Original Dodge Challenger
Discussion
Total loss said:
aeropilot said:
Late 70's Hot Car magazine ran a yellow and black Hemi Challenger (can't recall if it was a 70 or 71 though) as a staff car. I did have a grainy colour photo of it taken on an old 110 pocket camera of in the pits at drag meeting at Blackbush in Sept '79, when the then HC editor Keith Seume(?) was drag racing it. From memory it was running slot mags and a slight rake.
They ran it for a year or two and then sold it, so have no idea what became of it, probably went to Sweden like so many others.
I remember a yellow Hemi Challenger for sale in the Autotrader in the mid '80's, Brighton or Bournemouth I think, only £4500..........They ran it for a year or two and then sold it, so have no idea what became of it, probably went to Sweden like so many others.
vwjourno said:
I hope you won't mind my copying over what I mentioned in our conversations earlier. Martyn David's Challenger was a genuine Hemi, I believe. It came from the factory with a four-speed but was converted to a Torqueflite before it was imported. It had been fitted with what was possibly the first nitrous system on a street car in the UK (by Marvin Miller). Getting the bottle filled was not easy in the UK, but Bob Hatton of Hatton Enterprises stepped in and sorted that out..
Martyn was the company secretary for the Occidental Oil Company and often used the car to drive into the centre of London. I believe he also had a Ferrari 400GT, if my memory serves me. I'd written a story in Hot Car late in 1977 about nitrous oxide and Martyn contacted me after reading it to tell me he had a car coming across from the USA which had nitrous installed. Would I be interested in doing a feature? Is the Pope catholic?
We took the car to the Army test track at Chobham for the feature – it was pretty rubbish feature, to be honest, but hey I was young (23) and nobody knew much better back then. Martyn decided to drag race the car and ran it in the Production class, where his nemesis was Sylvia Hauser (before she got the ex-Rossi car). Martyn lent it to me to race at Blackbushe one time (ran 12.08) and we also shared a drive at a peculiar little meeting at Lydden Hill. When he went away on holiday, he gave me the car for a week, which was nice of him...
Sadly there was a problem with the transmission, and it kept jumping out of drive when you nailed it. You needed to hold the shifter to make sure, but it would often jump out and the inevitable happened. The crank was twisted after an over-rev (the trans jumped out of drive...) and Martyn sold it to Colin Mullen, who I believe then sold it to Stuart Valance of Slick Tricks. He restored/repainted the car and then it was sold to the USA.
I commuted into London in that car for a week, which was costly as it only did 7mpg. It had 5.13 gears in the rear, so on road tyres it was flat out at about 75mph. However, if you planted the throttle at anything up to 70mph, it would light the tyres and go sideways. It was VERY loud (a pair of cherry bomb glasspacks was all it had) and I used to scare the heck out of people in traffic by blipping the throttle. It had a line-lock and one day I pulled up outside the publisher's workshop (under the railway arches at Waterloo) and did an enormous burnout, filling the workshop with smoke. Childish, but fun.
I feel honoured to have had use of a car like that and to this day I've been a fan of Mopar muscle. Here's me at Blacbushe...
Fantastic memories Keith, thanks for sharing it ! Wonder if the car is still in the States ? Martyn was the company secretary for the Occidental Oil Company and often used the car to drive into the centre of London. I believe he also had a Ferrari 400GT, if my memory serves me. I'd written a story in Hot Car late in 1977 about nitrous oxide and Martyn contacted me after reading it to tell me he had a car coming across from the USA which had nitrous installed. Would I be interested in doing a feature? Is the Pope catholic?
We took the car to the Army test track at Chobham for the feature – it was pretty rubbish feature, to be honest, but hey I was young (23) and nobody knew much better back then. Martyn decided to drag race the car and ran it in the Production class, where his nemesis was Sylvia Hauser (before she got the ex-Rossi car). Martyn lent it to me to race at Blackbushe one time (ran 12.08) and we also shared a drive at a peculiar little meeting at Lydden Hill. When he went away on holiday, he gave me the car for a week, which was nice of him...
Sadly there was a problem with the transmission, and it kept jumping out of drive when you nailed it. You needed to hold the shifter to make sure, but it would often jump out and the inevitable happened. The crank was twisted after an over-rev (the trans jumped out of drive...) and Martyn sold it to Colin Mullen, who I believe then sold it to Stuart Valance of Slick Tricks. He restored/repainted the car and then it was sold to the USA.
I commuted into London in that car for a week, which was costly as it only did 7mpg. It had 5.13 gears in the rear, so on road tyres it was flat out at about 75mph. However, if you planted the throttle at anything up to 70mph, it would light the tyres and go sideways. It was VERY loud (a pair of cherry bomb glasspacks was all it had) and I used to scare the heck out of people in traffic by blipping the throttle. It had a line-lock and one day I pulled up outside the publisher's workshop (under the railway arches at Waterloo) and did an enormous burnout, filling the workshop with smoke. Childish, but fun.
I feel honoured to have had use of a car like that and to this day I've been a fan of Mopar muscle. Here's me at Blacbushe...
Thanks to my good pal, for this shot.
Guessing it was originally Plum Crazy, but I didn't realise that it had been Red as well!
And re DVLA, it says Export on its file. But if DVLA were not notified of Export, then it won't state that on their site.
Edited by neutral 3 on Friday 10th May 00:18
Agreed P5 ! And to think that I sat there in 72 !!
Will never / ever forget as I aproached the school gate at 3.30 one afternoon in circa November 72 and seeing that Challenger parked up in the narrow service road that led down into Loughton High rd.
The look on the other kids faces as they saw the car was just Priceless !!
Will never / ever forget as I aproached the school gate at 3.30 one afternoon in circa November 72 and seeing that Challenger parked up in the narrow service road that led down into Loughton High rd.
The look on the other kids faces as they saw the car was just Priceless !!
mikial said:
Circa 1973 .
My 1970 440 RT Challenger. Location then was Crossoak Lane , Salfords , Surrey.
Nearby was the A23 pre M25. Drove that bad boy every morning up to Billingsgate Mkt at 4 am.
American auto parts in Wallington , Steve Thompson in Thornton Heath. Suppliers and mechanics.
Preceded by a 1966 260 Tiger. Followed with a 454 manual Corvette. Part exchanged the 'Vette for an orange LHD 2.2 911 E .
Can you recall the reg number ?
I've often wondered how many Challengers came to Blighty during the 1970s,
mikial said:
Anyone know what happened to her ??
Helle.
She was the girlfriend of a pal of mine. Richard.. After they split up she married a very tall window cleaner , Bob.
I kid you not.
No way !! Really ?? I can still see her walking right past me in Clerkenwell as I walked into that agents ! Helle.
She was the girlfriend of a pal of mine. Richard.. After they split up she married a very tall window cleaner , Bob.
I kid you not.
She seems to have stopped doing Car and Bike shoots in 83. I seem to recall Page 3 girl Tessa Hewit ( my old Boss g / f knowing her ) as I was collecting shots of Tessa from that agents.
mikial said:
neutral 3 said:
mikial said:
Circa 1973 .
My 1970 440 RT Challenger. Location then was Crossoak Lane , Salfords , Surrey.
Nearby was the A23 pre M25. Drove that bad boy every morning up to Billingsgate Mkt at 4 am.
American auto parts in Wallington , Steve Thompson in Thornton Heath. Suppliers and mechanics.
Preceded by a 1966 260 Tiger. Followed with a 454 manual Corvette. Part exchanged the 'Vette for an orange LHD 2.2 911 E .
Can you recall the reg number ?
I've often wondered how many Challengers came to Blighty during the 1970s,
GGY rings a bell but that could have been the Z28.
It's 45 years ago.
And you don't by any chance remember a blue 69 Shelby GT 500 that was in east London in 1982 ?
I had a mad tear up with In in my tweaked 3 Litre Capri one day and saw it several times after. Would love to know what happened to it !
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