As fun as Halloween can be, thanks to pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating, it’s most appropriately been a time of ghost stories and general spookiness. What better way to escape those ghosts than in a black 1971 Challenger R/T with unusual orange stripes?
On Halloween, one of my favorite traditions is reading Washington Irving’s classic tale of woebegone love and Revolutionary lore, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” While most know the tale from the excellent Disney animated movie narrated by the pitch-perfect Bing Crosby (I dare you not to laugh when he pronounces “Ye Olde Schnooker and Schnapps Shoppe”), the story itself is somewhat more nuanced, with a postscript that elevates Irving’s work beyond a mere tale of ghosts and goblins. Many of you are undoubtedly familiar with protagonist Ichabod Crane’s midnight race through the glen with that ghastly Hessian trooper, the Headless Horseman. Might things have gone differently if he had Ichabod been driving this beautiful black and orange 1971 Challenger R/T instead? Of course it would; he might even be canoodling with Katrina Van Tassel by now.
Instead, the hapless but not yet headless Ichabod was riding an aged but cantankerous steed named Gunpowder borrowed from his landlord with the Dickensian name, Hans Van Ripper. Gunpowder wasn’t necessarily the best horse for the job that Ichabod unknowingly required him to do.
But a Challenger R/T, had it been invented in those distant days of the early 19th century, when Ichabod was taking his midnight ride, would have been a most fitting escape machine. I spotted this holiday-appropriate R/T in September of 2025 at the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race in Stanton, Michigan, and I had the good fortune of talking to the guy who helps maintain it a week later at a swap meet. I don’t know how it came up, but we ended up talking about this very car, even though we had never met before. Small world.
The R/T’s interior continues the black and orange theme so spectacularly begun by the (apparently factory-offered) stripe package.
The ’70s were a great time for those who loved Houndstooth seat patterns, and this pattern was an option on the R/T.
It was offered in a somewhat offbeat selection of three color combinations: green, black and white, and the featured-on-our-featured-car black and orange. Whoever ordered this particular car clearly had this seating pattern in mind when ordering the exterior color and stripe combination.
The car itself is a standard-specification Challenger R/T, no Hemis or Six-Packs here. The engine is the 383 Magnum, which produced 300 horsepower in its low-compression 1971 format, and Dodge materials even offer a net rating a year before such a thing was generally done: 250 horsepower. Because of its 8.5:1 compression ratio, the 383 could run on regular gas in 1971, and when mated with the Torqueflite as this one was, it was a perfect engine for having a little fun around town. Although Chrysler most often used Carter carburetors on its muscle-car-era engines, the 383 had a Holley four barrel in 1971.
While the 383 Magnum was standard in the Challenger R/T, the high-revving 340 was a no-cost option, and it most likely would have outrun the 383, because it’s been fairly well established that the 340’s gross power rating of 275 was more likely its net rating. Although Dodge listed the 340 at 235 net for 1971, it’s quite possible that they didn’t want the 340 to show up the big block, on paper at least.
Even so, with the right gearing, the 383 was potent. I don’t remember what times this black-and-orange Challenger ran in September, but a ’71 Challenger 383 with 3.91 gears ran a 14.58 at 95 miles per hour at the 2024 event. That might have been the blue Challenger parked next to this one, however.
Washington Irving is often credited as America’s first literary star, and he did a little bit of everything, including popularizing the name “Gotham” for New York City and acting an a Minister to Spain. He lies, appropriately, in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York. The original Challenger itself wasn’t nearly as popular as Irving was in his prime; fewer than 30,000 were sold in 1971, and only 4,630 of them were R/Ts. Even so, time has vindicated the Challenger, just like it did Ichabod if you read “storyteller” Diedrich Knickerbocker’s postscript to “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” It was heavily implied that old Ichabod did all right for himself after his embarrassing ride, but it still would have been fun for him to exercise a little Mopar muscle and kick a little sand in the face of Brom Bones, or the Headless Horseman, or whoever was chasing him through that secluded glen. Happy Halloween to all!
Related CC Reading:
Automotive History Oddity: 1971 Dodge Challenger “Coupe” With 198 Cubic Inch Slant Six
Beautiful car! Said one of the resident Ford guys 🙂
I listened to an audio version of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow last fall, and found it much more fun than I expected. It was far more enjoyable than my Halloween read for this year, which was Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. It lines up with my developing theory that it is very difficult for an author of one sex to write realistic characters of the opposite sex. Shelly’s Dr. Frankenstein was very good at wringing his hands over what he had done and struggling about what was to be done, but was not really very good at actually DOING something about it until near the end and after it was too late.
I was not the biggest fan of orange back when this car was new, but I like it more now. Nothing says early 1970’s more than orange houndstooth plaid! And now I want some of those peanut butter kisses in the black and orange wax paper wrappers.
All good points, JP. I like the idea of “Frankenstein” more than I like the actual book, but I understand why it’s a classic. Dr. F is certainly a tragic character, but he has nobody to blame but himself; I guess we should all do more thinking before we play tricks with science rather than hand-wringing afterward when it’s too late. 🙂
Another good spooky novella is “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which covers the same familiar ground as “Frankenstein” but in a more compact way.
This car ran a best of 14.19 this year, losing 2 out of 3 to a 69 Grand Prix 428. . Glad to see a CC contributor made the trip to the PSMCDR, there is a gold mine of material to be found there.
Thanks Rhett! I try to attend (as a spectator, my cars are all slow) every year.
Loving the colors! Other thing of interest that stands out to me anyway is it has the thick (1971 only) M28 grill trim that makes it look like it has a loop bumper like so many other fuselage Mopars in 71.