This car is so cool. Well, it just keeps going. Yeah, it's almost to the floor. It's a brake adjustment.

I Bet this has drums all the way around. It is four wheel drums. Something's leaking here. I Think it's brake fluids.

it is. There's white. Oh your rear brakes are not working hardly at all. they're all just spraying out.

So I hit the brakes and that's why there's so much travel in the pedal. So I was driving around with no rear brakes pretty much? huh? Well, good thing I didn't drive this cross country then. Yeah, it is a good thing. Welcome to Hoopie's Garage! The dumbest Automotive channel in all of YouTube and my 1968 Dodge Charger Rt440 is back home, but not as originally intended under its own power when I purchased this car back in Miami just before Christmas I hit the road to drive it over a thousand miles back to Kansas and unfortunately, well, this is a very original car with 30 plus year old tires, an original spare in the back and that's well, the tires exploded unfortunately.

which meant I had to tow this thing to the closest Oasis which was Freddie Tavares Hernandez and he put new tires on it and from there I decided Well probably not a good idea to continue driving this home, especially since the rear end gearing of this thing has it screaming on the highway. something like 4 000 RPM to go 70 75. So I left it down there and shipped it home. but the tow truck that was very expensive.

over a thousand dollars to tow it the less than 200 miles to Freddy and then over a thousand dollars to ship it here. So in retrospect, just shipping at home. what have been a lot smarter. but this is the dumbest Automotive channel in all of YouTube But now the car is back.

It's here on new Rubber and I think it's up for the journey to the car Wizards today to inspect it to see everything that's wrong with it. and there are quite a few things. unfortunately because like I said, you heard the exhaust in the previous video along with the MSD ignition and probably some cams. It's definitely got a nice little thump to it.

Uh, it is a very original car other than the repaint so there is going to be some going through on this car. But before we head up to the car, Wizards I Want to talk about the future of Dodge and Mopar Performance in General Dodge is building 2023 as the last call year for Mopar Performance. As we know it, the last of the big V8 muscle cars coming from Dodge They're going to retire the motor entirely. It's already gone and trucks replaced with a hurricane with the exception I believe of the Ram TRX but that may be retiring as well.

392 Jeeps Probably not long for this world and of course more power performance. We have Vehicles The Challengers and the Chargers. This is the last year for them and they're replacing them with electric cars. They're going to have some big last call party in March in Las Vegas where they talk about the last era of muscle cars and the new era ushered in with electric vehicles.

but they gave a little hint at the Consumer Electronics Show and well I'm not sure how this is going to work out for them because the new platform the new car is going to be all electric and you see the different levels of EVS as far as power as far as volts or whatever they're going by on their metric and well, it's as exciting as turning up a volume knob. And speaking of, they're going to give the cars different sound effects speakers because electric cars are mostly silent that you can change to make the car make whatever kind of noise you want which is very appropriate considering V6 charger and Challenger owners. The first thing they do is make it as loud as they possibly can even though it is a V6 so I definitely get that. But as far as people like me in the Midwest that worship these cars are really really going to get on board with electric Dodges and really I don't know I feel like the people are going to want to buy? these are going to be really excited about the new Sony Ophelia which is a very funny name for a car.

All the other cars at CES Teslas basically these hip model Brands like Apple making an Apple car. That's what people want when it comes to EVS They're not necessarily brand loyalty to something that's over 100 years old like Dodge As a brand, they want something new and exciting so it could be a new era when it comes to Mopar as far as performance and do really well for them, or it could be a total flop and then we just see Dodge entirely go away. But what we have now is certainly fantastic. What's coming from Dodge and it draws on this history right here.

Starting in 1968 with this charger, the 440. a mighty vehicle and this one is a really cool green spec. and I can't wait to show you the car Wizard and hopefully there's not too much wrong with it. I Wonder if the electric charger will have the 440 option when it comes to sounds because it's pretty darn good.

foreign. What do we have here? A 68 Charger It's a green Duke's a hazard kind of Yes actually I want you to drive it. Good to see that your XLR is back together. Yeah, I'm loving that thing I Was doing my day.

You gotta give it a hug every day. It keeps it keeps it. Oh very nice. Well I Don't think there's any leaks on the 68 Charger but it is a very original 440.

RT Yeah, you like that burble. sounds like America it does. Let me get my lap belt put on here. Will it fit me? I Have it made for my size but no that's not for Americans Oh well, people in the 60s weren't as girthy I suppose I suppose Yeah, but uh, it has a lot of go which is part of the problem.

But then the stoppage you'll see. Go ahead and yeah, start driving. Okay, this car is so cool. Well it just keeps going.

Yeah, it's almost to the floor. it's a brake adjustment I bet this has drums all the way around. it is four wheel drums which I don't know if I should convert the fronts to discs. obviously that would be much safer and give her the beans that'll make you smile.

Yes, it rips High though it does. Yes, yeah we are going 40 and it's a 3000 RPM so it has a great snap off the line but then you're on the highway going 60 65 it's over 4000 RPM My goodness, which I need to do something about I Talked about maybe converting it to a manual transmission, but I think I want to leave that alone? Yeah, obviously it's been modded. The motor, great exhaust, probably a cam on it. The rear axle ratio I imagine is not stock.

It's probably got like 456. who would have had maybe a mid lower 300s from the factory so it would be nice to not have that to where I could go down the highway at modern speeds. Definitely probably some 355s or something like that would be good, but what do you think of the green I Love the green I said it looks like a Kermit the frog's butt crack. It kind of does.

yeah, but it's kind of. It's all the things that I wanted that my super bird didn't have as far as yeah, mostly stock practical I was about to say it's like a comfortable version of the Superbird yes, the same gauges this steering wheel with the fake plastic. The center console is the same as well. but yeah, automatic steering seems kind of wonky.

Yeah, it's definitely lanyardi vague which I imagine it was like that new, but it could be freshened up there and then hit the brakes again. Yeah, that's like most of the brake pedal travel all the way to the floor. It's not confidence inspiring. so you hit the brakes it's like a one Mississippi and then it grabs and it's pretty much an on off switch.

I Think that before we do a disc brake conversion, let me work on your drums I can make them work really good I'm familiar with the drums Okay, you'll be ha I Think you'll be happy with the control the turn. uh stop, stop I Don't want to chance it around this turn with these wonky steering. Yep, these cars were meant for Curves Really Yeah, it's wrong though. Yeah Drive trade to the 440.

it's good so you like it I like it horn and then this doesn't work. It has Factory AC but it doesn't blow any different. I think the vacuum stuff's dead because the pods for the headlights it doesn't flip up either. So they need some things.

Yes, it needs quite a few things. Let's get this thing back and put it on the lift. I Really want to look underneath and see what it looks like. Sounds good? that noise.

It is so so nice. If you ever sell this thing, you have to call me first. What I like about it is just how original it is. It has been repainted, but the repaint does have some H2 as well.

There's patina, there's imperfections, just little things here and there but just presents so well you know, looks like a cat. Oh yeah, that's when Elliot took delivery. he uh, delivery while he was take a look at this I topped off the oil and then I I must have forgotten to put it back on. It's pretty standard.

we can probably find it. Well it was. It was a little breather actually. Yeah, what's breathing really well right now? it is breathing really well.

anyway. yeah, nice little. Mopar performance valve covers. You can see the headers.

They are headman headers. Headman headers. that's quite a name. MSD Ignition Magnum 440.

yeah, no six pack in 1968. I Thought it had the 6 . You hear that noise? It's like boiling. Uh-uh What is that? Oh I Hear it now.

Yes, What is that? That's today's gasoline. Whether it's ethanol or not, today's gasoline boils in your carburetor. That's why it takes so long to crank. When when you first start it.

Hmm, when you park this thing, it will literally boil the gas out of it. There's nothing you can do about it. Well, this carburetor seems tuned pretty well. It runs well.

Yes, yes, and no obvious leaks from the top. It's doing pretty good. It's got good power, but the ancient AC compressor I Do Not believe kicks on. I only have one temperature.

It doesn't change temperature, but even when you hit the AC button, this giant thing I Think you would notice when it kicks on. Yeah, it's probably a York compressor or something like that. It's actually like a V-Twin Like a motorcycle. there's two cylinders.

Really? it's big. Yeah. I Know there's kits to convert it to a modern AC compressor. Uh, you can go that way.

but man does that look so correct for the car. As far as replacing or rebuilding, I Would rather make this one work if we can. Yeah, everything looks correct under the hood like it would be. Even has the Campbell Soup can what's that for? It's a vacuum Reservoir Interesting.

They use it for the headlights, probably. Well, that's another thing that doesn't work. just manually flips up If you're a high-tips blind beat here. Yeah, that's a vacuum leak somewhere.

Okay, Oh oh. you open one and it closes another. It seems like they like to close and they try to. Yeah, But it seems like the things that this car needs are not major redos.

It just needs a lot of tinkering here and there. Yeah, well. fingers crossed on that. It's not a rope seal engine out.

Like the Jagger or something that's crazy. Everything looks original on the wiring it even has here. Oh, what to figure out what that goes? To see it's crumbling. You can see it down here.

Wow. So what does that control? I'm gonna have to wow. you just completely stripped it just by touching it there. huh? It's gotten very hot.

Whatever it powers or whatever it's doing, we'll have to figure that out. It's it's really melted that wire. Okay, but it's original. It's original wiring.

That's really cool. At least so many of these cars are so hacked up by now and this one's pretty much left alone. Well, it looks really cool under here. I'd like to see the underneath.

Sounds good. Well, that's some jiggle there. I Think we have what's called stacked tolerances. Like this is a little bit loose.

That's a little bit loose. That's a little bit loose when you combine them all three together. It allows for quite a bit of play. Does it look very pretty up there either? huh? Well, the boots not torn I would I would say that's fine, just keep it greased and that's our not confidence inspiring steering there that I think I think gearbox needs a sector shaft adjustment.

Oh, and that allows play before he'd even engages this stuff. Okay, so we could look it to that. It looks like it's leaking though. That's steering.

Yeah, Gearbox, his torsion bar or suspension. There's no Springs How about that? Zuckerberg was like that there are some sharks. Yeah, it's nice and tight. Looks like you got an oil pan leaking all around the oil pan.

Yeah, well, that's pretty standard. Yeah, that won't be too hard to fix at all and that looks like a very factory paint color. It is oil pan and block Chrysler blue. I Imagine it's been rebuilt, but probably Man, that's a deep transmission pan if you were to hit something like a brick in the road.

Oh man. well hopefully I don't do that. but definitely a nice deep Mopar Performance pan. Yep, and then this exhaust looks really darn cool.

Obviously it sounds awesome. So headers back. It's definitely beefy. It definitely is.

There's no serious rust going on on the. uh, no floor pans. Nope. Nice modern brake lines.

Is that what that is? Yeah, they've been redone. This is like I think this is a 727 torque flight transmission. All three speeds very tough. I Don't see a whole lot of leaking coming from it.

The drive shaft rubs on the exhaust whenever it's extended like that. Probably not when you're driving though. Yeah, blow. Masters unless I'm jumping it like the Dukes of Hazard I don't need to worry about it.

And then the differential, which is leaky as well. Huh? Very leaky. Looks like they use silicone. Oh I see a tag? Yeah, this is 323.

Well, that's that's impossible. That would be like it's factory axle ratio, which doesn't exist anymore, right? There's no way it probably should be that. but 60 miles an hour? Four grand over four grand. I Don't think so.

Why would they put the tag back on then? I Have no idea what does it say there? Lube Yeah. use Sure Grip lube. So they just kept all the old factory tags and things for originality, which that's what's so cool about this thing. Something's leaking here.

I Think it's brake fluids. it is. There's white. Oh, your rear brakes are not working hardly at all.

they're just spraying out. So I hit the brakes and that's why there's so much travel in the pedal. So I was driving around with no rear brakes. pretty much.

Huh? Well, good thing I didn't drive this cross country then. yeah, it is a good thing. Yeah I think once. I get everything fixed and set up just right on the drum brakes.

I Think you'll be happy with it. Okay, we're not working right. They'll throw you through the windshield. They work good all right.

well. I'll give them a chance for sure. And then there is the differential. Figure out there's the climate control to figure out.

There's the vacuum system to figure out. There's electronics that aren't working to figure out there's a melted wire. There's wiring melting and was hot. It's a bit of a project, but overall I think you did really well.

You like the start of this one better than the Super Bird. Oh, way better because it hasn't had a bunch of F word. you know every going on. Ah yes.

Well, all right. I guess I'll leave it in your hands. You probably need to dive in a little bit more before you give me an estimate. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to give an estimate? Yeah I need to find out what's melting the wire and figuring out what's all going on with this rear end.

I Don't even know price yet. sounds good. And since I paid for all the cars before I left I Don't have to pay you anything I Can just take that home for that homework. Well, not that one, not that one, unfortunately, not yet.

All right. Well, thank you for watching.