Bittersweet for us.

After 10 plus years of sitting buried in the back of our garage the wife has decided to get her late father's 1971 R/T Challenger back on the road.

Her dad built the car back in the early 80's.
He brought it up from Arizona, spotless rust free body with interior burnt from the heat.

Her dad was a 50's Ford/Mercury lover but he really liked the Challenger.
He restored the interior with all NOS parts that were still around in the 80's and had the car's body stripped and painted by one of the best body shops in our area.
He showed my wife, just a kid then, a 1971 Dodge paint chip guide and she picked the Plum Crazy paint color.

He installed a 1967 HP440 with high compression pistons and all the performance goodies from the 80's.

The car was a show stopper in all it's 1980's glory, jacked up with Centerlines wheels, big tires, but sadly with 12 to 1 compression was rarely driven.

Sadly my FIL died suddenly about 10 years ago.

My wife insisted she wanted to keep the car but didn't want to look at it, as it reminded her of her dad.

I pulled the engine and had the rattle can black engine compartment stripped and painted to match the rest of the car but I didn't have the heart or the motivation to work or look at it either so I covered and buried it in the back of the garage...

10 years has gone fast, I had enough Mopar projects to keep me busy (and broke) plus raising kids so the Challenger just sat covered.

I knew someday we would get it back out and it would need gone over mechanically so I bought parts a little at a time.
The car was an original manual steering and drum brake car so I planned to swap to power steering and front disk brakes.

Well the wife has decided it's time.
She has come to terms with her dad's death and knows he would want her to drive and enjoy the car.

We drug it out last weekend and the body and paint and interior still look stunning.
The wife spent hours washing and cleaning it.
There is plenty of incorrect 80's things on the car, most will stay.

I have set aside my Mopar projects and have kicked the parts buying into high gear with the wife's blessing.

I have all new Moog front suspension parts ready
11/16 tie rods
QA1 upper control arms
We just picked up a new level 3 power steering box from Steer and Gear.
Have a restored power steering column ready
New rear leaf springs from ESPO
Dr. Diff offset spring hanger kit and restored 1970 B body 8 3/4 rear end with brand new sure grip center section and 3.73 gear.
I hope to get those big 15x10 Centerline rear wheels tucked under the car.
New fuel tank and lines
Front disc brake conversion
New brake lines and master cylinder
And a bunch more parts coming....

I have a 440 Six Pack engine that will be going off to get refreshed and set up to be a nice street driver.
Rebuilt 727 transmission and converter ready to go

It's been quite awhile since I've done this much work on an old Mopar and I'm not getting any younger.
Should be an interesting and busy summer...wish me luck.

Touching story, and one I can relate to. I've still got Dad's 70 Fury convertible and he's been gone 10 years now. Mom tells me she wants her 'last ride' to be in the big blue convertible.

I swear I can feel his presence every time I get in the car. He loved that car.

Best of luck with the project. You'll never regret it.

Great car. It's good you got it out. Maybe driving it will be theraputic for her(or you). '71's are the coolest.

Thanks for the comments guys.

It is definitely time to get it running and driving again.

I spent a lot of time helping my late FIL work on his cars, mostly on the restoration of his prized 1949 "Baby" Lincoln.

I used to tease him all the time that the best car in his collection was the Challenger and ironically the only car we kept WAS the Challenger.

I was able to get the front drum brakes and suspension removed, the lower ball joints and the upper control arm adjusting bolts were a real PIA.
Upper control arms looked crusty, glad I bought new QA1 tubular ones and new adjusting hardware.
Torsion bars and lower control arms all look nice so I'll leave them alone for now.

Hope to get the manual steering gear box and column removed this weekend and clean and paint the K member and front frame rails.

Cool history and car!
Thanks for sharing.
Pat

great story, be great to see it enjoyed.

Great story, great car, great plans!

Here's another bump to motivate!

Got some more disassembly done today.

Got distracted first installing a new mail box for my mother in law for Mothers Day, thankfully that went well.

Finished removing the front steering parts, had a bear of a time separating the center link from the pitman arm but with the aid of the air tools and a BFH I got it done.

Going to start removing the manual steering box and column tomorrow.
Going to let the wifegod mask off the engine compartment and paint the K member.

Looking forward to starting the front suspension and disk brake assembly.

Looks to be the original idler arm, have a new one going back in, is it worth keeping?

So far everything is going good and not a scratch on the car.

I want that car so bad. What's the history on it? How old is the paint and how long did your FIL own it?

Truly amazing! It is so wonderful that you kept the Challenger, and soon both of you will being roaring down the road in it! Love those centerlines! Classic! Thank you for sharing. Best of luck!

Car looks amazing
It is a great memorial to your father!
Enjoy the car and wishing you the best.

Really cool story and a really nice car, I hope you and your wife enjoy driving it when it's finished.