There has been a strong trend in recent years to revive the excitement of owning a charger.
At one stage the charger was a long shot after not being made available in the initial VH release in 1971, this last minute car became one of the fastest selling and most wanted sports version of a basic family car, it then grew into a true competition car and boasted the fastest production 6 cylinder engine available to the general public at a very realistic price.
Other than the performace vehicles in the VH and select early VJ's. many of these cars wre purchased as daily drivers, mechanically identicaly to any other sedan, wagons or ute of the time.
However the feeling of owning and driving a sleek sexy vehicle with a character all of its own lasted only a few years and towards its model life solidered on.
The charger was not aggressively marketed after the "Super Car Scare" and HI-PO version were cancelled. The fuel crisis of the mid 70's saw traditional sized family vehicles withV8's and Sixes being ditched for the new Japanese 4 cylinders, however this trend only lasted a few years.
These cars at one stage were selling as low as 10 cent in the dollar of the original purchase price and many were picked up for a week or 2 wages.
Personally i have owned 5 chargers, today a tidy well maintaned example can be purchased for just under the price of the newest smallest car. For factory performace vehicles you are looking at spending the same as about 1/2 a family new car
To copy a Wheels road test on a standard 265 auto CL charger
"Chargerrrrrrr it goes the way it sounds" |
