Car Restoration - what will you rebuild "some day"?

[Hajo]

Frenchy then new ones are doing quite well at the track.  

[Hajo]

New car is 4,100 lbs   its worthless and just prays on your nostalgia to get your money. I love the way she looks but performance wise you cam throw all the HP you want you aint going to race squat with it.

Hmm.  They are being raced and very well.  A few even play AH.  The new ones produce more hp per/cu.in and stock are a full second faster then the old 426 street Hemis.

[CAP1]

the challenger is a gorgeous car. most true to its original design. couple running around my area sounding great.

 if i'm not mistaken though, to get the challenger that will equal the mustang or camaro, you need to get the challenger srt8. the r/t from what i recall only has the 370 or so horse 5.7 liter. runs 13's. pricewise it's competitive with the camaro/mustangs though, but not performancewise. get the srt8, and i think you're in the $40k range, and then just matching the performance of the camaros/mustangs that only cost 30-35k. THIS is what i think srtfrenchy meant when he called them slow. they are. compared to their competition. otherwise, they are by no means slow.

 i know someone's gonna throw top speed out there.........the ford is limited to 155 i think. dunno what the chevy does. also, i don't believe that the top gear dorks were able to get 170 outta theirs........

[SFRT - Frenchy]

What are you guys calling 'the track'? Because in NASA races and Time Attacks events there's none. INK top speed is so irrelevant in road racing. Even here in the US where some track favor long straights the new challenger is a dog because it's way too heavy. Gazillion HP and high top speed miight make the owner feel good, but theres way more needed to be called performance, as you'd get humiliated at your local road track by a Lotus Elise type.

It gets eaten alive at any slalom comparaison too vs Mustang/Camaros/imports.

[Grayeagle]

I looked at the SS Camaro ..base model you can get an LS motor in costs ~40k
..or ..put in perspective ..
..more than a base model Vette. -puzzled look-

Mustang is a good lookin ride, but never again for me.. burnt once, not gonna happen again.

The Challenger is heavier ..also roomier ..also can see out of it ..
..and like all the rest, aftermarket bits are out there to make it run *just* fine thank-you-verra-much.

..and it is the most inexpensive V8 'muscle' car available in Hemi R/T Challenger trim.

I like not havin to fold myself up *just* right to get into it, not feelin like I am crammed in,
and ya .. even havin a back seat that people can actually sit in when they want to ride along.
ie: took my Son-in-law and 3 teenage grand kids for a ride when I brought it home, and smoked the tired *just* dandy off a stoplight ..
.. because I *could*

Granted, the skid pad numbers aren't as good as the Vette .. *cough* ..it's not a Vette, or a Z-Camaro, or a Shelby ..it's a Hemi R/T Challenger.
There's people runnin in the 9's in the quarter with 'em ..lotta money and time spent to do it ..just like any other 9 second car.
There's also a slew of guys runnin 13's with Hemi R/T Challengers that are stock.
Right outta the box.

To run 12's requires a sticky tire in the back.
LOL. Sound familiar?

The Hemi R/T Challenger is the best Modern Muscle car IMHO.



-Frank aka GE (just sayin -tm Pasha)

[CAP1]

the r/t shows to be a tad more expensive than the camaro/mustangs. you don't have to spend 40k to get a v8 camaro that'll run 12/9's. i don't fold myself to get in/out of my gt, and i'm 6'2. at that, i've got my seat pulled half way forward, and lifted up pretty high. at that point, i've still got my leg extended pretty far to clutch the car.......

[ink]

What are you guys calling 'the track'? Because in NASA races and Time Attacks events there's none. INK top speed is so irrelevant in road racing. Even here in the US where some track favor long straights the new challenger is a dog because it's way too heavy. Gazillion HP and high top speed miight make the owner feel good, but theres way more needed to be called performance, as you'd get humiliated at your local road track by a Lotus Elise type.

It gets eaten alive at any slalom comparaison too vs Mustang/Camaros/imports.

I agree in road racing top end is pfft....but my point is........ they are very fast.... more then one would ever need on the street......

they are great cars......definitely heavy....but awesome non the less

[Rob52240]

1984-1986 Ford Escort RS 200.

[Hajo]

the challenger is a gorgeous car. most true to its original design. couple running around my area sounding great.

 if i'm not mistaken though, to get the challenger that will equal the mustang or camaro, you need to get the challenger srt8. the r/t from what i recall only has the 370 or so horse 5.7 liter. runs 13's. pricewise it's competitive with the camaro/mustangs though, but not performancewise. get the srt8, and i think you're in the $40k range, and then just matching the performance of the camaros/mustangs that only cost 30-35k. THIS is what i think srtfrenchy meant when he called them slow. they are. compared to their competition. otherwise, they are by no means slow.

 i know someone's gonna throw top speed out there.........the ford is limited to 155 i think. dunno what the chevy does. also, i don't believe that the top gear dorks were able to get 170 outta theirs........

Cap!  Hey Bro....7 guys on our forums had their stock R/Ts dyno'd.  Stock mind you.  Lowest was 389.....highest 407.  Flywheel of course.
Dodge always did limit the HP rating at a lower RPM not redline.  Some of us have tweeked ours inexpensively to say the least.  Lotsa
parts available.  With the work done on mine I'd guess somewhere between 400 to 415 hp...not much.  But plenty for an old geezer
who quit running the quarter mile in the mid 70s.  Challengers don't come from the factory with superchargers.  Mustangs and Camaros can.
I would imagine that if Dodge saw fit to put a supercharger on top of it at the factory, might be a different story.  The top end on these
cars are around 170mph.....SRT 176.  If you watched the version of Top Gear British....they ran 3 of them  Cadillac , Corvette and Challenger.
They didn't bother with the Camaro or the Mustang for some reason.  The Challenger ran 169 at Bonneville....stock.

[SFRT - Frenchy]

Was the duct tape a dealership option? 

[CAP1]

1984-1986 Ford Escort RS 200.

(Image removed from quote.)

 i almost hate to admit this....but i kinda wish that was the escort we got over here.......

[CAP1]

Cap!  Hey Bro....7 guys on our forums had their stock R/Ts dyno'd.  Stock mind you.  Lowest was 389.....highest 407.  Flywheel of course.
Dodge always did limit the HP rating at a lower RPM not redline.  Some of us have tweeked ours inexpensively to say the least.  Lotsa
parts available.  With the work done on mine I'd guess somewhere between 400 to 415 hp...not much.  But plenty for an old geezer
who quit running the quarter mile in the mid 70s.  Challengers don't come from the factory with superchargers.  Mustangs and Camaros can.
I would imagine that if Dodge saw fit to put a supercharger on top of it at the factory, might be a different story.  The top end on these
cars are around 170mph.....SRT 176.  If you watched the version of Top Gear British....they ran 3 of them  Cadillac , Corvette and Challenger.
They didn't bother with the Camaro or the Mustang for some reason.  The Challenger ran 169 at Bonneville....stock.

 so you had to modify yours to make the factory hp of mine? 

 you can't get a gt or an ss with a supercharger from the factory either.

 aaaannnnnnddddd finally....they left out the mustang and camaro to avoid embarrassing cadillac and dodge. 

 BTW.....as much as i'd LOVe to take the gt to the strip.......i won't, 'cause virtually EVERY nice caR i've owned, i ruined through drag racing. 

[CAP1]

Was the duct tape a dealership option? 

 hehehehe.....that's the dealer installed drag pack. 

[nrshida]

1984-1986 Ford Escort RS 200.

(Image removed from quote.)

Interesting car! I saw one of those in a museum. Transmission very clever. Incidentally a British kit car company used to make a replica which took a Cosworth engine and a production car dashboard.

[thndregg]

My '79 Trans Am SE...


...dreaming of getting it restored to this...


Been dreaming about it for the past eight years.