A Challengers story

[LetsFNgo]

Hello everyone
So I have a couple of threads in the AMC area about my cars, but never started a thread on my 1970 Challenger. I think the time to tell its story has finally come and I hope everyone who reads it gets to enjoy it a little.

The story begins in October/November of 1969, a 20 year old named David Kartman returned from Vietnam after leaving at 18. He walked into his local Dodge Dealer in Somerville NJ, named Somerville Dodge, and placed an order for a new Challenger. Going through the option list he kept it quite simple. A66 340 performance package, 4 speed, 3.23 sure grip rear because he knew that would change, and an AM radio. Standard black interior and the outside of the car in B7 blue, no vinyl top or other trim was ordered.

The car was built January 21st of 1970 according to the broadcast sheet, and soon delivered to Somerville where David picked up his new car, brought it home, and promptly installed 4.88’s in the rear pumpkin and disconnected the speedometer.

Leaving for military stuff the following weekend his brother Tommy took the car to Pittsburg(approx 6-8 hours before interstates) and back without David realizing it.

Upon his return the car was used for both everyday driving and late night shenanigan's for the next 4-5 years. Sitting at multiple points due to blown up 340’s, the numbers matching block died a hero’s death during a 7k rpm power shift with a rod blowing out the side of it around 1971-72. A service replacement met the same fate a few years later.

Around 1975, with the car beginning to show its age, David decided he wanted something faster. Making a call to a local speed shop he purchased a used 440 6 barrel short block, a set of heads, and then spent time at a different local Dodge dealer with a friend in the parts department ordering a ton of brand new replacement parts. These included:
New door hinges
Replacement Shaker hood
Factory Challenger TA left front fender
Hemi Torsion bars
New R/T leaf springs
Set of 3 complete 6 pack carbs and linkage
A bunch of new trim parts and replacements for small broken things.

Combing local junk yards he found a nice Challenger TA right front fender, and bought a complete Shaker assembly off a wrecked fK5 440+6 Cuda(this hurts my heart).
Taking the car apart around 1977, he installed the hood and fenders, cleaned the rest of the rust free car, and gave it a nice backyard respray of B7 blue. The car got pushed into his garage(a double deep 2 car) and then it sat.

Life gets in the way and changes your plans, and this is one of those times. David had his first child, money was tight, and the car became a someday project. Unfortunately that someday never came and David Kartman passed away on October 13th of 2019 at 70 years old.

At that point David’s 3 children, as well as him brother Tommy, began going through everything, including the 6 vehicles David left behind. His Challenger being parked behind a 1956 Chevy 4 door. Eventually one daughter and her husband came for the Chevy, but the other daughter and son began fighting over who was taking the Challenger.

Fast forward a couple of years. It’s now 2021, the town where David lived his whole life is having their annual town wide yard sale, and Tommy has decided it’s time to begin to sell things from the overloaded garage.

I should add one more thing here, and I mean this in no disrespectful way. But David and Tommy’s family was a very private churchgoing family. They didn’t socialize much outside of their local church, and while Tommy ended up hanging out often at the bar my dad frequented in the 70’s and 80’s, David kept to himself and no one in the small town spoke much to or of him or their family.

My family has lived in the same town that David and Tommy lived for generations. My mom and dad first heard about the Challenger after David passed away, but upon hearing about the family drama I didn’t want to get involved, but since it’s been several years I figured it was worth looking.

So the day of the town wide yard sale my dad and I are told early in the day about Tommy selling tools and stuff out of the garage and decide to take a walk down the street and look. When I say down the street, I mean their property is literally about 500 feet down the street on the other side of a cross-street from us.

So down the street we walk and find Tommy doing exactly what we were told. He’s going into the garage, removing random stuff and putting it on a table in front of the door. We begin discussing stuff he’s selling and he mentions that the Challenger is still sitting there and he’d love the room back in his garage, since he’s now moved back into the house.

Taking the opportunity I ask to look at the car. He agrees, opens the garage door, lets us(my dad and I) in, and closes the door, telling us to knock when he wants it reopened. The pictures are what my dad and I find.

And this story will continue in the next post.

[LetsFNgo]

So,

After looking over the car for approx 20 minutes I realized I needed to make an attempt to buy it. I love Mopar stuff but I was not well versed(as much as I am now) at that point. A lot of the car was very hard to look at. The rear of the car was pushed literally into the wall, the right side was 1-2” from desks and shelving on the right side, and a large table saw table on the left side prevented me from looking at the much either. But I knew the car was solid and was cool.

Knocking on the garage door Tommy let us out, and my dad walked back home. Tommy and I spoke about random stuff for about 20 minutes before getting back to the Challenger. He threw a number out that both of us saw as fair. I agreed to his number but then ran into a problem. Tommy said a price without checking with his nephew, who works nights and he didn’t want to bother, so he wanted me to wait a week for an answer. Not wanting to wait I offered Tommy 1000 dollars just to get in touch with his nephew that day. He said he’d think about it but that was it for the day.

I walked back home and at this point was a little dejected. A chance at a literal dream car of mine, something I never thought I’d have a chance at, and I just can’t complete the deal. My dad, seeing my sadness, decides fried chicken is a good way to solve my problem. So we take a ride to the other side of town to buy good fried chicken.

About 5 minutes from returning to my house I get a phone call. It’s Tommy, telling me he’d like 2 checks. One for the car, and one for the extra money, and everything that is Dodge related goes with the car.

At this point my dad runs to his job to get a flatbed to move the car home, I take the pickup and run up the street to start loading parts. We ended up loading my pickup, another friends truck, and a flatbed with the parts for the car. Hopefully these photos aren’t sideways but if they are I’ll figure it out later.

Now the car is home. The first thing to do is clean and inventory everything I have. I ended up with most of a complete 440 6 barrel out of a 70 Cuda, most of a Shaker assembly off a different Cuda, and the Challenger that has been sitting since 1975.

My dad and I began cleaning, and cleaning, and then we cleaned some more. The interior, all factory, was cleaned using mostly vinegar and water. The exterior, having been repainted before being put away, cleaned up with little more than a basic cut and buff.

Most of what needed to be done was mechanical. And being a mechanic by trade this scared me least.

The 440 was built using mostly stock parts with a nice Lunati cam. The carbs were over the counter, brand new from a Dodge dealer in 1975. One still had the tag on it. The intake was a brand new A12 aluminum Edelbrock with the Chrysler part number cast into it. The shaker was only missing the 6 pack baseplate, and while I would’ve loved to use an original, a reproduction was all I could find at the time.

Putting the car together was a blast for my dad and I. And the car ended up going into the general area at MCACN 2022. Wearing the slot mags and tires David bought for it in the late 70’s. The Pos a traction tires have stamps on them from Steve’s specialty tire in Manville NJ, about 10 minutes away.

Tommy has been able to ride in the car several times. And I've formed a great friendship with Tommy because he was finally able to see his brothers dream for the car come true.

I’ve kept the car basically the same for the last several years. Once it’s nice out I try to drive it several times a month. It’s a blast to drive and the feeling of the outer barrels of a 6 pack setup slamming open, falling on its face, then the front end rising when the fuel matches the air coming is is something truly special.

I will probably add final photos in another post.

[LetsFNgo]

So why did I use the 440 when the car was originally a 340 4 barrel?
Simply put, I wanted to keep the car how David wanted. He spent time gathering all these parts to put together his personal hot rod, and I think for now that’s how the car should stay.

Id be lying if I didn’t say I’ve considered, and am still considering, looking for an early 1970 340 and going back to stock. But I never thought I’d be fortunate enough to peer over hood and watch that shaker move back and forth. And I love that.

I also think it’s cool that this car has spent its entire existence on 1 street in 1 small town in Central NJ

[LetsFNgo]

A few more photos

The only 340 part I got with the whole car is the original air cleaner assembly, because it was taken off when the car was nearly new and thrown under a bench.

I wish I could find any pictures of when David had the car, but the family didn’t take photos, and unfortunately David didn’t seem to have many friends and none of them have provided any photos either. The car has TA hood springs because early in the cars life a TA hood was installed by David, but that was sold after the Shaker was purchased. The TA springs are still on the hood hinges.

[LetsFNgo]

A couple more of the as found photos and parts that came with the car.

The front of the car after the first time it’s been dug out in decades.

The white shag carpeting was placed over the factory carpet and other than around the shifter, the factory carpet is in wonderful shape and was savable with little more than a small carpet cleaner and a few hours of work.

The factory copper colored seats are a 1970 only interior color. The seats in the car are mostly in good shape. The drivers seat is a little rough, I still have these seats and they’re in nice shape if someone has a survivor and needs seats this color.

The 6 pack air cleaner I also still have. I can’t bring myself to remove it from the box lol. I figure I can save it for someone who ever needs one for a special restoration or installing on a survivor.

[SS427]

Such a cool story. Stories and finds like this are why many of us get out of bed in the morning. Thanks for sharing the whole story.

[Mr70]

Congrats on your purchase & your persistence,sure did clean up nice.

[Bill Pritchard]

Ditto what Rick & Rick said above. Love the story!

[Tracker1]

Fantastic Save!!!! Beauty!

[markinnaples]

That is so cool, congrats on being able to finally get a local legend.
I'm sure the OG owner would love what you're doing to it.