I found a 1970 Dodge Challenger in a local junk yard, how rare is it?
 

About five minutes from my house is an old welding business. Scattered around the owners property are a number of classice muscle cars. They've all been sitting for well as long as I can remember.

A friend of mine and I looked around the property at these old muscle cars. Over half are GM Camaro's, Vettes, GTO's, Monte Carlos. A few are Ford's but one caught my eye. A yellow 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. It appears to be the only Mopar on this guys property. Of course there is a fenced in area were quite a few muscle cars are stored, can't see them all so there may be other Mopars.

The car looks in pretty good shape, of course I didn't give it a good look over. The property is littered with NO TRESPASSING signs, the guy who owns these cars is hardly if ever seen, and he's had all these muscle cars for at least 30 years....and never sells them?

I'm not to familar with Dodge Challengers. So I was wondering if anyone here had any idea how rare this Challenger is?

I see no Hemi badge so it's safe to assume it's a 383 or 440, (of course it's been sitting awhile, so if it did have a hemi badge it may have fallen off) The car is an all yellow hardtop with a black stripe down the side and a black "Go Wing" on the back. It is my understanding if it's got the wing on the back it's an R/T

Here is a similar looking car (minus the wing)

http://www.specialtycarlocators.com/...hallenger3.jpg


http://www.specialtycarlocators.com/...hallenger2.jpg

RE: I found a 1970 Dodge Challenger in a local junk yard, how rare is it?
 

Sabre979! Sweet Find! I keep my eyes opened for things like that all the time, hoping MY challenger will be found! As far as it being a big block car, I wouldn't cross my fingers (I will have an article on kellyscars.net posted on the R/T SE that got away from me), but nowadays, anything is fair game ( Like the Phoenican Hemi 'Cuda Convertible that was "destroyed" in 1975...). The reason why I would be skeptical is because even though it might have the bumblebee stripe, R/T accounterments and so forth, keep in mind that these cars were from the seventies-They survived the seventies, and went through the musclecar craze of the eighties (hmmm, like today...). It could be a real deal legit R/T. The first thing you want to do, if you can get past the fence and risk breaking and entering, is get the vin.

Good Luck! As far as rarity is concerned, I want to say that about 40,000 Challengers were built in 1970. I could be wrong here, though!

Kelly

RE: I found a 1970 Dodge Challenger in a local junk yard, how rare is it?
 

If you can get back for a closer look and record the VIN, that would tell us what it is and how rare. Not sure how much luck you'll have with a nut like that owning the property, though. The VIN, by the way, is on the driver's side top of the dash by the windshield, if you can get close enough for a look.

RE: I found a 1970 Dodge Challenger in a local junk yard, how rare is it?
 

It's definitely a big block if it is a real R/T. I'd say it's pretty rare to find a Challenger R/T in a junkyard.

RE: I found a 1970 Dodge Challenger in a local junk yard, how rare is it?
 

If it an R/T it isn't necessarily a big block. The 383 was the base engine for the R/T and the 340 (small block) was actually an option over the base 4 barrel 383. As far as the rarity, a real Challenger R/T is worth a fair amount of money.....a finished numbers matching R/T is worth 30-60K or more if it's a 440-6 or Hemi.

340 R/T notes
 

1970 340 R/T cars are a grey area...There was an A66 (can't remember off the top of my head) package known as the 340 performance package available for the JH23 "Highline" price range. The cars weren't true legit R/Ts, they didn't have the JS23/JS27 VIN prefix. The reason why they were grey area cars (again depending on the amount of THC in the assembler's bloodstream), is that some of the A66 (checked the code, it is...damn I'm good!) cars had R/T striping, R/T badging, and other R/T-only goodies.

Now in 1971, you could get the A66 Non-R/T 340 Package, and a legit JS23 (remember, no R/T ragtops in '71) 340 R/T. I remember seeing a way cool 340 '71 Challenger in MCG a few years back. It was FC7 Plum Crazy, had a shaker, go wing, R/T sidestripes. First glance, I thought it was another R/T. I looked closer, and the R/T side stripes were missing the "R" and the "T". As it turns out, the car wasn't an R/T at all! You see, in 1971, you could order any 4 barrel car with a shaker! Just like the '70 sidestripes had the R/T and non-R/T stripes, the '71 Stripe were the same way. A pretty option-saavy insurance salesman specially ordered this car. It was, by all means, an R/T, with the exception of a few stampings on two metal tags...

Again, my last paragraph blows that out of the water. Like I say, it doesn't take a great degree of difficulty to bolt one one. Keep in mind, anything is possible over the last 36 years.

My old Avatar was a '71 340 R/T sunroof car. I remember seeing that thing on carsinbarns.com. The story with that thing was that the floorpan was so rusty that the car literally broke in half when it was loaded on the trailer!

As far as the T/A cars are concerned, they were not R/Ts, nor were they A66 cars. The 30 or so '71s that were constructed before Dodge pulled the plug on the T/A project had the quarter panel antenna hole plugged and were converted to A66 cars.

RE: 340 R/T notes
 

Hi guys, thanks for the info. I haven't been back to see the Challenger. I don't really know when I will. Like I said there are alot of "No Trespassing" signs all over the place and the Challenger is off the road a bit. I don't want the guy to call the cops on me. I took a risk the first time checking the car out. I wish I had written down the VIN #.

By the way this Challenger is in southren Delaware. If anyone lives nearby I could probably give you directions to the place.

RE: 340 R/T notes
 

I have a crazy idea...why don't you knock on the guys door & ask him what the deal is? I know you said he is rarely seen but why not give it a shot. You might just get him to talk to you and maybe you have something he might want in exchange for a vehicle. I know it's a drastic move...what do you have to lose?

RE: 340 R/T notes
 

[sm=exactly.gif] Worst he'll say is it isn't for sale, get outta here....... as long as your polite and respectful, he shouldn't get too bent out of shape. Wouldn't be the first time someone scored a nice set of wheels by doing that, either!


..... BTW, the first (and only) year the 340 was available in an R/T was '71. And total '70 Challenger production in all series, all body styles was 83,032.

RE: 340 R/T notes
 

You just gotta watch out for those pesky Doberman's taking a bite out of your leg. LOL!