Dodge Challenger T/A

Challenger T/A at a glance

The T/A is a version of the first-generation Dodge Challenger, Dodge's pony car of 1970–1974.

The 1970 Challenger and the Trans-Am rules

Dodge launched the Challenger for 1970 on Chrysler's new E platform, which it shared with the Plymouth Barracuda; its wheelbase was 2 inches longer than the Barracuda's. Carl Cameron, who had also styled the 1966 Charger, drew the body. Almost every engine in Chrysler's range was offered, from sixes to the 426 Hemi, and Dodge sold 76,935 Challengers in the first year according to Wikipedia's table.

The SCCA Trans-Am Series, which started in 1966, required makers to sell limited road versions of the cars they raced, as Street Muscle explains. The racing engines were limited to 305 cubic inches, so Chrysler used a destroked 340 in competition and sold the full 340 in the road cars. The road version for Dodge was the Challenger T/A, built only in 1970.

Engine and equipment

The T/A's 340 Six Pack had three two-barrel carburettors on an aluminium intake manifold and was rated at 216 kW (290 hp, SAE gross). Wikipedia gives no torque figure. Street Muscle notes that the same engine in the AAR 'Cuda was believed to produce more than 239 kW (320 hp) in reality.

The rest of the package made the car easy to recognise:

• a matte black glass-fibre bonnet with what Wikipedia calls a "suitcase-sized" scoop;
• dual exhausts that ran to the standard silencer position, then turned out through chrome-tipped megaphone outlets in front of the rear wheels;
• glass-fibre front and ducktail rear spoilers;
• Goodyear Polyglas tyres, E60x15 at the front and wider G60x15 at the rear.

Challenger T/A in the 1970 Trans-Am

Chrysler entered two factory-backed Challengers in the 1970 Trans-Am Series. They were prepared by Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics and driven by Sam Posey and Tony Adamowicz. The No. 77 car was built at Autodynamics from a road-going Challenger T/A taken from a local dealer's showroom. The chassis of the No. 76 car arrived in the middle of the season from Dan Gurney's All American Racers and was completed by Autodynamics.

Posey drove the No. 77 and switched between the two cars once the No. 76 was ready; both ran in the last two races. According to Wikipedia the Challengers scored a few top-three finishes but no win. Chrysler left the Trans-Am after that single season, Street Muscle reports, and although a 1971 Challenger T/A was planned and even advertised, none was built.

The 1970 Challenger range compared

The T/A was not the most powerful Challenger: it existed to qualify the racing car, so it used the small-block 340 that the race engine was derived from. Dodge built 18,512 Challenger R/Ts in 1970, so the T/A was a small part of the range.

Production and sales

Street Muscle says the AAR 'Cuda was built in March and April 1970; for the T/A the sources give no build dates. First-generation Challenger production ended in April 1974 after 165,437 cars.

The modern Challenger T/A

Dodge revived the name on the third-generation Challenger. A Challenger T/A concept with a 392 cu in V8 of 362 kW (485 hp) was shown at SEMA in 2014, and Street Muscle links it to the original. For 2017 Dodge offered two production versions:

• T/A with the 5.7-litre Hemi V8 and an electronically controlled active exhaust;
• T/A 392 with the 6.4-litre Hemi, six-piston front Brembo brakes with 15.4-inch discs, four-piston rear Brembos and 20 × 9.5-inch wheels with 275/40ZR20 tyres.

Both had a black bonnet with a centre air intake, a black roof and boot lid, cold-air induction through the headlamps, houndstooth sports seats and white-faced instruments. From 2021 the widebody option was available on the T/A 392. Wikipedia gives no power figure specific to the modern T/A trims. Challenger production ended on 22 December 2023.

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