The two magic letters in the name clearly state what the Charger was designed for. The R stands for road, therefore everyday use, but the T stands for track, the race track. When at the beginning of the 1960s the American motor industry realized that not only families, but also young people could be a powerful target group, cars were brought out with powerful engines but overall simpler equipment, which would enable young people to drive an attractive car. A Ford Mustang, a Pontiac Firebird or a Chevy Camaro engendered a real fever- the “muscle car” fever. A very important application was also the increasing number of local races and series that where held, not only as sprints over a quarter mile, but also as circuit races. Many racing drivers who would later become famous started their racing careers in the NASCAR series or formula races.
The new muscle cars were economical to buy and needed little tuning to prepare for use in racing. The bases were always high volume V8 engines with a high performance. In the 1960s Dodge, with the Charger and the Challenger, revamped their specifically sporty image.
From 1966 to 1968, Dodge offered the Charger as a variation on the Dodge Dart. Optimum speed was provided by a fast back body and the V8 engines used gave it a sporty start. By 1968 they had brought a totally new Charger model that enthused the masses, as clearly shown by the sales figures of 93.000. This more modern, streamlined version was built up to 1970 and still today embodies the dreams of muscle car fans. In particular the R/T models with their decorative trim are still considered to be the very embodiment of sportiness. The first generation Charger perfectly incorporates the image of a high performance sportster, which was proved to be fast up to 240 km/h engine that won just about every acceleration trail. The reason for this, in addition to the powerful 425 hp engine, was the low weight of 1.500 kg. It was not until the mid 70s that the oil crises caused to rethink. The 7 litre V8 engines that have been celebrated for years consumed to much “gas” and within a few weeks were not longer up to the minute.
