How often do you drive your Charger?

[b5blue]

  I'm at least once a month but lately once or twice a week. My Dakota takes the abuse runs like Home Depot or Walmart. Non ethanol 89OCT solved the gas/starting issues.   

[Dave Kanofsky]

Whenever available time, safe destination, and good weather align.
Driving it is the best part of owning it! 

[lloyd3]

"Whenever available time, safe destination, and good weather align."

What he said.

Also, when I feel like it, when I need a good 440 fix, when I need to remember something about being 16 again and the world was opening up to me.  Remembering true "freedom" and the unbridled promise of the open road ahead of me, of great adventures yet to come, of beautiful girls, sunny days, good friends, and good times.

Everytime I pull the cover off of it, it reminds me of all these things.

[GreatOne34]

Make an effort to do at least once a week, hopefully more. Like has been said, just great to get out there and enjoy the car as it was meant to be. All the added stuff, kids wanting to come with dad, folks honking / waving, and 20-30 minutes at the gas station chatting about the car are all a plus in my book

[John_Kunkel]

Some old car owners are criticized for not driving their old cars very often...what if your old car collection numbers more than one or two?

[b5blue]

All my stuff is old! 

[moparstuart]

usually drive a muscle car once a week.   The birdible is what i have at home right now  .  The charger is in remote storage but ill trade them out again mid summer   

[Dino]

I rotate 3 cars with the Charger seeing the most road time currently. Rain or shine. I drove it with snow down but clear roads. With EFI it drives the same no matter the weather.

[375instroke]

Sometimes my '69 Charger needs work, so I got another '69 Charger to drive while I'm working on my '69 Charger.

[doctor4766]

Not very often at the moment, and we are halfway through autumn, some of the best driving weather here.
Been waiting on a suspension shop that I used on my old Charger to get back to me on rebuilding the front end.
These guys are good, but not easy to get things happening.
The car is all over the place on the road, especially if I've had the front wheels off the ground and it's not settling

[Todd Wilson]

Once or twice every decade it seems..................


Todd

[cdr]

I drive it all the time, cold ac & OD trans for the win

[b5blue]

Oh yea A/C in Fla is a biggie, I sold my 6BBL to get A/c and aluminum heads. 

[Kern Dog]

Some old car owners are criticized for not driving their old cars very often...what if your old car collection numbers more than one or two?

I have more than one classic car. I admit that I don't drive them as much as I could.
Like others, I fall into the comfort and convenience of the later model stuff I have.
It cracks me up though to use the term late model when my newest vehicle is 18 model years old!
Trucks though, man....I drove the pickup for years for work and the utility of them can be hard to beat. The capability to haul things is often calling me.....
The Charger though?
I really should drive it more. Nobody lives forever and time is limited. Too much time has been spent working on the projects and not enough time is spent driving them.

[Kern Dog]

With a 900 mile road trip planned for this week, it makes sense to take the car out a few times to see if anything falls off. Nothing did.
As always, the experience of driving a rumbling, vibrating hot rod with the smell of exhaust flowing through pipes without catalytic converters is just intoxicating. The feel of the shifter, the sounds of the reverberating tones from the tailpipes and the wind whistling through the vent window frames just cannot be duplicated by any late model car.

[Mike DC]

Trucks though, man....I drove the pickup for years for work and the utility of them can be hard to beat. The capability to haul things is often calling me.....

Hence the popularity of El Caminos & Rancheros.  Imagine having the front half of a Charger + a pickup bed on the back. 

I'm kinda surprised we haven't seen a few 4dr Coronets & wagons reskinned as Chargers.  We've seen several ragtop convertibles redone as Chargers but people don't build other B-body variants.  And these days 4dr cars (and trucks) don't have the uncool stigma they used to.       

[Kern Dog]

I've never been much of a fan of the Ranchero or El Camino.
I can see the utility, they ride like a car but have some hauling capability.

[John_Kunkel]

Trucks though, man....I drove the pickup for years for work and the utility of them can be hard to beat. The capability to haul things is often calling me.....

Hence the popularity of El Caminos & Rancheros.  Imagine having the front half of a Charger + a pickup bed on the back. 

   

I haven't seen a Charger (other than the LX) made into a pickup but here are a couple of other Mopars done so.

[Mike DC]

 
Interesting.
 

I wonder how the bed floors are done.  Smuggler's box?


In Australia there was a factory A-body Mopar with a pickup bed.  Seems like they could have brought that over here in the 1970s.  Mini-trucks were getting popular in the US by then.
 

[doctor4766]

I had a GM Holden Commodore SS ute the same as this as my daily driver but just recently sold it.

It had the LS1 and is based on the same platform as the last GTO that we built for you.
Drove beautifully with plenty of power.

The practicality of a 2 seater workhorse sadly came to an end in recent times and I had to get a dual cab ute instead, for those days that involve picking up grand kids from school.

Plenty of those Valiants still on the road here Mike

[Mike DC]

Plenty of those Valiants still on the road here Mike

I wish they they had those things here. Old Mopar A-body + small pickup bed = practical as heck. 

But yeah, just put it on the list of cool Aussie cars.  I'd like a Valiant Charger with the straight Hemi too. And an XB Falcon for a 'Mad Max' replica . . .     

[doctor4766]

Plenty of those Valiants still on the road here Mike

I wish they they had those things here. Old Mopar A-body + small pickup bed = practical as heck. 

But yeah, just put it on the list of cool Aussie cars.  I'd like a Valiant Charger with the straight Hemi too. And an XB Falcon for a 'Mad Max' replica . . .     

You may have seen Ford Gran Torinos done up as Mad Max's interceptor. That would be the easiest way to go.

Even a decent XB Falcon sedan will cost you North of $20k before you even begin, let alone a 2 door

[Kern Dog]

I drove mine on a 950 mile road trip the past 5 days.
Good times...

[RallyeMike]

I make a point of taking a classic to the hardware store, groceries, brewery, auto parts store etc. ..... regular errands to get them out and enjoy them. You sure meet a lot of car-people this way. But then winter comes along and they might see once a month as weather allows.

[Kern Dog]

Yeah, meeting people can be great.
Sometimes, it can be LESS than great. We all have dealt with the guy that had one just like it but it was orange, and a four door but also a Ford.

[Mike DC]

Yeah, meeting people can be great.
Sometimes, it can be LESS than great. We all have dealt with the guy that had one just like it but it was orange, and a four door but also a Ford.

You know that guy too? The one who had the '68 Challenger with the 427 Hemi? 

[Dino]

I drove it to work today and took a 2 hour round trip after. I stopped once for gas and 5 people complimented the car and asked questions. I do enjoy that. The damn thing needs more gears though! 

[INTMD8]

Yeah, meeting people can be great.
Sometimes, it can be LESS than great. We all have dealt with the guy that had one just like it but it was orange, and a four door but also a Ford.

Proof I've never had a unique experience. "Had one just like that" (a 74 Maverick sedan)

[timmycharger]

I drive mine as often as possible, took it through the drive through this past weekend 

[lloyd3]

It's not as much fun when it gets hot here.  More of a Spring and Fall ride these days, sadly.  I had been taking it to lunch with a buddy lately but it's just too-hot most days. 

[doctor4766]

I drive mine as often as possible, took it through the drive through this past weekend 

Your Maccas drive throughs have to got to be bigger than we have in Oz.
I've tried to negotiate 2 of them in my Charger and there's barely enough room for the car to fit.
I tend to just get out and walk in these days instead of risking hitting the sides.
The typical large Australian car here was more what you'd call mid-sized compared to your full-size cars back in the day.
Now we're beginning to see a lot of Rams, Silverados and Tundras on the road, since our local car industry is non existent.
I'm guessing that unless KFC and the like start building bigger drive throughs, more customers will be walking in instead.

[will]

Hopefully this weekend. Trying to iron out a temperature issue. Pulled the aluminum shroud thing that my electric fans mounted to and zip tied the fans to the radiator. I also put a flow Kooler water pump in. Fingers crossed...

[Kern Dog]

I had this out yesterday...



I picked up a buddy that left his Coronet at the shop for an A/C service.



We had one stop on the way back to my house where we were going to work on a couple of cars.
I left a parking lot, got halfway to the point where I usually shift to 2nd and FLOORED it...I ran it up to 6500, lifted and hit second....Floored again and shifted at 6500 again.
He said something like...." My car is too damned slow!"
His car is not slow. His 440 rocks pretty damned good. I drove it a couple years ago.
It wasn't my intention to show him up, I was just playing around. He started talking about getting a bigger cam, maybe pulling the engine to add a stoker crank, etc.
That cracked me up.

[lloyd3]

If the weather cooperates I take mine to lunch occasionally here (it does cut-down on my drinking tho...Margaritas and 4-gears you know). Normally it's too-damn hot in July/August here for a big block with no AC, made worse by the ever-more shitty traffic here (Denver is a mess anymore, why do all the Californians come here when they leave the coast?).

I had a hard launch the other day as well. My son and I were headed to a little show at his old high school last week and I hit it fairly hard turning right onto a 6-lane road (that used to be a 2-lane) chirping 2nd and 3rd. Hard squalling on the turn followed by two solid chirps. Nice to know I haven't lost my touch with a clutch. The long line of dinky econoboxes and minivans behind me (and beside us, stacked-up at the light, in the southbound lanes) got quite the show. My 21-year old seemed duly impressed.

Ahhh...my misspent youth.

[1970Moparmann]

Since the beginning of June, put 800 miles on my Charger and 200 miles on the Superbird.   Miles of smiles....  

[Kern Dog]

Today, to the Dentist.

 

[Kern Dog]

Today, over to see the Coronet guy. He left his sunglasses in the car so I returned them.
He was repairing a hole in his A/C condenser. His first time ever and he fixed it in 5 minutes.
I went to another dentist and to the grocery store too. I was treating it like a regular car.

[timmycharger]

Took it to the local cruise night on Friday, not a huge turnout but still fun.  The Charger got lots of attention and was 1 of about 3 Mopars that night.

[Back N Black]

I try really hard to drive it 4 0r 5 times a week, I take it to the grocery store, drug store etc. And I do a burnout every time. I say to myself ok no burn outs today but I can't help it. I'm on the 3 set of tires on the rear with original set on the front.

[lloyd3]

I'm hot and cold on my driving of this car anymore.

It took order-of-magnitude efforts to secure it and then to re-restore it. Many, many years of plotting & scheming and then scrimping & saving to finally get it to the point where I wanted it. To just go out now and "let 'er rip" seems a bit callous (so I really don't it much anymore).  Most of my use of it now is very measured, you know...dry roads (no dirt) and temperate conditions (not too hot!), minimal passengers (only the "worthy") and in very controlled conditions (minimal traffic if possible & on mostly-rural roads). That all goes out the window occasionally when I'm feeling "out of sorts" and "nostalgic" for another life and another "earlier" time.

I  get "fed-up" with all the nanny-state BS here anymore, all the endless "safety-first" stuff and the seemingly now- eternal drudgery of driving on crowded roads with too-damn many boring and ugly "plastic" cars. Even wiping this unit down after each use (which, when done "right" I can actually enjoy), cleaning bug-guts and grime off of the glass, usually covering it between uses, and then carefully storing it for each winter becomes a little "mundane" after nearly 30-years of ownership.  Every once in a long while, however, I'll get perturbed about something and I'll need a long & contemplative drive in it to clear my mind. I'll then slowly start to remember life back in my late teens & 20s (& all those "wild" early passions....the pretty young women, all the parties, the great music [& cheap booze], & getting "laid", you know...real fun?).

Most of it was painfully stupid, some of it immoral (and arguably dangerous), but all of it really made you feel so-alive and very-much "in the moment". When all those memories come flooding back for me, they really get the juices flowing, and in those now-rare & very "special" moments...the RPMs tend to come up on that old gas-guzzling 440 and the pace really picks up, the unsilenced Carter AVS starts to "moaning" more-loudly, the shifting get more vigorous and deliberate, and then...the rubber really gets "roasted".

[Mike DC]

 

I try really hard to drive it 4 0r 5 times a week, I take it to the grocery store, drug store etc. And I do a burnout every time. I say to myself ok no burn outs today but I can't help it. I'm on the 3rd set of tires on the rear with original set on the front.

You say that like it's a bad thing... 

[Dino]

Now that most of the kinks have been worked out, I drive it pretty much every day be it rain or shine. There a few minute things left to do, such as calibrate the temp gauge and tweak the driver side window, but nothing crazy. The car drives better than ever, suspension is as good as I can probably get it on these crappy roads, steering is tight, and it stops as hard as my Audi. One thing I should do is improve cooling. It usually doesn't go over 185, measured with an accurate gauge, but sitting in traffic on a 90 degree day has pushed it up to 230, and I barely get it below 200 when driving. I should probably just get rid of the stock fan and install a pair of electric fans that the Edelbrock ECU can control.
I have to say that all this work has really paid off. The addition of power windows, door locks, trunk lock, intermittent wipers, and a kickass stereo has made this car a blast to drive. But it's not over yet! A T56 is waiting to go in over the winter. Now we're talking!

[b5blue]

I had a hell of a time cooling proper after adding A/C but found stock fixed fan and shroud with a pusher fan in front of the A/C condenser run through a thermostat/A/C on switch keep things cool even in hot ass Florida. Look hard at Alt. output as fans draw amps. 

[Dino]

I had a hell of a time cooling proper after adding A/C but found stock fixed fan and shroud with a pusher fan in front of the A/C condenser run through a thermostat/A/C on switch keep things cool even in hot ass Florida. Look hard at Alt. output as fans draw amps. 

Very true! I have a 120 amp alternator.

[Mike DC]

I had a hell of a time cooling proper after adding A/C but found stock fixed fan and shroud with a pusher fan in front of the A/C condenser run through a thermostat/A/C on switch keep things cool even in hot ass Florida. Look hard at Alt. output as fans draw amps. 

Is the clutch-less stock fan still necessary even with an electric pusher in front?  That thing might be soaking up 20-30 horsepower at high revs.   

[b5blue]

  I don't care much about power, I've plenty and do not race. I sweat my tail off over 20 years without A/C!

[Mike DC]

I don't care much about power, I've plenty and do not race. I sweat my tail off over 20 years without A/C!

Yeah I totally get that attitude for a street car. 

 

[b5blue]

  30 years ago my car was bought as a mothballed drag racer that saw 8 years of hard 1/4 mile duty. It barely broke into 12's when the trunk mounted + battery cable found hot exhaust pipe ground and lit up the dash.
  I knew I could rewire/repair and told the Charger it would never race again. For twenty years and 1,000's of miles it earned it's keep as my "construction truck" with a trunk full of tools. We are both retired now and my kids want it to stay, so never selling. 

[Mike DC]

             

30 years ago my car was bought as a mothballed drag racer that saw 8 years of hard 1/4 mile duty. It barely broke into 12's when the trunk mounted + battery cable found hot exhaust pipe ground and lit up the dash.
  I knew I could rewire/repair and told the Charger it would never race again. For twenty years and 1,000's of miles it earned it's keep as my "construction truck" with a trunk full of tools. We are both retired now and my kids want it to stay, so never selling. 

Yeah, racing is rough on cars. 

There's that old saying "Don't race a car unless you are willing to set it on fire and roll it off a cliff."
                       

[Kern Dog]

It seems to me that a car should be at least competent at everything to be considered a high quality vehicle.
It should be reasonably fast, reliable, handle well, stop within safe distances and get acceptable mileage. Maintenance should be within the capabilities of an average amateur car guy too.
I see guys that drive drag cars on the street, wiggling through roll bars, sitting in aluminum seats with no heater, A/C or radio and I just shake my head. Good for them if they like it....I want a car that is well rounded.
Look at newer cars like the Challenger and Charger, the Camaro and Mustang. They perform well in a wide range of conditions, in temperatures from below zero to over 120 degrees. To me, THAT is how a street car should be.
I've never driven my car in weather below 40 or above 110 but I could.
I've never been on a road course but I would like to. I've drag raced but I'm not that good at it.

[Mike DC]

It seems to me that a car should be at least competent at everything to be considered a high quality vehicle.
It should be reasonably fast, reliable, handle well, stop within safe distances and get acceptable mileage. Maintenance should be within the capabilities of an average amateur car guy too.
I see guys that drive drag cars on the street, wiggling through roll bars, sitting in aluminum seats with no heater, A/C or radio and I just shake my head. Good for them if they like it....I want a car that is well rounded.
Look at newer cars like the Challenger and Charger, the Camaro and Mustang. They perform well in a wide range of conditions, in temperatures from below zero to over 120 degrees. To me, THAT is how a street car should be.
I've never driven my car in weather below 40 or above 110 but I could.
I've never been on a road course but I would like to. I've drag raced but I'm not that good at it.

I don't think strict rules really work for defining a street car. 

Some guys are willing to drive impractical stuff every day.  Others have reliable comfy cars and still don't drive them much.


IMO the whole car hobby (not just us elders) has shifted more towards practicality in the last 50 years because we spend more time in cars than we used to.  The cities have sprawled out.  The commutes are longer.  The roads have more traffic.  The cars are better-designed and more expensive and longer-lasting.     


The only real test is putting a lot of miles on something, in varying conditions.  That's why the old "Fastest Street Car" competitions in the 1990s evolved into the modern Drag Week.  The requirement went from a 25-mile cruise to 1000 miles of road-tripping.  It's necessary to keep the contest legit.   

[AKcharger]

Oh? I didn't answer. Both cars started every week and ran till at normal operating temperature and driven every other week.

[Sixt8Chrgr]

I fall in that category of more than a few cars so the 69 does not get driven as much as it should. But I so enjoy driving that car. It looks and drives so well. It does have cold factory AC so I drive it in the Summer in NC as well as Fall. I leave to Fl in the Winter so it does not see much use over the Winter unless I come back for a week or so.

[lloyd3]

Reading this again this morning makes me a little homesick.

Up here on the Canadian border getting my father-in-law's old place ready for yet another "Fall Spectacular" (hunting in the woods, fishing on the lake). It takes two days of driving for me to get here (& I mostly have to drive because I'm bringing multiple firearms and lots of ammo) so I generally stay for a long time (~2-months). It's lovely here (lonely and unspoiled, not many people) and I like everything about it except for the fact that I'm over a thousand miles away from being able to drive my car on a beautiful Fall day.



I've even considered hauling it up here sometime to take advantage of these beautiful, empty and almost perfectly straight roads but...the nicer "car" days are few and sometimes far-inbetween this far north, so it would be a fool's errand to do so.



But I am missing it this morning...

[b5blue]

I took mine out for a beach run, still damage from 2 hurricanes last year here and there.

[Kern Dog]

Straight roads?



I like the roads like I like the women....curvy ones!

[lloyd3]

KD: While I really do like curvaceous women (I dated plenty of 'em and I've been married to one for 40-years) my now-almost 60-year old car simply does not handle curves very well. This car is absolutely stock and while it's handling is not "terrible" in a corner, the technology employed by Ma Mopar in 1968 isn't nearly as effective as the cars being made today for such situations.

I know that you have made improvements to your car so that it can be driven more-aggressively in turns and I applaud that effort. There is plenty of room to improve these cars for modern use and many have done just that. Yours is now a "driving machine" but mine is a "memory machine" that I use to remind me of days and a life that is mostly far-behind me now. 

Nostalgia, served in small doses, is very pleasant for me and I feel so-fortunate to be able to indulge in such silly and pointless behavior.  I would have been done with all of this many years ago but since my only son has expressed his own interest in having this car someday...it remains in my garage. I drive it now sparingly, but I do still very-much enjoy it. Uncovering it is always a thrill, taking-in all those beautiful curves and body lines, the blending of glass, paint and chrome into that wonderful coke-bottle shape. Starting it and then listening to it settle into that gorgeous deep-throated rumble, and then driving it to lunch with a buddy is still a great treat  Driving in the vast lonely spaces to the east of me, listening to that engine animate everything around it is still the unmistakable experience of filling my senses with the sights, sounds, and smells of driving an original big-block V8 four speed American car from the "classic" era. My heart sings in these moments and I fondly remember so-many people and places that are sadly mostly long-gone now. 



Ahhh....it's been a very good life. I do hope the next caretaker of this vehicle will appreciate it in all the ways I have come to. They simply don't make them like this anymore.

[Kern Dog]

I was 4 years old when both of my Chargers were built. I was an early car guy though. I used to be able to identify the make of the cars as they drove by the house. I'd stand on the sidewalk and call out the cars as they came down the road. This was before I was 10 years old. I'm sure that I was wrong a lot but I was really interested in cars from the start.
By the time I was ready to get my driver's license in 1982, these cars were often on their 2nd or 3rd owner. Not many were still in good condition. Even though cars don't rust in California like they do elsewhere, they were often banged up, missing parts, had poor quality repairs or were parts cars.
The cool new cars in the early 80s were Chevys, Pontiacs and Fords. Ma Mopar had nothing worth driving. Mom had a 79 Camaro Z 28 and what I liked about that car was that it did everything well. (For it's time) I wanted that for myself in every car that I would own from then forward.
That is why I aimed my sights on a Mopar that was fast, stopped well, handled well and was reliable. Look at what great cars the 2009-23 Challengers were. They were comfortable, fast and handled great.
I know that the bigger wheels and lower profile tires don't appeal to the purists. That is fine. I bought the car for myself, I built it to make me happy and if others like it, that is fine.

[b5blue]

  In fact none are "racing" anywhere anymore. My pal races on a 1/4 mile track. All this crap about souping up our cars is 99% wish you could race wannabe. I have enjoyed my 70 for 30 years!   

[Kern Dog]

I don't put soup in my car. Why anyone still uses that phrase is a mystery.

[pete]

Great stories, but man, you guys are gonna make me cry!