Cool...but emotional HotRod Documentary.
 

:cry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd0io1zktqI

That popped up in my recommended, I plan on watching

:pout:Great video, I watched it twice.

Great story!
Thanks for posting.
I grew up on the east side of Detroit in the 1960's-1970's.
The street racing scene was in full bore.
Woodward Avenue, Telegraph Road and Gratiot Avenue. (and all the back roads in between)
You heard many of the urban legend stories of the hot cars back in the day.
Most of which you never actually saw.
Glad the "Ghost" was for real and still exists today.
I was immersed with Mopars as a teenager because everyone in my immediate family worked for Chrysler back during that time.
I broke the mold when I was hired by Chevrolet in 1979.
Tyrolblue67

Here's my ride back in high school.

Attachment 1053450

Nice...looks like a 68'. My ride in the 70's to mid 80s was a 69' Road Runner. Is that a Polaroid photo?

Didn’t plan on watching the whole thing but it hooked me, awesome story!

Thanks.
Lots of great memories.
It's a 69 non-R/T bondo special. :smiling1:
Limited teenager funds.
I moved up to the 69 Charger from my first car which was a 65 Chrysler 300 convertible.
The Charger had a 383 4bbl automatic with a 3.23 posi rear end.
I hopped it up with ET mags, glass pack mufflers and a Holly carb.
It was a heavy slug....Ran decent but by no means fast.
It looked good (from a distance) and sounded cool.
I was what they considered back then on Woodward Avenue a "stroke".
"Strokes" drove cars that the guys with the hot cars wouldn't waste their time on or consider racing.
You had to earn your way up the ladder by winning some races to get a shot at the hot cars.

It's a photo of a photo taken with a 35mm.
I no longer have the negative.

Tyrolblue67

My RoadRunner was a 383 magnum/commando. Auto trans. Step in it and it would burn rubber all through 1st gear. I put G-60s on the rear. 1st gear pull was like a freight train. Stomping it coming off of exit ramps from a cruise speed was also a hard pull. Of course it can't touch my Camaro. If my RR had my Camaro Tremec 6 speed it would have been much faster.

Very cool!
Roadrunners were special.
Sounds like you had a great car.
Its funny...Back in the day, I found some 383's were screamers, others (like mine) were nothing special. I often wondered back then if instead of stopping the assembly line, they would drop 440's in cars at the plant if they ran out of 383's.
My friend had a 69 Charger like mine but it was a R/T 440 automatic. His Charger ran very strong. Another friend had a 70 340 Duster that his dad built the engine. It was the fastest car in school at the time. The last day before summer vacation, he raced the "supposed" fastest car in front of our school. His "built" 340 Duster beat a 440 six pack Challenger R/T in front of everyone. The Challenger did bog a bit off the line but a race is a race.
Great memories!
Tyrolblue67 :thumbsup:

All the RoadRunners base engines came with the 383 Commando engines which included the 440 heads and a hotter cam. Not so with the Chargers. The chargers could be bought with the grocery getter 383 or the optional 383 Magnum same as the Plymouth Commando engine. I looked at a 69 383 Charger before my RR, it was a base 383. Big difference in performance feel. Even though the specs say just 5hp more. The Commando was rated at about 425 lbs tq. The 340 Dusters were good runners because they were a lot lighter than they looked and the 340 was a good engine. The 440 much faster than the 340 in stock form. The 340 was probably built with some goodies added. And like you said the 440 bogged. Also gas was different by the late 70s. The octane was reduced and lead had been taken out by then. In the late 60s and early 70s, 103 or higher octane was still at the pumps.

Good info on the differences of the 383's. Thanks
I sold the Charger in the late 70's. Leaded premium fuel was getting vry difficult to find.
Yep...that 340 was built to the gills. It used to vibrate everyones cars when it pulled in to the school parking lot. Super high compression, high revving small block Mopar. We used to call it the popcorn machine because of how it sounded at idle.
Ended up ordering my first new car. A 78 Trans-Am. Good looking car but not a good performer. Late 70's was a terrible time for performance cars. The Trans-Am made my Charger feel like a rocket ship.
Tyrolblue67

Was your Engine Blue or Orange? I just found this....
There were two different 383 engines available for the 1969 model year: 2-barrel and 4-barrel. The 2-barrel was rated at 290 hp. The four barrel engine was rated at 330 hp and was identified on the air cleaner as "383 / FOUR BARREL". The 330-hp engine was unique to the Charger model in 1969. While this engine was available with an un-silenced air cleaner option, it differed internally from the 335-hp 383 "Magnum". Differences between the 330-hp 383 4-barrel and 335-hp 383 magnum were mostly internal. Both versions used the Carter AVS carb and the larger exhaust manifolds from the 440 Magnum engines, but the Magnum had a windage tray in the oil pan, a different camshaft profile, and different valve springs. In 1969 the B-series engines were all painted Chrysler Engine Turquoise with the exception of the 4-barrel 383 four speed and 440 Magnum engines which were painted Chrysler "High-Performance Orange". As usual, the 426 Hemi was painted "Street Hemi Orange". The 383 Magnum motor was used in Road Runners and Super Bees, but did not appear in a Charger body until 1971.

Mine was the 383 4bbl painted turquoise blue.
It had the Torqueflight automatic trans.
I did replace the Carter 4bbl with a Holley 4bbl.
It ran smooth as silk until leaded premium fuel became unavailable.
With unleaded lower octane fuel, I had to back the timing way down to get it to run decent.
That's when I decided to sell the car.
Thanks again for the info.
Tyrolblue67

I always thought the 383 Mag. was an option on the 69' Charger...guess I was wrong.