Our current Challengers are actually the fourth generation American car (two different manufacturers) to carry the name "Challenger". Back in the early 60's (1964) Studebaker had a model called the Challenger, and in 1965 even had a model called the "Daytona". And, both looked better than the "second generation" Challenger....
(Just trying to muddy the waters a bit...)
**By the way, there could be other "Challengers" in the very early years of the auto...just couldn't find any...so who knows...