Hey USA! Charger!
A VERY rare car at the last Dubbo Classic Cars and Coffee was stopping locals in their tracks – the bronze metallic 1968 Dodge Charger with a 383 cubic inch Chrysler V8 big block coupled to a 727 transmission. Barry Fogwell, from Lemon Tree Passage, bought it in Alabama in 1996 and shipped it back home.
“I had it for three or four years and my son Darren liked it so he bought it and he’s spent the money on it,” Mr Fogwell told Dubbo Photo News.
“I love American cars. I’ve got a few from the late 1950s, all Chryslers: a 1959 Desoto, a Chrysler New Yorker coupe, my original Desoto is a four door Australia-assembled car. There were about 94 assembled in South Australia and I’ve had it for 51 years,” remarking he’s always had a fascination for cars built under the Chrysler umbrella.
“My first car was a ’52 Plymouth and my brother had a ’49 Dodge. They’re a little bit different from Fords and Chevs. There are not nearly as many of them. We love them – if you use them, they just keep going.” Barry’s son Darren drove from his home on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to pick up his dad before heading out to Dubbo for the final night of the drive-in. “Dad’s been here a couple of times. When they said they were closing it, I had to come,” he said, telling Dubbo Photo News that he just loves to drive classic Chryslers as much as he can.
“I’ve driven this car to Queensland, Melbourne, I’d drive it anywhere. I just maintain what needs to be done. I rebuilt the engine in 2002 and haven’t touched it since,” he said.
“My cousin and I went on another trip to the US with Dad and we picked up a 1964 Chrysler 300 that had been in storage for 12 years, got that going and then drove it to Alabama and then to Columbus Ohio and sold that in the ‘car corral’. “We then went back to Alabama and bought a ’69 Dodge Superbee out of a paddock and got that going, spent a week on that, then drove it to Florida then all the way across America and put it on the boat and brought it home and now I’m rebuilding that.” While Mopars aren’t common in Australia, Darren says where he lives, there are about 10 similar cars. “On the peninsula, there’s a couple of Cars and Coffee (events) locally but I go to the further ones because I prefer to drive the car,” he reiterated.
“This colour is ‘bronze metallic’ and it’s painted in acrylic, not two-pak, it’s a factory hardtop, the way you see it is the way it came from the factory.
“It’s a rare colour for these cars apparently, this car has still got all the numbers matching stuff on it that came from the factory, everyone calls it the ‘grandpa car’ because of the colour.”