Love it or list it, right? If someone doesn't snag it this is my spring project...

1970 Challenger, 225, 3-speed stick, 7 1/4" red on red, buckets, 2watt AM radio, wheelwell chrome.. that is IT for options! Just how i like 'em... SIMPLE and clean. All original metal and paint, 99% original car.

Look at those panels and gaps...

Now the not so pretty...

The floors need fairly minor patches, which is easy enough at least (i'd look for actual 70-74 Challenger metal to weld in there, none ov that new crap). And as for the interior... well, it was a desert car, and what the desert gives back in metal, it certainly takes away in everything else. Seat cushions are toast, dash pad is toast, drivers-side interior panels are toast. Headliner was beautiful... and still bright red, nary a scratch... until it just fell down one day. Dammit! Everything else survived though.

Assorted other details. Took the lights out to air it out, and decided to leave 'em out. Seems to stay a lot dryer that way (they stay dryer in my shop too). Even the trunklid is decent... just a bit flaky. Too easy. God damn window channels though... they ruined my perfect floors (trunk was utterly gone when i bought the car)... pretty sure they came that way from the factory. The channels are still in the easy fix dept though, but again, i want original Challenger metal for that. I've seen as much in more than one yard/parts car in the last few years, so this should be cake to find... dont need a lot ov material. This car deserves factory 45 year old metal, and its not so far gone that this would be difficult.

And now the real ugly...

I got around to hacking the rotten tank out last year... it was reeking up the interior. I literally squashed it together with my hands and rolled it up to squeeze through the straps it was so spongy. The sender was solid rust. Both beyond gone, but i did save the straps, and found some nice solid rails under the flaky floor. The frame is perfect, front to back in this car. AND... another stunning bonus... NO FACTORY UNDERCOAT! So nothing to scrape. The last pic was what i got the day i bought it in 1999... so really, a decade and a half ov sitting on concrete in the Pacific Northwest didn't hit it all that hard...

get on it, it'll be great,

besides the AM radio, does it have any other extra-cost OPTIONs? red or black seat belts?

all BRIGHT RED

Top line ov the tag, you tell me.

FE5 C55 M21 R11 END

Very bare tag. 98% sure the 'C' is a c, it would make sense as it does have buckets (its hard to see that letter). I dont really consider the (base) radio and buckets an option, as finding a delate or a bench seat is FAR rarer. Everything in the gut is red, but the belts are indeed black (just had to go check). People have been trying to buy those belts off me, or trade them for later ones since i got the car. Must be rare stuff.

Buckets standard, all radios were options.

Is it an LA built car?

Lower tag is (if i can remember, not going out into the rain to look)...

E24 D13 JH23 C0E blah blah blah...

Believe thats makes it an LA car, i'm no tag guru.

You got a pic of the belts? Just curious, my car is a low option LA built car too. you can see mine in this pic.

jess

LA built car
destined to be shipped out of CA when new (no "N95" - CA emissions)

per the tag R11 is the only extra cost OPTION $61.55
/6 3-spd Challenger base price - $2,851.00

Typically, standard cluster 1970 E-bodies had black steering columns.

The exceptions I have seen so far are all red interior cars from Hamtramck with fairly early scheduled production dates.

So, since yours is from LA a fender tag photo would be VERY cool to see, it would help with my research on this anomaly.

If you do not want to post it in public my email address is sixpak340(insert at symbol here)att.net

I see a red steering column in photos above.

That is why I mentioned it. Not unheard of, but unusual.

are the RED columns w/standard gauge clusters that you know of all manual transmission or manual steering?

jt4406 No pics ov the belts, but they pretty much look like yours, from what i can see anyways.




I dont have a tag photo, and its so gross out up here right now (wet and dark) its hard to get decent pics on my nightshift schedule. I still have to grab a shot or two ov the engine bay, so when i get that i'll get the tag too.

Progress update...

EDIT: it snowed another 12" the night after taking this.

We have only had 1 measurable snowfall here in Chicago, what a crazy winter..

I'm not complaining, I work outside so it's been nice..

We almost never get snow. But last year (or was it year before?) we got three weeks ov grief...like, Maritimes-level grief. We've had TWO massive spells this year now, both 2-3 weeks long. Global warming will NOT force me to buy snow tires. I refuse. But i AM insuring the Anti-Life Mobile (pictured beside Challenger) next winter. Nothing stops that behemoth...

The day after the day after taking this it turned to sleet. Everything... coated in ice. Half the beautiful trees in town broke. Lovely...

Not to rub it in but it's gonna be 56 on Friday and 50's and 60's through next Wednesday..

I'm sure we will have a huge snow come March but it's been awesome.

Well, i'd quickly retort with a crack on not having to wear kevlar when i leave the house, but i really shouldn't be throwing stones with the crime problem we have here... Haha.

FINALLY got some nice enough weather, and some time to open the hood...

Okay, here's the money shot. The stunning glory ov Mopar horsepower and righteousness... The leaning tower ov power.

Heh... a testament to the simplicity and reliability ov these cars. After sitting since THE EIGHTIES... and having been in my possession since the late 90's, i got bored one day about 7 or 8 years ago and tossed a battery onto the tray, and put a few bucks worth ov gas in the tank and fired it up. It almost ran. So i bought some new plugs, cleaned the wires, cap, etc, and tried again, and with some rather vigorous right foot action, that sucker RAN. Hell... i drove it around the block. I would have gone further, but it was running like sh!t (would not idle at all), and well... i had no idea what condition the brakes and lines were in. But i got to drive my car!

As it would turn out, when i finally pulled the tank, i found a lot more than $5 gas in there... like, almost double what i put in. So this would explain why it would not idle. That gas was TWENTY YEARS old. NO doubt in my mind that with a new tank and gas, this thing would fire right up and drive. Amazing. Was taken off the road in the 80's.

Here's some serious horsepower porn, and unfortunately, some more rust porn...

I'm confused; what are the plans for the car? Will you be getting the car mechanically sound and driving it as is, restoring it, selling it, or something else? Just wondering what direction you will be going with the car?

Ugh... well... I WANT to drive it... badly... but it just never seems to get off the ground. I'm just not one ov those guys that jumps into things and starts ripping off parts (like soooo many ov these Moparts projects start... then you never see them again). Just in a bad place right now, as far as this car is concerned... no shop (and it rains here... a LOT), sketchy neighborhood (thieves, vandals), crappy tools (almost enough to still do the job though... i built my 72 Charger with what i have), and no money. For what I need out ov a car, i could be driving this rig for less than 3K... but money has been tighter the last 6 months than usual. Its not cheap to live where i live, and getting worse by the month.

I would love nothing more than to put this on the road, and sell my daily driver Toyota, which would then net me enough more money to finish phase 2 ov this project. But like i said, i cant seem to get it off the ground.

So... there is the ad here, on Moparts, and i very recently put it on facebook, and holy goddamn [censored] i'm getting inundated with attention. I should have priced it higher, but too late now. Its supposed to be gone this Tuesday, but we'll see. I've got between now and then to find 12K, which will let me not only keep it, but put it on the road. I've set aside 4K from that to do so.


If i DO get to keep and drive it, plans will be to put a hot little Magnum in it, a 4-speed (gonna run the 3-speed for now), stiff suspension and the best brakes i can afford (not much, maybe the Mopar Action swap). Buy back my T/A hood and put the T/A stuff (spoilers, stripes, etc.) on it to have a daily driver i can road race. Goals will be a GLORIOUS sound (i build my own exhaust) and the best gas mileage i can eke out ov the old-school. So probably end up with a 318 Magnum and 2.76 gears until i can stab an OD stick in there. I put a LOT ov miles on my cars. I LOVE the patina, and i hate pretty cars, so the paint and body will not be touched. Only the rust will be repaired, and with absolutely as little metal as possible. I've got a line on some original Challenger metal for the floor patches, the window channel patches, and as for the trunk... if i go with a new Challenger fuel system, i'll weld in a trunk pan (hope to find an original one from a real car), or if i just go with a cell i'll just weld some metal in there for now. Just want it sealed and dry.

The weather is NOT helping this mess either. Its snowing AGAIN tonight. It NEVER used to snow here... ever.



EDIT: The thing that burns me, aside from this being my dream car (only way it could be dreamier is if that was faded TX9 black patina...) is that its just a GOOD CAR. Read the post above this one... this thing, after decades ov neglect WANTS to drive. I've had, since i bought this one, a half-dozen Mopars that were driving and insured and still gave me daily grief... no matter how i came at them. My Charger was utterly cursed. Some cars are just GOOD, some are just sh!t. My Caddy is one ov the good ones. I hate to sell a good Mopar... i've not had a lot ov luck with them.