Well i sold my beautiful '70... And after 18 years it was hard. I had no designs to get another old car... not until i could just go out and buy a runner. But all ov two days after creating a hole in my driveway... i found myself on the computer, trying to go to bed (waiting for something to load, as usual), and so... i wandered into Craigslist for something to do. And right there... looking at me is a 1970 Challenger (only, its a 74), and its cheap... Oh dear. Oh dearohdear... I swear i've seen this car before on there (i'm sure many ov you have too)... but not this cheap. Ad says phone after 8 AM, so i stay up till then, phone him at 8:15, and already he's got two guys coming out that morning to view it. I tell him i'll be there in 30 minutes (its an hour away). I get there in 35, it looks every bit the roach it is in the pics... but its speaking to me. Driving there... i'm pricing out a 4-speed, a posi, an engine, and a rally hood. I ask him if its got any parts... and he shows me a 4-speed... bellhouse to pistol grip, a rallye hood, the posi's in the car, and the engine (original is gone) is there too... running and ready to re-install (just a truck 360, but i'm going Magnum anyways... i can sell this one). He shows me many more parts than this. ALL the good HP stuff is there. I show him a stack ov hundreds, he trailers it to my house the next day. BOOM! I'm gonna get castrated for this... but i dont care... i WILL be DRIVING a badass 4-gear Challenger THIS SUMMER.

I know you just want the details:
1974 Rallye Challenger, B5 blue (car is painted black now), black vinyl roof, black interior. 360, 4-speed, 3.23 sure-grip, power discs, power steering, rallye cluster, buckets, console, HP suspension (that is actually sitting nice and high/stiff... and NOT with shackles), front and rear sway bars, dual sport mirrors, it has a full tag. And perfect for my needs... its got a 71 front clip... with a decent 70 grille. This is cool, because i still have a nice, straight 70 rear bumper and brackets (all i'll need is a 70 front bumper/brackets, and rear marker lights).

Now, the bad... This thing is a roach. It is rusty. God damn vinyl roof (an aftermarket one no less... some asshat actually re-installed a new one after painting it black) did its damage... and the roof is pretty religious around the rear window... but everywhere else, even the roof seam and the front pillars, are 100% clean. A tree fell on it and did a bit more damage too... but it didn't break the glass. Floors are rotten... from front to back, side to side. The trunk is actually better than my 70's was... but its holy. The trunk lid is rotten... which is LOVELY because i just bloody sold a nice one. I'm not worried about rust... rust doesn't scare me... But the mickey-mouse wiring 'mods' make me leery. Bad enough this thing had a zillion factory options... but some twit installed a few ov his own... full Radio Shack stereo (cut up some nice kick panels too, the sh!t), remote trunk, gauges, and a few other lovelies i haven't quite identified yet.

YET.... perfect frame rails (never been hit, far as i can tell, and NOT twisted!), nice glass, only one big crack in the dash, nice bucket/console, even under the battery is solid. Doors close nice, windows roll down nice, and ITS COMPLETE. It doesn't need EVERY GOD DAMN THING like my 6cyl 70 did. I could quite literally just bolt this sucker back together in a couple days, glass the rust and drive it. Hell... I just might.

Its missing only a rad (26" too!), a rear valence (i want a plain one anyways... going T/A exhaust), clutch/pressure plate/flywheel, steering wheel (gonna use my Tuff Wheel), rearview mirror, and a rear seat (i just GAVE away a Cuda rear seat last year... Grrr...). Its also missing whatever stock wheels came with it, i dont know.


Now... what to do with this sucker. Gotta admit, was a bit irked when i found out it was an actual 74 360 4-speed rallye... as thats actually a pretty cool, rare car. I have no plans to restore it... i want a basher. I want to completely de-option it and road race it (build the stock-looking 70 T/A i wanted to with the last one). But i feel a bit guilty. Hmmm... Upside is... it WILL get driven, and built. I'm not sure it was gonna get restored had i not bought it. People get stupid when it comes to rust. Likely would have been parted.

Got a PILE o pictures coming. Here's a taster, plus the tag if any ov you tag readers wanna decode it for me...