As previously mentioned on this web site, looking at old pictures usually brings back a lot of memories.  Even though the early 70's are pretty much a blur at this point, looking at photos of the Dodge Challenger brings back a lot.

The car at the left is not of my actual car.  I don't know whether I never took pictures of it or if they have been lost, but I can't find any.  I have graphically enhanced a photo I found to make it look like my old Challenger.

Dodge called this color hemi-orange.  It had a black vinyl top and dual racing stripes running front to back over the hood and trunk lids.  Each of the two stripes were made up of three parts.  The center stripe was about four inches wide with smaller one inch stripes on each side of it.  The dual stripes basically divided the two halves of the hood and trunk.  I also installed functional hood pins.

It was a base V8 model and wasn't considered a muscle car but it did have a V8 ... a 318 CID with 2 barrel carb.  This would be a 5.2 L in today's standards and was rated at 230 HP.  Comparing that to today's technology, our 2006 Mustang GT has a 4.6 L (281 CID) with fuel injection and is rated at 300 HP.  My Dodge had a floor/console mounted automatic transmission ... known as a slap-stick automatic.  When the muffler went bad on this, I had a custom exhaust system installed.  The single exhaust on the base V8 model was replaced by duals that had Thrush glass packed mufflers sitting right under the front seats.  With the stubby tailpipes on the mufflers hanging down, it looked and sounded great.

There wasn't much of a trunk in the Challenger.  That wasn't important in a car like this.  I did have to get creative when I transported all of my worldly goods back and forth to college.  Perhaps more importantly, when it was my turn to pick up the keg for the dorm party, I had to put it in the front passenger seat.  There wasn't enough room in the trunk or back seat!  Be assured I was a safe driver.  I seat-belted the keg in.

Undoubtedly, I will never own another 1970 Dodge Challenger, but I will forever be infatuated with this car.

When David Jr. was a young teenager and starting to take an interest in cars, we talked about this car.  I contacted some old friends who were more into photography than I was to see if they had some shots of it.  The only one that could be found was taken by my college room mate Rich while we were in school.  It was taken after a major snowstorm at Oswego when several of us went out to the lot to find our cars.  Mine had been facing the wind and the picture shows the motor area with the hood up.  There is so much snow that you can't even see the engine.  The only reason he feels it is my car is because there is a very small spot of the firewall showing and it is orange.  As he said, I was the only one with an orange car.

Here are some facts about the cars.  The Dodge Challenger was a pony car created to challenge the Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro.  It was based on the Chrysler "E" body, as was the Plymouth Barracuda.  With the trim options, the Challenger was considered a bit more high end than the 'Cuda.  The Plymouth version had a bit shorter wheelbase and was a little shorter overall and was designed to compete with the Mustang and Camaro, whereas the Dodge model was aimed more at the Mercury Cougar and Pontiac Firebird.  Several books about the cars of this era and the Wikipedia account indicates that the "Dodge was positioned against the Cougar and other more luxury-type musclecars".  The '70 was the first year of production.  Its most successful year, it is considered the most collectible.  By the time the car was introduced, the pony car wars were declining.  Shortly after the oil embargo hit.  The Challenger's engine was destroked/detuned and almost all aspects of performance suffered.  By 1974, the last year of its production, the Challenger was a mere shadow of its former self.

The Challenger came in four models: the six, the V8, the T/A and the R/T.  The six was your basic economy model and the V8 a more powerful base version.  The T/A ... Trans Am ... was a special edition model released so that the Challenger could compete in the Trans Am racing series.  This was a racing category that required a stock model sold to qualify that car as available to the public.  The R/T ... Road/Track ... was the performance model.

The Challenger was available as a hardtop or convertible.  The convertible is self explanatory.  A hardtop has no "B" pillar, the roof support between the front ("A" pillar) and rear ("C" pillar) roof supports.  It also has no window frame on the door between the front and rear seat windows.  According to Wikipedia it was also came as a coupe.   I guess it depends upon who is defining this word.  I have also thought of a coupe as a 2 door sedan.  It does have a "B" pillar.  However, the Society of Automotive Engineers defines a coupe as a "fixed-roof automobile with less than 33 cubic feet of rear interior volume".  Based on that definition a coupe could be either a hardtop or a sedan.  Based on the back seat of the Challenger, I guess it was a coupe!  An S/E ... Special Edition version was also available on the standard and R/T hardtops which gave you a few more luxurious amenities such as leather seats, vinyl roof, a smaller "formal" rear window and an overhead interior console.

In my second year at JCC, I was dating a girl whose roommate had a white 1970 Challenger V8 SE.  Since I didn't have my own car at the time and the room mate had a boyfriend, we often used this car when we went places.  When I went shopping for my first car and saw the one I eventually bought, I knew I had to have it.

The Challenger came in several colors, many of which had creative names such as Plum Crazy (purple), Go-Mango (orange), Banana (yellow) and Sublime (lime green).  Mine was Hemi Orange, basically a blend between red and orange, somewhat of a burnt orange.  There was also a Burnt Orange which was more on the orange side of the blend.  The Hemi Orange was more on the red side of the blend.  

As previously mentioned, the original Challenger was manufactured between 1970 and '74.  As far as distinguishing between the years, it was somewhat difficult.  The body style was the same throughout its run.  The only changes were made to its front and rear.  The 1970 grill had somewhat of a chrome rectangle around its perimeter.  In 1971, the grill was split, featuring two smaller chrome rectangles.  In 1972-'74 the grill became a trapezoid.  I always thought it looked somewhat like a frown!  To tell these years apart you needed to look at the bumpers.  In '72, the bumpers were plain although small bumper guards were optional.  In '73, big rubber "5 mph" bumper guards were introduced due to US crash test regulations.  The '74 models were identical to the '73s.  There were also some slight variations in the side marker lights during the Challenger's run.  In 1970 to 1972, the lights were basically flush with the body surface.  In the last two years of production, the lights were raised off the surface.

Likewise, cosmetic variations were applied to the tail.  In 1970, the taillights extended across the rear with a single back up light in the center.  In 1971, the backup lights were moved from the center to the middle of the left and right tail lights. Between 1972 and '74, the rear-end got the same treatment as the front.  In '72, the rear bumpers were plain with small rubber guards being optional.  In 1973 and '74, the rear bumpers were identical, having prominent rubber bumper guards..  At this point, the Challenger had four individual rectangular lamps.  I have provided some pictures to help tell the story.  Beware of what you find on the Internet.  While searching, I found many vehicles labeled wrong.  Many times, vehicles were named as the wrong year.  I found Dodge Chargers, Plymouth Barracudas and even a Chevy Camaro labeled as a Challenger.

1970 showing the rectangular grill	1970 with taillights spanning the rear and the back up light in the center
1971 showing the two piece grill	1971 with back up lights moved to the middle of the taillights
1972 with the trapezoidal grill	1972 rear showing four separate tail lights
1972 with the trapezoidal grill and the optional small bumper guards	Is this a '73?
1973 with the large protruding bumper guards	1973 with the protruding rear bumper guards
1974, like the '73 with the large protruding bumper guards	1974 rear was identical to the '73