Psycho 2: Custom 1971 Dodge Challenger SE
The 1970s may have been the height of wild car customizations. While the funky 1970s style wasn’t popular with everyone then, it certainly isn’t now. I personally think it has aged quite well! When applied cleanly and professionally to a car like this, this groovy 1970s custom style is flattering and will certainly draw a crowd at any show. Factory restored Challengers are beautiful, but in a sea of original-looking cars this 1971 Challenger is sure to draw the most attention! Find it here on Hemmings in New Jersey with a price tag of $38,990. Thanks to Ben B. for sending in this funky custom!
Given the wild exterior of this car, I honestly expected the interior to be funkified too! I love 1970s-style custom vans, so I wouldn’t have been disappointed to see velour and shag. I suppose that since this was originally a show car, it was designed to be clean and crisp. To quote the seller, this car has “new black vinyl interior, rally gauge, dash and console.”According to the ad, this Challenger was originally shown in 1978 in the Midwest and on the World of Wheels tour. It has also been featured in Mopar Collector Guide magazine in 2016.
According to the ad, “The motor is a built 340 has a hot cam in it, an electronic ignition, and headers that go into the TA side pipe exhaust.” The 340 is hooked up to an automatic transmission “with a shift kit and slap stick console, with a 3:55 posi rear with traction bars.” This car is truly the spirit of the late 1970s! It also has power steering and power brakes.
Dubbed “Psycho 2” on the trunk lid, this Challenger has a seriously wild paint job. To some people this is nothing but ugly, but to others this is a work of art! A paint job like this takes lots of time and lots of skill. It may not be a perfectly preserved numbers-matching 99% original survivor, but it is a period custom that really speaks for the era it was created in and should be preserved as such for that reason. I don’t know about you, but I would drive this!
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Comments
Love it, would drive and show it all over. In a world of over restored cars, this car is a breath of fresh air.
It’s tacky, but represents a specific point in time, just like many of the 50’s customs and 60’s gassers. This is the real deal, not some half baked recreation. Like stated in the write up, restored cars are common, this will stand out from the crowd.
I’m not sure about the price, it seems a bit high, but it is a Mopar.
Steve R
Rolling porn flick.
I hope the new owner has/grows the requisite moustache to go with !!
I’m so glad there are still some cars out there like this! LOVE IT! I think E-body Mopars seem to lend themselves the best to modifications. Always thought they looked better than any other musclecar when jacked up with fat tires.
not my taste…. way over the top with that multi color theme… still a car for many to enjoy if you’re into rainbow paint jobs
Like all of it except the grill..
Agreed.
Yup – restore the grill – keep the rest
I think at one point the whole interior was done like the rear package tray.
There was a touring car show at the local mall back in the ’70’s with a very simmaler painted Challenger. Up close, it was a great paint job, but very busy on the eye’s. I think the one I saw was featured in CarCraf. Had a different grill insert. These are fun to look at, I’d be afraid some onlooker would drive into it!!
Absolutely stunning paint job, would take the bars off the front grill however.
Man there were a lot of drugs available in the 70’s.
one of the better looking multi-color paint jobs that I have seen. It scream look at me…. and not ..look at me cause I’m a race car. Sadly (for me) I would be scared to drive it on the street….only because the paint job is unreplaceable.
This ride gives me a tingling in my “special place”.
Built in a time where numbers matching and OEM anything and everything were barely a concept beyond concours competitions.
Those look like 70 tail lights
Not too bad, at least there is no tunnel ram or blower sticking up out of the engine compartment! I’d rather see a solid paint job compared to the zany car craft magazine striped job here, but other than that I really like seeing a built Mopar compared to all the factory correct cars people go nuts over nowadays. That gets kinda boring after awhile really.
Street Freaks!!
Those indeed are ’70 tail lights and also ’70 seats. I had a ’71 Challenger R/T 340 Four Barrel B5 Blue. I saw this car for sale somewhere several months ago.
Looks cool but will be tough to find a buyer. I agree the grille looks silly.
I’m waiting for Richard Simmons to hop out and do some jumping jacks
I wonder why the builder didn’t do anything to the engine compartment.
That yellow jumps out at you.
Also this is what we used to call a show car.
Now any old car that still runs is a show car.
Love it
Oh, HELL YEAH!!!
I love it and I miss the 70’s.
Long time ago, a friend had a ’69 Camaro, 427 car painted like this. I called it the Circus Wagon, much to his dismay.
I have some bell bottom pants to go with that and a polyester leisure suit.
I’m so old…I Love it. Now get off my lawn!
Hells yes!
But I’m just getting my ball that rolled into your yard.
I used to love to do endless line doodles and 70s flames.
Beautiful csr, great paint job that could not be duplicated today.Obviously a true artist painted this car. I agree with comment that i would be afraid to drive on the street, especially here in philly, people don’t know how to drive, or PARK ,i laugh at peoples attempts at parking.
A built 340…one of the most wonderful sounds ever..at idle or wot
Let me drive you to “Funky Town”! I love it, it’s aged very well.
This car has aged like a fine Boone’s Farm wine!
Not real crazy over it.This is the way a Challenger should look like .I had this one back in the 70s. Bruce.
So this is what happens when you grow up on a multiple color partridge family bus 🚌 and do drugs later in life.
Danny you still DJ in Chi?
Good to see your putting your rage and color of the old bus into muscle cars versus punching out street walkers 😂😂
Danny is alive & well as a DJ in Seattle for the morning drive on KZOK, the home of classic rock. He’s clean & sober now.
I was 9 in 1971 and when I saw a car like this (and the mentors in my life made sure I did) it made a lifetime impact. When we went shopping I was old enough to be left in the toy section, and spend most of my time looking at models, hot wheels and such. I was told to look, and not touch unless I was going to buy it, and when I was ready I could start delivering papers, mowing lawns, odd jobs to make money. When I turned 10 that is what I did, except I saved more than I spent, so I could have it for my first car.
When I turned 14 my dad and I bought that first car. As I have mentioned before, we were a Corvair family, so of course my first car was a Corvair. My dad made it clear we could do what ever I wanted with it, (as long as it wasn’t a structural change as the donor car was in great shape) and my Dad was very good with a set of tools and a paint gun and had built up many Vairs before mine. We spent two years “building” my first car, and I let my mid 70’s imagination run wild (on a limited amount of money). Somewhere along the way another “donor” car came into the fold and we decided it would be the “evil twin” to what we were building. It was a 6000 mile “rust free” car so it was built up to be a show car (on a little bit more… but still a limited amount of money). My Dad put a few hours every day into those cars (while also working full time, and on other peoples Corvairs) and “every other weekend” I was right there by his side doing what ever he told me. When I turned 16 (1978) I got my learners permit, and scheduled my road test (I had been driving field Vairs for years) Two weeks later I took my road test and the first of the twins hit the road. I had two part time jobs, one at night (working papers) so I could drive “after 9 as long as it was to and from work only” (hahahahahah yeah ok) I funneled as much money as I could into the “evil twin” and it was done in 1980, and has been my one of my prize possessions ever since. So… what is the point of this post? I attached a photo (have posted this before) and a lot or people say how much they don’t like what we did to these cars. But… I bet they didn’t know the story behind them, and now you do. As some have said, to each their own. Beauty is the eye of the beholder. Be young, be free, have fun. I can tell you first hand that every single car show we went to both cars got just as much attention as the rest, if not more, and…. I never ever had a problem having a hot girl to ride along with me ;) (In the Evil twin of course)
Not like this paint job stands out any more than Panther Pink, Sublime or Plum Crazy.
Pretty sure my HOA would fine me for everyday I drove it…
love it . Would keep it just the way it is , Maybe add a little haha.I painted back in those days and did my fair share of nice jobs. Bring back the style. I still have my bell bottoms.
Looks like it came to life from the artwork of a 70’s Ballys or Williams pinball machine and drove off!! (You have to be old to know Ballys or Williams, sorry youngsters lol) Very Cool. And you ‘ll only see it at BARN FINDS!!
I get It!!!