1967 Charger With Super-Rare V8 Is a Strong Restored Driver With Neat Mods Down Low

Many great things were happening over at Chrysler in 1967, from the debut of the Road/Track package to the emergence of the GTX, but Charger sales weren’t one of them. With an abrupt drop from 37,344 units to 15,744, the new model had a rough start, but it didn’t go away entirely, thankfully.

The arrival of the 440-cube big-block motor for the Charger in 1967 was one of the biggest news (pun intended) that was meant to push the ailing sales upward. It didn’t happen, with only 660 customers opting to get the only full-size fastback automobile in America with the 7.2-liter Magnum lurking in front of the hidden headlamps.

That’s not a misspell – the big engine was, indeed, directly in front of the lights when those were concealed inside the front grille. When the lights were operating (and thus facing the same direction as the rest of the car), the entire lamp housing would rotate into view. You can see the whole operation demonstrated at the end of the video attached below. Dennis Gage, frontman for MyClassicCarTV YouTube channel, talks to the owner of this super-rare 1967 Dodge Charger 440 four-speed.

The man brought his car at the Route 66 Mother Road Festival in Springfield, Illinois, through the most mainstream means possible – he drove it. He likes to drive this classic American muscle, and a five-hour drive is not beyond the car’s reach. Not bad at all for a 57-year-young classic that went through a restoration 27 years ago.

In 1997, the car was repainted, but Rick, the current owner, only got it in 2001 and polished the livery to what we see now. The iconic Charger sports the bright mirror-shiny valve covers, but the big-gun 375-hp, 480-lb-ft go-machine (380 PS, 651 Nm) sports a slightly more performance-oriented upgrade.

The car was built as one of the 132 examples ordered with a four-speed manual transmission clutched to the big-block powerplant. It still has the three pedals, but the hurst shifter now meshes through five forward speeds, courtesy of a Tremec add-on.

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Except for a suspension changeover to HiJackers air-shocks, the Charger isn’t much different than what it was when it rolled off the assembly line. The owner refurbished pretty much everything about it except for the paint, but he just wanted to get the car to the level he remembered a new first-gen Charger used to be. And he knows all that full well since his parents had a red 1966 Dodge Charger with Cragar wheels.

The restoration turned out pretty well – look through the gallery and see if you can find any flaws in the car other than the name on the title (which is someone else’s and not yours). The mighty Dodge is squeaky clean inside and outside, in stark contrast to its ‘regular driver’ status. There isn’t a single speck of dirt in the engine bay, never mind the body.