Long term ownership of your E-body ?

[JH27N0B]

After returning from overseas in 1971, I started looking for employment and a car to get to a job when I found it. My Father knew I had no money for a set of wheels to get to work, so..............
He found a Dodge dealership, in a local trade magazine,  that just got a '70 Challenger in on a trade with 40K miles on the clock. So we went off to look at it, this was in the early part of 1972, there it sat on the used side of Moss Motors Dodge, Riverside, Ca. ( which is still in operation today), my Father bought it for me for $1,100.00
We purchased a 1970 Dodge Challenger, base model car powered by the tried and true 225 Slant6,
Go-Mango, black interior, Auto. trans. all dressed up in SE trim. I started dating a real nice gal in it and found a job or career as it ended up being. I ended up paying Dad back with interest, and pressed the Dodge into daily service.
Fast forward to now, retired from career with the USPS after 42 years. Still have that gal I dated, now my wife of 44 years and the Dodge, I retired it in 2005 with 562K miles behind it. The car still looks great to this day. This car was built on the first day of regular production Aug. 18, 1969, out of LA.
Number 113 off the assy. line. How's that for history?  Thanks for reading,   Al

Did i read that right?  Your Challenger has 562,000 miles on it?!
And you retired it in 2005?  How come?


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This got me wondering if 70/6chall holds the record for highest mileage ever on an E body? I guess that should be the subject of another thread, but I'm doubtful there's many 1/2 million miles+ E bodies out there! 

[Jay Bee]

Wow, and I thought I owned mine for a long time.
Deposit on - March 05, 1979
Paid in Full - March 08, 1979
Registered with MTO - March 09, 1979
Todays mileage - 241,281
Of course it looks different from the first picture taken.

[Spikedog08]

So I will add to this . . bought the hardtop in '82 which was my senior year in high school .. my first car.  Young stupid teenager that doesn't know much about cars . . . threw a wristpin on #6 and parked it in moms garage for about 10 years.  Fast forward to a smarter 28 year old with a decent job and lets fix it.  Rest is history . . .

Now the convertible . . I lived a sheltered life when it came to anything that wasn't Ford . . . when I figured out they made convertibles . . . had to have one but couldn't part with my first car . . found one in Florida while on vacation . . bought it and drove it back to Michigan 15 minutes later.  That was 1997 I believe . . restoration took about 5 years.  Chryco flew in about 2 weeks before Carlisle and helped me finish putting it together.  No way I would of had it together in time.      to Chryco . . .

[screamindriver]

I've  bought and sold a few E bodys over the years but I've always held on to this one.. I bought it May of 1986 {34 years now}..It was my first E body...

[700 AKN]

I have owned my Cuda since 1985 (35 Years) and was 22 years old.  I drove it everywhere like work, church, mall, etc. and went to all the car shows I could find.  Went to Milan, MI in '85 and Columbus in '86 and drove around Lake Erie in '87 to stop at a few shows in Erie, PA. Had it insured for the 1st 10 years as a Valiant and if I ever did total it I would have received $2,000.  I have found over the years that my excitement and joy of driving has faded somewhat so I do not drive near as much as I should.  Still I feel lucky to own one of the coolest, baddest, and desirable cars on the street.  Long live Mopar!

[anlauto]

I have owned my Cuda since 1985 (35 Years) and was 22 years old.  I drove it everywhere like work, church, mall, etc. and went to all the car shows I could find.  Went to Milan, MI in '85 and Columbus in '86 and drove around Lake Erie in '87 to stop at a few shows in Erie, PA. Had it insured for the 1st 10 years as a Valiant and if I ever did total it I would have received $2,000.  I have found over the years that my excitement and joy of driving has faded somewhat so I do not drive near as much as I should.  Still I feel lucky to own one of the coolest, baddest, and desirable cars on the street.  Long live Mopar!

I have a picture of your car from 1987 taken at St Thomas Dragway Park....your car was always one of my favorites too 

[318Stroker]

I've owned my 73 Challenger since 73. The car was produced in April 73, bought new in June 73, and I became the 2nd owner when I purchased it in Dec 73 with 6,000 miles on it, and still under warranty.

[jimynick]

I got a phone call from a friend who owned a wrecking yard in 1983. He said "I've got a car for you!" and sent me to look at it. It's a triple black 360 4 spd '74 Rallye Challenger that'd been a recovered theft car. The thieves had run it into something hard enough in the rt frt corner that the rt frame rail had ripped some spot welds out of the floor, and damaged the firewall; yet it hadn't touched the hood nor rt door. As an added inducement to buy it,  they'd pried the trunk open with a bar, totaling the deck lid and mangling the lower body panel and as if that wasn't enough, they also tore the rear seat out trying to get into the trunk as well! Well! How could any red blooded Canadian boy NOT buy it?! And so $300 Canadian dollars ($76 USD) changed hands and that wounded black beauty became mine. Sad to say, family, money and life got in the way and it wasn't until 2016 that I finished replacing what seemed to be most of the body, and got the old tart back on 'er hooves, so to speak. There's a 360 block in the garage on it's -slow- voyage into being a 408 and I'm trying to garner enough ambition to finish the block sanding and get the old gal properly painted for my son Jim's upcoming (please God, no more Covid) nuptials. So, 37 years later and she's still a part of my life and will remain so until the boys inherit it! 

[Chryco Psycho]

 I am no where near the longest owner here , I bought my first U code white Chall R/T  4spd when I was 18 back in 78 kept it 2 years & drove it everywhere , loved that Chall , then a guy came knocking on my door every week for a couple of months eventually offering triple what I had paid & I let it go 
SO I am standing there with cash watching the coolest car drive away , It just killed me so I spent the next 6 months looking for another one , Bought the one I have now in the spring of 80 & although there have been many offers this one is not getting away .

I recall assembling a lot of your car in the dead of winter Spikedog wading through 2' of snow at times , then I flew back in the spring & finished up the details before going to Carlisle with you , Great memories !! 

[anlauto]

Your car must be quite the sight driving around on the streets of Panama

[torredcuda]

Bought mine in 1982. I was looking for a project car as my daily driver was too boring, I was not diehard Mopar at the time was open to Ford and GM as well - Mustang, Chevelle, road runner, GTX, `cuda, Challenger etc. I got a credit union loan for $2500 figuring it would buy me a car and leave some money for needed work, ended up needing 10X that to restore. I looked at a `70 Challenger, 383, 4 spd, Limelight green with houndstooth interior(loved it!), the engine smoked and needed rebiulding and was a little rough but otherwise all there, IIRC wanted $1500. The other option I found was a `72 Barracuda 318 car but had a 340 and 727 installed, interior was trashed, rust in quarters and trunk, crappy, dull dark blue repaint but ran and drove (not well). Since I wanted something I could drive for a while as I collected parts for resto/teardown I decided on the Barracuda and got it $1000. I drove it for about 6 months before the engine blew a few rods and parked it till finally back on the road in `95 mostly restored repainted the original Tor-Red. After a couple years and two bad rebiult 727s I collected parts and swapped in an A833 four speed, still has the same 340 that has been rebiult a few times over the years.

[MOPAR MITCH]

Bought mine in June 1975... from the original owner... I was going into my 2nd year of college.  It was a 1972 Ralley Pack car, 318, 904, 2.76 open rear 8-3/4", ps, pdb, no a/c.   Hemi Orange, black top, white interior (ralley gauge instrumentation), console slap stick.... 22K miles... perfect shape and rust free... economical gas saver!!!

By the mid-year 1978, I had converted it into a detailed '70 T/A clone.. purchased all parts either brand new or used ... T/As and AARs were easily found stripping for parts back then... imagine that?

I made the conversion into a T/A because I was increasingly active with the SCCA Solo II autocross competition events... and I realized that IF I was to become highly competitive.. that i needed the car to be a T/A... MOPAR or NOCAR!!!

I became highly successful in the autocross racing... won many regional season championships... and did pretty well on the upper national level.   Eventually made more modifications all following the "rule book" of the SCCA for a new class called E/Street Prepared (E/SP)... dominated by and for the pony cars of that time.  By the mid-late 1980s (~1987 ish) I had the car transformed into possibly the best handling street-driven autocross E-Body in the country... and proven well at the racing events.

Family life had taken over racing ... the car sat idle for a few years.. but... there is light at the end of the tunnel...  I'm Back now!!! ... car is mostly rebuilt.. doing some hi-speed track touring and road course events, Pace Car duties, HSAX/HPDE... and recently entered the Holley MOPARTY event in Bowling Green, KY as my "return".   

Old Mopars keep getting faster!!!!

[Jim AAR]

I've had my AAR since August 1979. Bought it for 3200$ with a set of centerlines.

[Chryco Psycho]

I love That AAR 

[CNUMB]

I bought a 74 Challenger back in 1975 when I was 16.. That car got me in so much trouble, but it was all worth every bit.. Sold it in 1982, sad day, but life moved on, wife, 3 boys, started a plumbing business in 1990 till present.. Fished the SKA circuit for 10yrs, but never forgot my love of the challengers.. Been driving my wife crazy since 2013 for a challenger, looked what seemed forever at the 1970,71's and decided in Nov of 2017 to buy this 2018RT that came into the dealer I purchased my work vehicles.. But 38 days ago I broke news to my wife "I think I found my 71".. Her first words out of her mouth was we do not need this, mine was its not a need but a want.. So here I am 30 days now owner of this 71.. This car long with the 18 will go to our kids.