New member w. 71 R/T Challenger

[MatchlessIndian]

Hi guys, I am about to embark on a resto job on my 1971 R/T Challenger and I was hoping that I can lean on some of your expertise a little as I go along. I actually bought the car in 2004, and like so many other people, I never managed to get around to doing anything on it before my life got way to active. I got married, had 3 kids, went back to college, and around 2012, a couple of months after we had our 3rd kid I had to sell the car because the plastics factory where I worked closed abruptly. Luckily the buyer was my father-in-law, who is actually a Ford guy, but was willing to take it off my hands to help us stay afloat. I hated to let it go but what can you do....
He played around with the idea of doing a full nut and bolt resto on it, joined a Mopar club, and even went out and bought a new Hemi Challenger to go with the original but within a year he lost interest and traded the newer Challenger on a Ford Fusion Titanium. Thankfully he didn't sell the 71, it has just been sitting in his garage for the last 6 years. Anyway, the other day I was surprised by my lovely wife (who handles all our finances) that she had negotiated a payment plan to get buy the car back. The car is not a Hemi but it is an all matching numbers 340 R/T that was bought highly optioned-- I even have the broadcast sheet. It is drivable and was semi-restored by the original owner before me in the early '90s but the guy didn't go for factory and did a few mods like cut the door panels to accommodate speakers and re-upholstered in I believe a non-factory vinyl. The car was also repainted to a slightly off version of FM3 Panther pink which is what it currently sits as. Sorry for the long story!!! Here are some pics from when I originally had it!!         

[CudaMoparRay]

  From Riverside California, pink panther a classic color 

[73440]

Welcome from Texas .
Glad you were able to reacquire the car !
What a great and thoughtful surprise your wife did !
The 340 will do well .

[Chryco Psycho]

Welcome to the site from Panama 
At least the car didn't get away 

[xx88man]

   From Chilliwack B.C. I also have a 71 Challenger although not an RT. What colour is your car originally?

[MatchlessIndian]

The car rolled out the factory as a gunmetal grey car. The guy I bought it from said he always wished he would have got a high impact color instead so when he finally did the resto he changed the color. I wish I would have asked him more about it but at the time I bought the car I had never been anywhere near a Challenger. I actually got turned onto the Ebodys because my dad had a 1970 440 Magnum Cuda' when I was little and my mom talked him into selling. I bought the Challenger because I thought it would be a cool father son project but I didn't realize what the cost for parts and upgrades would be. Here is a pic of my Dad's Cuda'

[xx88man]

That's pretty cool. Yes parts can be expensive. Looking forward to watching your restoration

[Chryco Psycho]

That is cool , was it a white car originally , I wonder where that one is now !!

[Cuda Cody]

Welcome to the forum @MatchlessIndian        Neat Challenger.   

[nsmall]

Thanks for sharing the story and I'm so glad you got it back.  As for the color, I don't know if you're going back to original but if it's Winchester grey it's a gorgeous color.  Someone just bought a Challenger in that color on this site.

[dodgemania]

  to the site sweet challenger 

[Dakota]

Welcome to the site from Buffalo, NY.  No apologies needed for your "long story."   That kind of history and perseverance is part of what makes this hobby/crazy pastime so interesting.  It's great that you're getting a 2nd chance on the vehicle.   Best of luck on your project.  You'll find great help available here. 

[Mr Lee]

Exciting.  How many people get a chance to buy back the Mopar they sold years ago. And your wife and father in law made it happen? She's a keeper. Awesome.  Car looks to be in really good shape. [emoji106]. Welcome and good luck with it. 


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[MatchlessIndian]

That is cool , was it a white car originally , I wonder where that one is now !!

Not sure where it ended up. I believe the Cuda' was a White car originally. My Dad was a mechanic at an AMC dealership and had a AMX Javelin (he got a good employee deal on but never actually cared for) which he traded for the Cuda'. He liked to do street style drags at this old closed down small air strip just outside of town --they only allowed daily drivers to race-- so I believe he had the shop at his work repaint the car to look cool. Must have worked because I was born. Lol. He always laughs about all the GM and Ford cars he smoked with that thing. I have video footage of it rolling on my computer at home if anyone would like to see it. I pulled it from a 8mm film I found in my parents garage and converted it to digital a few years back.

He sold it because my mom made him. Lol. It happened because a car he was racing one afternoon lost control and came over into his lane just barely missing him. She had just found out she was pregnant with me, so she told him he needed to quit racing. Of course at the time he agreed but then one Saturday he came home late from work and she was waiting for him outside the house to take her to the grocery store and just jumped in. Long story short, he had been racing and had taken the passenger seat out and neglected to put the bolts back in before coming home. When he hit the gas at some point she ended up going backwards. The car was sold to a friend within 3 days for $1500.00 and I have heard all my life that he couldn't believe he traded a Hemi Cuda' for me. hahahaha

[MatchlessIndian]

Exciting.  How many people get a chance to buy back the Mopar they sold years ago. And your wife and father in law made it happen? She's a keeper. Awesome.  Car looks to be in really good shape. [emoji106]. Welcome and good luck with it. 

Thanks. It hasn't always been roses but we've been married for 10 years in June and I figure she just bought her another 10 at least. Lol.

Yeah, I am fortunate my in-laws are pretty well off and my father in-law was able to just swoop in and buy it off me without me loosing out. The plan originally was that he was going to restore it completely and then will it back to my wife in her inheritance-- so I would have got it back eventually anyway. However after he had lost interest in the classic car thing a guy who was doing repairs on his house saw it and offered a decent sum of money for it. He told my mother in-law that he was considering the possibility of selling it for actually more money than I sold it to him for. She called my wife to inform her and immediately my wife went over and hammered out the buy back for what I originally sold it for...thankfully. He doesn't need the money (must be nice) he just wants his garage space back so he can work on his two old Harleys.   

The car has been garaged for most of its life in the interior part of Georgia. I have had it inspected on a rack and other than a couple of tiny rust spots on the rear fender wells it is solid. I do have a good bit of interior stuff to replace though. The guy I bought it from was not a classic car guy, just a nostalgic admirer of the ebody cars. He just used it as a driver basically. I am pretty sure the interior upholstery is not original and it needs the door panels replaced because he cut them for speakers. The dash has some cracks so I am going to pull and replace it. The rear defogger doesn't work. He pulled the radio and installed a cd player (thankfully without any mods to fit) so I need to replace it. None of the original speakers work. I am also going to change the ignition and convert to disc brakes.