James Thame’s Mopar

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 1968 Dodge Charger

I purchased my 1968 Dodge Charger for $1875 in Austin, Texas in October, 1991. When I got the car it had some body rust around the rear quarters and floor pans but was mostly straight. The engine was a tired 1970 383 4 bbl with sticky valves. The exhaust consisted of nothing more than headers bolted directly to glass packs.

1968 Dodge Charger

In 1997, I had an inexpensive black paint job applied due to severe sand scratches in the poorly applied white paint that were starting to rust. The dark green interior was in fair condition but required new vinyl front seat covers, headliner, and carpet.

1968 Dodge Charger

The engine is a 1968 440 that I purchased from a gentleman in Weir, TX, also in October, 1991. My father and I performed a mild rebuild on the 440 and replaced the 383 in December, 1991.

The Charger served as my daily driver from 1992 to 1998 when my job as a consultant forced me to retire the Charger. The Charger followed me around from 1998 to 2001 when I finally began to start a serious rebuild. I acquired parts piece by piece as my budget allowed and in 2006 I performed a second rebuild of the 440. The engine has Eagle rods and crank as well as Indy heads and a Comp Cams hydraulic roller. The intake is a Victor single plane with F.A.S.T. fuel injection. The automatic transmission was swapped for a Tremec TKO-500. The 8 3/4 inch rear was replaced with a DTS Dana 60.

1968 Dodge Charger

In 2008, I had the Dodge painted metallic black by Apollo Paint and Body in Stafford TX. Stafford Auto Trim added the vinyl top and headliner as well as recovered the stock seats in cloth.

1968 Dodge Charger

I enjoy the Mopar on fair weather weekends.


October 16, 2014

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