Over the past eleven months, Mopar Connection Magazine has brought attention to Dream Giveaway’s 1969 Dodge Charger 500 sweepstakes. Well, the time to get your last-minute tickets has arrived. Donation opportunities to win the Charger 500 will end on March 28, 2023, and those donations benefit charities for children and veterans.

To refresh our readers’ memories about the Charger 500, it is an early build (9/27/68) vehicle, which was concours restored and was once owned by NASCAR legend Ray Evernham. According to information provided by Galen Govier, this Charger 500 is one of only thirty-seven verified Charger 500s with a 440 and a 4-speed manual transmission. However, there are 173 Charger 500s with an unverified transmission (automatic or manual). The Charger 500 has the factory-installed A33 Track Pak option, which has the following components to augment the 440 and 4-speed:

• Hurst shifter with wood grain ball
• 9 ¾-inch Dana with 3.54:1 gears
• Hemi semi-elliptical rear leaf springs
• Dual-point Prestolite distributor
• 7-blade torque drive fan
• Heavy-duty radiator and matching shroud

The Charger wears the correct R4 red paint with a white bumblebee stripe on the rear flanks. Additionally, the Charger has power brakes and 15-inch Magnum 500 wheels wrapped with redline tires. The white interior is equipped with a console, a tachometer, and an AM 8-track radio.

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits, a multi-time Top Fuel World Champion with his nitromethane-burning Hemi dragsters and an owner of a Charger 500 back in the 1960s, is deeply familiar with Chrysler products. So, he inspected the Dream Giveaway Charger 500 and approved it with two thumbs up.

In 1969, a Charger 500 was featured on Car and Driver Productions and put through its paces. The smooth, deep golden voice of Bud Lindemann confirmed the Dodge’s performance potential with his rhythmic, machine gun narrative:

“Where does the docility of a street machine end and the fury of a full-blown racecar begin? What a getaway car! Out of the hole our driver accelerated, a permanent smile on his face. Fast enough to wipe the stripes off. With the street rubber, we had more wheel spin than a Las Vegas roulette table. Our best quarter-mile run was 14.1 seconds.”

To have a chance to put the Charger 500 in your garage, all you must do is donate. For each donation made, a ticket is earned. The greater the contribution, the more tickets, and our readers can secure double tickets using code MOPARCONNECTION. Each ticket is a possible winner, so get your tickets now and become the owner of an essential part of Mopar and NASCAR history. In addition, dream Giveaway will provide $17,500 to cover the taxes to sweeten the deal.

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