1969 Dodge Charger Reviews, Pricing & Specs

the last time you saw an original '69 charger with a 383/4speed go through your town did you ignore it or watch it go by and say "i allways wanted one of those " .... best handling car I've ever owned and of course everybody likes it ... but it is a cop stopper ... and very expensive to maintain with original parts !!!! (don't wreck the front end you may never find a good ( I ) piece for the center of the grille . 3 grand for the last nos part # I considered myself very lucky with my find , bought from original owner and the car was 28 years old . It had high mileage 130,000 but was maintained pretty well . '69 chargers are still one of the best looking cars ever built . it got about 17 or 18 mpg on 93 octane amoco gold . I really wished it had the LONG THROW shifter , this was the first year for the factory hurst shifter and with it's double boot (floor and console ) , five bends and then mated to the A-833 new process trannny (18 spline with 11inch clutch ) it was a little balky to shft like a drag car . EXPENSIVE as hell to get into that clutch and pressure plate from chrysler ( 1,200.00)back in '98 . I settled for a rebuilt one from BREWERS in OHIO but they screwed me on the core exchange and gave me a pressure plate with white springs instead of the original green ones which are no longer made by anyone . yea the new 300.00 dollar clutch is not as good as the worn out one it replaced just because of the springs .... I drove it daily (stupid ) weather permitting for two years until it became a tragedy at a bad intersection with a car running a stop sign and i ditched to avoid collision , but the ditch was 8 ft deep .... at about 50 mph spinning backwards into it .... thats enough ... I still have it . it can and will be fixed ! BUT i'M AFRAID I MAY BE AN OLD MAN BY THEN !!Nov 04, 2011

Its a good car. I haven't heard of the thing until we got it. I love it. When it starts, its like thunder. It is thunder. Its like its saying to me, "I'm sorry Shane, I can't hear you over the sound of my awesomeness". It's a 1969 Dodge Charger RT painted black. It has a 440 magnum engine. That's really all I know about it... Sorry for being ignorant, if I sound like it. Oct 28, 2010

I have never owned a Charger, but I have owned five other iconic Dodges-all Challengers! The 70-74 Challenger and Cuda were derived from the B-body platform that the Charger is based on. I have driven a few 69-74 Chargers and other B-body brethern to the Charger. For their time, these cars were considered mid-sized cars. They handled well for the period they were produced in, especially the ones with the lighter engines (383 on down). Their power was impressive. No matter which Chrysler V8 engine they were equipped with, they were as fast and often faster than the competition with a comparably sized engine. Their drive trains could be used and abused and they would keep running hard with nominal care. It didn't make any difference which engine and trans the car had in it, they ran good. The Charger R/T equipped with its standard 440-4bbl. engine was a torque monster and speed demon. You didn't need a Hemi to be a threat on the street or strip when you had either version of the 440 Magnum. A lot of Mopar racers build 440s instead of the more expensive Hemis to race with today. The 440 was a great engine, able to hurl this two ton car down the street in a straight line or side-ways. Burn outs-no problem. In 1970 the 440 six pack was made available as an engine option, but the Charger was already a legend by the Fall of 1970. Rent or watch the 1968 movie "Bullit", with Steve McQueen, if you want to see how one ran. Unfortunately the car was a little more than the stunt driver could handle at times! The Charger ran rings around the Mustang GT that McQueen was trying to drive in the show. This was a 440-4bbl. Charger R/T with a Torqueflite automatic. That is how Charger R/Ts ran compared to other "muscle" cars of the day. The 383 was the next step down from the 440 in the Charger. The 383 Magnum engine was the standard V8 in the 68-71 Road Runner and Super Bee (also B-bodies). While the 383 was an admirable performer and work horse, it just couldn't keep up with a 440 or Hemi. It did get better mileage (12-14 mpg on the highway was possible, depending on gearing and trans) than its larger big block brothers (8-10 mpg for the 440 and less for the Hemi when it was being flogged). No one cared about gas mileage if they had sprung for a super car like a Charger R/T. You expected to fill it up more often. When driving a Charger, the steering effort wasn't bad with power assisted steering. The car didn't feel as big as it looked. A lot of owners didn't get power steering on their performance cars, because they were afraid of over-steering under hard acceleration from a dead stop and losing control of the car. Had they left their boos at home or at the bar, or whatever else they were consuming for recreational purposes at the time, they could have gotten along with power steering, at least on the Mopar B-bodies. You could learn to adjust for fish tailing of a big block Mopar after driving it for a short period of time, but you had to know what it was going to do when you hit the go pedal. These were pretty tight cars and even the older (unrestored) used examples I drove in the late 80s were pretty much squeek-free. Quality of materials used in their construction was as good as the other U.S. manufacturers at the time. Inside, the Charger had a pretty classy interior. The Charger of this vintage was considered to be a nice car for a young guy. So the quality was never an issue with most people. They handled and drove out really nice, especially when they were only a few years old. Car dealers considered the Chargers of this vintage to be good retail pieces to have to resell as used vehicles, if they could get one that wasn't beat to death or suffering from rust damage on the quarters. Like most cars of this period a lot of the rust damage was from rock chips behind the wheels. The rock chips were were often allowed to rust, eventually causing damage to the trunk area (trunk floor extensions and trunk floor), when the bottoms of the quarter panels rusted out and allowed water and salt to be thrown up into the trunk area. The styling was considered to be really hot for the time (or should I say groovy?!). There were numerous cars with great styling on the market like the Stang, Camaro, GTO, etc., so that's saying a lot. Sales of the '68 Charger was 91,000 units versus sales of '67 Charger, which were a weak 17,000 units. So the major styling change in '68 did a lot for sales of the 68-70 Charger. They were very nicely styled automobiles for that time period and won some major styling awards during this period. Fun? Did it look like the stunt drivers were having fun on the Dukes of Hazard TV show? That pretty much addresses the fun factor. Most of the Chargers used on the show for stunts were 318 powered cars-they didn't even have big block V8s in them! If they had, the car would be doing endless donuts and not just fish tailing down gravel roads. BTW-this show began in the late 70s, not the late 80s. It did a lot to create a cult following of the Charger amoung younger people in the 80s, but the Charger was already a worshiped car long before then. Cost of ownership depended somewhat on the drive train and the way owners treated the car. If the car saw a lot of burn outs, then it would be necessary to replace things like U-joints, motor and transmission mounts. The Hemi models required the most maintenance because the dual quad carbs were constantly getting out of adjustment or the ignition out of tune. The Charger's other engines were far more reliable and that includes every engine and drive train from the 440 to the Slant Six. The Torqueflite three speed automatic transmission was considered the stoutest transmissions by many in this period. Most Torqueflites weren't even beefed up for racing applications in the 70s! They were run stock. Chrysler was the first U.S. manufacturer to offer electronic ignition as standard equipment (on their 1972 model Valiants and Darts). All 69 models still had points and condensors, so they would need a tune up every 3,000 or so miles. There were no major issues for cost of ownership compared to similar models of the day. Mopars of this era never had a problem with oil blow-by or burning oil as some brands did when they began to get a lot of miles on them. These were generally very reliable cars. The only thing that stands out is the solenoid on the starter might go bad every couple of years. Carbs would have to be rebuilt after 4 or 5 years. Front disc brakes were an available option on 69 models. While they weren't as good as the ones a couple of years later, they were still far better than the drums. A myriad of options were available on 69 Chargers. Most people didn't order their Chargers with options like AM/FM radio or power windows. The SE package was a nice package with some keeper options. A console was probably the most popular convenience option for the car after an AM radio or automatic transmission. The 69 Charger was the first Dodge to be offered with a power sunroof option (which was installed by American Sunroof Corp. for Chrysler). Just over 200 Chargers of all models were equipped with this high dollar option ($450). Chargers were never offered as a convertible model, so that is probably why the sunroof option debuted on it. The following year the new Challenger was offered with this rare option. I know of the whereabouts of a one of the very first 70 Charger R/Ts built. This was a pilot car with a very low sequential number in its VIN, built at the ST. Louis plant. It was equipped with a 440-6bbl. engine and auto, the SE package, six way seat adjuster, AM 8 track and rear speaker, power windows and a power sunroof. It was Vitamin C orange with a black top and black leather interior. Two special editions models were offered in 1969-the Charger 500 and Daytona. Both were introduced so they could be raced in NASCAR. These are both very collectable models, especially the Daytona. Yes, those wings on the Daytonas really do work, but you have to be doing 80+ mph to feel and see the difference. The wing plants the back end of the car on the ground at those speeds. While most cars lift at this speed, this one doesn't! A lot more could be said about this car, but this is already becoming an essay. Let us say that the 69 Charger was a sweet car, no matter what way you sliced it, or from what angle you compared it from. That's how people also rated it back in the day when the car was new!Jul 07, 2010

It's a tough choice which car is cooler, the 1968 or '69 Dodge Charger, especially since the 1969 model changed little. A split front grille and recessed rectangular taillights were designed to give an even sportier look to the car. An SE Special Edition package offered with the R/T models added touches of luxury inside, with leather seats, wood- grain steering wheel, and optional sunroof. The optional bumblebee striping was altered slightly. Engine choices were still the 318, 383, 440 Magnum, and 426 Hemi. sounds ace and is a lovely car but couldn't afford to use it much.Dec 19, 2009

Performance- Acceleration is the best picks up and go's Braking Oh god when Dad upgraded the Rear Suspension on his car it stick and did burnouts oh and handling was the best. Appearance- It was Canary Yellow with lots of repairs but was well taken car of inside. The Cost to own this car was inexpensive because of gas prices in the 90's when I was a kid Oh hell yeah I had great times with this car but now im sad cause i can drive but when I was Kid i couldn't Sep 12, 2008

My dads first car. 1969 dodge charger R/T 440 four speed manual transmission. My grandpa bought this car for my dad when he was 15 years old. he sold it for five years and then bought it back in 1990 and put it back to the original factory condition with numbers matching from bumper to bumper. meaning it has the exact motor, transmission rearend and everything that came in that car.Feb 03, 2008