Challenger vs Lamborghini

The car sports a 930hp Ray Barton built, 498ci Hemi that’s topped with two throttle bodies that could swallow toddlers whole. The guys are getting their tuneup in order for Bonneville action this year and the 230mph range is where the car will hopefully end up.

Click here to see the BangShift.com Forum thread on this bad ass car

Also to get the most up to date information on the Tour, please follow them on their twitter site. And Chip Foose will be at the first stop in Newton, IA. I’m a big personal fan and can not wait to see him in person, even if I do just get his autograph.

I came up with a little idea, I’m going to have a balloon attached to my car. Something easy to see and noticeable. I don’t know what it will be, but when I find it I will post it up here and let you know.

Check this out, and watch the fiberglass hood scoop get bent out of shape at 160!

I made a post about me heading to Bloomington, IL on www.moparts.com forums. Two members from down there, Shad and Scott both told me that they would like to meet up and show me some of the stuff they knew about lying around. They didn’t get into specifics, though.

I drove down Friday night, so I could meet up with the guys on Saturday. That was a long drive at night. The Challenger did fine, and I got on the girl a bit. But still I was glad to plunker down in my hotel room for the night.

Continue reading after the jump!

The next day I headed out to Shad’s home where we were both meeting up. I pulled in and introduced myself and met Shad and his lovely wife. We chatted for a bit, he showed me the 70′s RamCharger he was working on. Really nice 4×4 with a removable top, in better shape then my 93!

It wasn’t long before we hear the roar of a Mopar Big Block and what comes down the road but Scott in his 70 Superbird! I introduced myself to Scott and we all began talking. We went over my new Challenger, his Superbird and everything in between. When we were beginning to depart, I thought we were all going to pile into the Challenger, Scott had other ideas.

We all piled into the Superbird, a 440 with a 4-speed car fyi! Now he doesn’t baby this car, we were flying in the Bird. I had never driven with one so far. Hell, I’ve can count on one hand how many Wing Cars I’ve driven in.

We fly down highways and county roads until we come to the barns of our host. We pull up and he’s out mowing the lawn. Shad had told us the guy was not a big fan of cameras, so don’t pull them out right away.

Our host and us began talking, he was telling us about his life collecting Mopars from the 70′s and 80′s when they weren’t popular. Still does when he can.

I noticed the nice older Dodge extended cab pickup out front. I talked to him about the truck for a bit, and asked if I could snap some pictures of it. He said that was fine. So I did. Then we made our way to the first barn…..

Right at the door of the first barn was a very nice 1969 Dodge Charger R/T SE. 440, auto, a/c, the works. It was in immaculate shape and was his main driver muscle car. I asked if I could take some pictures of the car, he said sure, take pictures of what you want! Oh boy was that the wrong thing to say!

EVERYWHERE you looked there was Mopar parts, lying on the ground was original Hemi intakes, heads, carbs, valve covers and a Hemi block just sitting there. Across from that was a 65 Satellite drag car I believe. Next to that was ANOTHER Satellite or Fury that was all covered up. I believe this was an original Max Wedge car from the original aluminum hood we found.

After having a mild heart attack from that first grouping… then came the second helping. The back row with the Cars in the Barn was full of B-bodies. From first glance it was from left to right a 69 Charger, 69 Charger, 69 Charger, 65ish Satellite Convertible then a 70 Charger. It wasn’t until we took a closer look that the real heart attack happened.

The 69 Charger in the middle wasn’t a normal Charger… it was a 69 CHARGER DAYTONA! Q5 (Turquoise Greenish) 440 4-speed car! I couldn’t believe it, no one could. Here was one of the most valuable Mopars around, in pieces, covered in dirt and bird poop with raccoon prints all over it.

Scott and I jumped all over this car. We snapped pictures of everything. I only know of one other Daytona in a Barn, yet never actually seen it. Here it was, right in front of us. A real Barn Find 69 Daytona. It was almost too much to bear.

Then our host said, “Wanna see one of the Hemi Chargers?”…. The 69 Charger next to the Daytona is an original 69 Hemi Charger R/T, with Hemi in it!… I almost wet myself at this point. He popped the hood to show us the engine setup and everything. Looked original, I don’t know if it was numbers matching, but I didn’t really care. We descended upon the Hemi Charger like locusts. My large body couldn’t really get around to view the car very well, but Scott did. And he snapped a ton of pictures of the car.

Now after a second or third heart attack, we eventually made our way to the “lesser” cars. The 69 Charger on the far left side was “just” a R/T SE 440 4-speed car. It was complete from what our host said. But we weren’t going to move the boxes to find out. (You know you’ve gone off the deep end when it is “just” a 69 Charger R/T). It was well buried, so we didn’t bother it much.

A 65 Satellite sat next to the Daytona, it was a standard Satellite Convertible, no large engines or anything. Just a cool old Mopar in it’s own right. The 70 Charger on the end was something special though.

The 70 on the end was a 70 Charger R/T SE. 440 car, PS, PDB, 4-speed car. It also had the original power sunroof. Very rare option on Chargers, also very hard to find one. They are like hen’s teeth, and there it was sitting in the corner, along with about 20 Mopar Big Blocks.

After recovering some from obvious overload of AWESOMENESS. Our host showed us around the rest of his collection… in the first barn. A 70′s Firebird, another what looked like 63 Plymouth Fury, I’d say about a million dollars worth of NOS Mopar Parts (Need a NOS 69 Charger quarter panel… he has 5). Tons of vintage shop tools from oscilloscopes and spark plug cleaners. Ever minute I was screaming out “IS THIS REALLY A _______________ SITTING IN THE CORNER?” It would take weeks to go through everything.

Next to one of the Satellites was another 69 Charger R/T was ANOTHER Hemi car. But was so covered in stuff we couldn’t get to it.

We made our way into the light eventually. I don’t know how much time we spent in there, but it was quite a while. Scott and I were still in shock, Shad had known and seen the stuff before, so the shock wore off on him. We were chatting with our host and he said, “Would you like to see the rest of the collection?”… We nodded, not knowing what to expect and followed right behind him to the next barn.

To View ALL OF THE PICTURE from this part of the adventure, please click below.

Ryan’s Cars in Barns Adventure Pictures

Continue reading after the jump!

First I identified my vehicle of choice – in this case I wanted a previously owned Dodge Magnum SRT-8. Then I began my search through all the obvious sales vessels, ebay, Craigslist and Autotrader. Then began the phone calls and questions, emails and photo’s. Now keep in mind that sometimes, private individuals can be no better than dealers, but for the most part private sellers seem to be a bit more forthcoming with information, plus you have more room to negotiate when price talk comes around. After checking out some 15 or so SRTs online and at private residences I finally found what I was looking for some 900 miles away in Atlanta, GA. A one owner, 24,000 mile car that is truly in showroom shape.

The deal was struck and I flew down to Atlanta last Saturday to pick up my new ride. While down south we figured why not use the time to put the new Magnum through its paces and see how it really performs as a daily driver. The Magnum, like the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 is based on an old Mercedes E-class platform and shares common components like the transmission, stability control and front & rear suspension. Immediately upon taking the wheel the Magnum you feel as though you are driving something solid. Road feel is good, but the steering is a bit on the light side for a performance based machine. Interior components are good, but not great and you can see where Chrysler saved a bit of money. The seats in the SRT Magnum however are FANTASTIC and as a big guy this is something I look for in a vehicle. Leg and head room are top notch as well.

The obvious reasons for getting any of the SRT models are the engine, brakes and suspension. Now, there are those of you who will argue that this is not a “real” HEMI, but quite honestly, who cares? At 425hp / 420lbs.tq. the 6.1L is a mill that churns out some pretty competent power, enough so that it moves the 4,200lb. Magnum to 60 mph in a scant 5.2 seconds and propels it to a top speed of over 165 mph, not bad for a big ole’ station wagon. The brakes are 4 pot Brembo’s that float on 14.2″ rotors up front and 13.8″ rotors in the rear – to put it mildly, this thing stops. I drove the Magnum about 1,600 miles last week and all the while thinking that I had made the right decision. Oh yea, I also got around 21 mpg cruising at 75 mph – not too bad considering what it is.

The ride and road handling manners are top notch. Pitch the big Magnum into a corner and it complies without resistance. Keep in mind though that this is a big machine, so if you get it loose you’ll need to work to get it back. Traction control is the ever present techo-nanny that keeps you from having too much fun, but if you are so inclined you can disable it enough so that you can do those big smokey burn outs to impress the neighbors. Granted the Magnum is no longer the latest and greatest, but it’s big, comfortable, goes like hell and still has a big fat warranty on it, which is a huge plus on any performance based machine. Now, is it a car that I will keep forever? Not sure yet and quite honestly that will depend on how it holds up under NYC driving. I would like to think so, but only time will tell. As for right now though, I think I’ll just sit back in those big comfy seats, put my foot down and enjoy one of the worlds fastest grocery getters.