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Wow!  Look at all those Trophies!  We start with a real, genuine, 383  4 Speed Challenger, a car that was so cool, so well done that it was featured on the cover of the June, 1983 CAR CRAFT magazine cover.  It was campaigned and shown in the southern California area back in the 1980’s,  and I remember seeing it at some of the car gatherings when I was a bit younger, driving MY ’70 Dodge Challenger, and wishing my car looked as good as this one!  In 2007, the guy I bought it from found it in storage, still owned by John Hirai, who  customized it in the 80’s.  The car wouldn’t pass smog check,  so it sat in the garage for 25 years, thankfully wonderfully preserved!

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There it is on the cover – it’s this exact car!

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And another shot on the “alternate cover”  which wound up being the lead photo for an article about how the cops were cracking down on cruise nights.  That guy standing in front of the car is John Hirai, who built it!

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And then, in 2007, It was featured in Car Craft again, this time showing the car after it was rescued from the garage and put back on the street!

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This is the original 1980’s plexiglass show car sign, giving credit to the people who helped put the car together.  This car really grabbed me because it reminded me so much of the street racing / cruising scene back then.  It perfectly represents that era !

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The paint and graphics are not only super high quality, but super good looking too!  Everything about this car is tasteful and beautiful!  .

Beautiful Chrome, deep, glossy black paint ,  and vibrant, colorful graphics by Santini.

Note the direct connection license plate – that was the old Chrysler performance parts division,  a marketing effort from long ago.

Wow!  Perfect period accessories –  polished Centerlines, trunk wing, and rear window louvers.  It couldn’t be any more cool!

Another great side view!

Ok, Valley speakers – this is the original blue California personalized plate.   A moment to talk about the word “RAD”.   RAD was used by all of us kids a LOT then.  It was the all-inclusive adjective.  It’s derived from the word radical, which to us meant really great!   If you said “That is so RAD ! ”  it was a compliment.  It was pronounced by draggin out the A,  so it sounded like “RAAAAAAAAAD”.    So, this license plate means “Do it RAD ! “

The Polished Centerline wheels are beautiful!

The Rear Window Louvers are in excellent shape and look great.

Look at the trunk wing,  and also look how nice the tailights are, and how nice the bumper chrome is!

And here are the tailights in action!  Also note the nice square exhaust tips.

The interior is beautiful!

The car was upgraded to a Rallye Dash, and every instrument, knob and gauge works like it is supposed to.

The AM/FM radio works, too!

A key part of the Challenger experience is the green glow of the instrument lights.  I always loved that when I drove mine back in the day.  Here in this photo you can see the green lamps reflecting off the upper portion of the woodgrain.

And here’s the Reverse gear warning light,  obviously only installed on the 4 speed cars.  This car is definitely a factory 4 speed car, with trim tag D21, and all of the reverse gear lockout mechanism still intact and functional!  You have to put it in reverse and depress the clutch to start the car.

The engine has been upgraded to a great running 440, with a hint of cam and nice high performance accessories.  It runs super and has LOTS of power.

Nice clean engine bay.  Note the “Direct Connection” valvecovers.

Nice!

Here’s the trim tag.  It has lots of paint on it, but we’ll decode it here.

KY1  C55 M21 N41 N95 R11    The first line in order means Bright yellow paint, Bucket seats, Drip trough moldings, Dual Exhausts, Emission control, and AM radio.

FY1 HGX9 000 216 108360   Second line means Bright yellow paint – both upper and lower, meaning no vynil top – and build sequence number

E63 D21 JH23 N0E 132648   Third line means 383, 4 Speed, “High” price class =  383 High perf, built in Los Angeles, and then the VIN number.

Nicely finished trunk with jack and space saver tire.

Jack and Lugwrench

There have been a number of nice upgrades done since the car was built .  As it is today, it has a 440 engine, R/T Badging, front disc brakes, AM/FM factory radio, Rallye dash,  power steering, and a 3.23 rear axle ratio for better driveability .

The colors are vibrant and beautiful, with no fading whatsoever.  There are some  micro-cracks showing in the color sections,  you can see them near the “O”  of DODGE,  and above in the cranberry paint.   The Black sections have nothing like this, it is SPECTACULAR and high quality and nice. Those graphics are beautiful indeed!

Here’s my favorite trophy on this car, the E body Modified “Award of Distinction at the Spring Fling, which is a major Mopar show in California, which regularly sees 400 car show fields.

They even made a model car under the direction of Hot Rod magazine!  Everybody Loves this car!

Wow that is a good looking car!