Q: Hello Greg. I live in Rupert, Pa., and never miss your automotive articles. Whether collector / muscle car oriented or new car test-drive articles, I always enjoy your work. At age 73, I am amazed at how much I don’t know!
I am a car nut from way back in the mid-60s but I always learn something from your articles. I am writing about your feature that appeared nationally and in the Bloomsburg Press-Enterprise about the 1966 Dodge Charger. I was surprised, and pleased, to see your article since I’ve been a 25-year owner and avid supporter of ’66 and ‘67 first generation Dodge Chargers. And thank you for contacting me after my first email to you as you have a sharp eye concerning the 440-engine badge on the side of my Charger. (But that’s your job, right?)
To explain, my car is a true 1966 Charger and I have tried to keep it original to factory production with the exception of two major points that you contacted me on. You are correct that the 440 engine was not available in 1966, although I have seen some properly documented late-model-year 1966 Chrysler models that were shipped with a 440. As you know, the 440 was not officially offered until 1967 and it replaced the 361.
When the Chrysler Museum was still operating it offered a VIN decoding service as well as a reproduction of the factory computer punch card (remember those). Here is some of the info they sent me: My car was produced at the Lynch Road Assembly plant n Detroit on Feb 24, 1966 as order #09046. It was shipped to and sold by Poole-Gable Motors in Gainesville, Fla. From the factory it had the 361 2-bbl engine and 727 automatic transmission with 2.94:1 open differential. The body color was LL-1 (Dark Turquoise Poly) with P4W white interior. The previous owner protected the fender tag from re-paint and so did I. I am the fourth owner although the third owner had it for less than one year.
Owner two swapped in the 440 engine and badges, kept the auto transmission and swapped the differential for a 3.55:1 Sure-Grip. All of this gets a lot of “Oooo’s and Ahhh’s” and a lot fun for me so I kept the combo. There was no “number-matching” back in 1966.
The other factory deviation is the color combination. The forest green body color and beige interior was also a previous-owner’s idea. These were never 1966 factory colors although again, I get a lot of favorable comments on the color combo. I like it, too, so I kept it when I had it re-painted.
Your feature article had much wonderful information from your contributor, Dave Krull, with excellent details added by yourself. I can understand that it is impossible to hit on every nuance and factoid about the 1966 Charger, however, there are two points I would like to address because they seem significant to me.
You mentioned that the 1966 Charger offered the optional “Boss Hog” 426 Street Hemi. Although Dodge did offer a racing (not street legal) 426 hemi in 1964, I would like to point out that the ‘66 Charger was the first MOPAR production car to ever offer the “street legal” Hemi. And the reason for this unique privilege granted to the Charger was because, in actuality, the 1966 Charger was intended and designed to unveil for mass production the long researched and much-publicized Chrysler Turbine engine.
That production never materialized.
As you can see from my other attached picture, which is an autographed print of the original Charger Turbine concept, it is signed by the legendary Chrysler designer Carl “Cam” Cameron. There is an opening in the grill designed to accommodate the air intake for the turbine engine. It’s hard to see in this photo of the print, but the letters “TURBINE” are mounted on the top of the front bumper.
Hoover is the owner of a rare art print of the Turbine Charger prototype, signed by designer Carl Cameron, showing what the original ’66 Charger was to look like. The A/P in the lower right means the print is an Artist’s Proof, making it more valuable. (Hoover Collection Photo)
Last-minute decisions about the viability of the turbine, as well as the pre-production Charger hype, forced Chrysler to come up with a replacement sales extravaganza game for 1966 – ergo, the Street Hemi. It was scheduled for mass production soon, anyway.
I’m sure you are familiar with all the Chrysler hype, engineering, and sales hoopla in the late 50s and early 60s surrounding the turbine. I remember magazine articles that reported the turbine “could gulp any fuel from peanut oil to Chanel No. 5, although Chrysler was more focused on fossil fuels such as kerosene or even jet fuel. But acceleration lag and excessive fuel consumption, not to mention pesky exhaust issues, killed turbine mass production for 1966.
I could ramble on, ad-nauseam, about the first-generation Chargers, the Chrysler turbine engine, and their unique characteristics, but I will end with a heart-felt thank you for your past, and continued, contributions to all things automotive. Sincerely, Terry Hoover, Rupert, Pa., near Bloomsburg.
A: Terry thank you so much for your kind words and very interesting letter. You possess a great collector car in that ’66 Charger and love the fact it now sports that powerful 440 engine. You are indeed correct about the Charger and plans for the Turbine as I did write a column about the Chrysler Turbine last year and it is available on my homepage at gregzyla.com or zylamotorsports.com (both go to the same homepage, and then takes you to a newspaper that runs my column).
Called the Chrysler Turbine Ghia, Chrysler produced 50 of these turbine vehicles in 1963-1964 and, surprisingly, they were used for the general public for a test drive evaluation, free of charge, for three months. I saw the Ghia in person twice, once at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn and once back in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. The prototype cabin included what would become standard in the 1966 Charger, namely the bucket seats front and aft. Only nine of the original 50 Chrysler Turbines remain, and Jay Leno is the proud owner of one of them. (See Jay Leno’s Garage on YouTube.)
I really appreciate your inclusion of the rare, signed artwork of the proposed Charger Turbine. I’ve never seen this print and the fact it is signed makes it a nice collector piece. These collector prints are rare, and if you look in the lower right of your print it says A/P, which stands for artist’s proof, making it more valuable as it precedes any numbered edition that follows.
Terry your 1966 Dodge Charger is awesome, and perhaps we’ll meet this year when the Bloomsburg Nationals Car Show takes place in August. I’ll have a “Lucas Oil” booth inside with the race car displays near NHRA Pro Stock world champ Larry Lombardo’s center display. Please look me up if you attend.
(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist. He welcomes questions and comments on collector cars, auto nostalgia and motorsports at greg@gregzyla.com or at 303 Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840.)
Greg,
I have been searching for the first buyer of the 66 charger off the assembly line. My father in law claims it was him and there was a article and photo of him in the local paper. I cant find anything, can you? His name was Regis Faust.
Thanks.