1970 Dodge Challenger R/T is a Restored Piece of Racing History
Dodge Challenger R/T is a gorgeous show vehicle, packing a stroked V8, a race-ready interior and the classic look.
The Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California, has a wide variety of cool classic cars, but fans of Mopar performance will find this 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T particularly interesting. This Mopar monster was found in rough shape, looking like someone either started to convert it to a race car or it had been a race car that was in the middle of restoration, but it was missing key parts. However, once the museum volunteers tore got their hands on this classic Challenger, it was slowly transformed into the stunning muscle car shown here.
Classic Challenger Race Car
At first glance, this 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T might look like a basic production car with some era-correct racing wheels and BFGoodrich drag radial tires, but when you look closer, you will notice an array of custom upgrades.
The stock body stripe fades from white to Plum Crazy as it extends to the rear of the vehicle. The factory-look fender badges, both the Challenger logo and the R/T logo, look like they are original, but they are actually painted on. Also, the inner headlights have been replaced with air inlets and there is a parachute mounted where the license plate would be found on a street car, but for the most part, this Challenger R/T looks very much like it did when new.
On the inside, this Challenger strays from the factory look a bit more, starting with a roll cage and a set of modern race bucket seats. The most significant change to the cockpit is the custom dash, which is just flat metal, painted white and fitted with the essential gauges, switches and buttons.
The door panels are painted white to match the dash and the roll cage, which is a stark contrast to the original black interior bits, but this Challenger does have a retro-style Hurst manual shifter with a wooden pistol grip.
The interior is all business, with only the essentials for drag racing, but the exterior has maintained the original look of a 1970 Challenger R/T, making it a great museum piece.
Big, Big Block
Under the hood of this 1970 Challenger R/T is a 440-cubic inch Mopar V8 that has been massaged to 500 cubic inches.
This mill is topped by a “six-pack” setup, with three two-barrel carburetors mounted under the big air cleaner lid, and it appears to have aluminum cylinder heads under Mopar “crinkle style” valve covers. We can also see an aluminum water pump from CSR Performance, a set of headers, MSD ignition components and an aluminum radiator mated with an electric cooling fan.
We don’t know what kind of power this 500-cubic inch Mopar big block is making, but it should provide plenty of power to propel this 1970 Challenger R/T down the track well into the 11-second range, if not into the 10s.
Photos for Dodge Forum by Derin Richardson
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