Dodge Charger (1966-1971)

One of the most dynamic muscle cars to be released in the 1960s, the Dodge Charger brought plenty of horsepower to street regulated vehicles. We love jumping back in time and seeing the evolution of a vehicle. The Dodge Charger has always been one of our favorites. Take a journey with us back to 1966 when the Kennedys were powerful, the Vietnam war was in full swing, and the civil rights movement would change America as we know it. Somewhere in between, the 1966 Dodge Charger was born.

1966 Charger

Chrysler had already become a well known entity after producing the hemi engine, but even more so when the 426 hemi was introduced. It first came out in 1964, but only for the racing world. We wouldn't see the 426 on the streets until 1966, but Chrysler was looking into other new innovations as well. One of them was trying to figure out how they could develop a car that was somewhere in between a Ford Mustang and a Ford Thunderbird.

They believed it would be smart to offer a mid-sized vehicle with a "sporty" look, especially if they wanted to compete with Ford. There is a lot of back-story to how the Dodge Charger came to be, but long story short, it was released after a year of enticing consumers through auto shows around the country.

The original version of the 1966 Dodge Charger offered a fastback, the same front-end sheet metal as the Dodge Coronet, a trunk hatch, and the Fratzog Emblem on the grill. The company decided to only use the emblem on the 1966 and 1967 Chargers. Its initial release was January 1, 1966 during the Rose Bowl. Later on in the year, the 426 hemi engine was released and used for the half year models. Needless to say, it was a huge success on the street, but started off as a failure in the NASCAR world (eventually the Charger won NASCAR in 66').

The 426 hemi was too powerful for the body of the Charger, so the rear would lift around corners and create a more difficult approach to the race. Due to the problem, the Charger needed to have a spoiler on the back to keep it from lifting. Just as NASCAR made Chrysler create a street version of the 426, they also made them create a spoiler version in 1966. So, the Dodge Charger became the first U.S. vehicle to utilize a spoiler out of production.

1967 Charger

By the end of its release in 1966, the Dodge Charger was sold to over 37,000 people. So there weren't a lot of changes to the 1967 version. Dodge understood the concerns of Charger owners, so one of the major changes was the removal of the full length console. It served its purpose in 1966, but the difficulties entering and exiting the back seat was too much for consumers.

The majority of the 1966 Dodge Charger was standard in the 1967 version. However, the standard engine would be the Chrysler LA engine. Instead of having a hemispherical combustion chamber, the LA engine was wedge shaped. It was a lighter version of the "A" engine Chrysler used in the past, but owners could still upgrade to the 426 hemi engine.

1967 became a major disappointment for the Dodge Charger. When compared to sales in 1966, it dropped to over 15,000 units as opposed to the previous 37,000+. In our opinion, one of the issues was that the 426 hemi engine was an expensive upgrade. By the end of the year there were only 117 Dodge Chargers with the 426 hemi engine built in it.

1968 Charger

We consider the Dodge Charger's 1968 release to be a major overall. Due to loss of production the previous year, the company was looking for new ways to reduce the overall price. In order to do this they cut out a lot of the features originally attached to the vehicle.

Here is a list of changes made to the 68' Dodge Charger:

Exterior

* Dual circular tail lights instead of full-width
* Dual scallops added to the doors and hood
* Flying buttress
* Front fender curves
* Front end sheet metal (new design)
* Kick-up spoiler
* Vacuum operated cover instead of rotating electric headlights

Interior

* Electroluminescent gauges replaced by conventional design
* Rear bucket seats removed
* Rear seats no longer folded forward
* Tachometer became an option instead of standard
* Trunk carpet removed (vinyl)

Engine

* 318 cu in (5.2L) 2bbl became standard engine
* 225 cu in (3.7L) was available mid-season
* High performance package added (R/T)
* 426 hemi engine became an upgrade option

Due to all the changes and innovations, Chrysler was able to sell over 17,000 Dodge Charger R/Ts'.

1969 Charger

The most popular Dodge Charger was introduced in 1969. There were more and more changes in place, especially around the NASCAR world. It was the year of the Charger Daytona, which was released in mid-April of 1969. It was quite expensive, but within the first few hours of being released, Dodge had over 1,000 orders.

The Daytona was originally built to make up for the Charger R/T failures on the NASCAR circuit. When it was tested on July 20th, it was clocked at 205mph. Even though it was quite expensive for its time (est. $4,000), thousands of consumers wanted all the raw power.

1970 and 1971 Charger

By the time we reached the 1970s and the Dodge Challenger was born, consumers were moving away from the Dodge Charger. Production continued to fall, even though there were several changes in the 1970 version. However, the 3rd generation Charger made its debut in 1971. Oddly enough, 1971 was also an end to many things in the Chrysler industry.

Here are some of the final changes in 1971:

* Coronet and Charger lines merged
* The last year of the 426 Hemi engine
* The last year of the 440 Six-Pack engine
* Hi-impact colors vanished

Even though the Dodge Charger would be in production for 3 more years, its better days had already passed. Today, we still consider some of these years to be the best muscle cars during their time.