Words: Tommy Parry Photos: Pat
Though the classic Steve McQueen film Bullitt is best remembered for that dark green Mustang bounding over the hills in San Francisco, there was another major player in that unrivaled chase scene: the Dodge Charger. Pat was someone who always rooted for the bad guys. His commemorative build started quite humbly - a clean base Charger with a few untouched factory panels, but it slowly morphed into a faithful, elaborate, and fastidious replica of that original film icon. Pat even had a vinyl top ready to replace the roof.
Pat wanted something that spoke to his inner child, having grown up on those famous muscle car films from the sixties and seventies, and decided to do as accurate a rendition of the menacing Charger as possible, albeit with some modern retrofits underneath the skin. Critically, this wasn’t Pat’s first rodeo. His first ground-up restoration took place when he was just 23, and at 52, he had nearly 3 decades of experience - and now he had access to rotisseries and products that simply didn’t exist during the Reagan administration.
Keen observers might be able to pick out the one-off wheels, which were widened to fit a modern brake package and 255-section tires up front and 335-sections in the rear, but they’d have to look very closely - Pat went ahead and covered them with period-correct hubcaps.
The body was near perfect, with just a few spots of rust on the transmission crossmember, a speckle around the rear window and a spot on the driver’s side floor roughly the size of a sheet of paper. Once he cleared that cancer away, Pat went ahead and pulled the factory motor and transmission - he had plans for something much wilder.
As plenty of power was in this monster’s future, Pat grabbed a chassis stiffening kit from US Car Tool as well as a set of mini tubs, subframe connectors and an AMD trunk floor to ensure strong traction. Though it would look classic, understated and perhaps a bit wobbly, this Pro Touring build would have all the rigidity necessary to make good use of 600-odd horsepower.
The motor is an aluminum 6.1 GEN 3 block with a 4.125 bore and a 4.050 stroke, which makes it a cool 433 ci. The crankshaft and H-beam rods are from Comstar, and the Diamond pistons are 10.5 to 1. The 6.1 heads are fully CNC, and with a Comp cam Hydraulic roller cam, MSD ignition and Fast EFI dual throttle bodies, he’d have some 635 horsepower and 536 lb-ft on 92 octane. That ought to be enough for recreating that famous chase scene and then some.
TTI headers came next, and thankfully, they allowed Pat to take a break from metalwork. Unlike most of what had transpired up until this point in the build process, the 3” exhaust fit in nicely without any tweaking.
After lasering the inner tubs and cross braces out, Pat installed the four-link and put the rear wheels in, then took a heat gun and a putty knife to remove the sound deadening. With everything in place, he fit and butt-welded the US Car Tool mini tub kit, and epoxy primered it all.
With the back end completed, he could turn to the front of the car, motor, 6-speed transmission and RMS suspension. First, Pat did a relief cut of the tunnel to fit the T-56.
For the suspension, he designed the swaybar mounts himself before punching two holes in the frame as specified by RMS. He then reinforced that section to keep the frame from collapsing with 2 ⅛” plates on either side.
The plumbing was a chore, but Pat had plenty of experience with aluminum lines and managed pretty well. Incredibly, he retrofitted a new air conditioning system and plumbed the inconspicuous hardlines in the front fenders, then crafted some of his own debris covers to keep them in good shape.
Always innovating and concerned with the smallest details, Pat went ahead and cast a front bumper support in carbon fiber. This replacement weighs a mere 1 pound, whereas the original piece was 6 pounds. Weight savings aside, the craftsmanship over such a small - though more accessible - piece is a testament to the man’s character and his standards with this project.
After plenty of “boring sand prep,” seam sealer and a tiny bit of filler to smoothen the body out, Pat put the Charger on the rotisserie for some media blasting.
Inside, Pat had some factory standard rears made, as well as a set of Rallyes up front. The steering wheel - mostly hand-crafted - took 40 hours and used a hook blade as well as some wood stain to give the wheel the appearance of some dark graining. The ‘68 Inland shifter was mounted atop the T-56, which had to be modified to engage a tiny switch to operate the electronic reverse shut out.
After epoxy sealing the bottom, Pat added a base coat and some clearcoat, and the end was in sight. All the exterior needed at this point was some heavy massaging to get the hood and fenders lined up, a de-chroming of the bumper and a snip to the ends to help it fit.
After his final coat of primer, Pat was ready to paint the Charger and bring it back to life. When it’s ready to roll, Pat will have something that will make film aficionados and hot rodders double-take and drop their jaws. To keep tabs on this immaculate creation, you can find inspect Pat’s detailed thread here.