1970 Challenger T/A Gets It Right with 'Fourth' Owner

Making Things Right

Since the very first muscle car rolled off a dealership lot, buyers of these magical harbingers of power have run the gauntlet from wide-eyed teens to older, established folks. And pretty much everything in between. Who buys a car new largely determines the sort of life it leads, good or bad. This particular 1970 Challenger T/A, recently featured at Hot Rod, certainly got off to a rough start. But thankfully, the right guy came along and gave it the life it deserved. 

Unforgivable Sins

As the story goes, the original owner of this Challenger sold it back in 1974. Sadly, the second owner was a young drag racer wannabe who proceeded to chop the car up, removing the original hood and swapping out the wheels, among committing other various sins.  

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Making Things Right

That abuse only lasted about a year, thankfully, when the original owner was able to reunite with his lost ride. He then proceeded to return the car back to stock form, vanquishing it from the sins of its previous owner. Except for maybe that original hood, which was believed to be hacked up beyond repair. 

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Buying Blind

Just a couple of years later, a young chap by the name of Scott Swaydrak spotted the Challenger for sale at a local gas station. He was obviously interested and asked if he could take it for a test drive. Oddly enough, the seller/original owner said no, likely provoked by what had happened to his poor car the last time around. 

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Test Ride

The then 18-year-old was obviously miffed, but climbed in and went for a test "ride" regardless. Undaunted, he went ahead with the purchase and then only got to drive it after he exchanged cash for the title. 

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Signs of Age

Over the next five years or so, Swaydrak simply drove the Challenger and enjoyed every second of it. However, by the early '80s, it was showing some signs of wear. So he enlisted a local body shop to perform rust repair, remove the vinyl top, and repaint the car. 

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Lull In Time

The end result was so nice that Monogram Models used Swaydrak's Challenger as a basis for its 1:24 scale kit. And the young man continued to drive his prized ride until 1986 when his family took precedence over the Challenger. So he parked it in heated storage until 2002, when he finally reached the point in life where he could enjoy it again.

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Original (Mostly)

This time around, Swaydrak wasn't playing around and ordered up a total rotisserie restoration for the Challenger. Careful attention was paid to ensure that as many original and NOS parts were used as possible, though Swaydrak opted to leave that ugly original vinyl top off. 

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Complete Refresh

The original 340 Six Pack was sent off to a machine shop and then reassembled to factory specs, and the transmission was rebuilt as well. The entire job took around two years and was completed back in 2009.

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Baby It

Swaydrak attends car shows and meets in his newly refurbished Challenger, but trailers it to events that are further away. And heck, we can't blame him. As nice as this old Dodge turned out and as long as he's had it, we'd baby it, too!

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