High performance shocks notably improve the overall responsiveness of the chassis. Just like tires and springs, shocks can make an incredible difference in a car's ability to hook up and launch. That's why Killer Kong - our '69 Dodge Charger R/T project - scored a set of QA1 double-adjustable shocks.

Today's plastics and rubber is embedded with new age polymers that resist aging, cracking and discoloring far longer than those from over 40 years ago. These polymers also improve elasticity in softer contact points - like body bumpers and weatherstripping - and will maintain that pliability over the years.

Proper brightwork should be like good movie special effects, if done right, nobody should notice. For our second generation '69 Dodge Charger "Killer Kong," there was far more chrome, stainless, aluminum and pot metal brightwork than we had realized, leaving us to decide what to replace, repolish, or rechrome.

We dial back the clock to take a look at how our Killer Kong '69 Dodge Charger's iconic tail stripe was installed. Body decals can either make or break the muscle car, so it's worth learning how to put them on right (that means no bubbles, wrinkles or just plain straight).

Building a hard-hitting engine is always the flashy, fun thing to talk about, but without the proper gearbox to back up all that power, you're big and brash big block won't have anywhere to go. We're working on Killer Kong's powertrain a little backwards to emphasize how crucial the rest of the package is.

The original grainy image above is of Landy's '68 featured on the cover of Super Stock & Drag Illustrated long before many reading this were born. Jason took some creative liberties and inked this cool rendering of our T7 Bronze R/T Charger yanking the front skinnies just like Mr. Landy did so long ago.

As we’ve mentioned before, Killer Kong, our ‘69 Dodge Charger was everything but an R/T, meaning it came equipped with Chrysler’s smallest big block, the 290hp 383 B-Block, a floor-shifted Torqueflite 727 automatic and a 3.23-cogged 8 3/4 rear. In the cabin, the T7 Copper B-Body was optioned with the &hellip