Thanks for joining me on this “From the Good Guys In White Hats” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you’ll join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Chrysler 300 ‘letter series’ was introduced in 1955 initially as an exclusive range for 300 hp 2 door coupés. Every year from 1955 to 1965 a new 300 model was introduced with a new suffix designtion.

With the introduction of the 300C in 1957 power was up to 375hp which could be ordered in hard top and soft top versions. The following year a 300D recorded a top speed of over 156 mph during the speed weeks at Bonneville Salt Flats.

Up to 1959 the 300 letter series vehicles had been powered by ‘Hemi’ motors that had grown to 6.4 litres / 392 cui. From 1959 onwards 6.8 litre 413 cui Golden Lion motors were used with wedge heads

For 1960 the 300’s ditched the separate chassis and body building technique in favour of unibody construction. 1963 was the last of the 300 letter series to be designed by Virgil Exner and his team, just 400 300J’s all hard tops were built.

For 1964 over a thousand dollars was trimmed from the base line price of the 300K by making leather seats extra cost optional and down rating the base engine to 360 hp with the 380 hp still available as an extra cost option and sales rocketed to 3022 coupés and 625 convertibles.

The 1965 300L featured today was designed under the leadership of Elwood Engel, it would be the last of the uninterrupted 300 letter series vehicles, powered only by the 360 hp version of the Golden Lion motor. 2405 coupés and 440 convertibles were sold.

The 300 letter series have become extremely sort after models, the high power motors mark them as forerunners of the 1960’s muscle cars and the low build numbers means that the rarest models can fetch prices in the range of US$500,000.

Thanks for joining me on this Exclusive Muscle edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Elwood

From the Good Guys In White Hats – Dodge Charger

Exclusive Muscle – Chrysler 300L