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" CHICAGO -- It&amp;#039;s very easy to wax nostalgic about the original Dodge Challenger. Quick, loud and wrapped around slippery-looking sheetmetal, it was a dream car for any kid of the 1970s. Right? Well it must have been a dream come true, or guys wouldn&amp;#039;t still be shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for them at auction today.  Not so fast there, Cochise: The original recipe wasn&amp;#039;t without a bad taste or two.  The Challenger was introduced to great fanfare in 1970--not to mention huge success, with Dodge moving 73,000 models in its first year. And it the horespower was absolutely stuffed in there, with a huge array of engines ranging from the tiny 198 cu.-in. Slant Six (125 hp) to the mighty 426 Hemi (425 hp). Indeed, there were a whopping 11 different engines for the Challenger, with either Torqueflite 3-speed automatic, 3-speed manual or Hurst-shifted 4-speed manual available. At the time, the Challenger was a near twin to the Plymouth Barracuda (then in its third generation) built on the new E-body chassis. The two were very close in terms of styling, but the Challenger&amp;#039;s wheelbase was stretched by 2 in. for more passenger room. It came in coupe, convertible, SE, R/T and T/A (for Trans Am) versions.  The factory raced the special T/A cars unsuccessfully in the SCCA Trans Am Series with legendary driver Sam Posey. But it was raced more successfully in NHRA, AHRA and IHRA drag racing in the Super Stock and, later, the Pro Stock classes. But the glory and the big sales lasted only three years, and after 1972, with the new smog and safety rules, plus the advent of unleaded fuel and catalytic converters, the Challenger faded--then died, in 1974. There&amp;#039;s a lot of nostalgia pushing the prices of these old ponycars up into the stratosphere at major auctions such as Barrett-Jackson. But the fact remains that they weren&amp;#039;t very good cars then, and they&amp;#039;re not very good cars now. First and foremost, the quality of construction and materials in those early Challengers was awful. We know, because we were there when they were introduced, and we drove virtually every V-8 version of the Challenger built between the summer of 1969 and the end of the line in 1974.  The panel fits were awful, the paint was full of blushing and orange peel, and the interiors were almost entirely made of cheap plastic to keep prices down so twentysomethings could afford them. The Challenger, like all the other Mopars of that era, used an inexpensive torsion-bar front and leaf-spring rear suspension. And the horrible, skinny bias-ply tires were replaced by every hip kid with either drag slicks or aftermarket sticky tires. They handled miserably on country roads, and the ones with the heftier engines and heavy-duty suspensions would separate you from your fillings on bumpy roads. Ride quality? What ride quality? Challengers were cheap, hugely powerful, and built expressly to go quick in a straight line, whether it was on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Van Nuys Boulevard in L.A. or Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. But handle? Not so much. Fast-forward 35 years to the new car. The SRT8 is priced at $37,995--not exactly cheap. But the new Challenger comes to market packing hundreds of pounds of gear you would have killed to have had in 1980, much less 1970. It gets massive tires, huge Brembo discs, ABS, traction control and stability control. And, of course, it&amp;#039;s got a raft of serious safety equipment like air bags and a stiff structure that won&amp;#039;t twist on a racetrack--or fold up like a paper airplane in a collision. Oh, and it&amp;#039;s got a sophisticated four-wheel independent suspension, too.  And in the go-fast department, the 6.1-liter Hemi makes more net power than the original 426 Hemi. Plus, it gets better gas mileage on unleaded than the old one did on poisonous leaded fuel. Which one is the better car? No doubt about it. Time and technology should make the new Challenger SRT8 one of the most desirable cars on the planet.  RELATED STORIES * PREVIEW: 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Brings Back 70s Powerhouse  * TEST DRIVE: 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Prototype  * COMPLETE COVERAGE: 2008 Chicago Auto Show   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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