Hey guys (and girls...?). I was a hot rodder back in the day and had Chevelles and Novas and Camaros, oh my! Since then I got married, had a family and raised a couple of girls. I bought an '06 Ram with the 5.7 liter Hemi a few years back and thought that would be all I need to satisfy my longing for some V8 muscle. My truck is no slouch with the Hemi and it worked for a few years but lately I have started to want a bit more. Then over the last several days, a co-worker friend of mine needed a truck to move with so we swapped vehicles. So I got to drive an almost new Hemi Challenger with the 6 speed and about 400 horsepower. Needless to say, my longing has now turned into an obsession. At first I was thinking I wanted another Chevelle, only a 1970 this time. I always had '68s back in the day. But after driving the new retro look Challenger, myself and my wife are pretty convinced we have to go Mopar this time. What I am thinking about doing is finding a Challenger or 'Cuda body and interior that are in very good condition and dropping in a 426 Hemi from Arrington Engines and maybe a Doug Nash (or whatever they are called these days) 5 speed. Although, I have seen a couple of fairly reasonably priced R/T Challengers with the 383 and 4 speed. It wouldn't take much work on that 383 to get it where I want it and maybe some modern aftermarket wheels and tires (no wheels bigger than 15", thank you). I could certainly live with that. The wife is about to get a nice settlement from a car wreck she was in a while back and maybe she might want to invest in some good old American iron. She use to date guys back in high school just for their cars so it wasn't too hard to convince her. Anyway, I'm not really looking for a numbers matching show car that will stay completely stock and only be driven around the block once a year on the 4th of July. That being said, I do love the look of the RT and TA Challengers and AAR 'Cudas with the graphics and blacked out hoods, etc. I would just hate to pay for something like that and then make a bunch of changes to it. The problem is, I have been out of the muscle car scene for so long that I wouldn't even know where to look for a good Challenger or 'Cuda body with no engine or trans, or maybe a tired 318 or something. Is there even a chance I could find something like that?
