The Ultimate 1968 Dodge Charger HELLCAT Build

Update 9/18/25:

The ’68 Charger is now back from paint! With other projects taking priority like the ’67 Chevelle, ’70 Roadrunner and ’75 Ramcharger, this Charger will get tucked away for awhile.

Update 8/8/25:

Back in January of 2024, we purchased a 1968 Charger shell from Mopars 5150. They specialize in all things Mopar and had a pristine 1968 shell that we couldn’t pass up. It was just a shell, so really about as blank of a canvas as you can get. The goal? Build a crazy Hellcat powered 1968 Dodge Charger restomod.

The first order of business was to throw the QA1 catalog at this Charger, because in order to make this car drivable with a 717 horsepower Hellcat engine, it needs to corner. The team got to work on installing a QA1 front cradle with coilovers, a QA1 rear 4 link with coilovers, and a bunch of bracing to the subframe. Miguel and Adrian also fabricated a new transmission crossmember and welded in the mounting points for the rear 4 link.

Once the suspension was done, the next step was to test fit the 6.2L supercharged Hellcat engine on the new set of motor mounts. This particular Hellcat engine seen above with Chris was a pullout that we had purchased for $8,000 a few years ago. It came with severed electronics and plumbing. It sat covered in our shop for a long time, waiting for a car to go into. It would be decided that it would have to wait much longer, because we concluded that a pullout wasn’t good enough for a giveaway restomod build…

We ended up purchasing a brand new Hellcat crate engine from Mopar instead, which is practically the exact same engine we were gonna use, but this one is new whereas the pullout engine we had was used. We still might use the used Hellcat engine for a future build, but as of now we have no plans for it.

Some time passed and eventually we pulled the engine back out and sent the car to SV Body and Paint for an exterior makeover. The car was taken down to bare metal, sanded, blasted and smoothed out many times over. It was then coated in a nice primer to be ready for paint.

As of this last update, SV Body and Paint has completed the hood, trunk lid, fenders and doors. Next time you should see a fully painted car, ready for assembly.