b'Hadt, at Chucks Garage in Akron, to build himareliablegiantkiller.Theystarted witha70440block,whichwasthen accentedwithaluminumIndyheads,a roller hydraulic cam, a Holley Dominator intake, a big Holley double pumper carb, and a set of TTI headers.In keeping with the silver exterior of the car, the engine is largely silver and shiny aluminum as well, right down to the vintage NOS Cal Custom finned aluminum valve covers Robin found at a swap meet.There were a few problems burning up electronic ignition boxes until theylatchedontoaJegsbluebox. The transmission was rebuilt as well with heav-ier-duty internals and a 2,800-rpm stall con-verter, which still leads back to the user-friendly 3.23 Sure Grip rear axle, so high-way cruising in this thing is a breeze!Since it was originally a manual drum brake car, Robin chose to leave it that way, but having drivenitalot,yourhumbleauthorcan attest, for some reason, these are the best manualdrumsthatChryslerevermade! The thing stops like its got power discs for some reason! Once the project got rolling, every-thing was finished in the summer of 2020, whichmeantthatnobodygottoseeit except the locals who saw Robin and Sue cruising around in it.The big coming out party, finally, was the Mopar Nationals in 2021, where the Charger drew a lot of curi-ous stares and admiring glances, and Robin displayed the car with the old copy of MCG (whenitwaswearingthecamopaint), along with a complete photo album docu-menting its restoration.Needless to say, he got a lot of commentary from the winged car crowd, and kudos to him for building thisthingwiththe70interiorandthe unique color combination to give it a com-pletely one-off personality that sets it apart from the crowd when parked in a row with other winged cars. Granted, this project took a littlelonger than Robin anticipated when hesmiles and rolling up the miles, Robins droveithome,freezingtodeathinagot a machine thats hard to beat, and snowstorm, but having started as a Sandwe couldnt be happier to see our old Pebble Beige Charger 500, then becom- magazine car looking this fantastic.If ing the Desert Storm Daytona, then aall of our old Mopars from back when somewhatNASCAR-themedflyer,asturnedoutthisniceitsurewouldbe they say, this thing has come a long waycomforting, as we bought and sold a lot baby!MajorcongratstoRobin,hisofcarsthroughouttheeightiesand family,andhisentireentourageofnineties,mostofwhichwevenever friends, for taking what had to be one ofseen again.Its truly great when a car thehomeliest70Chargerseverbuiltthat has so many wonderful memories andturningitintothissterlingsilverattachedtoitgetstherestorationit showstopper.She may not be factorydeserves.Hopefully, more of our cars original, but when it comes to makinggot this lucky. X www.moparcollectorsguide.com31'