1971 Dodge Challenger T/A
By Tad Burness
The 1971 Dodge Challenger T/A was one of many so-called muscle cars of the 1964-1971 era, a time when lightweight, high-powered sports coupes and convertibles were created to attract young, male baby boomers who had the means to buy. The Challenger R/T for 1971 sold for $3,273 ($3,639 in the west) and weighed 3,495 pounds. Price and weight of the T/A variation were not mentioned in the sales literature, other than that it was "affordable," considering all of the built-in speed equipment that would otherwise have to be special-ordered at extra cost. This car appears in yellow and black in a view from original sales literature.
Megaphone exhausts on either side were an unusual feature, bound to make enough noise to please even the most manic muscle-car maniac, but possibly disturbing to others. This feature was not offered for long, for obvious reasons.
Because of the very nature of tire-screaming, high-powered muscle cars, most were driven to pieces or were wrecked in a short time by their young and careless owners. Many a middle-aged boomer has longed to recapture the thrills of youth by purchasing a clean, original muscle car - though, they're obviously hard to find.
*Reports have circulated that just recently someone actually paid $3 million for a 1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda, far above what the finest of classic Duesenbergs or Rolls-Royces are fetching - even more than the scarcest of high-speed Ferraris!
I doubt that the day of the Billion-Dollar Bugatti or Trillion-Dollar Tucker will ever come, but some people will offer a high price for something they don't think they can do without.
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Source: Monterey County Herald
By Tad Burness
Posted on Fri, Mar. 03, 2006
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* Actually, this writer is referring to the '70 Plymouth 'cuda HEMI convertible
which recently sold at the 2006 Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction in Scottsdale
for $2,160,000 - see more photos here