Why Ebods?

[crcarch]

Two reasons for me.  I'd grown up in a family of eclectic car purchases with no particular brand loyalty.  When I turned 16, both the family car's were somewhat new and a used car was bought for me.  The choices acceptable to my parents were a 4-door Toyota Corolla, a Chevy Nova and what turned out to be my first car, a 77 Volare with T-tops and a slant-6. It looked cool with the Keystone's and yellow slapper bars but was no speed demon.  About the only rubber it ever laid on dry pavement was by rolling it forward, then dropping it in reverse. (The 904 seemed to handle it well)  Anyway, you do that once in the driveway of the head cheerleader's house during a kegger and you get a rep!  So after graduating HS, I decided I needed something to back it up!

Second reason was that Savannah, Georgia in the early 80's was GM central.  Everybody and there brother owned a Camaro or second gen. Firebird and their cousin's owned Chevelle's.  I always like being different and having already been bitten by the Mopar bug, a Challenger fit the bill.

I found a 73 with the 340-A/T in Atlanta and can still remember my first trip home.  Back in the day, I was one of only 3 Challey's that were in the local car scene.  When I showed up on River Street on that first Sat. night I really stuck out, especially considering that it was painted B3 Super Blue!  Lots of comments and ribbing about getting a Mopar and the name "Smurfmodbile" was given to her almost instantly, but she was fast, very fast!  I never lost any spontainious street scrimmishes and most everyone soon figured out that their Chevy's didn't have enough to back up their mouths. I still own it and hopefully will have it back together this year.

Now Challengers are so rare that most people don't even know what they are and usually call mine a "Charger".  I can't wait for the new Challenger's to come out, if for nothing more than to enlighten the general public. 

[Alaskan_TA]

Four reasons for me;

1. They did not make a T/A A-body version.
2. They did not make a T/A B-body version.
3. They did not make a T/A C-body version.
4. They did not make a T/A Y-body version.

So, for me the choice was simple. 

T/Ake care,
Barry

[TreeFrog]

its the only Trans American car Mopar made

[wssnkc]

9.5 of 10 women who ride in the Challenger request (plead for) butt sex within a week - usually less.

  deleted by Admin.  Let's keep it clean. 

[Andrew]

9.5 of 10 women who ride in the Challenger request (plead for) butt sex within a week - usually less.

  deleted by Admin.  Let's keep it clean. 

Too much info...

[Carlwalski]

9.5 of 10 women who ride in the Challenger request (plead for) butt sex within a week - usually less.

  deleted by Admin.  Let's keep it clean. 

 

[gomopar440]

I grew up in a Chevy family so I hardly remember seeing any mopars growing up as a kid. Cept of course the General Lee . But me being the rebellious type I wanted something as different as I could find just to make a point. When I got a little bit older (16-17?) I spotted a 69 AMX in a neighbors yard with the Red White and Blur paint and sidepipes. I wanted that car so bad and for a while that was all I was interested in. He told me flat out that there was no way that one was for sale so I just kept looking around for AMX's everywhere I went. After I joined the Navy I was finishing my last Avionics Tech school up in Washington state in late '90. I stopped at a tiny local junkyard looking for an AMX I heard about. When I got there, the thing was not an AMX but rather a Javellin. I just never liket the way those fender top arches looked so I passed on it. Not wanting to miss a perfectly good chance to rummage around a junkyard, I wandered around the place just to see what all was there.

Then I saw it...

The car that changed every notion of what was soooo good about badass cars. A flat Black just plain ole evil and nasty lookin machine. According to the guy that ran the yard, it was a Dodge Barracuda (yea, he was a Chebby guy LOL). He said it was had a 440 with an automatic tranny that had a blown head gasket but everything else was fine with it. I made a deal to make payments on it till I came up with the entire $1100 he wanted for the car. Best deal I ever got on any car

That 70 Challenger was originally a slant 6/AT?/7.25 dark metallic green car with a green interior. On my way down to my next duty station in California the 440 popped the new gasket and cracked the head pretty bad. I had to leave the car at a friends house in Sacremento for a while till I could get the time and money together to fix it. While I was saving up for that I found another 70 Challenger. It was a Plum Crazy/Black SE w/ a 318/727/8.75 for $600 which I promptly painted rattle can flat black. as life went on through accidents and marriage (to a NON-car type girl ) I tried to keep those as long as I could but neither of them left CA with me. After I got stationed in TX next, I was always keeping an eye out for a Challenger. I had picked up a 68 Power Wagon which kept me busy for a while but the E body bug would just never leave me alone. I did find a multi-colored 71 Chally shell (with Rust being the predominant color ) but it was too much to take on when you have to be moving around the country all the time.

Sooo.... Fast forward to the next milennium, and things have gotten somewhat better. These E bodys are getting more expensive everyday but the new wife is all for me getting the car of my dreams put together and is backing me up. That more than anything else is helping me keep moving forward with my new 72 Challenger(s). I picked it up about a year and a half ago right before Christmas along with a matching parts car in NY for about $2200. It's been tough even getting to work on it though since I'm stationed in Puerto Rico now and both of my cars are in friends barn in PA. I have to fly back to the states whenever I want to work on it. It's been slow going but so far the progress is finally starting to show som results. As with any project there are setbacks, they just take longer to overcome from this distance. I've been keeping a running post of the project at Moparnuts until I can get my website put together. I'll just transfer the text and pics over from the thread to the new site when it's done but if you want to check it out, here's the link. http://www.moparnuts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3636 .  Just a small warning though, the "humor" over there quite often goes of the deep end. 

[Bullitt-]

It was just by chance that in '75 at age 16 we came across a '73 Challenger 340 for sale and that it became my first auto., but from the beginning I was smitten. Since then the cool factor of e-bodies has become obvious but that has nothing to do with the fact I still have the car. You see not long after acquiring my mope I lost something in that car  & I figure until I find it again I'll hang onto her.    Anyway I can't think of any vehicle I would prefer to put so much time & money into than these excellent examples of American auto design.

[ChallengerHK]

Pretty much the same for me as for Bullitt. I had a 69 Satellite that had been wrecked, and that car made me a MoPar lover. When I started looking to replace it I combed through the Want Ad in DC and found an ad for a Dodge Challenger. I had no idea what a Challenger even looked like (this was to be my third car, but I was still only 16). I drove through the thickest fog I've ever seen to look at the car. Being dark grey, when I went back to look at it it just kind of appeared out of the fog and I was in love. The longer I've owned it the more I've loved it.

Unlike Bullitt, though, my back seat is "intact." 

[airfueleddie]

YEAH BABY!!!! 10 outta 10 for ME

[71bigblock]

I dont even really remember the first time I saw a challenger.  I remember though that when I was younger, I could tell it was a challenger because it had dual headlights like a charger, but shorter (but its oh so obvious now).  When I first started surfin the net for one, I knew its what I wanted.  I think someone put it best on this thread that its wide like a b body, but short like an a body.  Perfect description.  When I went to go look at the one I now own I knew it was it, and I had to try and scrape up every penny to buy it.  Hemi orange #'s matching 383/727 slap stik, white interior, just amazing.  Not to mention it feels like warp speed every time I munch the gas.  I cant even imagine a 440-6 or a hemi in one of these cars.  Pure adrenaline.   

And that is why I like e-bodys 

[TreeFrog]

9.5 of 10 women who ride in the Challenger request (plead for) butt sex within a week - usually less.

  deleted by Admin.  Let's keep it clean. 

OK I know, I know...butt I had a girl i know  tell me something to this order once...and funny enough she brought the challenger up again this week... said she was going to call her exboyfriend and try buying the car from him...LMAO

[FY1Cuda]

I owned a '68 Camaro, and honestly I absolutely loved it, and if it weren't for it getting stolen I would still be driving it.  In general I like the body styles of the Camaro and E-Bodies (don't care for Mustangs and never have).  When I was shopping for a replacement to my Camaro (I was actually looking for another Camaro to fix up) I ran across an ad for a Cuda project for $10k.  Dash was perfect, and is one of my favorite colors for Cudas, and the car was not rusted out.  Came with the original tranny, but the previous guy had blown the engine and had a '70 HP 383 block that went with the car along with 3 trucks full of parts (garage is like an E-Body junkyard).  Sounded like an interesting car, and I had already helped my brother out on his Challenger, so I figured I wasn't entering unknown territory and it would give me a chance to improve on some of the things that were not quite right on the Challenger (now I need another Cuda to try to improve again).  When I got the car back home, my fiancee looked at it and said "why the hell did you pay $10k for a car with no engine?!"  This car better not get stolen, because I don't think she will ever let me rebuild another one.  For my next car I really want a B-Body though. 

[TreeFrog]

Hey only so many cars came with Shaker style hoods....that is a big draw for many...

I spent many nights behind the shaker of a 79 Pont TA.  If I could get my hands on that car I would take it home.

[HP2]

I never gave E bodies much of a passing glance. I always played with B and F bodies. I was unemployed at the time I found my Challenger and I was buying and flipping cars to support my hobby. Found the ad that said 74 Dodge, needs work, so I went, looked, and brought home a 74 Challenger that looked like bad 70s flashback; N50s, air shocks, shag carpet, you get the drift. I was going to part it out until I started looking past the obvious 1/4 panel rust. Underneath all that crap was a decent car. So I figured I'd throw a few good parts at it and flip it as a whole car.

Funny thing is once I got it running really good and started driving it around, I was really having a blast with it and thought maybe I'd hang on to it. Then my wife started driving it and suggested we should keep it around as well. She had always wanted a 1st gen Camaro anyway, so the Challenger had the pony car look she liked. I've always dug the look of Trans Am racers from the early 70s and since it didn't take much to duplicate the look, the car has stuck around. I've always been a big fan of good handling cars and the Challenger is a platform that is a decetn starting point. Of all my cars, the Challenger always gets the most looks and comments, even thought it is not the nicest of the bunch. Now I'm selling B and F bodies to finance the E body rebuild. Looks like this one will be sticking around for quite a while now.