Mopar sacrilege?

[sjordan2]

Many of you may know about this car, but I saw a really interesting show today on SPEED network, HOT ROD magazine TV series, about the re-doing of a '69 Dodge Charger for the SEMA show. Converted as a European-style racer with RHD, a Ferrari-style racing interior and lots of very cool stuff. I'm not a Mopar guy, but this is a beautiful piece of work. Thought you Mopar enthusiasts might want to see it.

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=1969+dodge+charger+515+gtb&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&start=0

Edited March 13, 2010 by sjordan2

[dwc43]

I'd never destroy such a classic original car like that. What a waste of a parts catalog time and money. Should have restored it to factory original and then they would have had something.

[Lownslow]

I'd never destroy such a classic original car like that. What a waste of a parts catalog time and money. Should have restored it to factory original and then they would have had something.

better them than me if i get one im cutting a 50 inch moonroof on it

[Harry P.]

I'd much rather see a vintage Charger used for something like this than yet another General Lee clone...

[Nick Winter]

I'd much rather see a vintage Charger used for something like this than yet another General Lee clone...

Even I agree Harry and Steve, I'm tired of clones, either own 1 of the 15 Warner brothers sold at the end of '85 or don't have one at all.

[diymirage]

Yea, then it could be just like a dozen other '69 Chargers you'd see at any car show you'd ever go to. ,, Or paint it orange and jump it over the creek.

Either way, one out of the 69 thousand made that year isn't hurting anything.

I think it's a cool car.

it is all those orange ones jumping creeks that made these cars almost non exitent

and to then take such an iconic car and turn it into a novelty item

tsk tsk tsk

next time use a honda or some other dispensable econobox

[dwc43]

it is all those orange ones jumping creeks that made these cars almost non exitent

and to then take such an iconic car and turn it into a novelty item

tsk tsk tsk

next time use a honda or some other dispensable econobox

Do you really think you can get a honda with one of those fart cans to jump a creek without a JATO rocket strapped down in the hatch back ?? LOL!!!

[Blake Rogers]

I'd never destroy such a classic original car like that. What a waste of a parts catalog time and money. Should have restored it to factory original and then they would have had something.

i agree man 100%

[dwc43]

i agree man 100%

Thanks. And by the way, I love that avatar. I had to copy it and save it to my pics. Good one.

[Joe Handley]

I like the ideas behind some of it, but I'm not fond of the right hand drive, the paint scheme, and I'm not so sure how much I'd trust the way that front suspension arm and the heim joint for the steering is attached to the K-Member in all honesty. If it were mine, the exterior color would be much darker, maybe black or black with a light coat of candy red over it and the carpet would be about the same shade of red as the exterior now is. Engine wise, I'd probably have made it more of a multipoint EFI that looked like a traditional 4 2 barrel Weber Carb arrangement....but that's just me

Edited March 14, 2010 by Joe Handley

[James Flowers]

If you want a car in a SEMA show? You have to have something out of the ordinary. The Charger fits the bill quite nicely.

[Blake Rogers]

Thanks. And by the way, I love that avatar. I had to copy it and save it to my pics. Good one.

your welcome man any time

[Blake Rogers]

I like the ideas behind some of it, but I'm not fond of the right hand drive, the paint scheme, and I'm not so sure how much I'd trust the way that front suspension arm and the heim joint for the steering is attached to the K-Member in all honesty. If it were mine, the exterior color would be much darker, maybe black or black with a light coat of candy red over it and the carpet would be about the same shade of red as the exterior now is. Engine wise, I'd probably have made it more of a multipoint EFI that looked like a traditional 4 2 barrel Weber Carb arrangement....but that's just me

ya i agree with you on that joe but wasn't there a repo of that unit but with out the EFI?

[LDO]

This was a Hot Rod feature car months ago. Why is it news now?

[LVZ2881]

i really like that car, think it's awesome what they did with it. there is also a white '68 i believe that is a George Poteet car that is awesome.

interestingly tonight on the way to my fathers 70th birthday we passed a '70 Charger on a trailer on it's way to it's new home. it was mostly just a shell in black primer but had some old Mickey Thompson Indy Profiles on the back that hinted maybe at a fun filled past. i hope those who were dragging it home treat it to a nice restification and drive the wheels off it.

Dave

Dave, I agree, the white Poteet '68 is just awesome!! I love how clean it turned out.

[whale392]

What was it powered by originally? What option level was it at? How bad of shape was it in? Had this have been a Hemi 4spd with a sunroof and fully opted in good shape.......that would have been sacrilage. If it were a base 318/auto with no options and in rough shape........they did the car (and the Mopar world) a favor by restomodding it.

Now, before you all jump my poop about this opinion, I say this coming from owning two 1965 Dodge Coronet500s...one a drop-top 318 Poly/auto and the other a Hardtop with a healthy 440 stuffed in it. Also, dad is the original owner of a 1966 Plymouth BelvedereII Hemi/auto and the second owner of a 1966 Dodge Coronet500 Hemi/4spd car, plus 6 other mid-60s Mopar B-Bodies..........all of them big-blockers. I love Mopar, and I say what I say out of a collectors eye, a restorers eye, and out of a hobbyists eye.

Edited March 14, 2010 by whale392

[Tom Jackson]

Honestly Guys , who cares what they did to it, its theres not yours. Put it this way I'd rateher see the car back on the road then dying in a Junk yard or worse in The Jaws of a crusher . Its not like a 69 Charger is uber rare . I'm fine witrh restoring a car back to show room stock i'm also good taking a rare car and cutting it up . The DOH tv show and movie have done more damage to 68 to 70 Chargers than one guy buildin a euro style racer out of 1 Charger . Flame away I don't care . If you are such a mopar purist don't look at what the producers of The Green Hornet Have done to 29 vintage 64-66 Imperials .

[MrObsessive]

If you are such a mopar purist don't look at what the producers of The Green Hornet Have done to 29 vintage 64-66 Imperials .

Or what they did to a bunch of 1958 Plymouths in the making of "Christine"!

[sjordan2]

Here's an interview at SEMA 2008 with Steve Strope of Pure Vision, who built the car; he talks about the idea behind it and some of its features.

http://www.motorator.com/videos/896

A very abbreviated summary from Hot Rod TV showing some of the building:

http://multimedia.foxsports.com/m/video/25869226/hot-rod-tv-mopar-power.htm

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Different strokes for different folks rings loud and clear in this thread.

I'm basically a Mopar guy but appreciate and enjoy viewing creativity from all the other car guys...regardless of what it morphs into at the end of day it's still car stuff.

I work (kinda, sorta, I'm supposed to be retired) for American Classic Motorcars.....like the name says, we don't deal in rice.

I took a '69 Hemi Roadrunner to the 2 day Garlits show at his museum last Dec. The car had a price tag of $90k. It drew crowds both days and the only thing I couldn't pass on the way there was a gas station.

The car was black on black, 410 gears, bucket seats, 727, headers, cam and absolutely perfect in every way.

The original cast headers and gears were included with car. To customize or alter this fully restored vehicle would have sent me into a fit.

On the other hand we also had a GTX 440....great car and in excellent condition, that was altered to become a street ground pounder as it wasn't a perfect car to start with.

I'd rather see them altered into show cars or hot rods than wind up being crushed and the steel used to produce a Kia.

Just my opinion.

Edited March 14, 2010 by GrandpaMcGurk

[Harry P.]

I'd rather see them altered into show cars or hot rods than wind up being crushed and the steel used to produce a Kia.

I don't think Kia uses American steel.

Do American manufacturers even still use American steel? It's produced overseas for way less money.

[Nick F40]

All I got to say is...I love it and YES PLEASE!

My kind of styling and Charger and at least it was made to do what the car was meant to do, to be DRIVEN and driven HARD, more power to him!

[dwc43]

i don't remember which it was anymore but in the 90's either GM or Ford had sheetmetal on thier trucks that would crack. i used to work for a truck accessory center and we installed ALOT of those fiberglass windshield visors on trucks. they were attached most times with self tapping style screws into the roof skin and pillars. it wasn't uncommon at all to have trucks coming back with the visors loose and huge chunks of sheetmetal cracked and broken out of the roof repair was extensive and required a trip to the body shop and patch panels welded into the roof to fill the holes. the metal wouldn't crack and fatigue at the screw holes, but rather around them, many times with a chunk of roof broken away and still attached to the visor. i want to say it was Ford as i remember cracking issues on thier cars as well.

Dave

You sure it was not GM. I don't remember it in either make, but I remember that was about the time line for Fords paint problems on there trucks. '80's early '90's. Clear coat and top coat would just come off and leave that gray primer finish showing through. Remember that problem and all the warranty repaints they had to do??

[Joe Handley]

We did have some issues with the driverside "B-Pillar" (or what ever you'd call it) our second G-Van starting to break at the door latch pin location and there have been paint flake or clear coat fade issues on most of the mid-80's through early 90's Mopars we had. I don't think I've ever heard Dad not complain about a lot of the rail road Fords being worth the metal they were made out of (especially the late 70's through mid 90's F-Series), and about the only think he ran into at one road that was at best nearly as reliable were the Mercedes Unimogs in the early 80's, which spent almost as much time broken and waiting on parts from Germany as they did on the job and working! IIRC C&NW gave up on those turds within 6 months and got rid of all but a few, which were shipped to rural areas where the local railroaders who used them could fix them with knowlage gained from repairing farm equipement when they grew up on the farm.

[Ken]

Now that DOH 'clone' is great. I believe that it was built for Kenny Wayne Shepard if I remember correctly. Super build and a nice twist on the DOH clone mentality. The black one ain't too shabby.