My dads Dodge Challenger story.

Bobbysixkiller

Bobbysixkiller

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I'll try to keep it short as possible but accurate. In December of 73 my dad came back state side. Picked up the brand new challenger from the dealer in Wisconsin. He ended up at the AF base in burns flat ok. A few years later was married. Starting a family. He sold it. He became a state trooper here in ok. Then I was born. He tragically passed when I was 8 years old. All these years I've had a couple pictures of this car. Looked high and low but never finding it. Fast forward 24 years. I'm now 40. My mother passed and a few months later going through stuff I stumbled upon the original invoice for his challenger. I now have a vin number. I posted a on a lost and found mopar forum in September. Last Saturday I got an email from a member there. He posted a Craigslist link. It's the exact car. It is my dads challenger. The numbers match up. The paint is wrong. The engine is wrong. But it is the exact car. Week later (today) it made the ride from San Diego to Oklahoma. It's in my garage. I have cried most days in the last week. I'm in total awe of this car. It's not perfect. Doesn't look like the pictures I have. But it's my challenger. My daddy's challenger. His favorite car. His personal cop car I'll add. Thanks for reading if you made it all the way through. God bless. Keep the rubber side down and the shinny side up.
 

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I'm not sure if I'll restore it or not. It's had quite a bit done. Real just needs paint and some trim. I'm pretty much tapped out on cash now after buying it. But it runs great so time will tell. In the meanwhile I'll drive it. I'm sure he will be right there with me. I do want to get a rally hood for it and rally wheels since it is a factory rally car. Or rallye however it's spelled. I'm thinking of maybe having it wrapped in original color.
 
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Dude,

This may be the single coolest post I have ever read on the internet.

Bar none.

That car survived almost fifty years in an unforgiving world, through some unforgiving times.

It was never totaled out in some stupid meaningless traffic crash, or by a dopey wanna-be race driver kid.

It was never junked because it needed repairs that were more than the owner chose to pay.

It was never simply abandoned to rust away.

It never fell victim to a thousand things that could have been.

And you kept the faith and never gave up.

Absolutely awesome.

Thank you for this post! :cool:
 
Bobby It's cool that you found your Dad's car.

Back in 73 I ordered my first new car a 73 Challenger Rally Sport
it was metalic blue with a black top and black interior it had a 318 c.i. and a 3 speed automatic with the slap /stick on the floor.

I see your Dad's also had the strobe stripe's.
I'll try to find a picture and add it to the post.
 
Too cool! I wish I could find the '67 Malibu I bought right out of high school. I didn't graduate in '67 by the way. Like everyone else, I have a short list of ones that got away which I still wish I could get back but that one being your Dad's is amazing!

I did get get very fortunate and ended up with my grandfather's first and only tractor that he retired his mules for. It's not worth much to the rest of the world but priceless to me. Like your Dad's car, it needs a restoration which hopefully will happen one day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
It's great you found your dads 1973 Dodge Challenger.
I also came home in 1973, but bought a used 1970 Plymouth Road Runner.
At the time it was just a car to get to work and then blow the doors off 90% of the guys at stop lights every chance I got.

Have fun riding with your dad Bobbysixkiller.
 
For 1973 I think that Challenger looks better than the Mustangs and Camaros of the same year and that's a very cool story and a very cool car! A friend has a mint condition R/T that's purple with white interior and white convertible top with a 440 six pack and it's worth more than a small house.
 
Bobby thank you for sharing this story about your Dad and his car.
It really hit home for me because I had a 1971 Dodge Challenger 340.

It was the greatest car I ever owned and have often wondered where it is today if it still exists.

You did a great job tracking your Dad's car and I hope you can get it back to original and pass it on to one of your young ones someday.

I know your Dad is smiling.
 
Great story for sure and thanks for sharing. I know the big blocks were history in the Challenger by 72. The 340 and 360 were used by 74. Great looking cars for sure.
 
Bobbysixkiller said:
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Here's Charlie the Challenger. Back after a very extended vacation. Didn't cost any guns but a pickup and a camper now have new homes.
Click to expand...

Nice Bobby! Sure wish I had kept my 70 with the 383 magnum I bought back in 72 for $2500! Slap Stik auto with vinyl roof. man it was a sharp looking car.
 
So cool you found your dad's car. I would want to return it to its original appearance but it would not be cheap. I have always been a Mopar man. Here's my first Challenger I got in the mid 1970s. A 1970 R/T with a 440 and 4 speed.

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I sold that '70 R/T in 1999 because by then it needed a total restoration and I didn't have the money. I mourned that car's passing for 20 years then last year I bought a new 2019 R/T with the 345 Hemi and 6 speed manual.

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I am so touched and uplifted by your very cool story and your potential ability to resurrect a dream of your Pops, and maybe you and your family.

Slow down, invest the cash and bring that memory back to life!!

Good luck!!

Doug Shreiner
 
In 1974, I was about to turn 18 and unlike most kids, I had been working for my dad at our family's store since I was 14, sold stereo stuff out of my bedrom, and I was lucky enough to have an uncle who found me endlessly entertaining, and before he died when I was 3, he bought me a couple of savings bonds. I had $10,000 in my bank account! I wanted a Challenger or a Cuda, but being 17, I wasn't able to buy one, my mom had to sign for it. I found a black Cuda at a local dealer, 360 4 barrel, auto, pretty much loaded up. This was about a month after they had stopped making the E-body cars, and I just couldn't get my mom to go over there and put a deposit on it, so it got sold. I had a couple of local dealers look for a Challenger or Cuda and nothing they found was acceptable. Either it was a 318, or it was an awful color, or it was a stick. I can drive a stick fine, but I would never buy a stick as a daily driver.

Eventually, I gave up and ordered a '74 Roadrunner about the end of May. In July, I get a call from the dealer saying "Your car came in, but..well, you should come down here and we can talk about it!", so I did, and this is pretty close to what I see..
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Somehow, the dealer messed up the order form. They had already reordered the car again, but it was so late, they weren't sure if it would be built as a '74, or a '75, which I told them I wanted no part of. They assured me if the car came as a '75, they would find me a '74 that I would want. So I wait and wait, and wait. Just before Thanksgiving, it finally shows up, as both a '74, and a '75, same options and colors. The car seemed to be a leftover parts car, as it had the taxi rear end, no posi, police brakes, and the only really scary thing, incorrect front wheel bearings which soon began to fail. The right front spindle was taken off a new car in the lot and new bearings had me back on the road. Several other teething pains caused issues, but by the end of the first month, the car was pretty rock solid reliable.
gH78HK.jpg

3 years later, it had a bunch of upgrades, and was running mid 13 seconds at the Las Vegas drag strip. And I decided to trade it for a truck, which was one huge mistake, the truck was total garbage. I always wondered what happened to my Roadrunner. I figured it was long since scrapped. I had moved back to Ohio a long time ago, but a friend I'm still in contact with said he kept seeing a twin to my old car driving around looking great and sounding very strong. I still have the sales receipt for the car and when he finally found the twin to my car, it turned out it was my old car. It has a 478" motor in it now, with an added on overdrive. The interior is real leather and the paint is light years better than the factory paint ever was. I have an invitation to drive it if I ever get back there.
I finally got my Challenger desire taken care of when I got my '10 R/T in Nov 2010.
s8kYPq.jpg

In July 2018, I finally got the Challenger I really wanted, a Scatpack 392, and it just makes me happy every time I drive it..One year old in this pic..
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