1972 challenger-Petty edition

[Cuda340]

Generally, the rarer the car (or options), the more it will be worth.

However, the true "collectibles" are the muscle cars. Any performance model will command a higher price than the "family car" version.

Go on hemmings.com and see how few (if any) 225s and 318s Challengers and Barracudas are for sale. It is dominated by 426s, 440s, 383s and 340s. These are the cars that everybody wants.

[DartSportDude]

Actually, I think there is a small, but developing collector market for some of the slant six models. There's sort of a cult of personality around this engine (perhaps the most reliable engine ever made, IMHO). It will never be carry the worth of the "performance" models, but it might be worth hanging on to. Who knows what's going to be "collectable" in another 10 years?

[jonmandude]

Originally Posted by DartSportDude

It will never be carry the worth of the "performance" models, but it might be worth hanging on to. Who knows what's going to be "collectable" in another 10 years?

10 years ago you never would have thought ANY muscle car would be in the 6 figure range, now look. They weren't really made to last this long. Thank God so many have. As the Hemi's became ultra-high priced, the big-block cars rose in value. Now the big-block cars are becoming ultra-high priced and the small-block cars are raising in value. It only goes to reason that sooner or later the 6's have to follow. And when collectors start to notice production numbers comparing to the "special edition" cars...who knows?

[RoostKing]

10 years ago you never would have thought ANY muscle car would be in the 6 figure range, now look. They weren't really made to last this long. Thank God so many have. As the Hemi's became ultra-high priced, the big-block cars rose in value. Now the big-block cars are becoming ultra-high priced and the small-block cars are raising in value. It only goes to reason that sooner or later the 6's have to follow. And when collectors start to notice production numbers comparing to the "special edition" cars...who knows?

That is not correct. I remember being in high school, 20 years ago when the market started to heat up. The rarest of the rare were getting into six figures. Now they are the million dollar cars that we dont see at BJ becasue they are just that, the rarest of the rare and in private collections of the very wealthy who enjoy the cars for what they are, not what they are worth today (Not that they drive them mind you, but they didnt buy them to speculate on prices in the future.)

RoostKing....

[340EBody]

The 72-74 340/360 E bodies are still muscle cars regardless of the detuning. I remember way back in high school (mid-70's), I raced a '69 GTO at lunch time one day in my 73 340 Challenger (it was my dad's car then). The goat had a 400 in it. Mopar won the day.

Interestingly enough, we used to race on a street that bordered the school on one side, where the buses used to drive in. You could easily see the race from school property. People used to race there pretty regular while school was in session, but the cops were pretty non-chalant about the whole thing.

Imagine how incensed the cops would be if kids did that these days.

[DartSportDude]

Anybody who street raced back in 70s knows that a 340 Mopar was a tough competitor -- regardless of the year. I had similar experiences with my '73 Dart Sport 340. The only race I ever lost was to a '69 GTO Judge -- he kicked my butt on the freeway. I think the 340 would have held its own in a stoplight to stoplight race.

Street racing back then was a lot different than today. It was considered a mirror offense by the cops -- they usually gave you a warning and sent you on your way. How times have changed!

[The Bulldog #57]

Did that Petty Challenger look like this...

[Cuda340]

The Challenger in the photo may be painted in "Petty Blue," but there was never a limited production Petty Challenger.

[340EBody]

From what I can determine, by looking at paint chip charts, there was never a color called Petty Blue.
"Petty Blue" was actually Corporate Blue on the Plymouth charts from 1968-1978.

For Dodge, the closest thing you could get to Corporate Blue (Petty Blue) was:
Light Blue (B2,B3) or (B5) Brite Blue...1968-1971
Blue StreaK (B3) or (B5) Brite Blue .....1972-3
(B5) Lucerne Blue....1974+

[JustACelt]

okay a little more detail, on my engine stock block 318, might have switched to a forged crank out of a truck engine , its been awhile, heads swapped to 340 ,2.02 valves (which really only helped at the high end (overall top speed)
she still had 40 mph or more to go after a quarter drag) edelbrock aluminum intake with a 650 doublepumper holley 4barrel switched the timing chain to a dual roller aftermarket, and of course what really loaded this engine for bear was a 471 474 282 284 duration camshaft sold by dc it was called a street hemi grind. After the first year i set the cam timing back which made it run a lot harder in the quarter and dropped the time appreciably ,i also got rid of the stock dodge shifter and installed a vertigate inline shifter the car sound so much like an automatic it fooled some of the people i raced against for quite a while lol.