Chryslers Most Enigmatic Musclecar - The 1970 340 Six Pack T/A Challenger (And AAR Cuda)
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- čas přidán 2. 05. 2024
- Our man Kiwi had this beautifully restored 70 Challenger T/A dropped off at his shop for some minor work, so we took the opportunity to walk around this jewel to point out some of the things that made these cars some of the most unique and little understood cars of the classic Mopar era.
@kiwiclassicsandcustoms9160
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Kiwi is a cool guy for setting UTG up with this video.
word
@@PETERNESS i made a rifle from an old mopar camshaft...
thye are no carburators., they are fuel sukers, they pump fule for your "monster" engine ,, its a tank engine used 60 years ago when gasoline was 0.03 cents a liter.. davai..
Antenna was moved to the rear probably to avoid ignition RF interference which the fiberglass hood cannot contain.
CORRECT ! Come on, Uncle Tony! Like the early Corvettes had chrome plated steel shielding over the plug wires, to ground RFI ,before the radio antenna picked it up.
Wonder why the 69 A12 cars with the fiberglass hoods didn't relocate the antenna...?
@@xlmi7021 Maybe that's where they learned about it?
@@mikeceli And even the other GM models had a stamped steel shield that covered the points to prevent primary ignition RF interference. The only reason that I know this is because my grandfather bought a 1973 Chevrolet C20 with a 454, and I was the first one who gave it a tuneup (my grandfather never drove it, and when he passed in the early 1990s, it still only had 19K original miles on it). Every. Single. Mechanic threw that little cover away at the first tuneup.
kiwi victim od uncle tonny chanell, stealing him content
Aint even a mopar guy and I absolutely love that T/A
What a pretty color too eh? Think I like it more than the common orange, white, red, and yellows that you seen on Challengers and Cudas
@@Gunny426HemiPlymouthI'm partial to blue on cars, especially like midnight blues anyway. Yeah, that's a beautiful ride.
The owner must have clenched up when Tony was sitting in it saying you just can't help but power shift this thing. Haha. Cheers boys. 🇨🇦
The antenna is on the back because of the fiberglass hood not reducing radio interference.
Didn't know that.
@@vintage76vipergreenBeetle Correct!
I knew it had something to do with inference!
Yep!
a guy i worked with years ago had one of these in 1971. his girlfriend made him trade it in for a new Monte Carlo in 1973 because it wasn't practical. he said he regrets it everyday of his life.
Trading the car or keeping the girlfriend? 🤣🤣🤣
He should of traded in his girlfriend instead.😁
We've all done that lol. Mine was a 72' Chevelle convertible
Beta male
Yeahhh, I tend to make my own decisions and live with the consequences, I’ve got a good idea how the rest of his life went. Yes Dear.
The Kiwi shop is around the corner from my house. Love that shop!!! Always something cool out front.
In my opinion those had the best stance of any of the muscle cars.
its not a muscle car,, thas an american sweet word for that thing
that thing is a tank..
My God Uncle Tony. You must have forgotten more things about cars than I thought I ever knew.
Why do I love this channel?
When you put the camera on you, you looked happier than a 17 y/o with his first Playboy Mag.
Tony, love you dude! On the T/A and AAR cars, the antenna was moved rearward due to no steel hood to cancel radio interference. Additionally, the fender tags all start out with one screw so the tag can be read by assembly line workers and the paint shop can dust some paint underneath. The second or third screws were added later down the line, leaving most tags with a slight to pronounced crease as they were lifted for paint. Lastly, all T/A and AAR cars have the extra tag there to tell line workers to use the specially modified front fenders on these cars, If you look, the inner wheel lip is rolled under along the top for tire clearance. Thanks to you and your bride for all the awesome content! Chris Cox, north of Pittsburgh Pa!
One of the dream cars of my youth. This guy deserves all the credit in the world for never letting this car go. Brings me back to the days of mopar or no car.
65 GT350 had side exit exhaust. 😁
Great breakdown of the T/A and AAR. That is a beautiful car!
My heart fluttered as soon as you showed it. That is GORGEOUS!!
Possibly my fave Challenger, especially in this blue. It's amazing that the owner has had this basically since he started driving in the 70's!
they also had adjustable rocker arms.
Offset too!
the painted fender screw is because the fender tags were applied before paint and they would be held with 1 screw so the painter could lift the tag up and paint under them. after paint the other 1 or 2 screws depending on the number of tags were installed so they never got paint on them.
Tony, you forgot about the cast iron adjustable rocker arms with the offset intake arm. The rocker arms looked a lot like the 273 solid lifter cam head rockers arms but with the offset intake arm that moved the pushrod away from the "pushrod pinch" in the head. To me this is probably the trickiest part of the 340 TA engine, and the part that would really set apart the 340 TA engine power producing potential from any other 340. The heads as cast flowed no different than any other 340/360 J head with 2.02 valves, but you could open up the intake ports a lot more and get more flow from the head because of the rocker arms and the additional meat Chrysler left in the pushrod pinch area.
I am 99,9% sure that I have driven this actual car back in the 70's. Without saying his name, the owner was from Oak Ridge TN. His brother was a good friend who also drove a 1970 Challenger. His was a 340 automatic that was a fast car for the day. The thing that made the biggest impression on me from driving the TA was the pistol grip shifter, pure awesomeness!!
The rear leaf springs have extra arc on the 1970 340 Six Pack cars. They claimed it was for rake, as are the tire sizes, but it looks like it is for additional ground clearance for the side exiting exhaust. The 1970 340 Six pack cars with 4-speeds, got the new version of the 4-speed that would become standard for 1971. The gear spread is a bit closer than the older 4-speeds and the other 1970 4-speeds.
Thanks for explaining how they came up with a 5litre engine capacity.
Another of the unique points on the T/A cars is the exhaust hanger. To support the side exhaust pipe there is a doubler plate in the rocker panel so the screw won't tear out.
I love Kiwi's Cuban Charcuterie.
No wonder I couldn't find his channel. I was writing it all wrong. This makes more sense. Actually googling it. Wish me luck!
forgot to mention the adjustable valvetrain!
I owned a Challenger T/A briefly in 1986/1987. Mine was Hemi Orange and originally had a 727 Auto. A previous owner had replaced the 727 with an A833 4-Speed with the pistol grip shifter. They actually cut the transmission hump out of the car and welded in a hump from a four speed car. It was an ex-drag car, and had a non-matching 340 block in it. It did have the “J” engine code in the VIN, and most of the special T/A stuff you’d expect to find including the rear mounted radio antenna. The fender tags, SixPack intake and side exhaust were gone and it had 14” Rallye wheels on it. It was because that it wasn’t all factory original with fender tags, matching numbers drivetrain, that I was able to afford to buy it back then. Otherwise, it would’ve been too expensive for me. Yes, even in 1986, missing the fender tags, original 340 block, trans, intake and exhaust, dampened a lot of interest when I put it up for sale. It took about a month to sell the car.. I bought it for $3200 and sold it for $2400 at a loss.. I had a 1971 Challenger that was all original, with fender tags etc., at the same time. I had to leave to start college, and my dad wouldn’t allow me to keep two Challengers at the house while I was gone, so one of them had to go. If I had gotten the T/A in the summer, I might have kept the T/A instead of the 71, as the T/A needed work to be driveable (it ran but wouldn’t pass inspection due to several reasons) and the 71 was already roadworthy and passed inspection.
Got a friend in san francisco who is building a hemi orange challenger T/a 340 6pack four speed, he got big money in it, total restoration
I wrote it down this time...
Kiwi's curtains and cushions.
Maybe kiwi will test drive this one like he did UTG's XJ at the track!
😜😎👍
I missed it... Kiwi's beignets and burnouts?
This is the engine transplanted into my 67 Barracuda. It moves down the road nicely.
Much love kiwi.. thanks for sharing the find! As a blue collar myself, my time becomes limited. Just happened to match up. What a rig
My neighbor as a kid was a mopar fanatic. He owned a mostly mopar junkyard in moline Illinois. He had a 7 T/A that was plum crazy with a black interior. The car was stolen in 78 and the engine and transmission were taken out. He got it in the junkyard, as a salvage car. He put a 440 4bbl in it out of a 69 fury. I could’ve bought it in the 90’s for 5 grand but as a 16 year old kid I didn’t have the money.
He found the t/a block and heads for that car at a local junkyard in 1995. Amazing it was still
In our area.. the blocks and heads both say trans am on them, similar to the fender tags.
One detail I didn’t see on this car is the rumble bee stickers in the corner of the rear 1/4 window.
The auto cars all came with the slap shifter and the 4 speeds all had the pistol grips.
The front wheels were 15x6 and the rear 15x7..
I sure wish I could’ve bought that plum crazy t/a back then.
Great video uncle Tony and kiwi
A lot of misinformation here. They did NOT come with narrower front wheels. 15x7's at ALL 4 corners. Heads do NOT say "trans-am", T/A or anything like that. They DO have 360 cast into the top of one of the intake runners. One more thing, the automatics did NOT ALL come with the slap-stik floor shift. I've seen several legit AAR/TA's with column shifts. I remember one I saw, in early 70's, had HOUNDSTOOTH interior upholstery. YIKES! Yes, that was possible, too. There's no accounting for taste, as my late friend, Art, used to say.
I know you'd almost never be able to find one, but a video on the 1969-1970 Boss 302 with the Cross Boss intake and Autolite inline carb would make a good companion video to this one.
That is pretty much the _exactly perfect version_ of my _favorite year_ of my _favorite car!..._
Wow. 🤤
You can tell the owner love's that car ! She's a beauty ✨️
I bought my 71 Challenger in 79. 318 904 trans with a 7 1/4 rear end. Over the years it became a 70 340-4 bbl. 727 Torqueflite and 8 3/4 reared. It has all the looks of the Vanishing Point Challenger. Just small block and automatic. I have kept this car for my whole life and drive it weekly. I also bought a 70 GTX in 80. I still own it. I live in NC and enjoy these cars so much that I never considered ever selling them. Being able to drive them year round is a big plus. Great video Uncle Tony. Kiwi gets some really interesting cars to work on.
I was a teen in the 70's. Blue Oval guy. Those 340 six packs were special and desirable. Loved the side exhaust.
A kid at my high school had a 70 T/A (this was in 1979). Sat in his driveway. Low miles (34K) and no rust. (This was NE).
Even though I was a Ford guy, I asked if he wanted to sell it. Offered it to me for $3500.
Too much for me back then. Keep in mind, you could get muscle cars for under $1K back then. My high school parking lot looked like a cars and coffee meet up, today!
LOL I had a 70 Barracuda for a winter beater one year, that I paid $150 for. My 67 Mustang fastback only set me back $250!
Still have the Mustang. Wish I still had the Barracuda!!
Bad decision.
On my '65 Valiant bracket racer (four-door) I initially used the pistol grip shifter after swapping the factory torqueflite for the Mopar A833 four-speed. However, I later found a T-Handle grip (canted in the direction of third) more comfortable/reliable when making a power shift from second to third. Those aluminum small block timing covers all eventually begin to leak (just replaced one on my '65 Barracuda Formula S). I am currently building a Mopar 305 for my '72 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus (Super Sat). I am using 340 TRW 12:5 to 1 dome pistons, a 2.96 Bryant Racing billet crankshaft, and custom Cunningham connecting rods. Due the the de-stroking, the actual compression ratio will lower to about 10:5 to 1!
*Homologation special* .
As a lifelong (I'm over 60) Mopar b-body guy, I still think the T/A is the single best looking
car of the entire musclecar era (yes, the AAR is right behind it, too).
There's nothing but cool slathered all over those cars. Nailed it, Ma!
- Ed on the Ridge
Coming from the flipper Mustang video and seeing the difference between a car someone TRULY cared about restoring versus that flipper disaster, this makes me feel better. The guy went balls-to-the-wall with Mopar OEM JUST to guarantee it was ALL Mopar and no aftermarket. That's dedication to your car. Love this thing. Gorgeous paint and color as well. Can't beat the 70 Challenger look. My 09 Challenger has similar styling to this one. Love this car.
Dana "60" Glass. Drove one of these back in the early '90s. Slapsick automatic. Man those carbs opening up in 2nd then tire chirp in high. What a memory.
Yup, with the VIN you can win: J for Challenger, H for High price class, 23 for two door hardtop, J for 340 CID V8 with Six Pack, 0 for 1970 model year, B for Hamtramck, MI assembly, aka "Factory Zero" or "Dodge Main" and the rest is the production sequence. The Dodge Main facility closed in 1980 and today's GM Hamtramck, MI assembly partially sits on that site.
With the tag, you can brag: N94 for fiberglass fresh air hood, R11 for 2 watt AM radio, Y05 for USA spec vehicle, J45 for hood tie down pins, J54 for sport hood, J82 for rear duck wing spoiler, M21 for roof drip rail moldings, N44 for side exhaust, EB3 for Light Blue exterior paint, A53 for Trans Am package, A62 for Rallye instrument cluster, B51 for power brakes, C16 for console with woodgrain panel, C55 for bucket seats, D21 for four speed manual transmission, E55 for 340 CID V8 with Six Pack, approximately 290 HP, 26 for 26" radiator, EN1 for end of sales codes, H5X9 should be the interior code with it being black, N85 for tachometer, V6H for Black Trans Am stripes, among other codes.
Technically, the Grand National and the Trans Am had "side exit" exhaust, although the Trans Am exhaust technically points downward.
Thanks GoogleUserGP!!
Are you sure about that? AAR was B"S"23JOB. I believe "S" was for "Special".
@@budlanctot3060 The VIN is at the bottom of the trim tag and clearly shows an "H" for the 2nd VIN digit. That means "High" for the price class. Yes, "S" was for Special. Plymouth and Dodge could have used different codes across sister/brother vehicles.
@@LongIslandMopars Sure thing.
You guys are killing me with all these small block mopars! Lol I looked at a 68 Dart gts a few days ago that was for sale. Rotted structurally beyond what what I'd want to restore, damn it! Lol You guys make me miss the 69 gts I'd restored and had to sell. What a beast, those 340's were definitely big block killers, at least mine was. Lol It was by far, the most fun car I ever owned! 4 speed, 8 3/4 auburn cone sure grip. I scared the crap outa many grown man in that car, most described it as violent! Lmao
I believe the antennas were moved to the back to reduce alternator interference. Could be wrong.. but that’s how I remember it!
Someone else said ignition interference but both seem very plausible.
@@Joetechlincolns actually yes all of the above. lol. Any interference came from under the hood. Moving antenna to the rear solved most all of those issues!
A guy in town bought an orange TA brand new and drove it for about 15 years, it was starting to rust pretty bad so he parked it in his garage and it's still there today. He allways says he's gunna restore it but he's getting old and time is running short. I'd love to see it on the street again, only time will tell.
My lord, my dad has the exact same paint, model, and year.
Always loved them, thanks for teaching me something new Tony.
I’m 60 and wanted a classic muscle car since I was 14. Didn’t have the money then and still don’t…lol. Watching Tony is the next best thing. His knowledge and enthusiasm lets me enjoy the cars even without owning one. I feel like I’m at my friends house tinkering with his 68 Firebird. Man I miss those days.
Y'all's enthusiasm and chemistry are entertaining and contagious. ☺️
Beautiful car.
In the 1980's I put a 340 in a 1969 Barracuda. I later replaced the 4 barrel with a 6 pack. The 6 pack carbs were from a 440. The front and rear carbs had a tab in the booster ventries. I guessed that was to make them work with the original 440 6 pack. Later someone broke into the garage where I stored the car and stole the 6 pack carbs. I replaced the carbs with corvette carbs. This was a (I think Chevy called this a tri-power) on a Chevy 454. I noticed two differences in these carbs, the diameter of the booster ventures were smaller and there were no tabs in the ventures. Very strange, smaller carbs on a Chevy 454 compared to a 340 6 pack! Also, I would like to know I Chrysler always used a vapor separator between the fuel pump and carbs, similar the the setup used on the Hemi cars. Just some thoughts.
One sweet ride........ Wish I still had my first Mopar.........
Absolutely GORGEOUS car!
Uncle.Tony fyi- Dead Dodge Garage just put up a challenge His classic Demon vs Ur classic car....cant wait to c the race 🤞
I remember back around 1980 ,Nick's(nicks garage) brother had this exact model and color t/a challenger in my neighborhood with nick's blazingly fast hemi cuda at the same time. Ah the good ole days!
Mopar E-bodies are PERFECTION 🥰
Wow. He had to get a loan off his parents try buy it. I wanted to buy an AAR Cuda back then from a friend but my dad wouldn't co-sign for me. Oh well.
Nice car. Thanks for the video.
Happy Motoring
Hahaha, I took out a student loan to buy my AAR in '70.
@@budlanctot3060 I was still in highschool.
Love seeing the different cars at kiwis garage. Early 70s blazer outside. Got the challenger and a late 60s mustang on the lift. Always liked all the SCCA cars in the early 70s. The Boss mustang and Mark Donahue 70 Javelin were a couple of nice cars also.
T/A Challenger and AAR Cuda those cars ....WOW !!!!!
Love the old Mopars. First car as a teen in mid 80s was 340 4spd Duster. Miss the good ole days. Thank you for doin this video really enjoyed it.
What a cool car! Thanks for sharing, not everyone gets to inspect these gems..
A cool car and a very informative video. Thanks guys!
The knowledge and storytelling is so captivating. You’re a legend UT, really great stuff 👍🏻🇦🇺
Absolutely beautifully done car and the reason for the antenna in the rear was because they supposedly had radio interference due to the fiberglass hood so they put the antenna in the back where everything around it is grounded and supposedly they had engine noise that came through beautiful car
Like others have said the antenna was moved to the quarter because the hood was fiberglass and there was too much interference of the signal. Never owned a T/A, but a kid in high school had one like the blue one. I always wanted to buy it after he got tired of it, but he traded it off and I lost track of it!
In 1984 had a friend who owned two nice T/As. He wanted to take both of them to the same show,so I drove one of them to the show for him and got the chance to get on one of them. It was a pristine 32,000 mile Hemi Orange example with 4 speed. Great car!
UT, Thanks for the insight on the fiberglass T/A hood used on the '70 Hemi Challengers. I know that they used the RT style hood until the Shaker situation got sorted. I think I would have liked mine more with the Fiberglass T/A hood than the RT style or Shaker style.
The rear gears are either 3.55 or 3.91, and I believe this is the first application of the close ratio transmission gear set. Fast ratio power steering was an option as well. I’ve never owned one either, but my brother had one for years, so I know what it’s like to drive one. It doesn’t have a passenger side mirror, most I’ve seen do.
Yep. The fast ratio wasn't actually due to the gears in the box, but was done with longer than stock Pittman arms like what is available today. Weirdly enough, the idler arm was still at stock length. The longer idler arms were not available until the aftermarket started making them decades later.
I have an 2018 T/A in Gomango and love it. I always get excited when i see a 70's T/A
Love the stories and the traffic
Beautiful car! B.T.W. 1965 Shelby GT350 also side exhaust equipped as produced. In Connecticut, we've had to temp. install pipes over the rear axles to pass CT. State inspection when applicable. We then return the exhaust to original configuration after the vehicle passes inspection. No one ever seemed to care after the car was registered. Only needed them three or four times but always kept a pair of temp. pipes at my shop.
You're the man I love the knowledge thanks uncle T!
The vin tag has unfinished screws and a painted screw because the painted screw was the only one on the car when it was painted. They add the unfinished screws when the car is complete so that they’re able to swivel the tag any angle they want so they can easy read it correctly while building the car.
I guess the staggered tire sizes were to gain a little more ground clearance for the exhaust?
Another great video from our friendly Mopar guru.
I grew up down the road from the Chrysler plant in Fenton, MO. Back then, that entire part of the world was Mopar-central. The biggest sellers of the day for motorheads were Chargers and B bodies.
I recall though that the first year of 340 Dart was pretty big too.
Those cars got thrashed and abused; I doubt a single one of them survived. They sure weren’t considered Collectors Cars!
AAR and T/A are the best looking musclecarss ever built! These are what got me really into the musclecar thing and i grew up with a 68 Hurst olds and a W31!
I had 3 of those all at the same time. Green Go, top banana and hemi orange. The orange one had 2853 original miles when I bought it in 2001
I love the color of that T/A WOW!
Love the 340. Beautiful example.
THANK YOU ! ! ! My Favorite car of ALL TIME ! ! !
I felt like I was back in 1970 standing on a mopar lot looking at this new.
Uncle Tony and us were drooling about the car.🤤👍
The front inner fenders were deeper/wider to allow wider front tires for the road course.
A buddy had a yellow AAR Cuda that he cobbled a 4 speed into when I was in college in the early 80s. It had a lot of work done to it and was one of the quickest cars around.
Man, what a car and what a fount of knowledge Tonypedia is. I hope that Kiwi,, Uncle, and the others are passing along their knowledge to people in the background who will keep their data banks alive for many decades to come. The videos are an important start but cannot convey information like actually working with these legends will.
a lot of good info UT! Don’t forget the adjustable rocker arms that were unique to the 340 Six pack cars.
Mopar fan 60 years, only seen a handful of these over the years
I owned 3 challengers at the same time. Never knew all those unique things. Thanks
My God that is one gorgeous T/A. One might ask the owner if they would like to change over to a non-water-based coolant like Evens which will stop and prevent corrosion.
For the painted center screw and unpainted outers, at the factory they probably put the center screw in to locate the tags but still be able to paint the tags and under the tags at the same time. After it was painted, the 2 outer screws were installed to hold the outer edges of the tags down, resulting in the center screw being painted and not the outer screws.
69 El Camino 396 came with sid exhaust. My 97 Ford F150 4.2 V6 came with side exhaust.
the chevy 302 was a 4 inch bore 327 or 350 but destroked to 3 inch using the crankshaft and rods from the 283 chevy small block for the Trans Am series. The 305 5.0L chevy came into production in the late 70's as an emissions reduced V8.
The Chevy 302 was de-stroked. The 305 was de-bored with a 3.48 crank (from 350).
And the Chevy 267 was just de-sgusting
Nice cars. Had one in the mid 80's. Orange with a black vinyl. Sold it to a friend. He still has it today...
Awesome educational material here.
Tony made us wait on the staggered tire sizes to build suspense. A true CZcams master lol.
The Trans Am series used a destroked 340 to 305 cu in. The T/A Challenger and AAR Cuda's our my favorite cars
That is nearly spotless. Damn.
The fender tags were installed with one screw, then painted when car was painted. After paint dried the other screws were added to secure the tags.
Surprised Tony/Kiwi didn’t know that. It wasn’t a stainless screw either just bare unpainted.
Very cool, thanks again Tony... (KB was my grandfather- I remember some of his stories about the little lunchbox 305s)
How different is the jetting between the 340-6 and 440-6?
Thanks Kiwi !
Spring of 1970 my buddy bought one new. I went with him to pick up the new car because he did not know how to drive stick at the time. B5 blue with a vinyl top. After being Dyno tuned, in those days that amounted to rejecting the carburetors and changing the weights in the distributor. Then broke the show room stock record at national speedway in Long Island turning a 12.89 quarter mile
Thank you big time
Beautiful car !!
Uncle Tony, a Man of Constant Mopar
Thanks for the schooling, I didn’t know Chevy and Dodge used same carbs. I did wonder though.👍
Oh yeah, very nice. That unique exhaust was worth crawling under the car for.
Thanks for the history lesson 👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks for the tutorial gentleman.