1968 Dodge Charger R/T

 

Empire Muscle Cars likes to think of Greg as the Ultimate Dodge Charger guy.... After seeing what he has done with both of his Chargers, one can say that name definitely suits him well! Greg got this Charger back when he was 19. He saw a black 68' Hemi 4speed Charger in 1985 cruising around a hot spot in Levittown, Long Island, and just knew he had to have one. After locating an automatic and a 4speed, he felt he didn't even need to go look at the automatic. Ahhhh, love at first sight! The car was in driving condition, but somewhat rough. Importantly, it still had it's numbers matching engine, transmission and documentation (build sheet, Certicard, fendertag.) It almost overheated getting it back home, but with luck he made it. The Charger needed the old Holley water injection kit that was installed on it. At the time, Greg admits, he knew nothing about cars.... couldn't even change spark plugs at that point.
But like all bitten by the bug, Greg had work done on the car, and sadly the classic story of being ripped off by shops and individuals occurred. This made Greg want to do all the work needed on his Charger himself. And so the learning began. After driving the car around in rough condition for a few years, Greg took it off the road in 1988 and did what he considers a mini-restoration. In August of 1993 Greg was ready to attempt a paint job. After months of bodywork and block sanding, Greg painted the Basecoat/Clearcoat Silver in the back of his Father's carport.
In 2004 after years of street racing, Greg decided it was time to pull the numbers correct motor and change things up a bit. He rebuilt the engine and built a higher performance version of the 440 Magnum. It is 10.6:1 compression that runs on pump gas, and he forged the pistons, stock crank and rods, solid lifter cam, Edelbrock aluminum heads that he cleaned up the bowls and polished the ports. Greg then ran a dual plane intake manifold for a good bottom end power for the street, and a Holley HP 950 cfm carb. The Charger has 2" Hooker Super Comp and a homemade 3" exhaust with an X pipe. Greg raced the Charger at the track for 4 years and reached his goal with that setup.
In 2006 Greg replaced the original Hemi 4speed transmission with a Tremec TKO600 5 speed transmission with a Spec Stage 3+ clutch. At the same time, he upgraded the U-joints to 1350 size after grenading the originals as well as twisting the transmission yoke. Greg races the car as much as possible now and drives it whenever time allows.
Greg feels he owes all of his skills to working on autos like his '68. It has given him the confidence to attempt things he never thought he could accomplish, auto related or not. His latest challenge has been to make the necessary modifications to the Carburetor metering blocks to make them fully adjustable in all the circuits. When Greg accomplishes this, his air/fuel ratios throughout all loads and throttle positions will be exactly where he wants them to be and run very similar to Fuel Injection. Greg says he is having some success, but has much more testing/tuning sessions to go.
At this point, Greg has accomplished body repair, paint and detailing to add on his check list. Along with Mig welding, leadwork on body seams, engine building and some blueprinting, manual transmission rebuilding, general restoration.   Some things I wish to accomplish in the near future: Tig welding, Acetylene torch welding, and a rear end rebuild and setup on the Dana 60 Rear end. 

 For a guy who learned along the way, he pulled of one really sweet achievement - The outcome of his Charger. Greg certainly should take all the glory, as he did it all his own. We are very impressed with Greg's Charger as everything Greg has done has been done nicely and with precision. A first time around learning experience this Charger deserves more than just a Car of the Month spot. Let's also take the time to remember that Greg also has a 1968 Dodge Charger he is building as a Drag car. It will be a large cubic inch engine with a supercharger and a Jericho 4speed transmission that is ready to go! Greg is shooting for the mid 8's in the 1/4 mile with this side project. It's a backhalved car with a 4 link rear suspension... Oh, and yes, this too is being built at home, all by Greg!
If you love Dodge, especially the Charger you should pay attention to Greg.... A truly gifted guy doing great things with these cars we give him major credit and can't wait to keep watching everything he does. Greg is a respected member, car builder and drag racer - Speak to Greg today in our Members Section - 68Hardchargerrt.