Random Car Wednesday, Special Edition: Sam Posey 1970 Dodge Challenger

Today's RCW is very special to me, as I'll be highlighting one of my favorite cars of all time. The year was 1970, and Dodge wanted to enter the Trans Am circuit to combat the Boss 302 Mustangs and Z/28 Camaros that were dominating the races. The new-for-1970 Dodge Challenger was the ideal candidate, so Dodge decided to support a factory team. The cars would be sponsored by Classic Wax, and were easily identified by their Sublime Green paint jobs. Dan Gurney's AAR shop prepared the chassis, after which the car was assembled at Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics. One story is that after acid-dipping the car for too long, the roof buckled in during tech inspection, and so the team chopped the roof off of a new Challenger in a nearby Dodge dealership and put it on the racecar. The #77 car was piloted by Sam Posey, and finished 4th in points behind Ford and AMC in 1970. While not a win, they still placed ahead of Chevrolet, Plymouth and Pontiac, which was a pretty serious accomplishment, especially in their first year. Racing history aside, I simply adore this car. The 1970 Challenger is one of my favorite cars of all time, and this is by far the coolest Challenger around. The wild paint, big tires, sidepipes and front splitter are almost caricature-like. It's a relic of 1970's racing at its finest, and has been on my list of must-see cars for a very very long time. As such, enjoy an extra helping of photos of this magnificent Mopar machine.

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T #77