1968 Charger R/T Hemi, Once Owned by a Notorious Biker TV Star, Is on the Market Again

Dodge’s Charger came around in 1966 – on the first day, to be exact – to showcase Chrysler’s newly released Street Hemi engine, the 426-cube road-legal iteration of the famously quick Race Hemi that broke ground in 1964. The Charger didn’t get the warm welcome Dodge brass had hoped, planned, and anticipated, so the first generation was axed after two model years after combined sales failed to reach the 50,000-unit landmark.

In 1968, Dodge revamped the Charger from the ground up, leaving only minor resemblances to the first-generation series. The hideaway headlamps were one of the few styling elements that made it into the enormously successful second generation of the iconic Mopar. The 426 Hemi was another, and there’s perhaps no better way to illustrate the stereotypical American muscle car than the ’68 Hemi Charger.

Out of the nearly 96,000 Chargers made for 1968, almost 17,600 came with the R/T badge of distinction on their rear quarters. Over 17,000 were standard-powered, with only 476 Hemi engines installed in the fuselage-profiled B-body street brawlers. The seven-liter, 425-hp, 490-lb-ft (431 PS, 664 Nm) engine was paired with a four-speed transmission (211 examples) or with the Torqueflite three-speed automatic (264 of them).

Rare? Yes. Desirable? You bet? For sale? Mmmm… once in a B5 Blue moon, maybe. If you have $175,000 absolutely doing donuts in your account and completely shaving the inside of your wallet, then there’s one 1968 Dodge Charger Hemi automatic in B5 Blue that’s up for grabs. Or, if the price isn’t up to your liking, then maybe take your chances at the online auction that’s due seven days from now on a different (but equally popular) website.

The price isn’t something unheard of for this specific make, model, and version. Still, this car also has a bit of celebrity ownership ear tag. Back in 2007, it was sold at the Scottsdale auction for $126,900. Barrett-Jackson’s archive holds just five photos of the car from back then (see them in the gallery).

In one of them, the vehicle serves as the background for its past owner, the most famous horseshoe mustache in television history, Paul Teutul Sr, the owner of Orange County Choppers. Back in 2007, the selling ad stated, rather laconically, that ‘options include very rare power windows, power steering, power brakes, never been restored, just one repaint.’

Come 2024, and the same car, having changed hands at least two times after the Scottsdale sale, now comes with a fully rebuilt powertrain (engine and drive train, including the 3.23 rear end) in 2020. According to the ad on hemmings.com (where the aforementioned $175k asking price is disclosed), the trouble-free car runs great, rides smoothly, and sports an electric pump instead of the original unit.

Over on bringatriler.com, the bid started aggressively, with an opening of $50,000, followed by a raise to $75,000 in less than ten minutes. If the trend continues, the seven days left will have something interesting to show. The car shows 84,257.7 miles (140,427.7 km) on its original-appearing odometer (the yellow indicators on the 150-mph speedometer led me to believe it's not a replacement).

However, the tic-toc-tach is a bit too white for a 59-year-and-a-month-young Charger (the car was built on October 24, 1967). Not that it would matter that much for a true Hemi-hearted gearhead – which I can’t say about the engine. The Galen Govier inspection certificate states ‘correct’ on both engine and transmission instead of ‘original’ units.

One thing is bluntly obvious about this Charger – it has no vinyl top. It also has power windows and a center armrest for the bucket seats. The clock inside the 8,000 RPM tachometer doesn’t work, and the car’s red line rubbers wrapped on the 15-inch Magnum 500–style wheels need to be replaced.