Bruce Eilenberger's (Bergy) 1970 Hemi Challenger!

[Xplantdad]

In January of 2007 a friend of mine located this original 1970 Hemi Challenger in Pottstown, PA. On February 17, 2007 I went to look at it and quickly decided to purchase it. Except for paint, the car is very original and correct. In fact, all parts are original except for the transmission (see former owner’s explanation below), front carpets, and front seat covers. It is documented with the complete ownership history, original broadcast sheet, and original fender tag. Even small items like the keys, shocks, jack, wheels, spare tire, etc. are present and original to the car. The sheet metal is original and rust free (except for surface rust as seen in the photos). The previous owner replaced the master cylinder, exhaust system, exhaust manifolds (added headers), and removed both the radio and side mirror. Radio, exhaust manifolds, mirror and master cylinder were retained and are currently with the car. The broadcast sheet and fender tag list the following options:


<font color="blue">N42 – chrome dual exhaust tips
N85 – tachometer
R11 – AM radio
V9W – white rear bumble bee stripe (plum crazy purple paint)
C55 – bucket seats
G33 – outside remote left hand mirror
J45 – sport hood
M21 – roof drip rail moldings
N41 – dual exhaust
AO1 – light package (includes L06, L11, L15, and L25)
A32 – 4.10 Dana 60 performance package
A62 – Rallye Instrument Cluster (includes F96)
B51 – power assist disc brakes
C16 – console with bucket seats
E74 – 426-2x4 hemi engine
D32 – HD A-27 torque flite transmission
JS23 – Monroe shocks 13/16-3/8
U84 – F60x15 RWL Polyglass tires
W34 – space saver spare
C93 – carpeting
F25 – HD radiator</font>


Following is a brief history of the car as described by the former owner. A certified copy of this statement is in my files:

Thanks,

Bruce Eilenberger
--------------------------------------------
1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger
JS23R0B221717
I, Daniel Kulp, owned this hemi Challenger from November of 1974 until February of 2007. During that 33 plus year period I put approximately 100 miles on the car. When I built my new garage in 1975, I had a special, secure, dry storage area made specifically for the car. That’s where the car spent 99.9% of its time over the next 33 years. At the time that I sold the car it had 41,447 actual miles on it.

The history of the car is as follows:


It was ordered as a new car by Ed Llewelyn from Nagle Dodge (High Street, Pottstown, PA). When the car was unloaded from the new car transporter, the Nagle Dodge employees noted that the oil pressure gage was indicating no or low oil pressure. A mechanic at Nagle was a friend of Ed’s and he informed Ed of the apparent low oil pressure. Ed refused to take delivery of the car and Nagle, after fixing the oil pressure issue, placed the car on their show room floor. Ken Terwilliger bought the car off of the show room floor and owned it for about two years. He then sold it to Reggie Atkins who also owned it for two years and sold it to Jim Hall. Jim only owned the car for about 6 weeks and then sold it to me in November of 1974. When I got the car it had approximately 41,350 miles on the odometer and it was repainted from the original plum crazy purple (with a white rear bumble bee stripe) to black (with a gold metal flake bumble bee stripe). It also had a Ford spoiler mounted to the trunk and lake type exhaust pipes with no mufflers (it was very loud). I had the car painted red and had the spoiler removed. The body panels were original and rust free (as they were when I sold the car). During this painting process, I also had the holes for the radio antenna and the remote side mirror filled in. My intention was to use the car mainly at the track, so I didn’t need the radio or side mirror. I also had headers and a complete under car exhaust system put on the car.


In the spring of 1975, while racing at Maple Grove Raceway, I was doing a burn out in second gear with the line lock in when the transmission literally blew up. This was a pretty traumatic event and it convinced me to replace the original automatic transmission with a 4 speed manual transmission (complete with scatter shield!). I raced the car at Maple Grove in 1975, 1978 and again in 1990 (for Mopars at Maple Grove). My best E.T. with open headers and slicks was 12.70 at 118 MPH. The car was not running right at that time (constantly fouling plugs). In 1983 my wife and I rebuilt the motor (I’m a professional new car mechanic). We sent the heads out to the best machine shop around and had valve guides put in (my suspicion was that sticky valves were at the root of the plug fouling problem). We rebuilt the bottom end and installed a Lonadi solid lifter cam shaft. The cylinders were standard bore and required no machining. I took the car to Maple Grove for the “MOPARS at Maple Grove” event in 1990 and, with the complete exhaust system and street tires; it ran 13.70 @ 110MPH. There is a picture of the car taken at the Mopar event that appeared in the April or May 1991 issue of Mopar magazine.

Daniel G. Kulp ______________________________________
328 Bishop Road
Pottstown, PA 19465 Notarized__________________________

[markinnaples]

Really cool, and a great story.

Are you going to restore it back to Plum Crazy?

[mockingbird812]

Nice Ride Bruce. Great story. Thanks for sharing!

[bergy]

I really have mixed feelings about putting the paint back to plum crazy. It would be a killer combination with the white bumble bee stripe, but it's such a neat old car - I almost hate to mess with it.

[JJEH]

Cool Story and a very nice Car

But a exceptional Paint i think...

[CC Rider]

What a great story! Thanks for sharing it.

[gb70]

Great car and story. If it were me I would bring it back to FC7 (Plum Crazy), and put back the holes for the radio antenna and the remote side mirror. I just sold my 1970 Challenger RT/SE. Love those E bodies. I also had a FC7 '70 Cuda with a white hockey stripe. Cool color!

[Xplantdad]

What a cool car...and an equally cool story! I appreciate Bruce taking the time to shoot the pics, do the write up and share his wonderful car with all of us!

As Bill Eaton would say... x 100!

[showyourauto]

One sweet ride! LOVE the color scheme!
~Patrick

[mockingbird812]

Nice car Bruce. Just noticed the A32 option (Super Performance Axle Pkg, Dana 60 4.10). The Danas were standard behind a 4 speed but were a hefty $$ option for the automatics which were standard with an 8 3/4 sure-grip rear. Pretty rare option on an automatic.