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MAN AND MACHINE
All charged up for action!
PRINCE FREDERICK
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Anil Punjabi finds his second generation two-door Dodge Charger a great way to recharge his batteries
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Coins or classic cars, quantity alone doesn’t add up to a great collection. As he subscribes to this view, classic car enthusiast Anil Punjabi does not mindlessly buy old cars. He waits for the right one to come along. Three years ago, when he saw a Dodge Charger at a rally in New Delhi, he knew it was the ‘right time’. One of probably four in the country, this Dodge Charger is a rare piece of muscle car history. Dodge’s answer to the Pontiac GTO, the Charger (1966 to 1974) arrived at a time when scores of Americans were gripped by the craze for muscle cars.
The Charger, built for high performance, is also a beautiful work of art that has been interpreted in many ways. When viewed from the side, it is believed to possess a shape, roughly comparable to that of a Coke bottle. This is said to have given birth to the design term, ‘Coke bottle styling’.
It can perhaps figure among those cars in automotive history that frequently underwent changes in design. Built on Chrysler’s rear-wheel drive ‘B-platform’, all Dodge Chargers went with the description ‘B-body’, but were treated to radical makeovers from model to model.
As Dodge was constantly changing the car’s styling, various generations of Chargers look vastly different from each another. The first generation (1966-1967) and the second generation Charger (1968 to 1970) can pass off for two unrelated cars.
Punjabi’s is a second generation Charger, made more beautiful by a roof, made of vinyl, which invites a comparison to an arc-boutant. Twin scallops on the doors and the hood (painted black) are another enhancement that can’t be missed. The ‘electroluminescent pods’ that flatter the gauges are another pleasing feature, common to the first and second generation chargers.
And, thanks to his Charger’s V8, 6.9-litre engine (with a three-speed automatic transmission), Punjabi knows what happens when power marries beauty.
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