From cannon fodder to collectible, my standards for what’s collectible have shifted
It’s interesting how our standards change over time. What was acceptable years ago might not be okay now; conversely, things we rejected in the past may now be valued. The second arrangement certainly applies to vintage vehicles, and when it comes to cars of the original muscle era, most of us likely have recollections of particular cars we may have cast off way back when that we’d really like to have now.
Discussion of such things came up recently in a conversation about Dodge’s 1968-’70 Charger—a model that has been experiencing significant value escalation in recent years. As a result, anything resembling a ’68-’70 Charger seems to be worth a small fortune, and this is where Dodge’s stylish coupes serve as a good example of the steadily shifting standards. The acceptance of lesser 318 and 383 versions is one indicator—many gearheads would have insisted on an R/T not so long ago. The acceptable condition of the car in question has seen a steady slide too. Today, people seem far less particular.
It’s interesting how our standards change over time. What was acceptable years ago might not be okay now; conversely, things we rejected in the past may now be valued. The second arrangement certainly applies to vintage vehicles, and when it comes to cars of the original muscle era, most of us likely have recollections of particular cars we may have cast off way back when that we’d really like to have now.
Discussion of such things came up recently in a conversation about Dodge’s 1968-’70 Charger—a model that has been experiencing significant value escalation in recent years. As a result, anything resembling a ’68-’70 Charger seems to be worth a small fortune, and this is where Dodge’s stylish coupes serve as a good example of the steadily shifting standards. The acceptance of lesser 318 and 383 versions is one indicator—many gearheads would have insisted on an R/T not so long ago. The acceptable condition of the car in question has seen a steady slide too. Today, people seem far less particular.
I looked around at some recent Charger sales and was astounded by some of the transaction figures. The fervor to buy even far-less-than-perfect specimens reminded me of some of the Chargers that had crossed my path years ago. As a teen, it was already tough to find a decent ’68 or ’69 Charger, but one of my friends had managed to obtain one of each. The first was a ’69 that had been a 383 four-barrel originally, but which was later fitted with a 440 Magnum. Given that we were in the Northeast, the car was rusty, but he had it patched up and painted and it looked good… for a while.
Later, while the ’69 was being painted, my friend needed something else to drive and came upon a ’68 Charger with a 318. This one had a really nice original interior, but it was also rusty, with missing sections of lower quarter panel, holes in the rear valence panel, and so on. But it ran and drove great, so he used it daily for a few months.
At the time, both of those cars were seen as stepping stones—placeholders of a sort, providing the experience of having a Charger until a better one could be found. A couple years later, after the ’69’s paint job started coming apart as the body filler revealed itself, my friend sold it off, and I clearly recall us thinking it was “just too far gone to be worth fixing the right way.” The ’68 was sold around the same time for similar reasons, all of us thinking there was no point in trying to fix that much decay on a 318 car. Of course, what we considered too rotten in the ’80s would now be considered a great starting point. Both of those cars were structurally sound, and though the floorpans on both cars were getting pin-holed, neither had gotten anywhere close to the full Flintstone effect.
I read an article a couple of years ago, saying that the fever around the 68/70 Chargers came to a point that any rusted, trashed body shell that holds a VIN # is worth a restoration.