The Dodge Challenger Message Board

I have a 74 rallye Challenger I just purchased with a 360. It is an all matching numbers car that was originally purchased by a guy in the military while he was stationed in Korea. I have all the original documetation including the paperwork showing Financing by the Pentagon.
I have alot of original papers. I am in the process of doing a rotisserie resto on it and dont know if would be worth more original or as a 440+6pack clone. The car has only 56K miles on it. Is this a usual find?
Thanks
Joe

The guy will have purchased the car while he was overseas but the car would have been delivered to his home address. I doubt very much if it ever left the USA.

Many US servicemen took advantage of the low price and cheap financing of buying through the military. It does not increase its value but is an interesting (and patriotic) selling point.

There are so many 440+6 clones out there I wouldn't bother unless you really wanted one. Plus without it being a 70 or 71 everyone will see straight away it is not right. Plus you would have to change the brakes and suspension.

Instead (if you want the power) you could bore and stroke the 360 to over 400 inches. Then it would still be "numbers matching" and yet also a real street sleeper.

I would love to see copies of the paperwork if possible?

I have heard of several cars ordered from overseas by US service men, but I have not seen copies of any of the paperwork from any of them.

Great find.

Barry

I second Dave on that, the car would be more period-correct with a stroked small-block (or simply a well-built 360 or 340).

For a stroker, I'd rather buy a complete engine though, and store the original away.

Since you're doing a rotisserie resto, you're probably not aiming for strip use (for which a big-block would be nice), or road racing (for which a small-block is the only way to go - I should know, I'm trying to race a big-block and I end up mowing the lawn at each turn). You're probably going to invest quite a bit of cash and time in this, so you might as well rebuild the car as it was originally delivered.

As far as resale value goes, the fact that 70 and 71s are going throuh the roof will eventually drag the prices upward for 72 and later models -it has started already), even if they are not expensive yet (think about the 71- charger prices - a few years ago, nobody wanted them)

Of course, you could also have the bodywork made the classical way, and the drivetrain built for fun. In that case, save the engine and trans for later (you don't want to crack the matching numbers block or blow the original trans) and have a reputable shop build you a small-block and trans.

If you just want to use it on the street, rebuild the original drivetrain (I'd go for internal balancing though, Ma Mopar was a bit cheap on engine internals in the mid 70s).

Cool, Salazar! Is the body and interior trim etc.. all in need of restoration? If so why not do what Fabian suggests? Stock O.E.M. "look but fortify the engine and suspension,chassis for increased performance vis bolt on parts? Thats what I did. If someday you want to return it to O.E.M. its just a matter of a few hours unbolting and returning the stock part. The body, colour, wheels,interior,trim etc... are all stock. I am very satisfied with the increased engine performance and especially the "handling" even though its a big block, I reduced the weight by alum. components. Heads, intake, water pump, water housing.

I will scan a copy of the paperwork with some pics, but how do you post pics on here?

The Browse on mine does it. It's got my pics stored on file. That help?

salazar1977 wrote:I will scan a copy of the paperwork with some pics, but how do you post pics on here?

1) Choose "Post reply" down below (quite obvious, I guess)
2) Scroll down and choose "browse"
3) Choose the folder on your computer where your pic is laying.
4) Choose the specific file.
5) Choose "add attachment"
6) Do steps 2-5 for every pic you got.
7) Finished? Then "submit"

Still having problems? You can mail the pic´s to me if you want to: dodgebrothers@bredband.net (I will post them for you)

salazar1977 wrote:I will scan a copy of the paperwork with some pics, but how do you post pics on here?

Maybe you are using a non-allowed file type? Only these are allowed: gif jpeg jpg png tga tif
(Each pic has to be smaller than 4 Mb)

Use the "add an attachment" form under the bit you write in.

Edit. Oops! I didn't see your initial reply Christer.

I actually have a copy of the "1970 Chrysler Military Sales Program" special order price kit for USA delivery.

It has all the military ordered prices for the cars and options. Plus handling and delivery charges. Looking at it you saved about $400 on the base price of a Challenger alone. The options have lower prices too. It adds up to a bargin.

I might scan a few pages to post here.

Scans of the Challenger Military price list.