I joined E-Bodies.org a while back, but never introduced myself or my project here. I have really appreciated the warmth, sharing, resources, and wealth of knowledge of the caring forum members.
We bought my 1971 Challenger convertible new in November 1970. Grocery-getter 318, 904, 7-1/4, drum brakes. PlumCrazy with a white power top. As a "mid-west" car, the fenders had rust holes by 1972. Drove it all through high school and college - lots of memories. Took a million pictures of the car over the years which all were thrown away when my parents moved out of their forever home. :headbang:
Almost traded the car in 1976, but the dealer only offered $700 so I kept it. No longer a daily driver, it found various storage "homes" including behind my parent's house in a field - bad idea. By 1989, the car was very tired, rusty and the paint was shot. A "friend of a friend" patched it up and repainted it. In the early '90s, I replaced the 318/904/7-1/4 with a 440/727/8-3/4 SG. I bought a scrap '72 parts car for some specific pieces. If I had known then what I know now, I would have kept a lot more parts from that car - oh, well!
Fast forward to today. We retired and moved from Michigan to Colorado which meant getting rid of a lot of the parts I had accumulated. Took the car off the road in 2015 as another friend of a friend was going to "restore" it. That didn't work out but the car was already in pieces. I tried restoration, but realized I didn't have the skills or equipment to do a quality job, so I sent it to a shop that I am pleased with. They are doing the body (lots of hidden rust) and paint , while I am working on everything else. I hope to see the completed, painted body back this year and then probably another year to put it all back together! Being an August 1970 build, we've found a few 1970 specific parts on the car.
I'll start a restoration thread to highlight the progress and solicit answers and assistance.
Again, great site. Thanks to all.
Welcome and great car! I love stories about original owners smart enough to keep their new cars to this day.
As Sheldon said, Welcome!! Cool Challenger with a great story... Hope your loving the Denver area, I've worked there from time to time & always enjoy it.. Well not so much Denver but areas just west of there... Whatever questions you have someone here should have your answer...
Welcome to the site from Panama !
Cool to have a 1 owner car !
Welcome, great car Thanks for posting! :bradsthumb:
:welcome: Agreed, great story and great that you kept it all this time! :handshake:
Warm welcome from Peoria IL. I've owned two 71 challenger convertible 318 cars. One, a 3 sod manual FJ6, and one a 904/column in dark blue metallic. Both with white tops and interiors. Plus a 70 RT convertible in yellow. Glad you're here.
Welcome to the best E Body website in the world :grouphug:
We love answering questions :brainiac:
Welcome! Cool to see another convert on here. The story is great and I'm glad you are back to enjoying it again and it didn't get lost to the crusher.
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A warm welcome. Enjoy the restoration. You will really get to know the car well.
Terry W.
:handshake: Welcome to the forum from Buffalo, NY. Great story. Love the long ownership history. Good luck with your project!
A big welcome to this great forum. Nice car half the fun is putting her back together.enjoy the process cheers :australia:
:welcome: to the site. Sweet Challenger. :cheers:
Glad you finally shared that beautiful car with us . . I'm still in Michigan . . I bet Colorado is nice. :bigthumb:
Welcome to the site from Ontario, :canada: and I imagine that you get a warm feeling when you look at the old gal and realize that keeping it was one of your better decision! :wave:
Great story! :welcome: to the site from Netherlands! Good luck with your project! :twothumbsup:
I have a very similar car to yours but is a 70 model convertible I bought late last year. I don't have the same kind of history that you have with yours but discovered mine over 10 years ago for sale by a local on the website cudaworld.com. Like yours its an original FC7 318 car but was long neglected by the seller. I've accumulated some parts but I'm trying to decide what direction to take on it now. I'm considering stepping outside my comfort zone and doing a late model Hemi transplant. Still undecided. Until then I'll live vicariously thru your build :)