It may have arrived on the scene four years after the Dodge Charger, but the Challenger, which debuted in 1970, was the company’s attempt to claim ownership of the muscle car market once and for all. Whereas its predecessor had been positioned as an upscale answer to the Camaros and Mustangs of the world, the Challenger, which was built on the new E-body platform, was a genuine brute meant to beat all comers off the line. All versions of the car were mighty, but none more than the high-performance Road/Track, or R/T, model. The most powerful version of this two-door, which was available as a convertible or hard-top, came with a 426 cubic-inch Hemi V-8 that made 425 hp and 490 ft lbs of torque. With that much oomph under the hood, the vehicle could shoot from zero to 60 mph in roughly six seconds.
From the article by Robert Ross, Bryan Hood, Erik Shilling
