The Challenger had a fine inaugural year when Dodge introduced its new pony car for 1970 with several different models to choose from, but one in particular that sometimes seems to not garner a whole lot of attention is the mid-year Deputy entry, a one-year-only budget-friendly offering that came with fixed rear windows and less trim than some of the other E-Bodies. This one’s a total project inside and out, but if you’ve been wanting to take on a ’70 Challenger restoration maybe it’s worth checking out. The car is in Allen, Texas, and can be seen here on eBay, where bidding has gone just past the $5k mark so far with no reserve.
Under the hood is a 225 six-cylinder engine, just a slight step up from the base slant 6 that measured 198 cubic inches. This one was factory-rated at 145 HP, but it looks like a very long time has passed since this sad block has produced any power at all. The license plate on the rear has a sticker dated 1979, so maybe that’s when the Challenger was last on the road, but no word on whether or not it was still running even back then. I think that’s a fender tag visible in the bay, but no close-ups and it’s not readable.
One of the Dodge high-impact colors for 1970 was Sublime, or Limelight if your car happened to be a Plymouth, but this body seems to have nearly as much primer and rust on it as paint. Whoever tackles this one is going to be dealing with corrosion in the quarters, fenders, and who knows where else, but surprisingly the bottoms of the doors don’t seem quite as bad as some of the other areas. Not that they exactly look good, I was just expecting to see more rust down there, so with some work maybe the doors can be salvaged.
As expected, just about everything inside is going to need attention, and no cool pistol grip shifter here either. With all the many photos that have been provided, I couldn’t find one from underneath, but I suspect based on how the floor appears in this photo from the driver’s side it’s likely worse underneath, so there’s the possibility that the frame rails are also compromised, but maybe not. This one’s too far gone for me to tinker with, but I’m sure it’ll end up finding a home like most first-generation E-Bodies always seem to do. With all the effort that’s going to be required here, what’s a reasonable price to pay for this 1970 Dodge Challenger Deputy?
I bet it will run, but will not do a burnout!
Yep…..saw this in the back yard when it was listed on the Dallas CL…..what a mark up on the find but they did wash it.
talk about a lot of work and money this thing is a sponge, yeah it looks to be pretty complete but jeezz Mopar’s are not easy or cheep to restore, I like the color tho.
Sad, just sad.
This is some of the cheapest early 70’s Mopar pony car rust that I’ve seen in awhile.
I meant to add – cheapest, so far. This is sure to go way above the $5,350 it is currently at – to the dismay of about every vocal BFer here.
Call Steve Dulcich, and David Frieburger, they’re the Mopar mavens, they’ll sit on those seats, and wear goggles to drive it, Vicegrip garage Derrick Bieri will put a windshield in it then drive it
OMG! Center counsel and bucket seats? Very strange for a ’70 Deputy. Once, in the ’80s I briefly acquired a ’70 convertible Deputy. Manual top, bench seat, steel wheels with pie-pan caps, slant six and manual 3 speed on the column.
Bought from the original owner in Orange County CA. Had a “Scat-Pak” in their original boxes, still in the trunk. She told me at the time when she bought the car the Scat-Pak items were already installed but because she got such poor gas mileage, within two weeks she took it back and had the dealership remove it. She brought the boxes home and left them in her garage.
Just a simple piece of history from the 1980s when everything was still affordable as a HOBBY!