Collector Car Corner / Cars We Remember; No. 9 on the Top 10 Muscle Cars of All-Time: 1970 Dodge Challenger 426 Hemi 

I’ll be honest up front by admitting the 1970 Dodge Challenger Hemi could just as well be a 1968 Road Runner, a 1967 GTX, or a 1966 Dodge Coronet. If any of these Chrysler built cars came delivered from the factory with the famous 426 Hemi V-8 under the hood, it’s indeed a worthy Top 10 candidate.

The reason I choose the Dodge Challenger is because it’s always been one of my favorite cars with either a 426 Hemi or a 383/440 under the hood. Further, the Dodge Challenger’s big block offerings were only available for just two years (1970 and 1971) of its five-year production run from 1970 to 1974.

However, making my personal Top 10 list sometimes finds me concentrating on the actual muscle car engine more so than the brand and model of the car. This article is a perfect example whereas the Hemi engine is many times more famous than the car it sits in. (This means all you Road Runner fans can take solace that a 1968 Plymouth Road Runner is just as important as the 1970 Dodge Challenger if both are Hemi powered.)   

From past Hemi memories, my brother and I bought a ’53 Dodge 4-door sedan with a Hemi under the hood for $25 in 1966. We never did anything with it as Uncle Sam had different basic training plans for us both, so we sold our ’53 Hemi back to the guy we bought it from for $20. (Yep – depreciation.)

That 1953 Dodge featured a scaled-down version of the first ever Chrysler 331 Hemi V8 that appeared in 1951 putting out 180 horsepower. The smaller Dodge Hemi, dubbed the “Red Ram,” measured 241 cubic inches and produced 140-horsepower.

Enough of the older Hemi engines, which grew to 392 inches prior to the return of the 426 race and Street Hemi applications. The all-new 1964 426 Hemi was produced by Chrysler for use in NASCAR and drag racing and appeared on the tracks in Plymouth and Dodge lines. Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 in 1964 in a Hemi Plymouth Belvedere while drag racers like Ronnie Sox, Butch Leal, Bud Faubel, Dick Landy, and Jim Thornton made big names for themselves behind the wheel of Hemi powered MOPARS.

After dominating the races in 1964, Chrysler’s 426 Hemi was not allowed to compete in NASCAR’s 1965 season due to its unavailability to the general public consumer.  

This new race-only 426 Hemi, with its 12.5 compression, started a horsepower war with Ford that eventually led to Ford building its own 429 Hemi to combat the MOPAR Hemi. However, NASCAR stepped in and outlawed both engines from competition for 1965. To try and please NASCAR, the 426 race Hemi became available in the Dodge Coronet / Plymouth Belvedere line and offered the engine as an “off road” designate and not suitable for street use. One of my friends, the late Ken Montgomery, was one of the fortunate drag racers to acquire one and he went on to fame driving his “Triple Nickel” No. 555 Plymouth drag racing entries, winning countless class wins and several NHRA national events along the way.

However, NASCAR still outlawed the 426 Hemi for use on its tracks in 1965, which found the NASCAR Chrysler Hemi corporate sponsor team money moving over to the nation’s drag strips, where NASCAR champs Richard Petty and David Pearson competed in Plymouth and Dodge Hemi drag cars for one year.

Even though the NASCAR Hemi fans were quite upset, things were really starting to happen on the drag strips. Everything from Hemi altered wheelbase fuel injected early MOPAR funny cars to top fuel nitro dragsters dominated the scene as the new 426 allowed racers who relied on the older style 392 Hemi an opportunity to switch over to the new, more durable and powerful engine.

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits figured out the new Hemi could take more punishment than the 392, especially with advanced ignition timing, and the pattern was set. Teams like The Ramchargers, Color Me Gone and The Lawman (to name just a few) attracted packed grandstands at weekly Super Stock and Factory Experimental match races, as they all figured out the new 426 Hemi was the “real deal.” The new Hemi stood up to major punishment better than the 392, regardless of what you fed through the fuel lines be it gasoline, alcohol or nitromethane. The pattern was set as the Elephant 426 was and in many instances still is the preferred choice in drag racing.

Getting back to NASCAR, Chrysler knew it had to make its 426 Hemi available to the general public, so it introduced what we all knew then as a heavily detuned “Street 426” Hemi in 1966 for its intermediate Dodge and Plymouth cars. This resulted in the Hemi cars now being legal for NASCAR competition and found Petty and many other NASCAR teams returning to the 426 Hemi on the nation’s NASCAR speedways. Not surprisingly, they won loads of races with the Hemi as Richard Petty nabbed the Daytona 500 in a 1966 Hemi Plymouth Satellite / Belvedere, which is perhaps one of the most iconic and beloved Petty race cars of all-time. (No, I didn’t consider any winged Plymouth Superbirds or Dodge Daytonas for the Top 10 list. They were homely looking and not practical on the highways, but I’d sure love to own one today.)

Looking back, those who purchased early production 1965 “off road only” race ready A990 code 426 Hemi Plymouths and Dodges (including a few Dart and Barracuda models) are sitting on big money when it comes to valuable collector cars. Further, even the “normal production” Hemis are very valuable and popular on auction sites like Barrett-Jackson and Mecum.

Most of these “normal production” 426 Street Hemi Plymouths came in the Satellite / GTX, Roadrunner and Barracuda / Cuda’ line while the Dodge camp includes Coronet, Challenger, Charger, and Super Bee. Notable is that in 1966 a few Hemi engines were ordered in Dodge Coronet 4-doors and station wagons, as you could order the Street Hemi in any of the Dodge-Plymouth full-size offerings. 

In summary, both the race and street version engines weighed in at a massive 843 lbs., with the Street Hemi featuring 10.5 compression and milder cam for better daily driving characteristics. Those who purchased those early production “off road only” Hemi Plymouths and Dodges are sitting on perhaps $500,000 and up when it comes to valuable collector cars, while normal-production Hemis go for over $100,000 on a regular basis, especially when they sit between frame rails of a Plymouth GTX or Dodge Coronet R/T.  

Oh yes, or a 1970 Challenger R/T, too.

We’re getting ready for our final installment of No. 10 on the Top-10 list. Stay tuned; it should be done in a week or two.

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader interaction on collector cars, auto nostalgia or motorsports. Write him at greg@gregzyla.com or regular mail to Greg Zyla, Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840.)