First 1969 Dodge Charger 500 Remains in Amazing Unrestored Condition.

While organizing a special Icons of Design category for the annual Eyes on Design car show in 2016, I caught wind of a special Hemi-powered Mopar hidden away in the Great White North. Apparently a private individual has quietly built up a world-class collection, the Manny Collection in Ontario, Canada, that consists mainly of unrestored Mopar muscle cars from the 1960s and early 1970s.

Among those cars is a red 1969 Charger 500 that, it turns out, is the very first Charger 500 built. It was originally used by Dodge at major auto shows and for promotions. "It's pretty much an original, unrestored Charger 500 with the 426 Hemi engine and four-speed Hurst shifter," the collection's owner told me. "I've known about this special muscle car for a very long time."

It was early in 1969 when he saw an article in Hot Rod magazine (see sidebar) about the Dodge Charger 500. "The article went on to rave about the car and its powerful Hemi engine," he said. "In 1969, between publicity appearances and special events, the Charger 500 spent quality time roaming the streets of New York looking for opportunities to show what it was made of. I was only 15 years old at the time, but seeing it in Hot Rod and reading the story really made an everlasting impression on me."

He also remembers reading in one of the articles "how the driver-side quarter-panel struck a light pole one night during some high-speed driving. The car was taken to a local dealership, which worked on it during the night and into the early morning hours so it could be ready for an appearance at a previously scheduled event."

Three decades later, in yet another example of how small the muscle car world can be, he had the opportunity to purchase that same Charger 500 from then-owner Harold Solomon. "During a previous visit to his collection a couple years before, the car caught my eye. It rekindled my teenage infatuation and put butterflies in my stomach. To keep my emotions in check at the time was challenging. I asked Harold to keep me in mind if he ever wanted to get rid of the car. Little did he know how much I really wanted it. One can always dream, and I hoped that one day I'd get my chance to own it."

Then one day the phone rang. "Harold asked me if I'd be interested in buying the Hemi Charger 500. He gave me his price and two hours to decide if I wanted it. If not, he was going on to the next person. I didn't waste any time; a deal was reached."

For those not familiar with the Charger 500 and how it came to be, here are the facts as we know them per the Chrysler Corporation archives and Chrysler Registry.

The Charger 500 was developed specifically for NASCAR racing. The 1969 Charger's standard sheetmetal—particularly the concave grille opening and the shape of the back window and rear roof section—created aerodynamic problems at high speeds. Chrysler designers addressed those issues by replacing the Charger's stock grille with a Coronet grille mounted flush with the leading edge of the car's nose, and reshaping the backlight and surrounding sheetmetal into the form of a fastback. According to a letter Chrysler sent to this car's first post-Dodge owner, the changes were good for an "increase of 3 to 7 mph . . . on the super speedways."

(Those modifications, however, didn't make the Charger 500 as competitive as Dodge wanted in NASCAR, leading to the development of the winged Charger Daytona. But that's another story.)

To qualify a car as "stock" for NASCAR racing at the time, a manufacturer had to produce at least 500 automobiles for private sale. The task of turning a standard Charger into a Charger 500 fell to Creative Industries in Detroit, which took Charger R/Ts from the Hamtramck Production Plant, performed the front grille and backlight modifications, and then shipped them to a second location where they were repainted and prepped for dealer sale.

How many Charger 500s were actually built? Some sources state more than 500 were produced (559 or 548, depending on the source), while other experts in the hobby put the number at 392. That's shy of the 500 required for homologation largely because production of the Charger 500 and the Charger Daytona (both built at Creative Industries) overlapped and more attention was being paid to the winged car, since it would be the one raced.

The paperwork that the Manny Collection has on this car is extensive, including the aforementioned letters from Chrysler and the Chrysler Registry and documents from Galen Govier. They indicate that this was the first Charger 500 ordered (by the Dodge News Bureau) and the first one built. It's one of 15 Charger 500s equipped with the Hemi engine and A833 four-speed manual transmission, and the only Charger 500 with the Hemi, four-speed, R4 Bright Red paint, C5X black cloth and vinyl interior, and power windows. The options list is extensive, which makes sense given the car's promotional intent.

From 1968 through 1995, it appeared in 20 automotive publications, with many of the editors doing some serious road "testing" on the streets and highways in and around New York City.

The current owner has never driven it on the open road or race track. It was driven at the Indianapolis and Talladega Speedways not long after he bought it in 2003, but he decided to ride in the passenger seat, leaving the driving to an expert who knew the tracks and how to get the most out of the Charger 500 without doing damage to it or the passengers.

When asked how he got into the muscle car hobby, the Manny Collection's owner told us it was a "family thing" that started with his grandfather, who owned a body shop, then to his father, who designed grilles, trim components, and emblems for the automobile industry. In fact, his father had a role in the design of the iconic Ford Mustang "running horse" we have all become accustomed to seeing affixed to the grille of the ponycar since 1964.

Then with a chuckle he added, "There was my uncle John with his 1950 Ford coupe. One day he showed up at my parent's house with a raccoon tail attached to the top of his radio antenna. It was the thing to do back in the day. He was the 'cool cat' who'd put his own twist on his automobiles. I wonder if he ever realized how much of an impression he made on me with that raccoon tail."

At a Glance

1969 Dodge Charger 500
Owned by: The Manny Collection, Ontario, Canada
Restored by: Unrestored original
Engine: 426ci/425hp Hemi V-8
Transmission: A833 4-speed manual
Rearend: Dana 60 with 3.54 gears and Super Track Pack
Interior: Black vinyl and cloth
Wheels: 15×6 Stamped steel
Tires: F70-15 Goodyear Polyglas Red Streak
Special parts: First Charger 500 built

This Charger 500 is documented as the first one built at the Creative Industries conversion facility in Detroit. Just 15 Charger 500s were equipped with a Hemi engine and four-speed manual transmission. Almost as rare (17 units) were Charger 500 Hemis with automatic transmissions. The 440/automatic combo was the most popular for the car. Due to the car's intended purpose as a promotional vehicle, Dodge ordered it with a full slate of options, including power windows, the A01 light package, a console, an AM/FM radio, an outside remote mirror, and a tachometer. The rear window in a standard Charger was mounted almost vertically between sail panels in the quarter-panels. This led to serious airflow disruption at NASCAR superspeedway speeds, so Chrysler designers called for the roofline and window to be flush in almost a fastback style. The roofline change was a positive one for aerodynamics, but it resulted in a trunk lid that was very short front-to-back. Not all suitcases fit the opening, complained Steve Kelly in HOT ROD. The other major aero improvement made at Creative Industries was the replacement of the stock Charger grille with a Coronet grille mounted almost flush with the car's nose. The white 500 stripe replaced the sport stripe normally installed on the 1969 Charger R/T models.

Showroom Racer

"You've got to hand it to the Chrysler guys. If they race it, they also sell it."

Those kudos began Steve Kelly's road test of the Charger 500 for the Feb. 1969 issue of Hot Rod. Three Hemi-powered Charger 500s were readied for the test, though one, a four-speed car, was "'borrowed (by person or persons as yet unconvicted) and most of the parts liberated." That's why Kelly spent his evaluation time in an automatic version. He liked the car's roominess, did not like the trunk lid made tiny by Creative Industries' rear-window conversion ("it's about as big as a glovebox door"), said the TorqueFlite "was the way to go on the street," and called the Charger 500 "the kind of car you make excuses to drive."

While he liked the automatic on the street, at the track things were different. The 3.23-geared car with "street plugs, no carb rejetting, ignition at 12 degrees before top dead center on the crank, and total advance not cutting in until past 3,000," when paired with a transmission "having a sub-2,000-rpm stall speed . . . is like running with one flat tire." Even with open exhaust the best the car could do was a 13.80 at 105.01 mph.

When testing the four-speed 500, Kelly brought in a ringer. Local dealer (and racer) Norm Thatcher swapped in 4.10 gears, recalibrated the distributor, and managed a best pass of 13.48 at 109 mph.

Kelly's story lists the base price of a 440-powered Charger 500 at $3,591. With the Hemi and other options, his car's as-tested price was $5,261.

Among the paperwork that has traveled with this car is a sales receipt, dated June 30, 1970, showing the car selling through Turnpike Motor Sales in East Greenbush, New York, to a Francis Russo for $3,134.75. A significant discount for such a milestone of a car.

So, is the Manny Collection's Charger 500 the Hot Rod Charger 500? It's not the automatic car photographed for the story. It could be one of the manual cars Kelly and Thatcher tested, though if it is the one that was "borrowed" we have to presume it was returned to promotional duties after repair. Documents generated by Russo indicate it is, in fact, the Hot Rod car, also tested by Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, Hi-Performance Cars, and Popular Hot Rodding, all in 1969.

Whether it did or didn't go through Steve Kelly's hands, there is no denying his Hot Rod article was the spark that fanned a flame that resulted in this very special car landing in a collection that will ensure it is preserved for years to come. —Drew Hardin

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