December 2020 • By Bruce Cox

Even though they are at least one generation apart, there are a couple of big beasts that will always be in the top ten of any muscle car enthusiast’s wish list. Those are the classic late-60s Dodge Charger and the Viper that was an immediate classic from the moment it was revealed as a concept in 1989.

Both cars figured strongly in Californian Ray Garner’s thoughts as he pondered building his dream car: a Viper V-10 engine and six-speed transmission under the hood of a ’68 Dodge Charger!

Ray studied marine engineering at college in Liverpool, England, which included hands-on experience working in a machine shop, fabricating parts and maintaining large ship engines. These days, after a stint designing fuel and hydraulic systems for commercial and military aircraft, Ray opened his own fab shop and is currently sliding a Viper engine into a 917 replica.

He has an engineer’s passion for muscle cars, especially the R/T and Hemi-powered Mopars, and feels strongly that they should be restored to their original condition to preserve their historical significance, especially if they are genuine originals with matching numbers.

Unfortunately, he never had that option with his own car. He bought the car online sight unseen from a company in Texas that he now freely describes as being comprised of “crooks and cowboys” as it was described on their website as being “a little old ladies car driven only on Sundays and rust-free.” In fact, while it was a running car it had rust in all the usual places and pulled severely while braking.

It did, however, have one good point in that it was a ’68 Charger in yellow with a black vinyl top and bucket seats, reminding Ray of a test drive with his father in 1968, when Ray was 11. His father was in the process of choosing between a cream Oldsmobile Cutlass with cream vinyl top and a yellow Charger with black vinyl top—both were new for ’68.

Ray remembers thinking the Olds was an ‘old person’s car.’ Not so the Charger!  Yellow wasn't Ray’s color of choice but he thought that the black vinyl top looked very cool and that the car looked like it was going fast just sitting there. It had the individual seats with the gearshift ahead of the console between the driver and passenger bucket seats. And the dashboard had so many gauges that to Ray it looked like an airplane cockpit!

Later in the day he heard his dad discussing both cars with his mother and saying that he was favoring the Olds because it had the ‘Rocket’ 350ci engine and air conditioning whereas the Charger had no AC and only a small, 318ci motor. Needless to say, his parents chose the Olds but from that time on the Charger remained in Ray’s memory.

Now, almost fifty years later, he feels that he has the best of both worlds—a classically styled ’68 Charger but with full modern running gear, interior and electronics. There is, however, one very obvious change from that first Charger. Never having been a fan of the yellow, Ray had his friend Bob Abbott, who is a coatings specialist for a local aerospace company and paints cars as a side job, lay on the fabulous green paint with a very slight metal-flake mix to pick up highlights.

Much of the other work was Ray’s own as most of the specialty parts for this type of installation are not available and therefore he either had to fabricate them himself or have them custom-made. For example, all of the sheet metal mods to the firewall, tunnel and elsewhere on the car were done by Ray, though he had to enlist a little outside help when replacing the lower rear quarters. And finally, he spent countless hours on the Internet sourcing other custom items.

Although he first had ideas of restoring the car to original and fitting it with the period R/T kit and a 426ci Hemi, Ray is now glad that he went down the restomod route with the Viper running gear. “My son and his friends came to the house and wanted a test drive, so I took them out in it.” Said Ray.  “The original 318 ran like a sewing machine and the tranny shifted perfectly. The brakes were so so and the handling was non-existent. While on the test drive it was my son who asked what motor I was going to put in it and I said I didn't know, maybe a Hemi or something. My son then asked if a Viper motor would fit. That question lit the fire. I told him if it didn't fit, we'd make it fit. Two weeks later we had the motor and tranny sitting in the garage.

 “The engine, a 2001 Gen 2 Viper with 7000 original miles was sourced on the Internet. “I originally considered a built V8 but the cost of the motor I wanted would have been close to $20,000, not including the tranny. So, at $7000 for a motor and tranny, that decision was a no brainer. When we finally got the engine in the car, and running, there was no oil pressure. It took hours of phone calls with the people we bought it from to figure out no one there had any clue how Viper engines work. I finally figured out the problem myself after a lot of reading online.

“The original computer couldn't be used because of the security integrated into the original software so I had Dan Lessor of Viper Specialty Performance flash my computer for me. When I had the motor dyno’d it made 527 hp and 555 ft-lb of torque at the flywheel. The motor is basically stock; the extra horsepower comes from the flash.

“I literally own my dream car,” continued Ray, “as just a basic Charger with the 318ci engine it was crying out for modern upgrades, even without taking its problems as purchased into account. In contrast the Viper engine is smooth at all speeds, whether crawling from stop light to stop light or roaring like a lion when I put my foot down, even to the point where it can get a little scary.

The car’s acceleration is blistering and has been timed 0-60 at 3.99 seconds. I had my daughter in the car and she asked how fast the car was. When she saw the speedo at 140 she asked, ‘are we really doing 140 mph?’ I said yes, then, she said ‘that's fast enough.’ The car was still pulling extremely hard and I have no doubt it would do well over 170.”

That kind of performance potential plus the car’s stunning good looks earned it the Mopar Muscle award at the very first Goodguys show Ray entered. And that was despite the fact that the car was unfinished at the time and missing the grille.

Undoubtedly the eye-catching paintwork had plenty to do with that win. Wanting to have an authentic 60’s color, Ray researched the bright green that he remembered from other Mopar models. However, as he and his wife pulled up at a light one-day Lynn looked across at a 2011 Dodge Challenger and said, “There’s the color for your car.” The color was ‘Green with Envy’ and there was no argument, it was the right choice. 

Vehicle: 1968 Dodge Charger
Owner: Ray Garner
Engine: 2001 Gen 2 Viper V-10
• Front suspension: Bill ReillyMotorsports.com "AlterKtion" kit
• Rear suspension: FirmFeel.com
• Shocks: Viking coil-overs
• Brakes: Wilwood, 14-inch rotors with six-piston calipers (front), 12-inch rotors with four-piston calipers (rear).
• Instruments: AutoMeter
• Wheels: 18-inch Boss Motorsport
• Tires: Nitto Extreme 245/40R18 (front), 285/40ZR18 (rear)
• Paint: PPG 2011 Dodge Challenger ‘Green With Envy’
• Painter: Bob Abbott