10 Things You Didn't Know About The Classic Dodge Charger

The classic Dodge Charger is one of the quintessential American muscle cars of the era and remains a hot commodity today. Seeing a vintage Charger in the wild would stop any muscle car enthusiast dead in their tracks.  

The second-generation Charger was a mid-sized vehicle based on Chrysler's B-body platform. Standard features on the '68 model included a three-spoke steering wheel, full carpeting, and hidden headlights. Here are a few facts you may or may not know about the 1968 Dodge Charger.

1. Body Redesign

For the third model year into the first-generation, the '68 Dodge Charger was given a significant redesign. The Charger was originally had a fastback body style, but the American automaker decided to go a different route with the 1968 model.

2. New Appearance

Now that Dodge decided to toss the fastback body design moving forward, the '68 Charger was equipped with the new classic Coke bottle styling.

3. Performance Model

To beef up the lineup as well as boost sales, a new high-performance package was introduced called the R/T which stands for "Road and Track". The standard mill in the '68 Charger R/T was a 440-cubic-inch V8 engine, the previous year's "Magnum". This new performance model was for the enthusiast who wanted to go fast.

4. Engines Offered

As mentioned above, the Charger R/T was equipped with a 440-cubic-inch V8, but there were plenty of other options to choose from as well. Another option included the Slant 6, but it proved to be a poor seller. Other displacement engines included: 318ci, 383ci, 383ci, and 426ci.

5. Production Total

For the '68 Charger, a healthy 96,100 units were produced. Out of that number, 17,000 of those were R/T models. The movie Bullitt may have had something to do with the large spike of old-school Mopars sold for the '58 model year.

6. Vinyl Top

The last fact stated that 96,100 total '68 Chargers were produced. A fun fact to know is that 75 percent of those sold featured a vinyl top.

7. Engine Power

In the video, the '68 Charger R/T featured is equipped with a 426-cubic-inch V8. This large-displacement engine produced a staggering 425-horsepower.

8. Transmission

To shift the staggering power output from the Hemi V8 engine to the rear wheels requires a heavy-duty transmission. Dodge gave the car a Chrysler 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission for the job.

9: Trademark Headlights

With the extensive redesign of the '68 model year, Dodge introduced concealed headlights that would become a trademark for the Charger.

10. Movie Mopar

This may be an arguable fact, but the '68 Dodge Charger R/T involved in the epic car chase scene in the movie Bullitt was more talked about than the Bullitt Mustang driven by Steve McQueen, although the Mopar was driven by the bad guy. The Charger was also more powerful as it was stuffed with a larger engine, a 440-cubic-inches big block while the Mustang had a 390-cubic-inch engine. The Charger made 375-horsepower, and the Mustang had 325-hp.