Posed before a metal barn, half-eaten by rust, dented, a shadow of its former self, this 1970 Dodge Charger R/T in Iowa City, Iowa may be down, but don’t count it out. Lacking its original 440 cid (7.2L) V8, the Charger holds a 1971 440 of unknown state, and this is a true A34 Super Track Pak car. The A34 package normally graced cars for which acceleration meant more than an occasional second or third gear blast to impress your friends. Precluding air conditioning, the Super Track Pak gave speed-crazed buyers a heavy duty Dana Sure-Grip differential with 4.10:1 gears, power disc brakes, and more. This coupe’s factory four-speed gave way to an automatic transmission decades ago, and this R/T does not run. Originally black with a white and black interior and deleted stripes, it would make quite a statement after a lengthy and glorious restoration. Find this project here on eBay where it’s listed with no reserve!
Any 440 can be built for power, so the ’71 is just as good as any other non-original. Aside from a fresh battery, little indicates attention paid for some time. A number of pictures show giant rust holes in various places, but nothing hopeless.
That rear valance gives me the shudders. Body panels should be simple to come by for the beloved Second-Generation Charger. The thought of a true R/T (Road/Track) Charger pulling a trailer may seem like blasphemy, but picture a time ten or more years after this car’s manufacture. During the dark days of the mid-1970s to mid-1980s many American V8s made fewer than 200 HP. Suddenly the dented old gas-guzzling muscle car becomes a viable option to pull your travel trailer.
The toy steering wheel makes a frightening way to quicken steering input. While the mechanical ratio remains unaltered, the same distance of hand motion results in more turning. The downside, and the reason commercial trucks tend to have rather large steering wheels, is lack of fine control in situations like driving between two concrete barriers in a construction zone. This once-fabulous Charger could be made beautiful again, but it won’t be easy. Would you take a gamble on this well-toasted R/T?
UGH! At $11,700 with just under two days to go. Well, it will be interesting to see how high the Mopar fanatics bid this rusty, twisted, non-running POS 1970 Charger up to.
Wouldnt it be great if we could all spend the pandemic in our garages, creating a 1970 dodge charger from scratch to put this little metal tag on! Everyday a man in a mask delivering a new part to install (christmas)
Not worth the money to much cancer on the body floors gone doesn’t look good at all
I’m always amazed at some of the really rusted out cars that pop up for sale. Not the prices or condition, but how on earth did these things escape the crusher after 20 odd years of abuse ? its been covered in Bondo, so it was rotted away years ago, had a cruddy paint job and at some time the motor and maybe the transmission were destroyed. Before the internet, most people didn’t know how rare cars or options were, and selling cars was mostly a local newspaper not a worldwide thing, so if no one around town was interested, it was off to the junkyard.
This would have been a gorgeous and desirable car when new. I wouldn’t be surprised if the VIN eventually winds up on a different 1970 Charger body.
Steve R
I heartily concur. You have to have sound metal to weld to and I’m not seeing any here. It’s a trashed out rotbox.
That is illegal.
No kidding. Unfortunately that doesn’t stop unscrupulous people. This is nothing new, a friend occasionally does VIN verifications for the state and has come across cars where the VIN swap was likely done 30+ years ago.
Steve R
I’ve been told that the small steering wheel makes it easier to drive while wearing hand cuffs
And another trailer hitch…..
Trailer hitchs were on a whole lot of the old muscle, my father had one on his 69 Road Runner, it saved the bumper a number of times as well as towing a 25′ SeaRay up to Canada every year.
It’s gone from Charger to Limper…
Based on what I saw in the pictures on the eBay site, I’m thinking that whoever buys this car will have to see Mark Worman and his associates, because this isn’t the kind of project that can be tackled at home.
Graveyard Cars. If anyone can bring that car back it’s Mark Worman. If it means a lot to the owner and Mark loves the story behind the Mopar then your in.
Go Graveyard Cars
About those trailer hitches. 2 of the 5 chargers I owned had them too. My favorite random pic of car with hitch is one my brother took in the early 2000″s. A 70′ BUICK….. Stage1 GSX pulling 18ft. Camper!
Muscle cars had the power to pull.
Absolutely COLD. I had a ’67 Charger , 383, 4spd., that had one when I bought in 1976. Had a ’69 Road Runner that had one(Both real small, old school, no safety chains). Even a 1970 , 360, autom., AMX had one…
I think there’s $11,000 in Bondo from the last time someone tried to “save her”. Insane what people will pay for scrap- and sadly, what some poor soul will end up paying for a non-original car wearing this VIN on eBay in the near future.
Fred Flintstone would enjoy
I don’t see this thing chasing down Bullit Mustangs anytime soon.
00ps, I mean running away from…
Well, it is a second gen Charger with a good pedigree. Not the most desirable year IMO between the 68,69 and 70.
The only saving grace would be its VIN number and hopefully a fender tag is where a possible big $$ resto would be in order.
My question is if over 80% of the car needs to be replaced, including the not original engine or transmission and pretty much all sheet metal it was born with. Can you still say in all honesty that this is a 70 Track Pack car or a copy of something it was?
Where are they finding these cars. The last few weeks here on barn finds they really had some winners. I guess rather than calling 1-800 junk people are just putting any crap in their Garage on eBay good luck.
The thing is, assuming the deals are going through, look at what their junk is selling for!
That steering wheel made me laugh out loud. That thing must have been exhausting to drive when it actually ran.
I simply can’t understand buying a car from a rust belt state…by the time your done doing it un less your adept with doing all the sheetmetal,floor,frame ,interior,driveline,brakes paint,etc,etc yourself ….you could buy a nicer one from a non-rusty state…
Hopefully if a novice/rookie welder/body man were to wind up with this they would be expert by the time it was finished. Its pretty danged ruff. Worth the time and effort only because of its rarity if you could do it by yourself in your spare, free time.
Every time I see one of these “barn finds” all I hear is Richard Rawlings saying “it’s rougher than a stucco bathtub”. Called this one right. 12G’s for a vin tag?
Maybe young Dylan McCool would buy it. It would take the rest of his life to restore it.
$11,700 for this junker? What’s wrong with people?
It will be interesting to see the final sale price when the auction closes in 5 hours. I need a good laugh.
Looks like the dukes of hazzard county missed this charger,or ran away from it lol!
Can there be any more rust on one car.Really is there one part of this car worth trying to take off. Oh! The steering wheel forgot!!!!
This restoration has NO incentive. After All the metal is replaced,the frame rusted completely. The b body’s have no mercy, they can be tough. Now the engine,drivetrain,interior…sorry we are out of time back to storage and yes you have 85k plus labor into it. You can buy one done and live to enjoy it.
Sold at $16,150 – unbelievable !
There is lot of people with too much money in this world. Crazy
It does have the big block k frame, gee. Look at the good PART.
16,000 For a corn field car.
Nice write up Todd on a car that would have been drop dead gorgeous when new. Someone has definitely decided to cash out their 401k to do this car and while I admire that person’s gumption, it gotta be a labor of love on this one.
I would take a chance with it if they would want to make a deal