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In the early days of the muscle car era, three iconic muscle cars for sale then stood out, arguably above the rest. One of them is the Dodge Challenger, first built as a pony car in the early 1970s as “an answer to the Mustang and the Camaro”, a three-way rivalry that has been re-ignited in 2008 and still exists to this day.
The first Challenger, built between 1970 and 1974, was one of the two Chrysler E-body cars (the other is the Plymouth Barracuda, yet another iconic muscle car) built to compete against the Chevy Camaro and the Ford Mustang. In addition, Chrysler intended to offer almost all of the Chrysler engines in the Challenger, in order to give a wide selection for different kinds of car buffs. Engine sizes ranged from the smallest, 3.2L Slant 6 I6, to 7.2Ll RB V8, and came with either a 3 / 4 speed manual, or 3 speed automatic.
However, many saw the Challenger’s late entry into the muscle car game as “too little, too late”, because of the territory that the Camaro and the Mustang already took a hold of. Nevertheless, this first version of the Challenger still gained ground, becoming very well-received by the public despite criticisms from the press and other industry experts. Despite its early production stoppage in 1974, over 165,500 Challengers we sold for this first version.
The second generation of Challengers came 4 years later, in 1978, which is a revival and early version of the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda coupe. It is mechanically identical as the originals, however, this generation emphasized sportiness over “muscle”, as long with luxury and style. It replaced the large, powerful engines with smaller, more efficient ones, a far cry from the big blocks of before. Despite this, the 2nd generation Challenger still proved to be a contender, and even became a pioneer in some key important automotive breakthroughs, including the use of balance shafts to reduce engine vibration. The last 2nd generation Challenger was made in 1983.
It would take over 25 years before the Challenger returned. It first debuted in February of 2008, at the Chicago Auto Show and Philadelphia International Auto Show simultaneously. It shares many similar design elements from the very first generation Challenger, though the modern version is longer and taller. This generation also marked the return to large engines, with the smallest being a 3.5L SOHC V6 and the largest being the 6.4L HEMI V8. The 5th generation proved to be a success, with new cars being sold on a regular basis even today, an affirmation of the icon the Challenger has become.
View more automotive articles at Motorclassic.org, including the one on how to find a Jaguar deal.
