It was 1970 and a gentleman walked into St. Ann Motors in St. Ann, Missouri, a small suburb just outside of St. Louis. The small dealership happened to have two identical EV2 Hemi Orange 1970 Dodge Challenger T/As on their lot. Both were the same in options and colors with the only exception being one was an automatic and the other was a Pistol Grip 4-speed.

With the standard 340-6 Pack engine under the hood, they were optioned each with a white interior, Rallye instrument cluster, center console, rubber floor mats, dual color-matched racing mirrors, electric clock, three-speed windshield wipers, front/rear bumper guards and 15×7” Rallye wheels.

The gentleman decided to buy both T/As that day; the 4-speed for him and the automatic for his wife. It’s unknown what happened to the 4-speed car, but in 1975 he sold his wife’s automatic T/A. The next owner of the automatic T/A would modify the car a little bit for street racing duties by installing headers, a transmission shift kit and big Mickey Thompson tires out back.

With aftermarket performance parts stickers lining the engine bay and glass, the T/A would be a staple in the St. Louis street racing community from 1975 to 1985. Eventually, the second owner would retire the car from its street racing duties. He would own the T/A until 2019 when he decided he wanted a buy a boat and it was time for the car to go.

Once the car changed hands, the next owner worked on getting the car running and driving as it had been off the road for a number of years. Over the years, the car had remained spectacularly original. It could even be considered a “survivor”, as much of the car was still original with a few aftermarket parts.

The new owner would install new tires and re-install original exhaust manifolds. Otherwise, the car remained as it left the factory in 1970.

In 2020, Lance Hegedus entered the story. He explained, “A friend of mine owned the T/A at the time along with a Mr. Norms T/A. He was selling the Mr. Norms car, but wasn’t selling this one. I saw it and had to have it as soon as I saw pictures of it. It was my absolute favorite color combination on these cars and the fact that it was a survivor made it that much cooler!”

He continued to say, “When my parents got divorced, my dad had to sell his survivor 1969 Road Runner and his 1970 Challenger T/A, so this particular car brought both of those together for me. It took me a year of bugging my friend before he finally agreed to sell it to me.”

Since bringing it home, Lance has enjoyed the car every chance he has gotten including taking it to shows and putting over 1000 miles on it in just 2 years. He told us he also had it displayed in the survivor tent at the 2022 Holley Moparty.

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