How You Found Your Car

[ntstlgl1970]

Auto Trader, had been looking for about 2 months after my other car was totalled. Nothing too interesting. Ran into the previous owner at the Sacramento Mopars in the park show about 4 years ago, he recognized the car. Should have asked him some background info questions but didn't think of it.

[Mentally Challenged]

Buddy at work found my Challenger. He brought pictures in to show our boss, another Mopar fan. He has a 74 Challenger, so he told him to show the pictures to me. I had to see it, so I went to look. It sat there for about two weeks while I tried to sell my 71 R/T Charger. Once the Charger sold the deal just worked out.

[the_engineers]

Looking through Hemmings while interning in North Carolina.  Found the car in western VA.  The guy had four 'cudas.  This was the one that ran.  Bought it, a rallye dash, a disc brake set-up and an extra '71 front clip for the original asking price.

[Lunchbox]

  and stories too.

[LAA66]

 Found mine in the Star Free Press newspaper in Santa Barbara Ca. I was looking for Chevys, as that's what most of my friends had. The Challenger ad just really stood out for some reason.

 I remember asking what is a 340? Is that a good engine? Noone understood the Challenger being Chevy and Ford guys, so it was tough getting any Mopar help. There was no internet, or other information readily available, just a few old magazines and such.

 So I went and looked at it, drove it around a bit, and it just felt right. My mom got me a loan and I made payments until the $1750 was paid off. Somedays I had to ride my bicycle to work after school when the Dodge was acting up. Kinda enbaresing but oh well, that's what it took to make it all happen.

 Today I still have my 70 Challenger and enjoy the many memories of ownership.

 They have long since sold their Z-28, 67 Fastback and 454 El Caminos. Sad in a way but things change in peoples priorities I guess.

[69bronzeT5]

Found my '69 Charger in an empty piece of property between two huge houses in downtown Richmond BC back in 1998. Owner of one of the houses used it as a parts car for his '69 R/T. He took the right fender, grille, tailights (I think?), windshield trim and driver's side door and left the car to rot. He was sposed to call a wrecker to come get it to send it to the scrapper but we got it a week or so before that happened. Somebody painted a 01 and a "X" on the roof with black spray paint, keyed most of the car and threw the front bumper through the windshield. Got it for $400.


Got my '73 Duster from a kid in Delta, BC. It was originally his grandpa's car. It hadn't been registered since 2005. Paid $800 for it last weekend.

[Young _Gun]

My Uncle's mom has a 69 hemi charger sitting in a barn in AZ. the engine hasn't been turned in at least 5 years. I've been asking her about it, and she hasn't said much about selling it. someone offered her $65,000 for it, and she turned it down. pretty stupid, huh?

[Aussie Challenger]

  Found my car on the internet, it was posted at a high price in late 2005 so I kept looking. I travel to America every year for holidays. I had my eye on several but I kept coming back to this one in Kansas.   
      In mid 2006 I emailed both The Mopa Dude in Kansas and the Texas Toy Box who had a couple of Challengers for sale telling them I was coming over and would like to meet with them about a Challenger. I got a bad response from Texas and a great response from Brad in Kansas, he put on a cook out and invited a few friends over for my wife & I and we didn't even know we were coming for a meal, just to look at the Challenger.   
  Brad hadn't moved on the price but the prices were rising steadly, I checked out the car and told him it was a bit too much to pay and we departed friends. My wife and I talked about the car as we travelled about 120 miles up the road, she said as it was complete and in sound condition that maybe we should consider buying it. We slepted on it and in the morning rang Brad and said we wanted another look, he was going out that morning but would wait while we travelled back. Brad offered to allow me to pay it off over 6 months interest free, we said that we would let him know.
  Two weeks later I emailed him and said that I wanted the Challenger, he still stuck to his price but they had gone up even more so we struck a deal, I sent some money over to him and in 4 months it was mine. Brad allowed me to organise several suppliers to have my spares shipped to his place for me.
   I went back at Easter 2007 and picked up the Challenger and drove it back to Longbeach Ca. via Oklahoma 1,800 miles. I removed the passenger seat and installed a 2nd engine which I brought back to Australia with me, I was going to put another engine in the back seat but I am glad I didn't as every time I went over a bridge the Extractors/headers scraped on the road. The day I was loading the 2nd engine 3 people came into Brads workshop and wanted to buy the Challenger as they had seen it sitting out the front, one woman offered me more than I paid for it but I said no, yes the price of the Challenger had risen about $5,000 over what I had paid for it.   
 Shipped to Australia and now it is happy travelling on the wrong side of the road (no I haven't converted the steering), only the headlights and of course, using relays.      

['Cuda Hunter]

What modifications did you have to do to the headlights?

[CHUCKS71]

I wanted to pick up a project car to work on and soon after I realized I couldn't afford  the Challenger I wanted. So I was at a friends shop and he asked if I wanted a Chevelle project.It turned out to be a 70 Chevelle SS and I picked it up for $500.00 knowing it was worth way more than that..It really looked like crap it had everything unbolted and stuffed in the interior and trunk.I got it home and cleaned it up and bolted it back together so I could see how bad it really was.It turned out to be in really good shape but I really wanted a Challenger not a Chevelle.So I was on E-Bay watching a Challenger and it didn't hit the reserve so I e-mailed him and asked if was interested in trading for a SS Chevelle.We met up and both agreed it was a fair trade and now I have my 71 Challenger! 

[Aussie Challenger]

 

What modifications did you have to do to the headlights?

  Because we drive on the other side of the road our lights dip on low beam opposite to American lights so that we don't dazzle the on comming traffic. The centre 2 high beam lights are fine and they were already Quarts Halogen.
  I also fitted relays, H4 lens headlights with Blue light globes. Will driving in America I could hardly see at night due to voltage drop, there was about 5 volts at the head lights before I fitted relays.    

['Cuda Hunter]

Learn something new everyday!

  Thanks

[bb71challenger]

I was re-reading this thread and realized that I only told how I bought my 70 'Cuda, not the currently owned 71 Chally. I was looking through the classifieds in the El Paso Texas newspaper when I found the car. Had an older cheesy makeover but was in good shape and complete. I tried to haggle but ended up paying the owners full asking price of $2000. I Bought it in '94. This pic is how it was when I bought it except for the hood. It had a bondo filled R/T hood that I traded for a clean straight hood.

[sixpakchallenger]

I found my 1971 Challenger Convertible Project in 1985, while in college. I bought it for $1500 and drove it my Senior year. After I graduated, I started a restoration. Life happened and it sat disassembled for 20 years in my parents barn in New Jersey untill last year when they retired to Florida. I hauled the car and a 20ft box truck of parts to my house in Florida. I am now starting to work on it again.

[BruteForce]

This ad in the 1987 Auto Trader caught my eye (yes, I've had it that long!).