From fantasy to reality, Terry Mourched`s epic `68 Charger is

Words Iain Kelly Photos Chris Thorogood & Dean summers
plum crazy
From fantasy to reality, Terry Mourched’s epic ’68 Charger is the ultimate Mopar
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01: Despite it being built just as a ‘driver’, no part
of this amazing Mopar was left untouched. As
with most of the heavy duty mods, the custom
aluminium fuel tank was built by GD Racecars
T
HE DODGE Charger is a cultural
legend. It’s one of the most iconic
shapes in muscle car history,
thanks in part to some of cinema’s
most famous car-chase scenes.
Terry Mourched grew up idolising
the tough muscle cars that he saw
in magazines, and they don’t come much tougher
than the Charger. “Being from a very humble
background, purchasing Street Machine was the
closest thing I could get to experiencing one of
these dream cars,” Terry says. “I saved my pocket
money and did chores every week to be able to
buy a copy each month, and I rarely missed an
issue.”
Fast forward 25 years and now Terry has
his very own blown Mopar on the cover of the
magazine, and it took armfuls of silverware at
Summernats 27, including the prestigious People’s
Choice, Top Special Effects Paint, Top Pro Street,
Top 10 Elite Hall, PPG Supreme Finalist and Best
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of Breed in the Meguiar’s Superstars.
Terry credits his passion for Mopars to Fred
Soleiman from Protrans Performance Automatics.
Fred’s got a reputation for building tough
transmissions and he’s also Terry’s older cousin,
so he used to remember checking out Fred’s, and
Fred’s late brother Colin’s, various Mopars.
“We’d pester Mum and Dad to go around to
Fred’s parent’s place, just so we could see what
Fred and Colin had in the garage,” Terry recalls.
Now that he’s older with a family of his own,
Terry felt the time was right to build a car of his
own, and after stumbling across a ’68 Charger
project, he consulted Fred for advice. It was the
smartest thing he could have done.
“I bought the Charger as a rolling shell out of
South Australia. It had seats, but no motor or trans,
and hundreds of parts in boxes. Fred is family and
he was the only guy I trusted,” Terry says. “After
getting burnt by the first shop I sent the car to,
Fred put me on to Glen at GD Racecars. Fred had
02: The rear seat required some heavy
customisation due to the new trans tunnel, wheel
tubs and rear floor pans. The Charger won 2nd
Top Interior at MotorEx 2013
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Street Machine was the
closest thing I could
get to experiencing one
of these dream cars
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I lost count of the times the car was rubbed back to bare metal
great respect for his work, and Glen lived up to his
reputation.”
Even bone stock, a ’68 Charger is an impressive
car, but what the boys had in mind was a long way
from factory.
Glen started by fabricating the motor plates,
frame-strengthening members, rear floorpans,
boot floor, transmission tunnel, custom flat firewall,
custom radiator, mini-tubs and sheet-metal fuel
tank, along with shaving and tucking the bumpers.
Underneath he fitted one of his awesome sheetmetal nine-inches, and filled it with a Detroit
Locker and Mark Williams 35-spline axles. The
lot is swung off a custom four-link with a Watts
linkage to locate it.
Up the front Fred had already sourced the
Wilwood six-pot front to match the four-pot rear
brakes, and the factory K-frame was ditched
for a sweet Magnum Force tubular front-end,
featuring rack-and-pinion steering, new control
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arms and coilover struts.
With the underpinnings sorted, they started
shopping around for someone to do the body, and
it didn’t take long for them to push the Charger
through the doors of another Mopar man – Danny
Makdessi of Custom Bodyworks.
After collaborating on ZERO’D, Danny asked Dez
Knight of Knight’s Panel Works to wave his magic
hands over the Charger’s beautiful lines. Dez
started commuting from Orange to Danny’s shop
in Bankstown to get the shell into shape.
“You don’t understand how much work goes into
the body until you see it day in, day out,” Terry says.
“They file-finished it and the lines on the car were
amazing – it was good enough to clear and leave it.
“I lost count of the times the car was sprayed in
levelling primer and rubbed back to metal again.
Danny was relentless in his ambition to get the
body perfect – he never looked at the clock as it
wasn’t about the hours for him.”
While it would have looked bitchin’ left bare, the
House of Kolor Violet Kandy top coat is a bang-on
choice. It pays homage to legendary muscle carera colours like Plum Crazy and Wild Violet, but the
depth and richness of the finish is pure Elite Hall
porn and a credit to all the hard work that Danny,
Dez and the team at Custom Bodyworks put into
the shell.
Being surrounded by such dedicated, talented
craftsmen is what Terry credits for the amazing
result. “In all honesty the car wouldn’t be here
without Fred managing the build. I am not ashamed
to tell people that I personally did very little on this
car. I’m not gifted with the ability to create cars
with my hands, but I am gifted in other areas, and
that allows me to pay the gifted car guys what they
deserve.”
Fred even sourced the blown Ray Barton Hemi
out of the States. For any Mopar freak the words
‘Ray Barton’ and ‘Hemi’ can only mean one thing:
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03: Even though the rear guards are huge
from the factory, a new boot floor and tubs
were needed to squeeze in those massive
three-piece FR24 custom Simmons’s. For
cruising duties, Terry swaps the 24x8.5s on
the front for a pair of 22x8.5s, and narrower
245/35 tyres
04: Built by legendary US Mopar engine
builder Ray Barton, the 8/71 blown 426 Hemi
has the best of everything and makes a lazy
1000hp and 900lb/ft on 98-octane pump
fuel; just the thing for cruising Sydney’s
mean streets. Keeping all that grunt cool was
high on Terry’s list of priorities so he had a
massive radiator crafted to beat the heat
05: Inside there’s a combination of grey
leather and sumptuous suede on the seats,
along with Mercedes carpet on the floor.
The custom console plays host to an Alpine
in-dash TV and sat nav, while the one-off
right-hand drive dash sports a Flaming River
column and billet tiller, along with a set of
Auto Meter ‘American Muscle’ gauges
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TERRY MOURCHED
1968 DODGE CHARGER
House of Kolor Violet Kandy
GRUNT
Engine: Ray Barton Hemi
Capacity: 426ci
Pistons: Custom Diamond forged
Crank: 4340 steel
Rods: 4340 steel H-beam
Heads: Stage V aluminium
Blower: 8/71
Carbs: Dual APD blower spec
Ignition: MSD Digital 7
Sump: Custom aluminium Sportsman
Cooling: Custom GD Racecars radiator
Exhaust: Custom GD Racecars 3.5in
The work had to be neat, but my number one
objective was to drive the car, not show it
SHIFTING
Transmission: Protrans Chrysler 727
Torqueflite
Diff: GD sheet metal 9in, Detroit Locker
centre, 4.11 final
Axles: Mark Williams billet 35-spline
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BENEATH
Struts: AFCO QA1 coilover shocks &
springs, Magnum Force tubular front-end
Rear: GD Racecars custom four-link with
Watts linkage
Steering: Flaming River column, rack &
pinion
Brakes: Wilwood discs & six-piston
calipers (f), Wilwood discs & four-piston
calipers (r)
ROLLING
Wheels: Simmons 24x8.5 (f), 24x12 (r)
Tyres: 255/25 Pirelli (f), 315/35 Pirelli (r)
THANKS
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bulk horsepower. The Charger scored a 426cube Barton motor, with 4340 steel crank, forged
pistons, H-beam rods, custom aluminium sump,
aluminium heads and a filthy great 8/71 pump
topped with twin APD carbs.
It’s been run to 1000hp and 900lb-ft of torque,
which is more than enough for a car destined to
see plenty of road miles.
“I wanted a tough, powerful motor fitted to the
car, yet did not want to compromise its driveability,”
explains Terry. “The work had to be neat, but my
number one objective was to drive the car, not
show it.”
That massive pachyderm is backed by a Pro
Street & Strip 727 Torqueflite, which Fred prepared
himself, naturally.
“Initially the running gear detailing was going to
be kept to a minimum, but as each piece was done
the domino effect was amazing. Still, we never lost
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sight of the fact the car was going to be a driver.”
So Fred and Danny worked together to get the
engine block, suspension, steering rack, K-frame,
diff housing and brake calipers finished in HoK
Galaxy Grey and matching clear coat while the
shell was being wired up by Bobby Kocoski.
With the Afco Pro Touring shocks and custom
springs at both ends, the big-hipped Mopar is
able to cruise comfortably and take corners far
better than it ever could back in the day. And, while
they’ve drawn plenty of comment, the 24x8.5-inch
and 24x12-inch Simmons wheels help the car
straddle various street machining styles, with the
Pro Touring suspension and brakes playing off
against the Pro Street drivetrain and body styling.
Inside is pure comfort, which was important to
Terry given his strict requirement for the car to
be a street-going cruiser. Matt Gilkes from Inside
Rides at South Nowra took the original seats and
re-trimmed them in suede and Mercedes leather,
with carpet and hoodlining from the German
marque to match. The rear seat is custom, as is the
Auto Meter-filled dash and B&M ratchet-equipped
centre console. It was good enough to score
second Top Interior when the Charger debuted at
MotorEx 2013.
While it was down south, Sean of Frankies in
South Nowra slotted together the high-end sound
system, mixing Pioneer and Alpine components to
pump tunes with Bluetooth functionality and sat
nav as well.
While the 24-inch wheels and motor out the
bonnet have copped some flack, Terry doesn’t
give a rat’s. “The Charger has already done trips to
Harry’s and the Cross. We never lost sight of the
fact that it was going to be a driver, but that does
not take away from my dream, my vision and my
love of cars, especially this one!” s
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My wife Sandy and girls Myah, Dayna &
Sienna-May, my brother Rob and brotherin-law Sam, Fred Soleiman at Protrans
Performance Automatics, Danny Makdessi
and his team (Claude, Ronnie, Themi and
Paul) at Custom Bodyworks, Dez Knight
at Knights Panel Works, Glen Davies at
GD Racecars, Mick Dukic, Dave Hudson at
RestoMaz, John and Sam Taleb at Tempe
Tyres, Mick at Mifsud Auto Detailing, Phil
at Enware, Bob Kocoski, Matt Gilkes at
Inside Rides, Sean at Frankies, and Mark
at Mark2Towing
06: Like most classic muscle cars,
Chargers were never much chop
in the corners. The Magnum Force
front-end helps out with tubular
crossmember, control arms, coilovers
and rack-and-pinion steering
07: The Charger debuted at MotorEx
on 22in Boyds, which can be seen
here in the main image; at the Nats it
was rocking 24in Simmons (with 22s
on the front for street duty)
08: Terry has already started
racking up the miles, appearing
at the monthly Harry’s meet-up in
Liverpool. Terry reckons you have to
be careful with the loud pedal: “Even
half-throttle just blazes the tyres!”
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