Joliet, Illinois – Say the word “Shelby” in any gearhead circle and most folks will immediately picture a Mustang…or a Cobra roadster….or heck, maybe even a GT-40.
Not many of us would picture a 1980s front-wheel drive Dodge fastback.
…Unless of course, your name is Anthony Czerwiec.
“I was just scrolling the internet randomly when I saw it, I thought it was Foxbody,” he laughs. “I didn’t even know Shelby went over to Dodge in the 1980s.”
We already introduced you to Anthony’s dad in this feature on Pop’s 1974 Dodge Monaco.
And as it turns out, that Mopar passion was passed down to Anthony—just with a decidedly 1980s flavor.
“I love Shelby and it’s a Mopar,” he quips. “It’s the best of both worlds.”
Make no mistake though, when Anthony got it, this particular Charger looked nothing like what you see here today.
“This was a complete tear down. The floor plans were rotted out, so we had to gut the entire interior, cut and weld metal,” he admits. “That first summer I had it was just cutting and welding.”
And it didn’t stop there. Anthony says the project snowballed and pretty soon they had painstakingly cleaned and polished all the trim and wheels—and finished up with a factory-spec repaint.
The job got even more complex under the hood.
“It had a rod knock when we first bought it, so that was a complete rebuild from the block up,” Anthony tells us. “We ended up putting a new transmission in it too, because the old one had a synchro gear that was messed up.”
Suffice it to say, we’re all enjoying the fruits of that labor.
Never heard of a Shelby…Charger?
Don’t be surprised, as it’s a relatively unknown branch of the Shelby family tree—even more so than its contemporary Omni GLH/GLH-S hot hatch cousins.
The Shelby Charger was the result of the well-publicized friendship between Carroll Shelby and then-Chrysler boss Lee Iacocca. In addition to the aforementioned Omnis, Shelby also later worked his magic with the FWD Dodge Shadow and Daytona, as well as the Dakota midsize truck.
The Shelby-spec Charger debuted in 1983, but the fastback really hit its stride in 1985 with the noteworthy addition of a turbocharged 2.2L good for around 150 horsepower.
Sadly, many of these oft-overlooked coupes succumbed to a one-two punch of rust and heavy-footed drivers, making surviving examples a welcome sight today.
In fact, Anthony says that finding parts was one of the biggest challenges in restoring this car—the other being a serious lack of available information on the Shelby-era Chargers.
“Nobody knows what they are,” he laments. “You try to find specs and stuff, and it’s just not there.”
So on behalf of the OnAllCylinders staff and everyone else who enjoys seeing rare 1980s-era performance cars, we’re glad Anthony was able to do his homework, put in the sweat equity, and save this one. Slow clap.
Hear more from Anthony on his Charger in the video below:
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