These Tenacious Texans Manage To Pull Two Classic Mopars Out From Their Rural Graveyards.

Sometimes, even the most ardent auto fans can’t wait to become archaeologists whenever they come across classic cars in a barn find. Perhaps a landscape strewn with what used to be Detroit’s finest. That enthusiasm for discovering a muscle car that dominated the blacktops of yesteryear, tends to percolate into an adventure worth documenting on YouTube. As was the case with the folks from the Heart of Texas Barn Finds and Classics channel in an April video. While restoring any rusted icons would generate a lot of eyeball traffic, rescuing an abandoned 1973 Roadrunner and a legendary first-generation 1970 Challenger RT certainly qualifies as an adventure in itself.

Plymouth Roadrunner Missing A 440 V-8

The episode started with the crew heading down to a mutual friend’s spread somewhere in central Texas, where they came across a massive layout of relic four-wheelers. One of them had already decided to take a Chevy Impala, a Dodge Duster, a couple of AMX cars, and a few International Scouts. But he believed he scored a real find when he came across a white, rust-freckled 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner 440 GTX. It was poking out from some foliage, with a piece of aluminum siding covering up a busted windshield. Given that his discovery wasn’t entirely swallowed up by its organic surroundings, he deduced it wouldn’t be a difficult task to pull the Roadrunner out.

Curious about what powered this Plymouth, he pulled off the siding and popped open the hood. Save for the cover of the air cleaning unit, the engine was missing. What remained, however, convinced the crewman that it ran on a 440 cubic-inch V-8 from the factory that boasted 375 horsepower, common for a motor that size among GTX cars during their prime. The good news is that the lack of an engine made the vehicle lighter and easier to tow once folks reinflated the tires. “There’s a wheel, there’s a way,” someone commented when the bulldozer easily extracted the Roadrunner from the wild.

The Challenger Blows A Tire

With someone walking alongside to steer the Roadrunner on its way to a flatbed, the bulldozer had to make a few fancy turns here and there as it wove through the trees. At one point, the individual handling the Roadrunner’s steering wheel almost ripped the side fender off while trying to negotiate a hard right turn, but the car managed to get through the obstacle course without suffering any further damage. Once the relic reached the flatbed, it was a matter of removing the chains attaching it to the bulldozer, repositioning the car for the final segment of its salvage journey.

The crew also had eyes on a brown 1970 Dodge Challenger RT located by a shack on the premises. But while prepping the car for relocation, the right rear tire exploded when one person tried to inflate it. “Sounded like a gunshot,” noted one observer as another person started inflating the right front tire, “Let’s see if this one will blow up in your face,” he added.

This Dodge Came With A Few Problems

It looked like the Challenger would live up to its name, as it provided the crew with a more daunting task when it came to moving the vehicle, which had no back bumper to handle a towing chain. Also obstructing the bulldozer’s path was a pile of aluminum siding, which folks managed to move out of the way, piece by piece. Meanwhile, the crew had a heck of a time opening the door and window to get access to the steering wheel to help maneuver the Challenger once salvage began.

With the towing chain finally attached to the undercarriage, the bulldozer slowly backed the Challenger out of its current resting spot. One crewman periodically checked under the vehicle to ensure the chain held. “This will give us a little bit of trouble, but ain’t too much,” he said, while the bulldozer repositioned itself between turns. But once the Challenger reached level ground and is almost clear of all the trees, someone noticed that the right rear wheel with the exploded tire wasn’t turning. That’s making life interesting for the crew. “It’ll be a convertible by the time we get back to the house,” noted one crew member.

Dodge Challenger’s One Tough Flatbed Load

That stuck rear wheel dug an endless rut into the ground on its way to the flatbed, making it difficult to line up with the ramp. Even with a winch, another person had to push the Challenger up the ramp. Once it finally reached the flatbed, a debate ensued that the Challenger was still too far back, until one person reassured the crew, “I don’t think it’ll roll forward because that tire’s locked up so if that’s where you want it, let’s strap down the back.” With all that effort, the lads still planned to roll out more cars the next day.