Interior Installation

The Interior came together within a few months (waiting for parts, delays, etc). The most awkward pieces were the reproduction door panels; the worst product of the entire restoration. The grain of the panels was "so so" but the fit was shocking. We went through 2 sets and in the end needed to use the original B5 Blue door panels. We dyed and restored these and they came out fantastic. For the best results, in my personal opinion, find good or excellent condition factory original panels then dye / restore them.

Some hardcore car folks may have noticed in the body & paint section that I decided to convert the car from the original column shift bucket seat configuration, to a console shift, "Slap-Stik" vehicle. Since a previous owner replaced the original buckets with a bench seat, I now had to find some 1970 Challenger bucket seats. These were found with relative ease which came as quite a surprise. It took around 5 to 6 weeks to locate some decent seat cores off eBay which we re-cored and recovered using Legendary interior pieces from the States. This was sourced prior to needing them so there was no delay to the restoration.

I also sourced a correct 1970 console and Slap-Stik set up from the U.S.A. The main change for the interior was the most expensive one. Changing the B5 Blue interior to black was not a cheap option, but one that I considered a must. White exterior with a bright blue interior would not have worked for me. That colour combo would have been too much of a contrast, especially with all the interior being brand new and shiny. We purchased the following new black items: dash, carpet, headliner, console, sun visors, mouldings, door panels, rear panels, kick panels, the works!

The restoration was temporarily delayed for a month as the carpet we received from Year One in the U.S.A had a hole in it. It was replaced by Year One within 2-3 weeks which was great service but nevertheless, time consuming. The Console, Harms Tilt-Pistol Grip shifter, seats and frames etc were fitted in quick succession so it was a very exciting time indeed. We also purchased quite a few NOS parts like door handles, mirrors, dash parts, power window switches, tuff steering wheel, etc. NOS = "new old stock" which in layman's terms means it's brand new in box parts made back when the cars were new. For classic car guys and restoration, this stuff is pure gold.

While these cars were well made and solid, to me, they have many items that could have been done better, as you'd expect from a car manufactured 50+ years ago (2020) and it goes for any classic car brand. Mopar muscle cars were shoved out the door with all the attention on the big engines, drivetrain and speed items. "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" was their drag racing and NASCAR slogan, so things like the interior were lacking in a little attention to detail. 

Wherever possible, these were replaced with modern pieces such as new electronic ignition, modern shocks, distributor, alternator, CD player, etc. The goal was to have a factory appearing car that used the best parts from then and today. Something I feel we certainly accomplished. We took this several steps forward with the eventual Hemi conversion with removing the bulky AC unit, weight reduction and adding components like the 3-link adjustable rear suspensions, 4 x disc brakes, electronic fuel injection with lap top tuning, racing gauges, etc.