DODGE

Challenger

The Dodge Challenger arrived in autumn 1969 as a 1970 model, Dodge's answer to the pony-car wars and a more upmarket, slightly larger sibling to the Plymouth Barracuda with which it shared Chrysler's new E-body platform. Pitched against the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, the first-generation Dodge Challenger combined long-hood, short-deck proportions with an enormous range of engines and options, from a mild six-cylinder cruiser to a fire-breathing street brawler. The performance flagship was the Dodge Challenger R/T (Road/Track), standard with a 6.3-litre Magnum V8 of 335 horsepower and offering fearsome options including the 7.2-litre 440 "Six-Pack" with 385 horsepower and the legendary 7.0-litre 426 Hemi rated at 425 horsepower. A Dodge Challenger also famously starred in the 1971 cult film Vanishing Point. Tightening emissions rules, rising insurance costs and the 1973 fuel crisis cooled the muscle-car boom, and after 165,437 first-generation cars Dodge ended E-body production in 1974. The name later returned on very different cars, but it is this original 1970-1974 Dodge Challenger, especially the Hemi-powered R/T and convertible versions, that collectors prize most highly today.