The Dodge Charger Throughout The Years

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A look into the past of the famous Dodge Charger and where it may be headed in the future.

Nowadays, the Dodge Charger is widely recognized as one of America’s greatest muscle cars for its “modern muscle” styling, big horsepower numbers, and emphasis on having fun. The internet is full of videos and pictures of people doing crazy things in these modern-day mayhem machines. A common question that comes up when looking over an example of one of our beloved beasts is “How did we get here?” What journey did the engineers have to go on to brings us the 4,586lbs of twisted steel and sex appeal we all know and love today? Today we aim to answer that question and show you just how amazing these cars truly are from the first generation to the present day.

Our journey begins in the year 1964 when Dodge released a “Charger” concept car that was based on the Dodge Polara. This car was meant to compete with the newly released Mustang which prided itself on being both cheap and fun. This idea was scrapped as the automotive world was beginning to move in different diffraction from a stylistic standpoint. Instead, the Charger name was reused in 1965 for the Dart GT Charger which followed the same model of being a more affordable sports car that the younger crowd would still enjoy but it did away with most of the over-the-top exterior design qualities.

Then came the iconic 1966 production year which saw the first generation Charger being born. Under the hood, you had a vast array of engine options ranging from the 318 ci V8 up to the legendary 426 ci Hemi V8 which produced somewhere in the ballpark of between 426 and 500 horsepower.

While the first-generation Charger was a big step up from its previous life as a mere trim level on what was essentially a sporty economy car. Sales were not looking good for the 1966 and 1967 production years as only 37,000 cars were made compared to the Mustang’s +1,000,000. This meant that it was high time for a new design and in 1968 that's exactly what happened. With a new coke bottle shape and larger grill/ tail lights, the Charger became something that the world had never seen before.

Under the hood sat the same engine options as the previous generation with the addition of the 440 ci V8 nicknamed “The Magnum”. This boosted the sales for the Charger to a whopping 100,000 in their first year. 1969 saw the release of the Daytona as well as some appearance upgrades which pretty much guaranteed the success of the Charger name. For that beautiful car, you can thank Richard Sias and his team who built the Charger up to be what could honestly be described as the perfect muscle car by 1970.