Charger: 1971 Dodge Charger by Xotic Concepts

Muscle Car: Dodge Charger R/T Year: 1971 Engine: 440 c.i. Magnum Transmission: Slapstick Automatic

This is the story of my dad's 1971 Dodge Charger R/T and matching custom chopper that he doesn't know about yet. My dad bought the 1971 Dodge Charger R/T in '76 when he was 18. In '78 he put on the sidepipes and keyston rims. The car is completely stock numbers matching otherwise. There were only 3,118 1971 Dodge Charger R/T's made. That's not including the options this one has (air conditioning, rim blow steering wheel, slapstick automatic trans, 440 magnum engine). There is even a bottle of trouble cologne and a box of tiny tarts (1979) in the glove box.

About 5 years ago, my dad gave the car to me. The best part about the car is that I can ride around on the same seat, spinning the same tires, listening to the same 8 tracks, as my dad did 30 years ago.
This past november my mom came to me with the idea of building my dad a custom chopper for his 50th birthday this year. Since that's the kind of thing we do at my buisness (Xotic Concepts) I said sure. I used to work for Jerry Covington (Very prominant chopper builder), where my work appeared in several magazines and tv shows, including Discovery Channel's Great Biker Build-off. Since then my dad has told me,at least twice a week, exactly how he would want his bike to be some day. As far as the theme goes, it came to me one day after all this, when he again complained about how much he missed his car. So I thought it would be appropriate to theme the bike after his 1971 Dodge Charger R/T. This way he would get both his custom chopper of his dreams and his first car back, all in one package. The entire bike was fabricated by Xotic Concepts. We made the frame, all the sheetmetal, handlebars, air cleaner, exaust and much more. The paint job was done by the same friend who practiced on the car 30 years ago. He has been doing paint and body work ever since and pulled off the candy paint perfectly, adding even more sentimental value to the bike.

Some of the designs to match the charger are: sidepipe exaust, raised white lettered tires, matching paint, matching graphics, NOS Charger R/T emblems, grille shaped oil tank, louvered gas tank with matching side gills.

On Friday, July 13th ,2007 at 5:00pm, my dad (a trucker who's gone all week and home on the weekends) will arrive home. My mom will go to pick him up from his truck and take themselves to the local pub as it is practically tradition. When dad walks through the door, one by one, he will start seeing around 20 family and friends from Nebraska, who have made the trip out to Cottage Grove Oregon for the occassion without him knowing anything. Out in the beer garden will be myself, one of the guys that helped build the bike, my sister and his mom. I will then present dad with my custom chopper(a rat rod yamaha that he hates). I will tell him, since he's always wanted a custom streched out chopper, I'm giving you mine for your birthday. I will be kind of a thanks, but no thanks deal. As everyone is milling around that I will sneak out and fire up his bike with the Total Performance 121 cu. motor and straight pipes. I will then ride his bike in for the true unveiling.

I appologize for the long e-mail, but I felt it necessary to understand all that has gone into this ordeal. My dad has done sooooo much for me and deserves even more than this, but I don't think he'll mind just getting this.

Thank you very much,
Derek Spitsnogle
Xotic concepts