1971 Challenger Is a Rare R/T Project the Owner Hates To Sell; Disappointment Well Hidden

The E-body was introduced in the fall of 1969 for the 1970 model year with the third-generation Plymouth Barracuda and the all-new Dodge Challenger, the brand’s first pony car. A bit late, but that’s all in the past now, and nothing can be changed about it, so let’s just forget about Dodge’s brass hats foot-in-mouth decision to stay out of the game before 1970.

Instead, how about we focus on what we still have, be it full-blown survivors from that era, absolutely rotted-out basketcases, or solid projects with a neat pedigree under their hoods? For example, the 1970 Challenger R/T sold like magic dust, with over 18,000 examples sporting the heraldic lettering out of a total production of 77,000 Challengers.

1971 saw a drop of cataclysmic magnitude, with 4,630 Dodge ponies branded with the two mean-machine alphabetical symbols. One particularity about the Challenger R/T was the engine: customers could choose between the standard 383-cubic-inch (6.3-liter) four-barrel and the aforementioned Leviathans, the 426-cube Hemi (seven liters) and the 440 big-inch Magnum (7.2 liters).

Naturally, the 383 was the run-of-the-mill in 1971. However, for the model’s last time on the stage, Chrysler introduced the no-cost optional 340-4, the nefarious small-block marauder that was on a perpetual big-block diet since 1968, eating them alive wherever a stoplight and a straight strip of road were available.

The entry-level big-block 383-4 was a pale shadow of its former self just a year before, with Chrysler engineers forced to detune the respectable motor to a mere 300 gross hp (250 net)—a heavy blow, considering that the same engine was churning out 330 horses in 1970.

Even so, the Challenger R/T with a 383 was the go-to option for hot-headed members of the Leadfoot nation, with 2,509 units featuring Mother Mopar’s signature powerplant. The vast majority of those were, perhaps curiously, linked to a three-speed Torqueflite automatic. Only 59 Challenger R/Ts of 1971 came with three speeds and three pedals – the manual-oriented buyers went for the fun box, the four-speed transmission.

465 of them paid extra for the fourth gear (the three-speed manual was standard equipment on the Challenger R/T in 1971), and one of those rare Mopars has somehow made it to 2024. I say ‘somehow’ because… just look at the photos. The 383 V8 is supposedly still in the car (there’s no irrefutable photographic proof of that in the Facebook post) – but the mark of rarity, its four-speed, is gone (with the wind, since there’s no windshield, either).

The owner is selling the car because he’s moving, despite what his heart tells him – a situation many gearheads are too familiar with, sadly. The asking price is 11,000 dollars, and the buyer will get a ‘pickup load’ of much-needed parts. At one point, this last call Challenger R/T of the original generation was a splendid Plum Crazy pony, but now it has a generous amount of ‘Sat Outside Rust’ brown on both front fenders.

The car is located in Cambridge, Nebraska – about two hours away from the seller’s home in Grand Island. It’s rough but not hopeless – there’s still a lot left in the old Dodge to make it worthwhile for someone with passion-deep pockets.