Edmunds CarPool

Remember "The Exhaust Leak that Wouldn't DIE!"? Well it's dead! And I'm happy to say I killed it myself.

Turns out it wasn't the gasket between the header and the engine block (which had already been replaced twice), it was the gasket between the header and the collector pipe. And it wasn't just a gasket leak, it was a 1/4-inch gap because the two nuts attaching the header to the collector pipe were gone.

I probably should have figured this out when the growing exhaust leak volume suddenly spiked to what almost sounded like open headers (because it effectively was). The upside is that replacing this gasket is easier than replacing the engine block gasket. The downside is, it's not much easier.

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Categories: Dodge, Editors' Personal Cars, Muscle Car

You're looking at a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE that sold at the August 13th Mecum Auction in Monterey for $45,000. As the owner of a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE I watched this auction very carefully. It's not everyday you get to see a real-world example of how the market values a car nearly identical to the one in your garage.

In this case I was happily surprised by the result. The above car was clearly restored, though I spotted a few minor flaws after only a quick glance, and probably could have found more if I'd really dug in. It had a 440 engine (same as my car) and was also a "high impact" color (Sub-Lime in this case, versus Plum Crazy for mine).

So at first glance the cars are quite comparable, suggesting my car is worth roughly $45,000. However, there are some key differences between the two. First, this car was restored while mine is almost 100 percent original. That means my Challenger doesn't look as clean as the Mecum car, but originality has its own value that often trumps the condition of the paint or interior.

Also, while this car was the SE (Special Edition) model, and while it had a 440 engine, it was otherwise pretty lean on options. No air conditioning. No AM/FM radio. No rear defrost. No rim-blow steering wheel. My car has all of those because it was originally a dealer demo car, loaded up to encourage showroom shoppers to order more options for their cars.

I'm not sure what my car would have brought at this auction, though I'd like to think it would be a higher price. However, even if I sold it for $45,000 at Mecum two weeks ago my original investment in the Challenger ($40,000 in Spring of 2006) has done better than it would have in the stock market (Dow at 11,279 on March 24, 2006).

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Categories: Dodge, Karl on Cars, Muscle Car

Among the benefits of buying a one-owner car is getting the documents usually lost to the passage of time (or maybe it's just the sloppy record keeping of previous owners).

When I purchased my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE from the original owner I was handed not only the original set of keys and the original owner's manual but also the original bill of sale, original title and original warranty card. Because this particular Challenger served as a dealer demo car for the first 15 months of its life the documents tell an interesting story.

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Categories: Dodge, Editors' Personal Cars, Muscle Car

You're looking at a stack of original parts I've saved from my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. Included in this picture are the original front drum brakes, washer fluid reservoir, points ignition distributor plate, passenger-side taillight, alternator, air cleaner box, carpet and door sill plates. Not in this picture are the original 14-inch road wheels. But trust me, I've got those safely tucked away, too.

Why am I saving all these parts if they've been replaced by superior items? They're taking up valuable garage space and there's no reason to ever put them back on the car, so what's the deal?

For most people these are valid questions. But for the educated carguy the answer is crystal clear.

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Categories: Dodge, Editors' Personal Cars, Karl on Cars, Muscle Car, Pontiac

By Mark Takahashi      Photos by Scott Jacobs, Kurt Niebuhr and Mark Takahashi

muscle car n : any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving.

The muscle car wars have once again been ignited and fans of the holy trinity of American performance -- Camaro, Mustang and Challenger -- have never been happier. Ford has fired the latest shot across the bow of Chevy and Dodge, with the revival of the revered 5.0-liter V8 in the 2011 Mustang GT. It seemed fitting then to pit the new 'Stang against our long-term Camaro SS and Challenger R/T, both of which are also powered by stout eight-cylinder engines.

For this comparison, we motored along a meandering stretch of pavement that curls high above the Pacific Coast. Each section of the route included similar portions of highway straightaways, curves and choppy road surfaces. Editors Mark Takahashi, John DiPietro and Warren Clarke charged into the mountains for a raucous yet enlightening afternoon of driving and debating. In the end, our rankings were unanimous and our number crunching backed them up. It's a tough job, we know, but somebody's got to do it.

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Categories: Chevrolet, Comparison Test, Dodge, Ford, Muscle Car

My dad always drove trucks, and when I was a kid I loved the 1975 Chevy Sierra Classic pickup he had as a work vehicle. It was outfitted with cloth seats that looked like some sort of Indian rug, a stereo and power windows and doors. These amenities made it seem pretty high-tech at the time, and I always fantasied that I would end up driving it someday.

Fast-forward 35 years, when I climbed into a big ol' 2010 Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Mega Cab pickup and found power everything, including pedals and a rear sliding window. And it had a touch-screen radio packing a 30GB hard drive, navigation, Bluetooth, iPod integration and a USB port, as well as a rear entertainment system with Sirius Backseat TV.

And while I wasn't surprised to see heated seats, I didn't expect to find cooled seats. And a heated steering wheel.

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Categories: Car Audio and Technology, Dodge, Test Car Notes

There's a welcome trend going on in the new car market. But it's not a new trend, it's a return to an old trend that's long overdue in my opinion. You could call it factory personalization or creative packaging or just a plethora of options, but the important point is that as a new car buyer you can choose from a wider variety of features than have been offered in decades on domestic performance cars (the Europeans have always been good about offering personalization on their performance cars).

The new 2011 Ford Mustang GT is an effective example. It's range of choices goes far beyond navigation, leather and a sunroof. Ford's product planners have introduced a rich and engaging option list, giving Mustang shoppers the ability to tailor a car for their personal tastes.

What's really mind boggling is how the level of equipment options on the latest Mustang still doesn't come close to what you could pick from when ordering a 1970 Dodge Challenger. For example, the new Mustang comes with just two (very good) engine choices. How many engine choices existed for the 1970 Dodge Challenger? Three? Four? Five? Nope. Try nine.

And that's on top of four transmissions, seven distinct Challenger models and 18 exterior colors available in 1970.

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Categories: Dodge, Editors' Personal Cars, Ford, Muscle Car

If that title comes off like the tag line of a 1950's horror flick, good. That's exactly how I feel about exhaust leaks -- the automotive equivalent of horrible monsters! This is ironic because in the grand scheme of automotive issues they aren't a very big deal. They don't impact a car's operation in any way.

And no, you can't die from the type of exhaust leak I'm talking about, which is a small break in the gasket between the engine block and the exhaust header. It's actually quite unlikely to die from any exhaust leaks, unless they somehow cause the fumes to seep into the cabin and you sit stationary in an enclosed space for a long period of time. Most exhaust fumes are simply scattered by the movement of a car going down the road at any pace greater than a brisk walk.

Anyway, I think I hate exhaust leaks because they don't necessarily indicate a rolling pile of junk, but they can make even the most pristine automobile sound like one. If you've watched the movie Christine and remember the scene when Arnie first drives the evil car home the image is supposed to be that of a total rolling wreck. Among the trademark features (beyond the rust, dents and rotting interior) is a prominent exhaust leak that really makes the old Plymouth come off as a pile of...bad stuff.

Well, I don't like my cars to come off as a pile of anything, but my Dodge Challenger R/T has stubbornly emitted an exhaust leak since I purchased four years ago -- despite several repair attempts.

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Categories: Dodge, Editors' Personal Cars, Muscle Car

I could only avoid it for so long. Sooner or later my "Car Guy Talk" had to broach the subject of...(gulp)...Chrysler.

I've owned far too many cars over the past 25 years, and the majority of them have worn the Chrysler Pentastar. Ironically, only one was actually badged a Chrysler -- a 1974 New Yorker I purchased thinking I'd pull the 440 engine and use it in a 1966 Dodge Coronet 500. But I ended up just selling both the Coronet and the New Yorker a few months later when I found a ready-to-rumble 1969 Plymouth GTX. That car was replaced by a 1970 GTX I bought in 1986 and still own today (seen above in a "commercial" project for my 12th grade video class).

So why did I grow up a Mopar man, and what's the deal with Chrysler these days?

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Categories: Chrysler, Dodge, Karl on Cars

Yeah, that's Left Eye, Chili and T-Boz of '90s rap/pop sensation TLC. It's the album cover of their sophomore effort, CrazySexyCool. I happened to catch a song off this album a while back on satellite radio. The title's supposed to reflect the women's different personalities (presumably, Left Eye was the crazy one, Chili was the sexy one and T-Bozwas the cool one).

Got me to thinking about the different personalities of cars, or at least our perceptions of them. So here you have it. My Crazy Sexy Cool Car list. After you've checked mine out, grace us with your very own picks for Crazy, Sexy and Cool, won't you?

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Categories: Aston Martin, Dodge, Rolls-Royce, Weekly Top 3

Okay, the Dodge Tomahawk isn't really a car (though it does have four wheels), and for that matter, nor is it officially a motorcycle (they can only have a maximum of three wheels) but does a concept vehicle get anymore outlandish? 

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Categories: Dodge, Dream Car Corner, Motorcycles

I've owned 10 muscle cars, the first one purchased over a year before I got my driver's license. Officially, my first car was a 1967 Dodge Coronet 500 (in primer gray with no drivetrain), but my first real muscle car was a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. That $200 car had no title, a seized engine and massive rust. We pulled it out of a junkyard with visions of turning it into a street hooligan, but when I found a complete and running 1969 Plymouth GTX I scooped it up and eventually parted out the dilapadated Charger (that car's tic-toc-tach is still spinning in my 1970 GTX's gauge cluster).

So why have I spent a quarter of a century buying, driving and wrenching on muscle cars? In a world rife with far more advanced and capable performance cars (one of which, a Ford GT, sits in my own garage) why do I continue to dabble in pushrods, carburetors and leaf springs?

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Categories: Dodge, Editors' Personal Cars, Muscle Car

Maintaining order in today's society is no small feat, and the frontline soldiers in the battle against anarchy are the men and women in blue that drive their black and whites. While you'll occasionally hear us griping about speed traps and revenue generation, we truly respect and appreciate all they do.

In this vain, we present the latest Face-Off - an homage to the cars (not SWAT vans or battering rams) behind the badges. This installment pits Associate Editor Mark Takahashi's favorite cop car, the current Dodge Charger against Photo Editor Kurt Niebuhr's Chevrolet Camaro B4C. So hop-in, we're in hot pursuit of a winner.

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Categories: Chevrolet, Dodge, Face-Off

If you've been reading my "Karl on Cars" blog entries for any length of time, you already know how I feel about modern vehicles. Essentially, there are no truly "bad" cars today. Sure, there are some subpar cars, but even they aren't truly bad.

(I could Focus on such vehicles, but that would be a low Caliber and unPatriotic approach to this topic, and might annoy people living in Colorado -- or in a Canyon. BTW, Cobalt blue is a nice color).

Anyway, saying there are no truly bad cars isn't news, but I think we've hit another paradigm shift in the last 12 months or so: There are an increasing number of downright great cars.

Sure, the "just fine" part of the graph is still the fattest, but the top part (representing "great cars") is taking on mass and could threaten to topple the whole thing over if things keep going in this direction.

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Categories: BMW, Cadillac, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Karl on Cars, Lexus, Volkswagen