The car is a 1970 Dodge Challenger SE.
The engine is a 383 c.i. Built by me and my daughter Stacey assisted. It is .030 over with ported and polished heads. We installed an Edlebrock 650 double pump carburetor along with an Edelbrock single plane manifold. I installed a purple cam with a steel crank. The transmission is a 727 automatic on the column with a 3,000 stall convertor. We are currently running 3.23 gears due to the price of gas which limits the stops between gas station. My best quarter mile time was a 12.48 seconds at about 123.8 mph. The car had a 750 Holley double pumper and I had 3.91 gears out back then. I have no idea of the top speed and it has yet to be dyno'd. The color of the car is spinnaker white with a rally red strip running down the side of the vehicle. Rally red was painted onto the hood and a rams head as the graphic done in white in the base of the hood. Stacey came up with that idea. Adding a little new looks to the old.

We belong to Southern California Mopars Unlimited car club. The car shows that we attend are: Mopar Spring Fling in Van Nuys, CA. where the car took 3rd just a couple of weeks ago in the daily/under construction class. The Mopar Rally in Riverside, CA. Last year she took first. The Mopar Fest in Huntington Beach, CA. We also attend Main St. Car Show in Garden Grove, CA. which is open to all makes of vehicles. Where the car has taken best Mopar several times along with best daily driver.

I had sold my plum crazy Challenger about a year ago before I came across this one. Which I picked up about three and half years ago. One Sunday at the club meeting my friend Mike said that he was looking for an E-Body car. I told him that I would keep my eyes open for him. A week or two had past and on my way home from worked I remembered that there was a Challenger sitting in this guys driveway about 3 blocks from our house a few years ago. I thought I would drive by to see if it was still sitting there. As I approached the house I could see that it was still there. As I pulled up I noticed that the car had a right rear flat tire with about an inch of dirt covering the whole car. I knocked on the door and this old man, I would say in his 70's and hunched over probable from having back problems earlier in life, answered the door. He said with a low gravelly voice can I help you. I said I am just coming by to find out the story on the Challenger sitting here in your driveway. He asked "Why?" Before I could answer him he said "You want to buy that old Dodge? Does $700.00 sound like too much money for that thing?" I was stunned and didn't answer him right away. Just before I said no that sounds fine he said, "How about if I throw in the original tires and rims, a big carburetor and a Manifold that my son had bought many years ago does? $700.00 still sound like too much money?" I said "No that sounds fine." For that price I didn't care about the size of engine she had in her. I didn't even open the hood up. I didn't even care if it even ran. But I asked him if it did anyway. He said it runs. I asked, "Do you mind if I take it for a drive?" Then I remembered that it had a flat tire. So I told him "Never mind that it has a flat tire." He said "Hell it took that tire 7 years to go flat but it will take me 7 minutes to fill it back up." We cleaned the windshield and put air in the tires. He gave me the keys and said take it for a drive. I asked him if he wanted my drivers license or a credit card to make sure I come back. Here in California you just can't give your keys to anybody and expect your car to return. But he said "Hell if you don't come back that's just one less thing I have to worry about." I drove it a couple of blocks and it needed some front end work. When I returned I told the old man that I will have to go to the bank and get the money and return on foot. When I returned he was finishing up putting a couple of the tires in the back seat. The money traded for the title of the car.

As I pulled away I thought that Mike has his new project car. When I got back to my house I decided to run the car up on some ramps and see how bad this front end is. To my surprise she didn't have any front shocks. If I had only opened the hood I would have notice that the shocks towers had holes were the shocks would be mounted. It would of saved me allot of work. I had some shocks in the garage from my old Challenger that I had sold about a year ago. I thought I would put them on. After installing them I took her out for a drive a world of difference it made. So I jumped on the freeway she drove straight with no vibrations. This is a keeper! Sorry Mike. I drove it for about 6 months and then my daughter started asking when are we going to make this 1970 Dodge Challenger SE pretty.

The 1970 Dodge Challenger SEproject begins. Stacey and I took the engine and drive trane out. We striped the interior out and sent the body over to Adonies body shop which had done some work for me in the past. I took the 318 c.i. engine out and decided that since I have that 383 c.i. engine and 727 transmission in the garage I would use them instead of putting the 318 c.i. engine back in. We got the Challenger back after about 3 months had past. My daughter and I put the engine and transmission in the car. Then we put a new carpet kit in. The front bucket seats were done up in leather and the back was done in vinyl. We still need a headliner and a dash for the car. But the car is still a trophy winner. During this whole time my plan was to give it to Stacey on her 18th Birthday. I just wish that my son would have taken an interest in these old cars like she has. She picked out the color Spinnaker white since we never see any white Challengers at car shows. She had the red stripe put on along the side. The hood being painted the rally red. She came up with the idea of the ram's head being placed where the R/T would normally go in white. It is now her car. When she comes back from Texas we are going to be putting together a 1970 Road Runner.

A little about me I was raised in a Christian family of nine. I have five sisters and 3 brothers we were raised on a farm just south of Clearance, MO. My dad had a dealership and sold cars for a living leaving us boys to do all of the farm work. In 1970 dad sold the farm and moved us into the big town of Shelbyville, MO. It had approximately 600 people living within the city limits.

I started working at the dealership detailing the new cars checking the fluids and making sure that all of the paperwork that was left in the car from the factory was removed cleaned out for the new owners. Boy do I wish I kept all of that.

I graduated from school and attended one semester of College. I decided to join the Army in January 1977 and worked on Helicopters. I was stationed in Germany where I ended up getting married. My wife and I got married in Copenhagen Denmark. Our son Don was born 9 months later in Frankfurt Germany, the year was 1980. In 1982 I got re-assigned At Fort Campbell KY. We moved to Garden Grove, CA. in 1985 from Clarksville, TN. Our daughter Angelica was still born in 1986 after my wife carried her to term. Our adopted daughter Stacey was born in Russia in 1988. After over 27 years of marriage we are getting divorced. Unbelievable. Well, so much about me.