1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE
It was the zenith. The snow-capped, razor-craggy pinnacle. That’s where Mopar was in 1970 when it came to cool, fast, desirable performance cars. Everybody knows that, so what’s the story about? The fact, friends, that some of them are less well known than others. Let us demonstrate.
During that lofty year, Chrysler produced two sport coupes on its E-body platform, the restyled Plymouth Barracuda and all-new Dodge Challenger. Optioning and powertrain choices could turn either into a very specific car. Just in the case of the Challenger, for instance, there was a base model, a sizably more powerful R/T and, in 1970 only, the Challenger T/A with a performance 340 V-8. Then there’s this, the Special Edition, which was officially a one-year-only Challenger option. When integrated into the R/T package, with a big-block wedge, you’ve got yourself an uncommon muscle car. Only 3,979 SE-optioned R/T hardtops were built.
In Mopar linguistics, this is known as a Challenger R/T SE. When you look into the combination closely, it’s actually quite intriguing. The SE package is a styling and convenience group. It’s based around a vinyl roof incorporating a smaller rear window opening with external bright moldings, as designed by Dodge stylist Mack King. The vinyl roof is recognizable by the wide seam that is unique to 1970 and 1971 Challengers. On the C-pillars is the three-pointed Dodge “fratzog” emblem–according to our West Coast Associate Editor, Jeff Koch, it’s a made-up term for the 1960s Dodge tri-delta emblem, allegedly conjured by a Chrysler engineer–framed in a couple of Cadillac-reminiscent wreaths.
Inside, the Special Edition cars received script declaring them as such on their woodgrain door inserts. The bottoms of the interior door panels were carpeted. Vinyl, or leather-trimmed vinyl up front, was used for the seating surfaces, with cloth inserts. More memorable than that, one could say, is the scaled-down overhead console that was another part of the SE package, with warning lights for low fuel, door ajar and unfastened seat belts.
This 1970 R/T SE, owned by Delanson, New York’s, Jack Brown, is good to gallop with the single Carter AFB four-barrel, 375hp version of the RB wedge V-8, the great 440 Magnum. While clearly muscular, it’s also got some atypical convenience options, including power windows, a rear speaker and rear defogger. The SE package, under that name, was gone after 1970, but Dodge continued to offer the SE-type roof and console in a Formal Roof Package.
