The Dodge Charger was a model of car produced by Dodge. The 1966 to 1974 Chargers were sporty models based on the Chrysler B platform that could be ordered with high-performance options. The 1975 to 1978 Chargers were based on the Chrysler Cordoba. The Dodge Charger R/T was one of the largest muscle cars available in the 1970s.
Birth of the Charger
In 1964, when the Pontiac GTO started the American muscle car era with strong sales, the rest of GM's divisions were quick to jump on the muscle car bandwagon. Buick followed with the Gran Sport and even Oldsmobile brought out the 442. Dodge, despite putting out cars that could meet or beat these cars on the street or strip, didn't have a performance image muscle car of their own. Even with available performance engines, the Coronet's styling and image was considered by most to be "conservative."
Burt Bouwkamp, Chief Engineer for Dodge during the 1960s and one of the men behind the Dodge Charger, related his experience during a speech in July 2004.
"Lynn Townsend was at odds with the Dodge Dealers and wanted to do something to please them. So in 1965 he asked me to come to his office - for the second time. He noted that one of the Dodge Dealer Council requests was for a Barracuda type vehicle. The overall dealer product recommendation theme was the same - we want what Plymouth has. The specific request for a Mustang type vehicle was not as controversial to Lynn. His direction to me was to give them a specialty car but he said 'for God's sake don't make it a derivative of the Barracuda': i.e. don't make it a Barracuda competitor.
"So the 1966 Charger was born.
"We built a Charger 'idea' car which we displayed at auto shows in 1965 to stimulate market interest in the concept. It was the approved design but we told the press and auto show attendees that it was just an "idea" and that we would build it if they liked it. It was pre-ordained that they would like it."
The concept car received a positive response, so Dodge put it into production.
1966-1967
1966
Carl "CAM'" Cameron would be the exterior designer of Dodge's new flagship vehicle, and on January 1, 1966, viewers of the Rose Bowl were first introduced to the new "Leader of the Dodge Rebellion", the 1966 Charger. The Charger's debut followed by a half model year Chrysler corporation's tremendously successful introduction of a new street version of the 426 Hemi (7.0 L) in its Plymouth line. Finally, Dodge would have a performance platform, and a performance image, to go along with this high performance engine.
As the 1966 Charger's features would go, the "electric shaver" grille used fully rotating headlights, not seen on a Chrysler product since the 1942 DeSoto, that when opened or closed made the grille look like one-piece. Inside, the Charger used four individual bucket seats with a full length console from front to rear. The rear seats and console pad also folded forward, and the trunk divider dropped back, which allowed for lots of cargo room inside. Many other things were exclusive to the Charger such as the door panels, courtesy lights and the instrument panel.
The instrument panel was especially interesting as regular bulbs weren't used to light the gauges. Instead four electroluminescent dash pods housed the tachometer, speedometer, alternator, fuel and temperature gauges. In the rear the full length taillight read CHARGER.
The engine selection was all V8s. A six cylinder engine didn't make the option list until 1968. In 1966 four engines were offered; the base-model 318 in³ (5.2 L) 2-barrel V8, the truck-sourced 361 in³ (5.9 L) 2-barrel, the 383 in³ (6.3 L) 4-barrel, and the new 426 Street Hemi. The majority of 1966 Chargers were ordered with the 325 hp (242 kW) 383.
Total production in 1966 came to 37,344 units, which was successful for the mid-year introduction.
In 1966 Dodge took the Charger into NASCAR in hopes that the fastback would make their car a winner on the high-banks. But the car proved to have rear end lift around corners which made it very slippery on the faster tracks. The lift was because the air actually traveled faster over the top of the car than under it, causing the car to act like a giant airplane wing. Drivers would later claim that "it was like driving on ice." In order to solve this problem Dodge installed a small lip spoiler on the trunk lid which improved traction at speeds above 150 mph (240 km/h). They also had to make it a dealer-installed option in late 1966 and through 1967 because of NASCAR rules (with small quarter panel extensions in 1967). The 1966 Charger was the first US production vehicle to offer a spoiler. David Pearson, driving a #6 Cotten Owens-prepared Charger, went on to win the NASCAR Grand National championship in 1966 with 14 first-place finishes.
1967
Since the Charger was such a sales success despite its midyear introduction, changes were limited for 1967. Outside, new fender-mounted turn signals were introduced and would serve as the main outside identifier between a 1966 and 1967 Charger. A vinyl roof become available as well. Inside, the full length console was gone, due in part to customer complaints about entry and exit from the back seats. It was replaced with a regular sized console. Bucket seats were standard, but a folding armrest/seat and column shifter was an option allowing three people to sit up front.
As for engine options, the 440 "Magnum" was added and the 361 in³ engine was replaced by a 383 in³ engine. The 440 was conservatively rated at 375 hp (280 kW) with a single 4-barrel carburetor. The 318 two-barrel engine remained, although it was now the modern Chrysler LA engine with wedge-shaped combustion chambers, unlike the outdated 1966 polyspherical (or "poly") design. The 383 4-barrel and the 426 Street Hemi remained as options.
Despite the Chargers' NASCAR racing success of 1966, sales slipped by half. In 1967 only 15,788 Chargers were sold. The Chargers faced competition from the Trans-Am Series, the Ford Mustang and the just introduced Chevrolet Camaro. Dodge decided that a major redesign was in order, rather than a minor face-lift.
1968-1970
1968
It was clear after the sales drop of the 1967 Charger that a restyle was in order. Dodge was going to restyle their entire B-body lineup for 1968 and decided that it was time to separate the Coronet and Charger models even further. What designer Richard Sias came up with was a double-diamond design that would later be referred to as coke bottle styling. From the side profile the curves around the front fenders and rear quarter panels look almost like a Coke bottle. Front and rear end sheet metal was designed by Harvey J Winn. The rear end featured a "kick up" spoiler appearance, inspired by Group 7 racing vehicles. On the roof a "flying buttress" was added to give the rear window area a look similar to that of the 1966-67 Pontiac GTO. The Charger retained its full-length hidden headlight grille, but the fully rotating electric headlights had been replaced by a simple vacuum operated cover, similar to the Camaro RS. The full length taillights were gone as well. Instead, dual Corvette-inspired taillights were added at the direction of Styling Vice President, Elwood P. Engel. Dual scallops were added to the doors and hood to help accent the new swoopy lines. Inside, the interior shared almost nothing with its first generation brothers. The four bucket seats were gone, the console remained the same as the '67. The tachometer was now optional instead of standard, the trunk and grille medallions were gone, the carpeting in the trunk area was gone, replaced by a vinyl mat, the rear seats did not fold forward and the space-age looking electroluminescent gauges disappeared in favor of a more conventional looking design.
In order to further boost the Charger's muscle car image, a new high-performance package was added, the R/T. This stood for "Road/Track" (no 'and' between Road and Track) and would be the high performance badge that would establish Dodge's performance image. Only the high performance cars were allowed to use the R/T badge. The R/T came standard with the previous year's 440 "Magnum" and the 426 Hemi was optional. The standard engine was the 318 2bbl the rest of the engine lineup (383-2, 383-4) remained unchanged.
In 1968 Chrysler Corporation unveiled a new ad campaign featuring a Bee with an engine on its back. These cars were called the "Scat Pack". The Coronet R/T, Super Bee, Dart GTS and Charger R/T received bumble-bee stripes (two thin stripes framing two thick stripes). The stripes were standard on the R/Ts and came in red, white or black. They also could be deleted at no cost. These changes and the new Charger bodystyle proved to be very popular with the public and helped to sell 96,100 Chargers, including over 17,000 Charger R/Ts.
A famous Charger was the four-speed, triple-black 1968 Charger R/T used in the movie Bullitt . The chase scene between Steve McQueen's fastback Mustang GT and the hitmen's Charger R/T is popularly regarded as one of the greatest car chase scenes ever filmed. During filming of the scene, the Charger proved to be extrem
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