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Who would the Lone Ranger have been without Tonto? Sherlock Holmes without Dr. Watson or Columbo without that decrepit Peugeot? Could you then imagine the Bullitt Mustang without that infamous black Charger? Good guys can’t fight crime without bad guys and DM is sensitive to our needs that way. I’ve been sitting on the Bullitt Mustang (not literally, thank you so much) wondering just this very thing. Well before you know it here comes that sinister little menace we all cheered to its demise just to be rid of those two nasty old villains. Sure we hated to see the marvelous Mopar go up in flames but hey, McQueen walked away from the incident unscathed so all was right with the world. Well now, all is right with the diecast world; we got both of them, and in one piece, depicted before the carnage.
Once again, DM had to do diligent research to render a car that was used and modified for its role in the movie. The film representation is what we see here. In the rich tradition of DM Dodges, this is only their second 1968 iteration. We have ‘69’s to suit most pallets but one ’68, the “Christine” Charger. As movie cars go, I love Christine the Plymouth, but on the subject of Dodge’s I think I’ll take the black Bullitt chase car. It typifies ‘bad’. Warner Brothers® bought two 1968 Dodge Chargers for the movie, both four-speeds. They came from a Chrysler dealership in Glendale, CA. The man responsible for maintenance on all of the star cars, Max Balchowsky, traded Ford’s carburetor for a Holley making the Mustang run better. But he later remarked that he, “Hardly did anything to the Charger’s engine.” The suspension, however, was beefed up a bit.
DM took their flawless little tooling and made it triple black; a black body, black interior and black vinyl roof. About the only things not black are the engine, steering wheel, trunk mat, whitewalls and the wheelcovers. How many of those wheelcovers did the big Dodge lose in that chase scene? Most fans count 6! All four are accounted for here. Even after some time, Danbury’s Charger still looks magnificent. The trunk has fine detail, removable spare, visible jack and jacking instruction sticker. The working suspension is flawless; the rear operating on leaf springs and functioning shocks while the front assembly features an entire articulating cradle assembly on either side. The torsion arms and anti-sway bars are operational. Interior detailing is DM-dramatic! The seats are handsomely crafted in fine detail. Belts and buckle ends and dash and gauges detailing is perfect. The seats fold forward and doorsills are photo-etched.
The motor was the star of this co-star on film and DM makes it stay that way in model scale. The big 440 Magnum is snug in its little home fed by every conceivable wire, hose and tube DM could find to yield authenticism. You just have to see the tiny throttle return spring. The hood opens wide to allow a grand view and the spring assembly and latching mechanism lends fantastic detail to the believability factor. Great little scale selling points abound; tiny little door lock buttons, retracting antenna, photo-etched grille, chrome metal foiled, “Charger” script and movie-correct license plates all play their part on cue. I’d love to own this model on its own merits but to have it as a part of the famous movie duo is something really special. It might even inspire another viewing of the movie that typified car chases back in ’68.
(09/25/2007)
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