Dodge Charger 1970 R/T 426 Hemi

Dodge charged nearly extra for the 426 Hemi option on the 1970 Charger R/T, a steep premium that scared off plenty of buyers who settled for a 440 instead. Those who paid up got 425 horsepower, a genuinely race-bred engine, and bragging rights over a car that helped Dodge log ten NASCAR wins that season. Here’s why the Hemi Charger remains one of the most sought-after muscle cars from Dodge’s golden era.

The Dodge Charger is one of the most menacing looking Muscle Cars, and this 1970 backs up the look with power from a 426 cube Hemi V8. It is one of just 56 made with an automatic transmission behind the Hemi, out of a total of 112 Hemi cars built in 1970. One of the other unique features is the color, known as EB3 LIght Blue Metallic, which contrasts nicely with the black vinyl top and code V8W, the white transverse rear stripe option…

By 1970, Dodge had already proven the Hemi could win on Sunday – the question was whether buyers were actually willing to pay for it on Monday. The 426 Hemi option added nearly $650 on top of an already-expensive R/T package, a genuinely steep ask at a time when plenty of muscle car buyers were perfectly satisfied with a 440. And yet the option persisted, quietly available to anyone willing to write the check, turning an already aggressive-looking Charger into something with race-bred hardware few competitors could match. Just how many buyers actually said yes to that price tag, and was the Hemi Charger really worth the premium once it hit the street?

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The Engine That Justified the Price

The 426 Hemi under the hood was rated at 425 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 490 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm, output that made the Hemi Charger one of the most capable factory muscle cars sold that year regardless of price. Both a four-speed manual and TorqueFlite automatic were available, with the manual widely considered the highest mechanical specification Dodge offered on the Charger platform at the time.

A Small Slice of a Big Production Run

Total Charger R/T production for 1970 reached 10,337 units, but the Hemi represented only a fraction of that number once the added cost scared off buyers who didn’t need to win a stoplight drag race that badly. That relative scarcity, combined with the model’s aggressive fastback-adjacent styling, is a large part of why surviving Hemi Chargers now command such steep premiums over their 440-powered siblings.

On track, the investment paid off in a way marketing alone couldn’t buy: 1970 was Dodge’s most successful NASCAR season yet, with Bobby Isaac piloting the winged Charger Daytona to 11 wins and the championship — proof the Hemi’s race-bred reputation wasn’t just dealership talk. For Dodge, that kind of on-track validation did more to justify the Hemi’s price tag than any dealership brochure ever could.

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