Jye Core has been a Mopar nut from day dot, and if you’re a regular in the Queensland car scene, you’ll likely recognise his name from one or more of his Valiants that have torn up local strips and prowled the streets over the years.

First published in the June 2024 issue of Street Machine

But while Valiants are cool and all, for many, the 1968-’69 Dodge Charger is the pinnacle of classic Mopar metal. This particular ’68 Charger made a big impression on Jye at a young age, but he never thought he’d end up owning it.

“I first saw it when Lionel Durre owned it; I was in my early 20s,” says Jye. “It had a 720hp, 500-cube big-block in it – it was the toughest car I’d ever seen! The look and sound was next-level.”

Fast-forward a few years and Jye got a call from Lionel, offering him the chance to buy his dream Charger. “I couldn’t believe it!” says Jye. “I had not long finished my BLOWEN VG hardtop [SM, Feb ’20], so funds were tight. Finding that money at age 24 was not easy, I tell you, but I had to have that car no matter what.”

The ’68 still had the 500-cuber in it when Jye finally got his hands on it, but he already intended to go one step further with it. “I wanted 1000hp, which, when we first started the build around eight years ago, was a big deal,” he says. “I started looking into the Indy Maxx Hemis, and then Peter Gratz put this water-jacketed race engine up for sale, so I grabbed it.”

Fettling a race engine to make it better suited for street duties is no small task, so Jye handballed that project to Tony and at the team at Brinks Performance. “There was no oiling in the block to the lifter bores, so it had to be drilled to suit,” Jye says. The cam tunnel also had to be massaged out to 60mm to accept rollerised cam bearings, and a Torrington bearing was also added to stop crank walk. The oil pump is an external System 1 wet-sump deal to suit street duties.

“Parts were a real issue; it felt like we were dealing with a lot of firsts, and there isn’t much support for Hemis here in Australia,” says Jye. “The head gaskets took eight months, the rockers even longer; it dragged out the build massively.”

When it was finally all buttoned up, the mighty 572ci Indy mill sported a Callies crank, Manley rods and Diamond pistons. The heads are Indy Maxx dual-plugs, topped by a BDS 14/71 blower sucking through a pair of 1250 Holley Dominator carbs. It runs a dual MSD distributor set-up, and the fact it’s barely contained within the bonnet is completely intentional.

“I wanted it to be a fairly standard-looking Charger but with the race motor hanging out, because you never see a dual-plug engine in a road car,” Jye says. “We specced the camshaft for noise more than anything else, and the thing thumps along, turning the tyres at idle.” On E85 and 13psi, the package put outs a comfy 1215hp.

Despite the considerable size of a late-60s Charger, fitting an engine of this magnitude in one was still quite a task. Jye had Craig at Extreme Custom Engineering tackle that job, and Craig also set up a big chunk of the car. “He ended up doing a whole new firewall, mounting the engine and gearbox, doing the tailshaft, and adding a Commodore rack-and-pinion conversion for more clearance,” Jye says.

The front suspension is still a torsion-bar affair, while leaf springs and CalTracs live in the rear. Craig at Extreme also shortened the Dana 60 diff to suit the 15×10 Weld AlumaStars, relocated the radiator, and tackled all the big fab jobs.

After a fresh lick of Super Jet Black paint from Bruce Clape, the Charger copped its final assembly at Jye’s diesel mechanics business, Core Diesel Maintenance. “We do anything from 4WDs to big machinery, but we also do custom cars on the side,” Jye explains. “So, the boys and I tackled putting it back together, plumbing the fuel system and so on.”

Although his Charger project took many years longer than he’d intended, the dream result is exactly what Jye wanted from day one. “I originally budgeted time and money for a 12-month build, and it took nearly eight years!” he laughs. “But the vision was always the same. I didn’t ’cage it, because it’s not really a race car; it’s a dream car of mine – a 1968 Charger with a race engine. My perfect street car.”

If you’re a local to Queensland’s Fraser Coast, you may well have spotted Jye and his two young boys enjoying the Charger on a weekend cruise. “They love it just as much as me; they’re always nagging to take it out!” he says.

The Dodge scored Grand Champion at its unveiling at the Peninsula Motorfest in 2022, and Jye also had it at Rockynats 3 for a crack at Grand Champion, which was also the first time he opened the taps properly during the street drags. “It just fried the tyres to half-track, but otherwise it drives really well,” he says. “We just put some new 325 PSR radials on it that fit nice and snug, but it still turns them without a second look!”

JYE CORE
1968 DODGE CHARGER

THANKS
Joel Blake at Parry Rd Performance; Craig at Extreme Custom Engineering for all the fab work; Bruce Clape for the paint and panel; Tony and team at Brinks Performance for the engine; Lionel Durre at Engine Improvements; RCE and Craig; Mitch Wills at Onsite Electrical; Aaron Loader at Azz’s Auto Electrics; Ray J Edwards; Paul at PST Performance; my dad Warren at Classic Touch Auto Detailing; the Core Diesel Maintenance team that helped get the car together and ready for the streets!