Pneus Chrysler Dodge Charger

Dodge Charger Tyre Pressures

History of the Dodge Charger

In 1964 the first Pony Car hit the market, kicking off what would be a huge craze in the American automobile industry. The Plymouth Barracuda was a fastback coupe that was remarkably similar to the Plymouth Valiant, due to a very limited budget for the design (stemming from Chrysler's poor financial position) the car received a mixed reaction from consumers. This coupled with the arrival of one of the biggest names in automobile history, the Ford Mustang, led to sales never really taking off for the Barracuda, costing Chrysler a major opportunity if cards were played right. This led to the development of the Charger, kicking off Chrysler's resurgence in the market with another one of the most memorable cars in American engineering. Dodge wanted to further explore the emerging Pony Car and personal luxury car market, specifically wanting to meet the mark between the Ford Mustang and Thunderbird without making a head to head competitor in performance to other pony cars, it did however feature Chrysler's 426 Hemi V8 as an engine choice, a brilliant engine used in NASCAR and also used in the Jensen Interceptor. This meet-in-the-middle selling point Charger made was a niche that led to success for Chrysler / Dodge.

When the Pony Car market took off in the next few years, as General Motors launched the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird, and AMC released the Javelin, all spectacular examples of American muscle car engineering and all major competition for Chrysler to go against. This led to Dodge branching the Charger into a further performance-based market with their second generation in 1968 with the release of the R/T (Road/Track) which came with a 440 Magnum or 426 Hemi engine. Many will remember this model of R/T for the car chase in Bullit, one of the best Car Chases in cinema history, this one scene led to fantastic sales for Chrysler as they brought in 96,100 Charger sales in the '68 model year, 17,000+ of those being R/T models.

1971 marked the arrival of the third generation of Charger, in which the Coronet and Charger lines were merged into one, with 4 door models being dubbed the Coronet, and the 2 door models, the Charger. This generation added optional hidden headlights, a rear spoiler, and the "Ramcharger" bonnet (or "hood" if you're American) which featured a pop-up hood scoop that was operated by a vacuum switch under the dashboard, although this would be dropped in the following year's facelift among a few other key changes. In the '72 model year, revisions to the engines were made to allow the use of regular unleaded or leaded petrol as a pose to the leaded premium fuel used before the change due to 1972 Emissions Regulations. The 73' and 74' models featured subtle differences in the grille and headlights (Including the removal of pop-up headlights) and had different, larger quarter windows.

The 1975 model year Charger picked up on the sales increase seen in 1974's shift towards the personal luxury car market and gave it a rather drastic reworking. The Charger now shared a B platform-based body with the Chrysler Cordoba and was initially only released as the Charger SE model. 1975 sales reached a total of £30,812. The body's super square design led to the Dodge team having to get permission from NASCAR to use their sheet metal from the 1974 model year until 1978 when the Dodge Magnum became the Chargers' replacement as the B-Body personal luxury car.

Following a hiatus of production for the Charger nameplate, the Charger name would be brought back midway through 1981 as a hatchback coupe that was a performance package for the Dodge Omni 024 called the Charger 2.2. Carroll Shelby developed his own version of this car called the Dodge Shelby Charger in 1983. Shelby also purchased 1000 of the final dodge chargers and converted them into the Charger GLHS line, although none of the 4 door models was badged as Dodges, only the 5-door GLH Omni does.

Production of the Charger would cease for 20 years until its 2006 model year resurgence as a 4 door sedan. The Charger is one of the most popular and recognisable names in American motoring history with history within NASCAR and for being one of the biggest names to come out of the pony car craze. To this day there are many clubs and enthusiast groups around America and the world over that are devoted to these cars.