One of the three original Dodge Chargers – a cool artifact of drag racing yesteryear – will be auctioned off Labor Day weekend at Worldwide Auctioneers’ Auburn sale.
The car is said to be the only remaining example of the three-car match race team built by Dragmaster and fielded by Chrysler in the early months of 1964. To give the cars the quarter-mile credibility they’d need to sell cars on Monday, Dragmaster in Carlsbad, California, dropped stroked 480-cu.in. supercharged, injected, wedge engines into the then-new Dodge 330 sedans. Lightweight bumpers and aluminum front sheetmetal were also installed, as well as parachutes and traction bars. Inside, the cars retained their stock interiors and pushbutton shifters but gained a roll bar.
The cars were used as promotional tools briefly in early 1964, making appearances at Dodge dealerships and doing laps at drag strips and air fields around the country with dragster driver Jimmy Nix and Super Stock racer Jim Nelson at the controls.
The current owner, Frank Spittle, purchased his car in 1996, finished its restoration in 2003 and put the car in the public eye again in 2004. Last year it was on display at the NHRA museum from February through June. There’s a good story and photos of the Charger and its stablemates over at Chrysler’s own www.moparmagazine.com. For more about Worldwide Auctioneers Auburn auction, visit www.wwgauctions.com.