The Dodge Challenger was the last “pony car” to enter the market in 1970. And the R/T was the true performance version, one out of four produced that year by Chrysler. A 383 cubic inch V8 was standard fare in the R/T, and this one is numbers-matching. Also, the car wears gorgeous Sublime Green paint, which was only offered on the Challenger in 1970. Located in Lynnwood, Washington, this magnificent Mopar is available here on craigslist for $69,700. A thumbs up to “Curvette” for this great tip!
Challenger R/Ts were all about disappearing into the distance. If the standard 383 wasn’t enough with its 335 horses, buyers could get a 440, 440 6-Pack, or a 426 Hemi if they wanted to burn a lot of rubber. The original owner of this Mopar was apparently happy with the output of this machine, which was still civil with a TorqueFlite automatic transmission. From all indications, this Dodge has been restored, and the odometer reading is a mere 36,000 miles.
We understand that Sublime Green was a one-year color for the Dodge, although it would reappear 50 years later on the reincarnated Challenger. Other than Plum Crazy, it might be the best color to adorn a Challenger from the original era. This R/T checks a lot of boxes in terms of available equipment, including the functional sport hood, Rallye instrumentation, bucket seats with a console for the shifter, and more.
The Magnum 500 wheels and BF Goodrich tires have less than 10 miles on them, an indication that what you see may be as fresh as they come. We don’t know the history of this Dodge, as most of the seller’s language is marketing-speak (aka dealer sales pitch?). The Challenger enjoyed its best sales year in 1970 at nearly 77,000 units. But subsequent years would see a slowdown until the Challenger (and Plymouth’s Barracuda) were retired in 1974.
Could be a good car, but why would someone present this with a steering wheel wrap that is obviously hiding an old cracked steering wheel? Makes one wonder what other short cuts have been taken, along with the fact that it’s a Craiglist ad, and the pictures chosen show very little about critical areas on an Ebody.
The skinny, hard plastic steering wheels cried out for a wrap to make them comfortable for daily and extended drives; it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s hiding cracks/damage/etc. I (reluctantly) ordered a leather cover for the wood tone wheel in my Charger, because it was simply too hard on the hands during a long trip.
Well, I’ve never known anyone to restore one of these Ebofies to a high level but hide the woodgrain steering wheel. It doesn’t make sense. When I purchased my unrestored AAR Cuda years ago it had a wrapped steering wheel. Wanna guess why? It costs $400-$600 to correctly restore one of thse “undesirable” originals.
There are wheel covers that you sew on vs. the wrap. Much better looking and the feel is all leather. The 356 Porsches we had all had large, skinny wheels that were not comfortable to drive, thus wheel covers needed.
This car has a rimblow, I had mine restored years ago and it still looks great. I think they sell reproductions now which this car is worthy of alongside removing the ridiculous stripe.
Great color, would look better if it sat level.
That side stripe doesn’t look right, either.
Nothing says authentic like a reproduction fender tag.
In 70 you got the longitudinal side stripe OR an R/T emblem on the fender, but not both.
The “two-scoop” hood is NOT and was never functional and those stripes are completely wrong. For a 383/automatic car, it had better be all numbers-matching and PERFECT for that kind of money!!!
100 point penalty! Stripe with the R/T emblem looks ridiculous.
It’s from a dealer…
Expect nothing less
I’m actually not a fan lime green, my first duster 340 was sublime green and she wore that color until 1992, there’s far too many mopars that color.
Restriping the car with the R/T logo doesn’t look right,