Dodge Charger 500 - The prevented fighter

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Dodge Charger 500 - The prevented fighter

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Created on June 18, 2021

Text:

Paul Krüger

Photos:

RM Sotheby's

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Dodge Public Relations

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Silverstone Auctions

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- Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

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Archiv

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The Charger 500 was to be Chrysler's homologation model for the 1969 NASCAR season.

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Only 392 units of the Dodge Charger 500 were built for the 1969 model year.

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You can bid for this copy at RM Sotheby's in early September.

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Only three Charger 500s were ordered in the color combination W1/C6R, i.e. white with a red interior.

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The "Fastop" with recessed windshield makes the rear of the Charger 500 more streamlined.

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For 1969, the Charger was fitted with rectangular tail lights. The year before, it was illuminated by four round lamps based on the Ferrari model.

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So you could also mistake it for a '68 with open headlight covers. Well, almost...

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From the rear, the differences to the standard model are even less noticeable. Dual exhaust like the Charger R/T

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1-A recycling: 1968 Coronet radiator grille in the 1969 Charger 500

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This plate turns the already rare Charger 500 into a rarity that was only built 67 times.

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Chargers with a 440 engine had 14-inch wheels. The Hemi models were fitted with 15-inch wheels ex works.

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In case the person behind you does not already recognize your car from the rear window, it is written again under the right rear light.

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For the everyday pit stop: Quick-fill gas cap

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Can charge more than just cell phones: "Charger" also means "warhorse".

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The 500 also took over the Bumble Bee stripe around the rear from the R/T - with an adapted model designation, of course.

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Today, entire small cars are pressed from the sheet metal of this C-pillar.

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The 426 Hemi has matt black painted valve covers. On the 440, they are orange like the engine.

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The Hemi produces 431 hp and 664 Newton meters from seven liters of displacement.

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If you forget what's making such a racket up front, just take a look at the chrome-plated air filter box.

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The 500 has a smaller trunk opening than the regular Charger due to the rear window being moved further back.

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The imitation wood steering wheel of the Charger SE was available as an option for all other models.

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The roughly grained plastic instrument panel is not really attractive. But so what? After all, this is a racing car!

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Much more interesting than the mileage of a good 44,000 miles is the "Tic-Toc-Tach", the rev counter with integrated clock

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Only 27 Hemi customers chose four manually shifted gears.

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And what else? American gears want to be sorted with a Hurst shifter.

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Solid-state AM-FM was one of four radio options.

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The center console with lockable storage compartment was also available at extra cost.

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Bucket seats with imitation leather upholstery. A stable backrest is much more important in a Hemi than lateral support.

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True sporting spirit: Lap belts also on the rear seat bench.

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Important on the drag strip: crank windows save weight.

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The Charger 500 Hemi was only given the hubcaps of the Dodge Polara for the press photos.

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This is what a regular '69 Charger looks like from the front. And now please take a look at the radiator grille.

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And from the rear: steep rear window between elongated C-pillars.

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From 1970, "500" was just an equipment variant like R/T or SE.

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The Dodge Charger Daytona, which was based on the Charger 500, was produced in 503 units.

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The (mostly superior) competitor of the Charger 500: the Ford Torino Talladega

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Summary

Aerodynamics is for people who can't build engines, Enzo Ferrari is said to have once said. But even the Americans, for whom performance was once above all else, discovered the advantages of low drag at the end of the 1960s - at least on the racetrack. This article tells the short story of the aerodynamically optimized Dodge Charger 500 for NASCAR racing.

This article contains the following chapters

Change of pace in the NASCAR
Air brake as standard
Dodge's first attempt
Talladega and Daytona
Curtailed by the regulations
Big name, big numbers

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

At the end of the sixties, the stock car racing cars of the NASCAR Grand National Series were still characterized by the fact that they were actually largely "stock" - in other words, they corresponded to those iron pigs that tumbled off the production lines in Detroit and Dearborn by the thousands and could be bought by any reasonably well-off daddy. Conversely, this meant that only cars that were in the showroom of the friendly authorized dealer in Nebraska were allowed to take part. And since car races are only really fun (and only have the desired advertising effect) if you humiliate the competition in a superior manner, the Chrysler Corporation launched a new, aerodynamically optimized "special model" of its mid-size coupé for the 1969 season, which had only one task: to give the competition a good spanking in the oval.

Welcome to Zwischengas!

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