Below is the story of how I came to own my Mopar.

Back in the early Eighties I was a member of a bike club, which was dedicated to the Kawasaki two-stroke triples (I owned a 1972 S2350). I remember going to a particular rally in Nottingham and one of the guys turned up without his bike, but brought instead a huge red car.

I was greatly taken with this car, and although I didn’t know what it was, I vowed that one day I would own one. I later found out that this was a 1968 440 Charger R/T and belonged to a guy called ‘Nipper’ Stevens from London. I took a photograph of the car to remind me of my goal and it has been in my wallet from that day to this.

In the years that followed, several bike and cars later, I found myself at the second Mopar Nationals: which was held at Santa Pod, England. At this event the bug seriously bit me, and I came away determined to own a Muscle Car and a Mopar if possible.

However due to financial and space restraints I ended up with a 1967 Camaro SS 350, which I restored over the next three years. During this time I had moved house and found myself with a large garage at my disposal, so the Camaro was duly sold. I then set about hunting for a Mopar and after speaking to various people I happened to ring, Rare Performance Motors in Aldershot.

They informed me that they were selling a 1969 Charger for a customer. It transpired, after several phone calls, that they did not in fact yet have the car. The owner it seems was somewhat forgetful and had not only ‘misplaced’ the car keys, but also the keys to the garage where it had been laid up for the past eighteen months!! So after several weeks when the car eventually became available I decided to go and view it, even though it was too expensive (£10,000)

My first impressions were not good. This was compounded by the fact that it was parked next to a 1970 Manual Hemi Charger which was numbers matching, restored and had just been imported from the States.

As I looked around ‘my car’ I found it to be solid, but with the paintwork looking a little tatty here and there. The black interior looked okay with the exception of the driver’s side upper door panel, which was white one and but been painted black, very badly.

The VIN plate on the car decoded as a 1969 383 four-barreled Auto Charger in Y4 Gold with a white interior, white vinyl top and white bumble bee. Over the years it had undergone many changes, and was now a 440 Six- Pack in Hemi Orange with black interior, black vinyl top and black bumble bee.

Under the bonnet the Six-Pack was brand new and sat atop aluminum Edelbrock intake. The rest of the engine looked clean and dry and we decided to go for a test drive.

At this time I really began to warm to the car, as the Six-Pack threatened to launch you from the planet every time it was operated and the excellent disc brakes managed to keep things under control. The car was also fitted with heavy duty anti roll bars front and rear and had nylon bushes all round, which made the car feel solid when cornering.

After the test drive I decided that I must have it, so I began negotiations and bought it for £8,000.

Two weeks later, I went back cash in hand and took possession of my Mopar.

After filling up at the local petrol station, (£60) we drove the car home, which was journey of some three hundred miles and it performed faultlessly. This was way back in March and since then I have done little to the car except give it a good clean and polish and enjoy driving it.

I have attended several shows with it this year, and the main topics of conversation are "Is it for sale?" and "Can I see the Six-Pack?".

The Future

Within the next few days I am expecting some parts to arrive from Year One, these include a set of 15" Chrome Magnum wheels to replace the standard 14" and also various trim accessories including a set of carpets, a pair of exhaust tips, some hood hold down pins and a few other bits and pieces. Also over the winter I am going to lift the engine out for an unleaded conversion and a general freshen up for the coming year.

Lastly, I would like to thank everybody who has helped me to realize my dream, especially Tony Oksien and Jim Wilson of the Mopar Muscle Association, Pete and Martin at Rare Performance Motors in Aldershot and Tim Holmes who is the my local ‘Mopar Guru’.

All the pictures that are supplied with this article are taken at RPM when I first went to view the car.

Simon Rogers

dodgedriver@gofree.co.uk

England