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This all started when my buddy and I
responded to an online ad which simply stated
"For Sale '70 R/T Challenger". The car was in
Buffalo, New York and was being sold by a guy
named Bob who had fallen on rough times and
could no longer afford to hang on to this
project car. The car was a bare shell on a
rotisserie and amazingly, the numbers motor,
tranny, fender tag and VIN tag were still with
the car. Through extensive research it turns out
that the car had been bought and sold in this
manner several times over the past 20 years.
When we went to look at the car, we brought
along our trusty little white book to do a quick
fender tag decode. I was able to figure out all
but one code. After dragging the car and all the
parts back to Canada, more research went into
the mystery code … V9Y.
We were
pleasantly surprised to find out that we had
come home with an FJ5 sublime green car that had
rolled out of the factory with a top banana
yellow bumble bee stripe. Other options included
power steering, power disc brakes, and automatic
on the column (yes on the column?) the
max.cooling package, 3:55 sure grip, dual
painted mirrors, hood pins and the performance
hood treatment.
 | With help
from Moparts.com we were able to get in contact
with Ken Garrett, the salesman who sold the car
from new at Greco’s Auto Sales in Darien Centre,
New York (a Dodge, Renault, Peugeot dealership).
Would you believe that he still had the phone
number of the guy he had sold it to? Mike Myers
(not the actor) was the first owner of this car
and has told me that the car spent quite a bit
of time tearing up the streets of Baltimore. In
speaking with Mike, I also learned that the car
rolled out of the factory with 383 emblems on
the hood. A factory mistake that Mike said he
used to use in his favor when lining up against
an unsuspecting racer.
Mike also
informed us that he bought the car off of the
lot which really makes you wonder what the
dealer thought when this one showed up on his
front door!!! Mike told me he didn't like the
yellow stripe and had it painted over in black.
Also, he liked the look of the '71 R/T stripe
and had that put on as well as having the hood
inserts painted black. After sending Mike some
photos of the finished car, he told us we had
done a good job putting it back to original but
he didn't ever remember there being the hood
blackout decal on the car. That said, along with
him mentioning that the car had 383 hoods
emblems I am going to assume that someone on the
line made a mistake with the hood
detailing.
The car has been restored back
to bone stock original. Every component
was either replaced or restored using the
original piece, nos or the best reproduction
parts available.
We will have had the car
in our possession exactly five years on March 5,
2006. Expect to see the car at all the
Ontario Mopar shows this season.
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