Late last year, Dodge did exactly what Chevrolet had done to its sixth-generation Camaro icon. At the behest of its parent, Stellantis, it pulled the plug from the production of the third generation Challenger coupe and seventh iteration of the legendary Charger.
Now, Mopar fans are torn apart between allowing Dodge the opportunity to grow into a fresh new lifestyle or mourning the departure of the Hemi V8 and hating the brand for it. Instead, the US automaker will kick off assembly only of the eighth generation Charger with a returning classic two-door fastback body style and the four-door sedan format.
The nameplate is also ditching everything it knew until now in terms of powertrains and will enroll the Daytona version into the EV lifestyle. At the same time, the first-ever Sixpack models will carry 420 or 550 horsepower under the hood courtesy of the new 3.0-liter inline-six Hurricane twin-turbo mills. Oh well, there are just two solutions – embrace the future or dwell in the past.
If you’re doing the former, it’s obvious a Daytona or Sixpack fastback or saloon is the right Dodge for you. Otherwise, Mopar fans can still search for leftover L-bodied Challenger and Charger inventory around America and Canada. Or, perhaps they could go back in time and jump at the wheel of a perfect time capsule.
For example, New York-based Motorcar Classics probably thinks it has you covered if you’re willing to write a check for almost $130k to ride home in this Charger 440. We are dealing here with a second-generation 1969 example, and this fastback coupe is a great-looking rarity. Curiously, the dealership doesn’t say a lot of things about this piece of memorabilia – they give us the year, the mileage (13369), the type of transmission (automatic), the engine designation (440), plus the red and black colors for the exterior and interior.
The rest is for us to find out – such as the fact that it’s an R/T unit. Luckily, one of the pictures in the gallery contains a lot of information – it’s a panel with highlights of the vehicle series taken from the ‘Chrysler Motors and The Dodge Charger Registry’ where we find out it’s equipped with the four-barrel carburetor 440 V8 engine rocking at the time a hefty 375 horsepower.
There is also an entire list of standard and optional equipment fitted to the car – the base price at the time was $3,575, and after topping everything from the list, it amounted to a little over $4,461. If we do the math and consider that some venues believe $1 in 1969 equals $8.54 today, the quotations result in figures of $30,530 and $38,097, respectively. However, don’t expect to pay that as the dealership actually wants a negotiable yet hefty $129,900 for this award-winning 1969 Dodge Charger R/T 440.