Challenger

From Mopedia

1 1970-1974
- 1.1 1970
- 1.2 1971
- 1.3 1972
- 1.4 1973
- 1.5 1974
2 1978-1983
- 2.1 1978-1979
- 2.2 1980-1983
3 2006 Challenger Concept
4 2008

1970-1974

The Challenger was a case of bad timing that happens when you watch your competitors instead of the market. The Challenger was designed to be the ultimate contender in a hi-performance market that was rapidly dying. By the time it hit show rooms, the performance era was all but over.

The Challenger was Dodge’s entry into what was then known as the sporty car segment of the US automobile market. The Plymouth Barracuda and the Ford Mustang first exploited this niche in 1964. While Plymouth won the race to market, Ford won the sales race. The Mustang was the once in a generation sales success that affords a company profits on par with a license to print money. This newly discovered market segment did not go unnoticed by other automakers. In 1968, Ford reskinned the Mustang while Mercury division tried the upper end of the sporty car market with it’s well appointed Mustang based Cougar. Meanwhile over at General Motors, Chevrolet and Pontiac were rolling out virtual Mustang clones in the Nova based Camero and Firebird. Learning a hard lesson in styling, Plymouth wrapped all new and slightly larger sheet metal around the Barracuda thoroughly disguising its Valiant roots. One year later, American Motors Corporation entered the fray with its all new Javelin and went the competition one better with a two seat version dubbed the AMX.

It seems unbelievable that Dodge would sit on the sidelines through this high margin feeding frenzy, but that is just what happened. This was mostly due to the size of Chrysler Corporation. Dodge had invested heavily in the Charger, a sporty hardtop that was both a large sporty car and a personal luxury car. With Plymouth developing the Barracuda, there were just not enough funds for a Dodge entry in the sporty car segment.

In 1967 when Dodge was watching the sporty car segment, the future looked limitless. A prosperous population was snapping up Cameros and Mustangs while performance versions of other models were also rising in popularity. It was clear that Dodge needed to enter the sporty car market and that a strong performance emphasis with available luxury features would allow Dodge to attract the most customers. It was also clear that the cars in this segment were getting larger. Though a new Mustang was just released, rumors of the next model being bigger had already leaked out. In this environment the Challenger was created.

Most of the competition in the sporty car segment was based on fairly pedestrian roots. The Mustang was little more than a styling exercise on the lowly Falcon compact. The Camero and Firebird were distantly related to the Nova. Even the then current generation Barracuda was a thinly disguised Valiant. The basic problem with this approach was that the big block engines that were so popular in the muscle cars, were a tight fit in the small engine compartments. This was more acute at Chrysler Corp, where the top of the line Hemi had prodigious girth due to its opposed valve arrangement. The decision was made to base the next generation Barracuda on a shortened large car chassis instead of a compact. This would allow the Barracuda to offer all corporate engines including the Hemi, as well as luxury features such as air conditioning while using the mature chassis design of Chrysler’s B-body line of cars. The major down side was that the car would be larger and heavier than the seminal vehicles in the segment. The large suspension components would be carried by base six cylinder models. The extra width of the intermediate chassis would provide no useful interior volume while adding considerably to curb weight. These did not seem like insurmountable objections with the competition already heading in this direction. This new platform was named the E-body.

In early 1967, Chrysler management decided that Dodge would get a version of the E-body.

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