1968 Dodge Charger R/T: History, Specs, and How to Spot One

A Complete Redesign for '68

The first Charger, launched in 1966, never quite caught on — its fastback roofline and full-length taillights looked sharp, but sales lagged. For 1968, Dodge started over with a "coke bottle" body: pronounced hip haunches, scalloped side panels, and a fastback roof with pinched-in rear pillars that Dodge called a "flying buttress" design. Some buyers at the time just called it a tunnel roof, since it framed a small, recessed rear window. Up front, the full-width grille hid the headlights behind vacuum-operated doors — a simpler setup than the fully rotating lights of the first-generation car, but every bit as clean when closed. It worked: Charger sales jumped from under 16,000 units in 1967 to more than 96,000 for 1968.

R/T Means 440 or Hemi, No In-Between

1968 was also the first year Dodge offered the Charger R/T — Road/Track — package, and it didn't leave buyers guessing about intent. Every R/T came standard with the 440 cubic-inch Magnum V8, rated at 375 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque, backed by either a heavy-duty 4-speed manual or Chrysler's 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic. For buyers who wanted more, Dodge would build a Charger around the 426 Hemi — 425 horsepower and 490 lb-ft on paper, widely believed to be more in practice. Car and Driver ran a stock Hemi R/T to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at 105 mph, numbers that held up against anything else on a showroom floor that year. Dodge built 17,582 Charger R/Ts for 1968, but only 475 of them left the factory with a Hemi — the rest wore the 440, which was plenty of car for the money. Every R/T also carried the "bumblebee" stripe, a wide band wrapping around the trunk and rear quarters in black, red, or white, though Dodge would delete it at no charge for buyers who wanted a sleeper look.

Telling a '68 from a '69 or '70

The second-generation Charger ran for three model years, and the nose and tail changed enough each year that spotting a '68 isn't hard once you know what to look for. The 1968 has a solid, undivided grille and round taillights. For 1969, Dodge split the grille with a center divider and switched to a full-width horizontal taillight panel. By 1970, the whole nose gained a chrome loop bumper that wraps around the grille opening — the fastest way to identify a '70 from fifty feet away. If the grille reads as one unbroken black opening and the taillights are round, you're looking at a 1968.

The Car That Chased Steve McQueen

A year after its debut, the Charger R/T landed one of the most famous supporting roles in movie history. In Bullitt (1968), a 440 Magnum-powered Charger R/T tears through the hills of San Francisco chasing — and being chased by — Steve McQueen's Mustang GT390 fastback in a ten-minute sequence still studied by stunt coordinators today. The chase didn't just sell tickets; it cemented the Charger's reputation as the car a movie villain would drive, a reputation that has followed the '68-'70 body style ever since.

Finding One Today

A numbers-matching 440 Charger R/T is a serious collector car, and a documented Hemi car is a different conversation entirely given how few were built. Buyers shopping this generation should ask for the broadcast sheet or fender tag before anything else — with only 475 Hemi R/Ts built in 1968, more than a few "Hemi" cars on the market are 440s with a swapped engine and a good story. Beyond documentation, the usual B-body concerns apply: check the trunk floor and torsion bar crossmember for rust, and confirm the VIN's engine code actually matches what's under the hood before it matches what's in the listing.