1970 Dodge Charger R/T Hemi 426 4 Speed in Burnt Orange & Start Up

Only about 112 Dodge Chargers left the factory in 1970 with the 426 Hemi under the hood, and restoration shop owner Al Hickey found one hiding in plain sight. Paired with a Hurst pistol-grip four-speed and finished in burnt orange, this R/T carries details serious MOPAR collectors chase for years. Lou Costabile catches up with Hickey and the car at a Midwest MOPAR swap meet. The story behind how it landed in his eighteen-car collection is half the reason to watch.

Only about 112 of these were built for the entire 1970 model year, and Al Hickey did not go looking for one, he found it waiting for him the way rare cars sometimes do. A restoration shop owner with a MOPAR family history and eighteen collector cars already parked in his name, Hickey is not easily impressed by a Charger. But something about the Hurst pistol-grip shifter, the burnt orange paint, and the number stamped deep in the engines build sheet made this particular car impossible to walk away from. What Lou Costabile uncovers when he sits down with Hickey at a MOPAR swap meet in Belvidere, Illinois, is less a car review than an origin story, and it starts with a number most Dodge fans only dream about owning.

The Rarest Number in the Charger Lineup

A 1970 Dodge Charger R/T with the 426 Hemi is rare on its own, but production estimates for that specific combination that year land right around 112 units, a figure repeated in the comments by viewers who track these numbers obsessively. That scarcity is not marketing spin, insurance surcharges and a shrinking muscle car market were already squeezing Hemi orders by 1970, making this one of the last model years buyers could check the Hemi box on a Charger order form before the option quietly disappeared a year later. Every one of those surviving cars now carries a paper trail almost as valuable as the sheet metal itself, since fender tag codes and broadcast sheets are the only reliable way to separate a genuine Hemi car from a well-executed clone.

⚑ Featured Gear

Start Car Conversations →

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Al Hickey and His Eighteen-Car MOPAR Habit

Hickey does not fit the profile of a casual collector. He runs a restoration shop, comes from a family steeped in MOPAR history, and had seventeen other collector cars before this Charger joined the fleet. That background matters here, a car this rare, in the hands of someone who understands exactly what it took to build and preserve it, is far more likely to survive another fifty years than if it had landed with a buyer chasing investment value alone. Running a shop also means Hickey has almost certainly seen firsthand how many so-called Hemi Chargers on the market turn out to be clones once the paperwork gets checked.

Burnt Orange, Pistol Grip, and the Super Track Pack

The color alone sets this Charger apart from the more commonly seen Hemi Orange or Plum Crazy examples that dominate MOPAR shows, but the details underneath matter more to serious collectors. This car carries the Hurst four-speed with the pistol-grip shifter and the Super Track Pack option, a combination that upgraded the rear end gearing and suspension components specifically for cars expected to see real performance use rather than sitting untouched in a garage. Factory documentation on option combinations like this one is what separates a car worth six figures at auction from a well-restored but harder-to-verify example.

A Swap Meet Built for Cars Like This One

Costabile catches up with Hickey at the 26th Annual Belvidere MOPAR Happening, an event that has become a pilgrimage point for Dodge and Plymouth collectors in the Midwest. Finding a car this significant at a regional swap meet rather than a marquee auction says something about where the real MOPAR community still gathers, not always under bright lights, but in parking lots and fairgrounds where owners like Hickey are happy to pop the hood for anyone who asks the right questions. These grassroots events remain the best place to see genuinely rare cars up close without a velvet rope or a six-figure buyers premium standing between the car and the crowd.

What the Comments Reveal About Hemi Culture

The reaction underneath this video captures something the segment itself only hints at, a genuine reverence among MOPAR fans that borders on scripture. One viewer jokes about making Ferrari owners cry by bringing up a 1969 Corvette ZL-1 or a 1971 Hemicuda convertible in the same breath, while others recall inheriting or nearly missing out on similar cars decades ago. That kind of community memory is part of what keeps values on numbers-matching Hemi Chargers climbing every year, even as the broader collector car market cools on less significant examples.

The Sound That Sells Itself

Long before Costabile gets to the specs, the Hemis idle does most of the talking, and multiple commenters single out the engine note, somewhere between a gargle and a growl, as their favorite part of the segment. It is the kind of sound that cannot be replicated by a crate 440 or a modern stroker motor with similar output; the 426 Hemis hemispherical combustion chambers and dual-quad breathing give it an acoustic signature MOPAR fans can identify blindfolded, even through a phone speaker on a YouTube comment thread.

Why Insurance History Explains the Scarcity

Insurance history is part of why so few of these cars survive in original, unmolested condition. By the early 1970s, premiums on Hemi-powered muscle cars had climbed so steeply that many original owners either detuned their cars, sold them off quickly, or in some documented cases had dealers quietly swap in smaller engines to keep insurance costs manageable, which makes a numbers-matching example like this one considerably harder to verify and considerably more valuable once it is.

What It Takes to Keep a Numbers-Matching Hemi Correct

Parts availability adds another layer to the story. Where a small block Mopar restoration can lean on a deep aftermarket, correct Hemi-specific components, from the factory-style dual quad intake to date-coded ancillary parts, command a premium of their own, meaning a numbers-matching car like Hickeys represents not just a rare survivor but years of accumulated, expensive sourcing decisions most owners never have to make on a lesser car.

Why This Charger Still Matters Today

Nearly fifty-five years after it left the factory, this Charger is not a museum piece gathering dust, it is a running, driving example maintained by someone equipped to keep it that way indefinitely. For a model year that produced barely over a hundred of these Hemi-equipped R/Ts, that combination of rarity and roadworthiness is what separates a genuinely important muscle car from an expensive garage ornament.

Catch the full video above and leave your thoughts below.

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Republished by Blog Post Promoter