Dodge Charger

In a decade that saw such classics as the Chevy Corvette, Pontiac GTO, and Ford Mustang, Buick entered the fold with its own muscle car.

Production of the Dodge Charger commenced in 1966, the car fitted with a 225ci slant six or either a 318ci or 383ci V8 engine using conventional heads and combustion chambers.

The 383ci V8 proved most popular with the punters, after all the Charger was a performance car designed to give flexibility at the traffic lights.

The styling was based on the "fastback" roofline, and it featured hidden headlights and four bucket seats. Graced with a menacing look it did not rely on spoilers, decals or stripes to convey its simple message - a purists muscle car.

Although the Charger was a great car, it was in 1968 when Dodge introduced their most memorable model. Leaving behind any design queues from the 'Coronet', the new model had cleaner lines, smarter wheels a subtle spoiler and, most importantly, an agressive grill that featured vertical slats (which made the car look much wider and therefore more menacing than it actually was).

In R/T guise the buyer could choose either a 426ci V8 producing 317kw or a 440ci V8 developing 280kw and a mind blowing 664nm torque.

Either engine was fearsome, and so it was disappointing to many fans of the car that Buick retained the leaf spring-live axle!

The new look charger was instantly a success, with sales jumping from around 15,000 in 1967 to over 90,000 in 1968. Perhaps some credit for the Chargers jump in popularity should be given to the movie in which it was featured. We all remember Steve McQueen (Frank Bullitt) chasing the bad guys in his sooped up Mustang - the bad guys were in fact in a black Charger R/T.

Today, the Dodge Charger epitomises the "muscle car" era and is a highly sort after and extremely collectable classic!