Here’s a numbers lesson for you today: in 1970, Dodge cranked out 76,935 Challengers for production. Out of all of those cars, 137 of them were 426 Hemi-powered R/T hardtops with a four-speed. Care to guess how incredibly rare and expensive one is today? How about one that has never left the family that it was sold to? That’s the luck that the Escalante family found themselves with. After going to the 1969 Detroit Auto Show and seeing the new-for-1970 Dodge E-body, Juan Escalante’s father couldn’t part with his money quick enough and over time, the orange Challenger became part of the family, even when the family went to Venezuela in 1972. But when the Challenger started having troubles, it got parked, and it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that Juan and his brother were able to bring the car back to the States to restore it. While the senior Escalante passed on before the restoration was complete, Juan’s son grew up seeing the car being rebuilt and echoes his father’s sentiment: this Dodge isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and it will be driven and enjoyed.
Very cool story and a damn sweet car!
Awesome wish I had saved the chevelle my dad bought brand new