1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE Special Edition with a 426 Hemi

Very few 1970 Dodge Challengers left the factory with both the 426 Hemi and the upscale RT/SE Special Edition package — and this one has been fully restored by a specialist shop in Iowa. Restorer Tim Wilhelm walks through exactly what makes the car unique ahead of a Mecum Auction preview. Watch to find out what one sharp-eyed viewer says is the only thing this Hemi Challenger is still missing.

Only a fraction of 1970 Dodge Challengers ever left the factory with the 426 Hemi under the hood, and fewer still combined it with the RT/SE Special Edition’s specific option list. So when a car matching both of those descriptions turns up freshly restored at a Mecum Auction preview, it does not just draw a crowd, it draws a very specific kind of scrutiny from people who know exactly how rare that combination actually is. One commenter watching the walkthrough put it bluntly: there is only one thing this car is missing, and it is not something most viewers would even think to check.

What the RT/SE Designation Actually Adds

Dodge’s RT/SE Special Edition package layered additional interior and trim upgrades on top of the standard RT performance package, giving buyers a Challenger that combined serious factory performance with a noticeably more upscale cabin than the base RT, a combination that appealed to buyers who wanted muscle car performance without sacrificing daily comfort behind the wheel every time they drove it.

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The 426 Hemi’s Rarity in the Challenger Lineup

The 426 Hemi was Chrysler’s flagship performance engine throughout the muscle car era, and it remained a low-volume option across the entire Challenger lineup in 1970 due to its high cost and demanding maintenance requirements, meaning any surviving factory Hemi Challenger, let alone one specced with the RT/SE package, represents a small fraction of total 1970 production numbers still on the road today.

Restorer Tim Wilhelm’s Work on This Car

This particular Challenger’s restoration was handled by Tim Wilhelm of AutoTech Restorations Inc. in Dyersville, Iowa, who walked through the car’s details, uniqueness, and history directly with the video’s host at a Mecum Auction preview event in Schaumburg, Illinois, giving viewers a rare direct line to the person responsible for bringing the car back to its current, show-ready condition.

What Pistol Grip Means to Mopar Fans

One viewer comment jokes that the car is missing only its pistol grip shifter, a reference to Chrysler’s distinctive pistol-grip-shaped manual shifter handle offered on high-performance Mopar models of the era, a small detail, but one that longtime Mopar collectors treat as an essential visual and functional signature of a genuinely optioned performance car from this specific period of Dodge and Plymouth production.

The Mecum Auction Preview Circuit

Mecum Auctions regularly stages preview events across the country ahead of its major sales, giving collectors and enthusiasts a chance to inspect high-value consignments like this Challenger up close before bidding begins, and appearances on channels like My Car Story with Lou Costabile give cars additional visibility to a national audience well beyond whoever attends the physical preview event in person.

Why Viewers Call It a Dream Car Despite a Single Dislike

One commenter specifically points out their surprise that the video has even a single dislike given how well-restored and desirable the car is, a small but telling detail that reflects just how positively the muscle car community has responded to seeing this specific Hemi RT/SE brought back to this level of condition and presented publicly at a major auction house preview.

What a Restored Hemi RT/SE Represents Today

Between the 426 Hemi’s rarity, the RT/SE’s upscale option list, and a documented professional restoration, this Challenger checks nearly every box collectors look for in a modern muscle car investment, which is exactly why a car this specific draws direct commentary from a certified restorer, an auction house, and a comments section full of people who clearly know precisely what they are looking at.

A restoration shop as far from Detroit as Dyersville, Iowa, taking on a car this significant says something about how widely the specialist knowledge required to correctly restore a numbers-matching Hemi Challenger has spread well beyond the traditional muscle car hotbeds, with serious restoration talent now scattered across the country rather than concentrated in a handful of well-known regional shops.

Chrysler’s insurance-conscious dealers in 1970 actively discouraged some buyers from ordering the 426 Hemi at all, steering them toward the still-potent but cheaper-to-insure 440 Six Pack instead, which is part of why genuine Hemi RT/SE Challengers remained rare even relative to already-limited RT production overall, and why survivors carry such a significant premium over their 440-powered stablemates in today’s collector market.

The RT/SE trim was only offered for a short window in the Challenger’s early production years before Dodge moved away from the designation, adding a further layer of scarcity on top of the Hemi engine option alone, since buyers seeking this exact interior and trim combination had only a narrow window to place their order before the package changed.

Mecum’s preview circuit exists specifically to let cars like this build buyer interest before they ever cross the auction block, and a well-documented restoration with a named shop and a clear ownership story typically commands stronger bidding than a comparable car with a murkier history, since serious bidders on a six-figure Hemi Challenger want a verifiable paper trail behind the paint just as much as they want the correct numbers-matching drivetrain underneath it.

Every detail Wilhelm walked through on camera, from the correct trim badging to the drivetrain specifics, exists to build exactly that kind of verifiable trail for whoever ends up bidding on the car once it reaches the block.

That is precisely the kind of documentation a car this rare deserves, and precisely what keeps a comments section full of Mopar experts satisfied rather than skeptical.

A car this well documented rarely stays quiet for long once it actually crosses the auction block, and this one has already given the muscle car community plenty to talk about before the hammer ever falls.

Whoever wins the bidding will be taking home a lot more than a restored Challenger, they will be taking home a documented piece of Mopar’s most storied performance era.

A car with this much documentation behind it rarely needs to say much for itself once the story is told, and this Hemi RT/SE has earned every bit of the attention it continues to draw at events like this one.

Watch the full video and tell us what you think, comments are open below.

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