Last Auto News Blog: 1970 Dodge Challenger [Down On The Street]

1970 Dodge Challenger [Down On The Street]

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today we've got a car that I knew I'd find in Alameda someday: a Chrysler E Body! Now, these things have become totemic worship objects for Baby Boomers who remember when they had hair, virility, optimism, etc., so just about all of them now spend their days locked in garages in between cruise nights and car shows, much like the equally seldom-seen first-gen GM F Bodies. I've seen this Sub Lime '70 around for years, but never parked on the street… until now!

I found this car on the same block as a few other DOTS honorees, including the '57 Cadillac, the VW Transporter Syncro, and a couple you haven't seen yet.

Hemi blah blah blah, that's all you hear about when folks talk about the '70 Challenger's engine choices. Fact is, the majority of these cars came from the factory with 318s (60%, according to the Standard Catalog), and another 13.4% had a Slant Six. While we think a Slant Six Challenger sounds like a great idea, the "cool" engine options for the '70 were the 275- and 290-horse 340s, several varieties of 383 (290, 330, and 335 horses), the 440 (350, 375, and 390 horsepower), and the one all the car show geeks bore you about: the 426 Hemi, with 425 horsepower. This one obviously has a V8, but there's no telling which one after all these years of possible swaps.

Back when street-driven Challengers and 'Cudas were common, I didn't much care for the look of this design. These days, however, I've come to appreciate the lines of the early E Body.