Charley Ogle’s ’64 Plymouth Savoy Drags As Good As it Drives

Growing up watching his father race, Charley Ogle always had a love of cars. It wasn’t until he participated in his first Drag Week event in 2013, though, that he was inspired to step up and fully transform his family’s 1964 Plymouth Savoy into a purpose-built drag-and-drive machine.

Now retired, the 52-year-old Texas resident credits the fateful outing with his 1971 Dodge Challenger for his current passion for drag-and-drive events. After his initial Drag Week outing, Ogle went on to race again in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, before mixing it up with Rocky Mountain Race Week in 2019 and 2020. “I gave the Challenger to my son who turned 16 last year,” shared the father who gifted the racing bug to his progeny, as well. “It’s his daily driver, and he finished Sick Week in it.”

The Ogle family has been a racing-oriented one since Charley was born, though. His mother and father purchased a 1963 Dodge 440 2-door hardtop in 1970 – and it eventually became his first car. Every summer, the family visited an uncle in South Texas and passed a 1964 Plymouth Savoy in Blanco. They always stopped and inquired about buying the car, which was used by a lady to drive a few short blocks to work each day, but were always turned down.

Finally, in 1987, after almost a decade of trying, Ogle’s father’s offer was accepted and the family purchased the coveted Savoy for $1,000. “Every corner had been hit. It was trashed,” recalled Ogle of how the little-used daily driver had seen more than its fair share of abuse. “It was a slant six with three on the tree and almost 2,000 miles on it.”

The family patriarch drove the Savoy for a while before taking charge of the much-needed paint and bodywork. “We put a mild 440 in and drove it and played with it,” recalled Ogle of time spent working with his father. “In the late ‘90s, I stuck a 426 wedge in it and we raced it at brackets and special events for a couple of years.”

Passing on the generational tradition and keeping the family’s love of racing alive, in 2010, Ogle pulled all of the 1990s-era racing equipment out of the Savoy and gave the car to his nephew, Dillon Ogle, who had recently turned 16. As expected, the Plymouth accumulated all of the wear and tear that a teenager could dish out. “I got it back from Dillon in 2018 and put it together as it sits now,” noted the generous uncle. “I’m grateful to him for returning it so I could enjoy it again!”

In the span of only about…