Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!

Dodge Charger

yamahar6yamahar6 Member Posts: 23
edited March 2014 in Dodge
Anyone know what year the Charger was in the movie "Bullitt?"

Also, how much does, say, a '69 Charger cost roughly?

-Yammie R6
Tagged:

Comments

  • ghuletghulet Member Posts: 2,564
    ...check eBay and autotrader.com (collectorcars.com); values of Chrysler cars (like many others) of that era are quite dependent on the engine. They're all over the place.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    image If you look around you can get them quite reasonably. I think this one's only $12.95 + shipping & handling ;-)
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Yes, ghulet is right on the mark with that observation--the value of a Charger is almost totally dependent on engine and trans options and can vary wildly car to car. Also condition and originality are very very important.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,389
    probably a 390.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    I've heard different stories about McQueen's Mustang. The story that sticks in my mind is that it was a built 289, although for the purposes of the chase scene a 289 2 barrel would have done nicely.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    ...that the Charger that they used was bone-stock, except maybe for upgraded tires, and they had to build up the Mustang just so it could keep up with it! "Bullitt" was on not too long ago, and one thing I noticed is that the Charger did seem to handle going around those curves a lot better than the 'Stang did. I imagine that if you made a movie like that today with modern equivalents of those cars, there'd be a lot less tire squealing in general though!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I'd imagine there were a number of similar cars used, since launching a stock Mustang or Charger like that would severely damage it.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    ...but I read that there were two Chargers used. At the end of the chase scene, where the Charger runs into the gas station and everything blows up, they actually botched up and the Charger missed the pumps. I'd have to watch it again to catch it, but supposedly you can see where they went back and editted out the Charger after it missed everything and drove off-camera. Since everything blew up anyway, and the Charger, whereever it ultimately ended up, was still wrecked, they didn't have the budget to re-shoot.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    Your right, the Mustang was all over the place but (and maybe I'm giving the people who made the movie too much credit) I think it created an effective contrast that heightened the tension.

    I imagined the guy driving the Charger as a "nothing personal, strictly business" kind of guy--no emotion, just another job.

    Bullitt was passionate, all about tire squealing, power shifting and frantically dodging through traffic. For him it's one long adrenaline rush.

    I think that dramatic contrast is one reason the chase scene made such an impact back then, and why it still does even after twenty years of chase scenes in every cop show.

    And to see it first in a theatre, with absolutely no idea it was coming, was quite the trip.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    http://people.freenet.de/pony/bullitf.htm


    A lot of interesting info in there (if it's right, that is!) Turns out the guy driving the Charger was not even an actor, but a stunt man named Bill Hickman. At one point, he lost control of the Charger though and hit a camera position, smashing the fender.


    It also says they used 2 Chargers and 2 Mustangs. One Charger was wrecked in the finale, and then the other three were scrapped and written off.

  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    I wonder how many Chargers they wrote off on The Dukes of Hazard just so a bunch of yahoos would tune in every week?

    If anyone out there was one of those yahoos then, hey, no offense.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    ...of about 200. Thankfully, in the later seasons the Dukes of Hazzard started trying to out-do the stunts in previous seasons, so they started using models of Chargers to jump models of houses, barns, etc, instead of wrecking up real ones! Supposedly they'd keep piecing the wrecked ones back together, too, so that they'd at least get the maximum life out of them.

    I WAS one of those yahoos that tuned in to the Dukes, but hey, I was only 8 when it came out, so I was only a little yahoo who didn't appreciate the Charger yet!
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    it's worse than I thought! According to this page...


    http://www.ghg.net/rbigoness/hazzard/bios/general.html


    ...there were over 300 Chargers used during the series run! They weren't all trashed though. In fact, there are a few people in on of my internet Mopar clubs that have leftover General Lee's, with Warner Bros documentation and everything.

  • ambullambull Member Posts: 255
    Here's one I happened to run across:

    http://www.cars-on-line.com/69charger5652.html
  • yamahar6yamahar6 Member Posts: 23
    Does anyone know what the Charger was in the flick, "The Fast and the Furious?" (2001)

    It had the four round headlights like most chargers, but they were permanently exposed. The taillights were not the round ones like the '68 but the rectangular ones of the 69. But I know that the 69 had the "popup" lights, in that during the day, the headlights were not exposed.

    Im thinking maybe it was a '70.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    Like this?


    http://www.rm-r.net/fender/images/back%20end.jpg


    I went to The Fast and the Furious web site but then thought better of it--I'm still getting spam for (ahem) marital aids from the last site I linked to from here.


    I notice no one's mentioned the original Charger, the '66-67 model. Perhaps it's because as one magazine said it looked like the box the '68 Charger came in.


    I had a '66 Charger I bought from the alleged original owner. 318, light green, the only option was Torqueflite. They were boxy but had a great interior--full instrumentation, console, "wood" wheel, buckets, nice vinyl upholstery. Sporty and tasteful, almost GM-like. I wouldn't mind having one now.


    I don't think I've ever seen a '66 or '67 that didn't have that huge taillight broken in at least one place. A nice taillight must be impossible to find.

  • fwatsonfwatson Member Posts: 639
    I bought a '68 Charger with 318 in 1969. It had 12000 miles on it, was a beautiful red with black vinyl top and all black interior, and cost me $1800. Those were the good old days. Kept it until, with two young kids, I traded it in on a '73 Toyota Corona MkII station wagon. Living in the Florida Keys, it had developed a case of keys cancer (rust), and is no doubt scrapped long ago.

    I looked forever for a model of it, and when they came out with the cast models of the Bullitt Mustang and Charger, I bought both. They cost about $12 each at WalMart, and are in plastic model cases on top of my computer center as I type this. They are perfectly detailed, and beautifully finished.

    My Charger is my favorite car of all I have owned until now (about 20 total). My new Mazda Millenia puts it to shame quality and handling wise, but I will never forget that car.

    One project I always wanted to do, was get ahold of a '68 Coronet 500 Convertible, and install the '68 Charger front and rear on it to make a '68 Charger Convertible. Other than front and rear clips, the Coronet 500 was identical to the Charger. Even the instrument panel was the same.

    You can find pictures of all models of Chargers online by googling for Dodge Charger. If you give the year, it will find the year you are looking for. I have a folder on my computer full of those pictures.

    This one: http://doug.panter.com/Charger.html looks identical to mine except it is an RT with the black band around the tail.
  • avalanche325avalanche325 Member Posts: 116
    Have you Charger guys seen these???? I lived in New Zealand for a while, and liked them better than the US version. I always felt the US Charger was WAY too long. These have the similar styling in a smaller package. I saw quite a few with small block Hemis.


    I wonder if a 440 would fit..........


    http://www.aussiecoupes.com/charger.html

  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    What the heck is a 265 hemi? I wonder if it's the old Dodge Red Ram from the '50s?
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    Well, in a convoluted sort of way. Over here it was called the Plymouth Duster and Dodge Demon (later Dart Sport, after people in the Bible Belt balked at driving a Demon to church on Sundays!)

    It's heavily modified, compared to the Duster/Demon, but it's still an A-body. It may not be readily apparent, but look at the area around the A-pillars/winshield/cowl. Pure Duster!

    You can get a big-block to fit in an A-body, but the end result is usually not pretty. When they first started putting 383's in Darts and Barracudas in 1967, their exhaust was very restrictive due to tight clearannces. A 340 or 360 is probably a better bet...plenty of hp and lighter, for better balance.

    Then again, you could get that awesome Hemi-inline-6 in Australia. I think I'd almost rather have one of those just for the novelty!
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    It looks like the hemi was the 265 V8, unless they designed a hemi head for the slant six.

    Yeah I just went back and checked out the photo of the six and it's not a crossflow (intake and exhaust are on the same side) so it looks like they didn't change the head. But it's a pretty engine, what with the multiple carburetion, header and finned valve cover. I wonder if any of that was part of the old Hyper-Pak they sold here in the early '60s--not the induction, though, the Hyper-Pak used one four barrel.

    I'd sure like to know the bore and stroke of that 265 hemi. The article says it was developed for truck use(?) but abandoned in the states. IIRC the polysphere was first used in Dodge trucks in 1954, a year before it showed up in Plymouths. None of the polys or hemis displaced 265 CID so if it is one of the old MoPar engines it's a different bore and stroke.

    The profile of the Aussie Charger has a little Maverick in it, and the front end looks a little Talladega. As far as reinforcing the Duster, apparently Australian roads are brutal and an American car wouldn't last long. I read that the Falcons they imported in the early '60s disintegrated quickly.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    I went to the Aussie Valiant site and they talk about a 245 hemi six, so I guess maybe the 265 was a six too. The way they mention it in the Charger site makes it sound like a V8.

    If the six in the photo is a hemi then it's a non-crossflow hemi. Since a crossflow breathes better than a non-crossflow, designing a non-crossflow hemi head seems rather odd. Maybe since the slant six leans so close to passenger side of the engine compartment there wasn't any room for manifolding on that side of the engine, so they had to keep the intake and exhaust on the driver's side just like they did here.

    Chrysler designed a hemi head for truck applications here, then never used it? That's pretty interesting. I'd like to know the history of that engineering exercise.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,681
    ...the way it's worded. Base engines in those thigs was the Slant Six, and the smallblock V-8's were optional. The Hemi-6 though, was an Australia-only thing. It was an inline-6, not related to the Slant-6, and came in 215, 245, and 265 variants. Supposedly it was conceived in 1966, when Chrysler started work on a Hemi inline 6 for full-sized trucks in the U.S., but then scrapped the idea, although it was picked up for Australian use.

    There was also a high-output 225 Slant-6 though, that had around 170-180 hp (stock it had 145 gross). It was used in a car called the Pacer, which was basicallly a '69 Dart hardtop with a funky front-end. It got the Hemi-6 for '70 though.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    Interesting stuff.

    You know it's hard to tell from the photo but that hemi six does look like the top end is off center, closer to the passenger side, like a slant six. But the valve cover looks too narrow for a slant six which IIRC was a wide engine--but the last time I saw one was a good twenty years ago so who knows.

    It just sounds weird for Chrysler to put money into a new six when the slant was only a few years old and perhaps the dominant six in a market that wasn't competitive enough to require much innovation. Of course Chrysler did make more than its share of bad business decisions in those days.

    The high-output slant must have used the Hyper-Pak stuff--or at least I'd hope so if I owned Chrysler stock. No point in re-inventing the wheel unless the Aussie market was super-competitive.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    Speaking of Mopars, did anyone notice how Mitsubishi "borrowed" an old Dodge model name, obviously hoping to bask in its reflected glory? I refer of course to the Mitsubishi Lancer.

    What next? Honda Roadmaster?
  • avalanche325avalanche325 Member Posts: 116
    I lived in New Zealand for a few years. The hemi six was pretty popular in the old Chryslers. I don't recall seeing many (or any)slant sixes. But then again, they are probably not what you would keep and fix up.

    You also have to remember that gas prices down there are incredibly high compared to the US. A V8 can be REALLY expensive to run. Gas was $4.95 a gallon when I was there (2yrs ago). A 2.0 liter is considered a big engine.

    Also, a US Charger is WAAAAAYYYY too big for down under. Their car industry in the 60s and 70s was heavily influenced by the British car industry. They never understood why American cars were so big. They call them "Yank Tanks".
This discussion has been closed.

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles