I spotted this pro-street ’70 Charger at a show at the local multiplex theater back in May. I was surprised to see the vintage Oregon plate in Davenport, IA. A recent transfer, perhaps? Despite being modified, the blue interior was still largely original–much nicer than a stainless steel tub with an uncomfortable racing seat–especially if this car was driven from its home state!
When you mean “original interior”, no J.C. Whitney “Dodge’em Car” steering wheel and monster shift-kit shifter in the floor? I see high back buckets, but they look like they might have come out of a later model Charger/Coronet. . . .
Sorry, sports fans . . . . but my recollections of muscle cars coming up in the mid 70’s is that once they showed up in the Midwest, air shocks, shackle extensions, unpainted high rise scoops, el-cheapo low profile tires (70’s in front, 50’s in the rear – remember “Drag Rites?”) – J.C. Whitney side pipes – these cars would be ruined. Yeah – I know – California snob.
There were some horribly butchered muscle cars in the UK around the same time, skinny Wolfrace alloys (or more often a cheap copy from Taiwan) and huge rear alloys with a jack up kit,side pipes and a fibre glass scoop.Paint it in a lurid metal flake with a Whitesnake album cover mural and nasty furry seats.There were some serious crimes against cars in the 70s
Why is it that Whitesnake all too often gets mentioned when it comes to something visually tacky? Is Tawney Kitaen the only thing that was ever worthwhile about that band?
Whitesnake did have a few lurid album covers which lent themselves easily to murals.Lovedrive by the Scorpions is a tacky cover which thankfully hasn’t seen the light of day as a mural(I’m sure someone will prove me wrong now I’ve written this!)Pity about the cover as Lovedrive has some of the Scorpion’s best music
Note that I said “largely original.” The dash, gauges, seats (’70 models were available with high-back buckets) and door cards all appeared to be stock. The most glaring non-stock item was the rollbar–inside at least.
Nice car and not something I see often modified or not
The el cheapo go faster crap these days seems to be stuck on japanese imports that vaguely resemble race models like the awful Skylines from Nissan, the coup’e model that got banned from touring car racing world wide were very fast, the JDM lowered dungers that bounce off the road in front of me at night , not so much, probably an ok car when it left Nissan’s plant what made you think you could improve it by making it emit sparks every time it bottoms out? Holding up 50 tonne trucks doesnt make them look quik to me.
No matter what kind of aftermarket stuff is on that car, the oddest thing there is the Oregon plate. Did anyone in Oregon actually buy a Charger like this? I mean ever? Sure, lots of pickup trucks and VWs, some Ramblers and Darts and an occasional Chrysler, but a Charger? Not seeing it. 🙂
I haven’t yet shown you the other side of Oregon, by not going to car shows and such! Yes; we have all the usual suspects too…endless ’69 Camaros, etc…
the curb is an endless car show Paul thats where we like to be.
One thing to consider: I’m not sure that’s a valid current Oregon plate. It’s very difficult to get a clear reading of the renewal sticker, but green was used for the following expiration years: ’14, ’08, ’02, ’98 and ’94. Does the number on this one read “14”? Seems not to. If anything, it seems to be closest to “98”, if you assume the upper half is illegible.
Oregon plates are just cool! So you take off the local plates for the car shows. Makes perfect sense.
Oregon never particularly appealed to me but damnit, those plates are incredibility alluring! I never understood why California ditched their similar blue/gold plates, the boring white they went to in the 90s was such a massive downgrade.
I can’t read the sticker either, but based on plates in my collection the LJD prefix could well have been issued in 1970. Also, the 1970 stickers were white on green, but unlike most Oregon stickers they had a bad fading problem.
XR7Matt, Oregon did ditch those yellow on blue plates. Since those were issued, there was the blue on reflective yellow from 1974 to 1990 or so, then the “dead tree” graphic plate for a couple of years, then the current graphic plate that seems to have been issued forever, but only dates back to 1992 or so.
The green sticker says “70”.
Yep. Here’s a close-up:
That explains the whole thing…I should have known it might go all the way back to its original year. A “tribute” plate.
Not necessarily a tribute plate if it’s truly an Oregon car. When I moved to Oregon in 2003, I bought a set of vintage Pacific Wonderland plate for my ’64 Impala with a ’64 validation sticker. Under year-of-manufacture plate regulations, it’s considered a specialty plate and legal on a car that’s not a daily driver. Plus, I only paid to register the car once, and my registration is good for as long as I have the car and/or am an Oregon resident.
I just have a hard time believing that there’s a 2nd gen Charger out there that isn’t a General Lee clone
There’s a black ’68 in the background that was able to avoid that fate, also.
Are you sure? If it’s the one behind the van, it’s black alright, but the rear windows don’t match up to be a charger as the 68’s have the exact same bodies as the 69-70’s, just the grills and taillights are different, as are the side markers.
The black car I see looks to be a GM model, perhaps, or a later Mopar of some sort.
never mind (edited), I see it now, way in the distance. Yeah, that’s definitely a ’68.
A ’68 what? It’s for sure not a Charger and I think it’s more mid to late 70’s.
Upper right of the picture, it’s under the hood of the red 73 RoadRunner
The one under the hood of the red car like a ’68 Charger–they had the four round tail lights.
More importantly is she from Oregon?
I guess that I am not as much of a car nerd as I thought. I keep on looking at her and not the cars.