While watching Leno's show (yeah, I lead a REAL exciting life), they promo-ed the "Jay's Garage" web site, so I decided to check it out. He has a video on there where he shows off a '70 Challenger R/T with a 426. It's a pretty good video, in that it's honest. Jay notes that most people preferred the 440, since it didn't require the constant tuning that a Hemi did and he shows how junky the car actually was built -- for example, only two screws hold the consul in. Still, he notes that there was nothing cooler -- or faster -- than a Challenger. (A word of warning: the video takes a loooooooooooooooong time to download):

http://jaylenosgarage.com/video/inde...l?vidID=156803

 

Thx - I would take an old school Challenger over the new one anyday but, I can NOT afford a complete restored one.

 

That is a sweet video. The purr of that Hemi makes my mouth water.

[8D]

 

Excellent find RoswellGrey! Thanks for posting it. I'm surprised he didn't give credit to the Cuda when he was mentioning how the Challenger was the last one to the pony car market.

 

Note he stated the auto trannys were faster then then the 4 speeds. I think that will be the case today as well.

 

Leno mentioned quality and roadhandling were the issues back in the day.

Yep, I remember going 100 MPH in my Challenger and it rattled and shook. I remember what he was talking about.

I think many Challengers that have been rebuilt are now better than when they came off the assembly line.

I hope the new Challenger will look a little more like the old one and it will be better built and handling should be awesome and I am looking forward to that.

 

Thanx for the info Roswell-cool video. I wonder if Leno really knows that much about all the cars he owns. He sounded like
a real motor head. What a blast it must be to take out a HEMI and fry the sneakers off.

 

I think is garage is around here in Burbank somewhere. I wouldn't mind being employed there as his car detailer. I am sure there is constant work doing that with his collection alone.

 

I was half of my high school's two-person entry in the Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest in 1973 (in the contest itself, we wound up in first place in the written division for the state of Iowa and eighth place overall -- I even still have the little trophy we each got for that. The school got a big one that's probably still in some trophy case). At any rate, to prepare for the contest, one of the Plymouth dealers in Des Moines loaned all the schools in the city that were competing brand-new Plymouth Furies to practice on. In addition to our after-school practice on the car, the auto shop teacher used it in class to demonstrate different things. It was amazing just how much stuff was wrong with that car -- bolts that weren't tightened properly, lights that weren't hooked up properly, screws that obviously should have been in the car that simply weren't there, etc., etc., etc. By the time we sent it back to the dealership, the car was like it should have been when it rolled out of the factory. All things considered, I'm glad I didn't buy my Challenger new. Whoever had it first probably had to get a lot of flaws taken care of. I know I had my share to deal with.

 

That doesn't not surprise me for American cars back in the day to be missing bolts.....pretty sad.

While we were making poor quality cars during this time.....the Honda Civic makes it U.s. debut in 1972.

The rest is history.

BTW - thanks for sharing that Leno video.....it brought back a lot of memories of the interior of my Challenger.