Challenger

That's a fair point jimbo, but I think the OP was referring to UK market prices. Bear in mind, Mopars are pretty damn rare here! To import on US prices does look tempting, but as many importers have found out in the past, these cars are just bloody dangerous on our roads. It's not the cars fault, it's just the quality of our road surfaces which isn't great...especially with a couple of tonnes of Detroit's best and leafs on each corner! and if you live out in the sticks, a distinct lack of room to play with. Imagine trying to drive a school bus around the schools halls...you'll get the idea! They just weren't built for our roads.

What more and more people are doing now is taking their classics to specialists and spending a small fortune having bespoke parts made to bring the car to a standard where it is more usable on our roads. This doesn't mean going all Chip Foose on it, or throwing some modern Spax and Brembo's on the sucker. For example, what they do is strip down say a shock absorber. They then retro engineer it and build a new one, from scratch but to the original design specifications as closely as possible. They engineer it to a set up which makes the car more stupidly twisty road friendly though. The thing is, it's hard to do this without changing ride heights or just how the car originally rode without throwing some serious wonga at it! But then, who wants a snarling Mopar that you can't take over 30 for fear of climbing a tree? And the best bit is that because so little is changed, all the original parts are retained and can be fitted straight back on, so we get the best of both worlds!

One example I can think of is a journalist who writes for The Guardian (UK newspaper) who did an article in their Sunday magazine about a 390GT Shelby Fastback that he bought for a typical price for a good, usable example and had it imported. Once here, he found that even a Mustang was a bit too lairy to enjoy properly and because of the poor quality of the roads, became too unpredictable when he gave it the treacle. He took it into one of these specialist shops to see what could be done (ended up having a complete rebuild...it wasn't as Californian as it had perhaps been described) and ended up spending £200,000 ($350,000) JUST on having bespoke custom parts made to keep it as original as possible.

These cars are VERY desirable here and it is a rapidly growing market. We know that to change the originality in anyway is a shame at best, but we're a nation of petrol heads! The more eccentric amongst us don't mind spending a few bob to get these cars to a set up where they can be driven properly without ruining it. After all, that's what they were built for.

When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.