1969 Dodge Charger 500 – 13.48 seconds
Price New: $5,200
Price Now: $230,000
Most muscle car fans know the Dodge Charger lineup well, including the wild Charger Daytona from 1969. But, Daytona’s predecessor, the Charger 500, was far less known and less successful. In the late ’60s, Dodge was desperate to race in NASCAR and the Charger was the perfect candidate. However, since NASCAR cars approached high speeds of almost 200 mph on the newly constructed superspeedway tracks, aerodynamics played a role in the results (via Motor Trend).
The standard Charger with the deep grille and concave rear glass needed to be aerodynamic. Despite its powerful engines and skilled drivers, it couldn’t achieve the speeds required for winning. So Dodge decided to introduce their limited-edition Charger 500. They named the 500 because they only made that many of them. It came with a flushed grille, fixed headlights, and regular rear glass to improve the aerodynamics of the car. The Charger 500 came with two engines, a standard 440 and an optional 426 Hemi.