1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
In the early spring of 1971 a young 20 year old named Tim walked into a local Brampton Dodge dealership, sat down and ordered his brand new car. He ordered a 1971 Challenger R/T, 340 automatic with a rally dash, dual mirrors, rear spoiler AM radio w/rear speaker and rear window defroster, etc... He opted for GW3 white exterior with white interior, black R/T stripes and hood stripe. Because this was 1971, Tim thought a landau vinyl roof would look real nice, but the sales person wasn't sure if it was available so he checked off a "formal roof package" . What Tim ended up with was a complete SE roof package with a small rear window and a overhead console.....not very happy but this was what he got. Tim also insisted the car came with plain steel wheels.
Because of that roof option, the car is very rare. They never made 1971 R/T/SE's.
In the first weeks of ownership, the side stripe started bubbling up, so he had the dealer remove the dual side stripes and paint on a solid T/A style stripe which he liked better. Tim also fried the rear tires in the first week and replaced the steel rims with Cragars when the car was only three weeks old. He has pictures of the car before/after the rims went on.
Tim' s Challenger made two trips out of Ontario. The first trip was to Nova Scotia and the second was to Battle Creek Michigan in the summer of 71. Here's Tim's story:
I put a CDN sticker on the bumper for that trip which was still on it when I bought it back last year. I also brought 2 cases of Canadian beer along for the trip which I traded for extra US beer and their appreciation. The interesting thing about the US trip was that a lot of guys were coming back from Vietnam and all were buying muscle cars. I met them at parties and listened to their war stories. They were having trouble with the attitude at that time regarding the support for the war. They were all my age but had aged up to 10 years on their tour of duty. Kind of fearless would be my impression as their attitude was much more aggressive in running their cars fast over the boys back in Toronto at the Harvey's on Jane Street. I went out street racing one evening with a bunch of them and was paired up to race a Charger. Their idea of a drag strip was on the Turnpike. When I hit 100 MPH I figured that we had passed the quarter mile so shut down but the Charger kept on running out of sight. When I returned back to the start the guys asked me why I stopped. Did I not know that they were racing half mile runs on the turn pike? Such was my introduction to the hard driving boys back from Vietnam running muscle cars into the 150 MPH range and above!!! You know the tires they were using on these 440 and 427 engined cars with rear end ratios under 3.00 to get those speeds was junk . I remember most of those cars sat very high from the factory and would catch a lot of air once over 120 MPH. I remember that they would get very light and want to fly at those speeds. I remember only big cars like Thunderbirds ( 4,000 lbs and up) could run up to those speeds without lifting.
Unfortunately in 1973 Tim sold that Challenger and bought a brand new Corvette, in 77 a new Trans Am, in 1979 he bought his first Porsches....and has been driving them over the last few years.
Never losing track of his first car, it never left Georgetown, he once tried to buy it back about 10 years ago, but failed, it wasn't for sale.
Then came the phone call this time last year when the current owner called him and Tim immediately went and bought back his very same first car that he had ordered new in 1971.
Here's the best part...the car was still wearing its original paint and the same ole Cragars and tires!
I showed up a little too late because Tim has already had the car painted, had Ian Kerry do some of the components, and all I can to is reassemble and detail the whole thing. Almost done!!! Engine and tranny should be going in this weekend. Completed.
-Alan
Completed on May 2nd 2006.
1971 Plymouth 'Cuda 440+6
This is Roy's Cuda...he's a pretty private guy and doesn't want to broadcast his ownership to the world. Infact he owned the car for 20+ years and nobody even knew about it!!!
I do know that it sold new at Johnston Chrysler in Vancouver BC to James Wamner. James and his brother raced the car most of the time at a local drag strip. The car is originally a column auto car , but the current owner is changing it to 4spd regardless of the cars value. It's one of 22 440+6 71 Cudas sold new in Canada (so's mine) My green car and his arrived in Canada consecutively, mine first then his...just opposite ends !
If you remember seeing this car back in the day please contact me!!!
As of today the metal work is completely done and the car is ready for the body shop. On Aug 26th 2005 it's off to Waterdown Collision, the place that did the white 340 Cuda.
This one came equipped from the factory with: Autumn Bronze metallic paint, black bucket seat interior, column auto, radio delete, budget dash, budget mirror, 15" steel wheels (body colour), rally hood, hood pins and
4:10 super track pack!!! What do you think the original owner had in mind???
I will add a few more finished pics at a later date.
Completed August 7th, 2006.
