Hey guys. Many of you know me already, but in case you don't, my name is Kelly. Yes, I know it's a girl's name. I own the website Kelly's Cars, and I wrote the Dodge Challenger history on allpar.com when I was fourteen or fifteen, and then wrote the detailed history last year (I am 24 now).
The Dodge Challenger has been deeply engrained in my pscyhe. My father bought two Challengers in 1984, a 1971 green 318 Highline (JS23G1E), and a 383 R/T SE (JS29N0x) parts car for about 1500 bucks or so. He was never a big mopar nut, just a gear head.
He tooled around in the '71. It was grey primer when he got it, and he painted it orange primer. He put the '70's snorkel hood and burnt orange leather buckets in it (any guesses as to where MY leather seat came from in my signature?).
I discovered Mopars when I was 11, and in a Wal-Mart with my mother and stepdad. It was the January 1994 High Performance Mopar issue with Ricky Moat's '70 Challenger Rod on the cover. My father sold the old orange heap to Greg Bulinger, a short time after (great freakin' timing!) who made it a red/white/white 440 Magnum Clone (yes, I know they never made U code cars in 1971), who later put a four speed and a six pack on that car. I have not seen her since 1996.
Ever since then I absorbed any Mopar info I read (I could decode Mopars by the time I was 12).
I bought my first mopar when I was 14, a $50 1978 Slant Six Volare (HL41C8F251183) from my stepdad. I junked that thing a year later (it was pretty rusty and dead) and purchased a 1973 Buick Century, with a healthy 350/350 tranny, which I transplanted in to a 1971 Stratomist Blue, White vinyl top (26A) Skylark Coupe. I wrecked that car two years later (17 by this time), and replaced the frame with a 1969 Chevelle unit.
I moved to California, with an associate's in GM A-bodies, and purchased my first Real Mopar, a 1958 Dodge (which I sold last year, and briefly owned a 1956 Chrysler New Yorker (pink/white, white leather, 354 Hem/powerflite) iI learned a lot about Mopars, and by the time I moved to Arizona in August 2005, I had a Master's in Forwardlook Mopars.
I have no car now, just my 1990 Suzuki Katana 600. I have made a vow to myself that when I make the transition back to four wheels, it will be my '70 or '71 Dream that has been so elusive to me since I was 11.
Even though I am still a young kid, I can crunch numbers, and bench talk with a lot of older guys and know what the hell I am talking about. If you guys have any questions about the Challengers, ask me. I am on this board to spread what I know about these cars, and to learn what I don't know.
Yeah, the new Challenger is pretty sweet, but my Challenger must have the all umbiquious W23 on it's fender tag! (Any takers for that fender tag code?)

Kelly