1970 Challenger Export Car

[Moparbastard]

Back in 2000 I bought a 1970 Challenger in Bangkok, Thailand. It was sold new there, but I can't find any documentation of the selling dealer or first purchaser. I had Galen Govier decode it. It's FK5 - Burnt Orange with K4 Burnt orange interior, V1W white vinyl roof, bucket seats, console, AM-8 track, heater and air conditioning, fender top turn signals, E24 - 6 cylinder 1-bbl, D31 - A904 Torqeflite. The condition is fair, some would call it good. Since it only snowed once in Thailand in recorded history (in the mountains of Chiang Rai in 1955) you don't have the severe rot that you see in our rustbelt states. The climate is a lot like Florida - hot with high humidity, so the car had some rust under the vinyl around the backlite, which I repaired. I drove this car as my only transportation in Thailand for 5 years, including bringing my newborn, (now 22 years old) daughter home from the hospital in it. I drove it as far as from Pattaya to Surin, a distance of 311 miles and 6 1/2 hours, numerous times. The car never let me down.
I am now getting it ready to send back to the States - lots of red tape and taxes, fees and lubrication money (bribe is such an ugly word). The Thais love red tape. The cost of shipping the car from Bangkok to New Hampshire will exceed the purchase price, but that's OK. Even though this car was made in USA, I will have to pay duty on it when it gets back. Everyone wants their pound of flesh.
Driving a car like this in Thailand is not without problems. First, being a US car it's left hand drive. Thailand drives on the left, so Thai cars are right hand drive. Also, E-Bodies are wide. They are way wider than the little weedwhackers and mini-pickups the Thais drive. I got run off a narrow street by a tour bus - fortunately only one small dent in the left front fender. After a while I bought a righthand drive pickup and stopped driving the Challenger, other than short trips to the little store at the end of the cul-de-sac where I stay. I put the '71 RT stripe on it just because I liked it. I also added a set of '77 Volare dual remote mirrors.
When I got the car it had no heater core (you

never need heat in Thailand) and a York compressor. At one time the seal went bad in the compressor and the air stopped working. I got original Mopar factory air parts and am installing them now. My plans are to do the needed body work and re-paint the car in the original color - no stripe. Then I want to put the vinyl top back on. My only question is: do I keep the slant six or put in a 440 that I have built to stock specs? No matter what I choose it will be a 100% stock appearing installation. I will keep the factory air and even use a factory compressor and R-12. I have several bulge hoods but I'm leaning towards keeping the flat hood.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Awesome car & story , Depends what you want to use it for , the 6 may be the best choice !

 

[340challconvert]

Love the car, & a great history story with your Challenger!
Personally, I would keep the slant six, they are actually getting pretty rare in a Challenger.
Ultimately, it is your car and your choice

 

[mrmopar340]

Its only original once. I would say if you change anything make sure it is something easily reversible.

 

[DetMatt1]

I’d keep the leaning tower of power too and I’d love to see the interior and the fender tag and or build sheet. Are all of your extra parts stateside already? Will you have it painted there before you ship it?

 

[6PKRTSE]

Cool story and good luck on your adventures getting it to New Hampshire. I would do whatever you want to the car and save all of the original parts you swap out. While a slant 6 is not that desirable in the musclecar world, it may still be worth more with the original engine to someone.

 

[Cuda Hunter]

Personally, I would keep the leaning tower.
If you want a 440, buy another challenger that has lost it's identity.
Very curious of the export/import tag that might or might not be on the car.
Does the Fender tag have any differences from stateside fender tags?
Does the vin tag have any differences from stateside vin tags?
Does the door sticker have any differences?
This would be the first Thailand car that I have heard about.
I can't quite see it so I'll ask. Is it still a left hand drive car?
Or was it converted to a right hand drive like the aussie cars?

 

[Xcudame]

Thank you for sharing your 70 Challenger! I too would keep the Slant six, especially if it's running good! Taken care of, the slant six will last for a very long time! It sounds like it has some nice options as well.

 

[Moparbastard]

Thanks for all of your positive responses. The consensus is to keep the slant six. It is the matching numbers engine and is probably part of the reason this Challenger survived. I will certainly leave that part for last. As for having it painted in Thailand, they can do good work when they want to. I had the rear valance painted and the color match is perfect. I also had the front seat inserts replaced by a Thai shop - cheap and excellent. I will, however, be doing all the restoration work myself in my well equipped shop in NH. The amount of stupid stuff that a lot of Thai shops do, especially mechanical, scares me. Also, it's not the kind of stuff they're used to working on. I'm sure there are some high end shops in Bangkok that are really good, but like anywhere, you have to know who's good and who isn't. I've corrected a lot of stupid repairs that were done in American shops. Just recently I had to do a major correction on a 1971 Challenger 340 R/T that my friend bought from Volo Auto Museum in Volo Il. I can't believe a licensed automobile dealer would let such a clusterfuck of unsafe, halfass repairs out the door, but yet they did. Here are photos of export tag and interior. The VIN tag and fender tag are just like American market Mopars. Cheers.

 

[DetMatt1]

I love the burnt orange combo!

 

[Cuda Hunter]

Cool interior.
Thanks for posting the export tag.
Interesting that they didn't change anything on the trim tag or vin tag.

 

[hdwrench]

great car and story . a /6 to 440 is a huge jump . is it necessary? do you needs gobs of horsepower(and a bunch of weight) ? did you consider a small block upgrade ? a nice moderate built 360 might be an ample upgrade. looks like you would need a trans for either engine swap. did you consider tweaking the six ? cam and carb would give you some more hp and keep it stock ….

 

[i_taz]

The slant 6 can be helped along...

 

[Moparbastard]

Again, thanks for your responses. To answer hdwrench: I've considered everything you said. I recently built a slant six for a customer. It was a lot of fun. In the end I'm glad I didn't do it for myself as the power increase was minor. I never liked 6 cylinder engines, but that's just me. I have a '74 Dart Sport with a 297 hp 360. Looks 100% stock including Thermoquad and EGR valve, but is 2.02 valve and Hughes roller cam inside. Small blocks are nice. I'm leaning towards the 440 just because I can. I've had big block E-Bodies before. I don't care about the weight. Even though I'll use an iron intake I'll most likely put on the aluminum water pump housing and pump. Nobody will ever see it under the paint. Then I'll hang a 45 lb V2 AC compressor on top of that... It'll be fine. I promise I'll keep all the original slant six parts and take plenty of "before" photos.
I'm about ready to fire the old girl up for the first time this year. I just need to buy a belt and a new battery. Then I have to drive to Chonburi in heavy traffic with no air to have the VIN verified yet again. It's 90+ degrees here during the day. Good thing I'm tough, but I'm not as tough as I used to be...

 

[cuda joe]

great story I enjoyed reading it..

 

[chilsam]

I'd HYPER-PAK the 6....

 

[Moparbastard]

The old girl is running. I changed the oil and today I will take it on a test drive. Tomorrow I have appointment at the Land Transport Office (Thai equivalent of our DMV). Luckily I was able to get the appointment at Banglamung instead of Chonburi that they first wanted. That's only 17km / 10.5 miles instead of 49 km / 30.5 miles. On my last visit to the Land Transport Office they charged me $507 in back taxes, took my number plates, cancelled my registration just to tell me I couldn't have the certificate of export because I hadn't turned in valid plates. My previous plates had expired. So now I need to apply for new plates, just to immediately turn them in. I just paid an agent another $310 to make this all happen. Some of it is the tax for 1 year, the agent's fee is $42.25. A certain amount of the $310 is "lubrication money". Not sure how much, maybe $50 maybe more. It's a package deal.
I have no number plates, no valid registration, no insurance and my Thai driver's license is expired. Perfect. Starting to sound like an episode of Vice Grip Garage.
I'm attaching some photos of the supplies I used. Lubricating oil: 7 liters / 7.39 quarts $21. Oil filter: $7, fan belt: $7. 50/50 antifreeze: $9.86 for 4 liters / 4.22 quarts.

 

[Xcudame]

Seems like everyone over there wants their pound of flesh! Here's wishing you the best of luck getting your car back here in the USA!

 

[340challconvert]

Lots of Red Tape and hoops to jump through!
Can't wait till you are able to export your car back to the US!