1968 Dodge Hemi Charger R/T

This car, Lot S226, sold for $121,500, including buyer’s premium, at Mecum’s Dallas, TX, sale, held September 3–6, 2014.

First-gen Dodge Chargers, built from 1966 through 1967, offered plenty of performance. But by most car-guy standards, they lacked in the styling department. Dodge fixed that in 1968 with the introduction of an all-new body with flared quarter panels and a sleek aerodynamic stance. The new Coke-bottle look was far more visually interesting than the boxier outgoing model, and it resonated with more muscle car buyers, too.

Sales jumped dramatically from 15,788 Chargers sold in 1967 to 96,108 in 1968. Out of that number, 17,584 buyers opted for the R/T package, which offered the stout 440 Magnum mill standard. The infamous 426 Hemi was optional.

Rare for a reason

Like most rare muscle cars of the late 1960s, rarity was usually driven by a finicky mechanical reputation and/or enormous options costs. In the case of the 1968 Hemi Charger, you could check off both boxes. The 426 Hemi already had a bad rap as a street engine since it required more mechanical aptitude to keep it running at its best — and for guys who simply wanted to mash the pedal on a Saturday night, spending your Sunday in the driveway tinkering with your Hemi was not much fun.

As such, only 467 guys put one in their garage in 1968, which equates to a fairly rare, and valuable, car today.

Charging ahead

Mopar valuations, in general, have been leading the muscle car market upward. Up front in those value observations (once again) have been the top-of-the-heap Hemi cars.

In the raucous run-up of values in the mid 2000s, world records were set for the poster child for outrageous values — 1971 Hemi ’Cuda convertibles — which brought seven-figure prices at public auction and reportedly sold privately for north of $4m for “best in the world” examples.

We all know what came next. Market values crashed and Hemi values across the board tanked hard. Most valuation pundits suggested that the heyday of cheap money and market speculation was over, further suggesting that the big-money buyers and collectors for finite American muscle had left the room. And, for the most part, they were right. At least until June of 2014.

That month, Mecum sold a “holy grail” Hemi ’Cuda convertible for an eye-opening $3,780,000, including buyer’s premium, at its inaugural Seattle, WA, sale (ACC# 244569). That sale proved just about every valuation guru wrong in a public way, as most, if not all of them, predicted that the Hemi ’Cuda convertible would never return to those type of lofty valuations. On top of that, it helped to spark a renewed interest in just about all the mainstream Hemi muscle cars.

Keep in mind, Hemi values for most of the sought-after Mopars have been slowly creeping up since about January 2012. Add to that superb documentation, an original drivetrain, and top it off with a third pedal, and you’ve likely got yourself a bell-ringer at the next televised (insert auction company name here) sale.

Firing up the data

To illustrate the market’s movement on Hemi Chargers, we can look back at an ACC profile written by Colin Comer in ACC #1 on another 1968 model (January-February 2012, p. 48). That car sold on September 17, 2011, at the Mecum St. Charles, IL, sale as Lot S147 for $63,600.

That Charger was in good overall condition and was born with a 4-speed manual. The original Hemi mill was MIA, plenty of day-two parts had been added to the presentation, and a lot of its Hemi-specific parts were missing. Still, Comer suggested that it was well bought, and given the previous years of rocketship “nose-bleed” Hemi prices, he was spot on.

Granted, in comparison, our subject car presents far better than that Day Two car. It’s also missing its original Hemi engine, but it is reported to be fitted with a proper date-coded 1968 Hemi block. Other notable options include a bumble-bee stripe delete, bucket seats and console with the automatic floor-mounted shifter. Also worthy of noting, the fender tag shows that the car was a special order, since it was already sold before it was ever put on the assembly line.

Considering all that, it’s no surprise that our subject car was more expensive than the Day Two car. But we’re talking 100% more expensive — $63k versus $121k — and while part of that is due to this car catering more to the deeper pockets of the OEM resto Hemi world, a boosted market level also played a part.

The ACC database only shows a handful of 1968 Hemi Chargers changing hands since 2007, with values ranging from $63,600 (the aforementioned Day-Two Charger) to $137,800 (Mecum Kissimmee 2012). The ACC Pocket Price Guide places them at $65,000–$104,000 for a very nice example.

A dealer in Texas had this car listed for sale in the open market for $150,000. He ultimately sold the car at the Mecum sale for considerably less, but the price paid here is likely more in tune with the current market. This doesn’t make the dealer’s asking price absurd, but it does illustrate the dynamics of a live auction as a bellwether of value.

Given the trend lines and frothy sale of that 1971 Hemi ’Cuda convertible, this sale result is likely spot-on at the current market value for a car of this caliber. I’d call this a fair deal for both the buyer and seller.

(Introductory description courtesy of Mecum Auctions.