V8 Supercars legend Greg Murphy is parting with one of the most personal projects of his career: a custom-built 1969 Dodge Charger that he commissioned, tore down himself, and shipped across the world to be rebuilt from the ground up. It’s now headed to auction through Collecting Cars with no reserve or price estimate published ahead of the sale.
A Four-Time Bathurst Winner’s Personal Build
Murphy, a four-time Bathurst 1000 winner known to fans as the “King of Pukekohe,” didn’t just buy this Charger and bolt on parts. He disassembled the car himself in New Zealand before shipping it to Ringbrothers in Wisconsin for a build that ran more than 4,200 hours. That level of personal involvement, from teardown to final spec, is what separates this from a typical celebrity-owned collector car: Murphy shaped nearly every decision on this build rather than simply writing a check for a finished product.
What’s Actually Under the Skin
The classic Charger silhouette is doing a very good job of hiding what’s underneath it. Power comes from a supercharged 6.2-liter Mopar Hellcat V8 producing 520kW and 881Nm of torque, routed through a six-speed Bowler Tremec T-56 manual and into a brand-new Art Morrison chassis, with suspension and brakes upgraded specifically to handle that kind of output. This isn’t a numbers-matching restoration wearing a big engine for show; it’s a ground-up performance platform wrapped in a 1969 body.
The visual details back that up. The car wears “Pile Up Yellow” paint over HRE Ringbrothers Edition Recoil wheels, 19×11 inches up front and a meaty 20×13 out back, along with a lip spoiler, rear bumper shroud, and rear side-exit exhaust tips. Inside, Upholstery Unlimited built a dark grey cabin with yellow stitching to match the exterior, anchored by a Ringbrothers “Murph” carbon-fiber and billet steering wheel, a MoTeC C1212 digital display in place of analog gauges, and a Fusion head unit paired with Kicker speakers.
Barely Broken In
Despite all that work, Murphy has put fewer than 1,000 kilometers on the car since it returned to New Zealand, and it’s being sold with a current Warrant of Fitness, meaning it’s fully road legal under local regulations rather than a trailer queen. For a build this extensive, that mileage figure means a buyer is essentially getting a fresh, barely-used machine rather than something that’s been driven hard and put away wet.
Murphy’s Charger isn’t the only motorsport-connected car in this Collecting Cars sale, either. Also crossing the block is the 1997 Bathurst 1000-winning Castrol Holden Commodore driven by Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall, giving the auction a genuine cluster of racing pedigree beyond just Murphy’s build. With no public estimate attached, bidders will have to weigh the car’s build sheet, its ultra-low mileage, and its direct tie to one of Australian and New Zealand motorsport’s most recognizable names entirely on their own terms once bidding opens.
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