Nick Panaritis rebuilt a 426 Hemi before he had a Challenger to put it in — then found a 1970 T/A instead, a genuinely rare factory homologation car built around a 340/6-barrel, not a Hemi. Commenters cite a possible Canadian-market history of roughly 115 T/As, correct a popular Vanishing Point myth, and mostly land on the same verdict: keep this one original. So does the freshly rebuilt Hemi get left without a home, or is there a smarter compromise hiding in the comments?
Nick Panaritis just found the exact 1970 Dodge Challenger he’d been hunting for — except it’s not the car he built his plan around. He’d already rebuilt a 426 Hemi with nowhere to live and fully intended to drop it into whatever ’70 Challenger he tracked down next. Then the car he actually found turned out to be an original T/A, one of a genuinely limited run, and now he’s facing a decision that’s split his own comment section right down the middle. Keep the car exactly as Dodge built it, or turn it into the Hemi-powered machine he originally set out to create? Commenters have strong opinions, and at least one points out a popular movie reference that doesn’t actually support either side. What would you do with a numbers-matching rarity and an engine that doesn’t belong in it?
A Rebuilt 426 Hemi Looking for a Home, and a Challenger That Wasn’t Supposed to Be the One
The setup here is almost a classic car-guy dilemma in miniature. Nick Panaritis had already rebuilt a 426 Hemi before he had a car to put it in, fully expecting to drop it into whatever 1970 Dodge Challenger he eventually tracked down. The Challenger he found instead wasn’t a blank canvas — it’s an original T/A, a genuinely distinct factory package rather than a standard Challenger that happens to share the same year. That distinction is the entire tension driving both the video and its comment section: stay true to what Dodge actually built, or use the opportunity to construct, in the video’s own words, ‘a one-of-none dream machine.’ Nick opens the floor to his audience directly, asking for input rather than presenting a decision already made, which is exactly why the comments read less like casual reactions and more like a genuine, split debate among people who clearly know this specific corner of the Mopar world well.
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What Actually Makes a Challenger T/A a T/A
The Challenger T/A wasn’t just a trim level — it was Dodge’s homologation package built specifically to satisfy SCCA Trans-Am racing requirements, and it came with a very particular formula to make that happen. Rather than the 426 Hemi, T/A models were built around a specially prepared 340 small block fed by three two-barrel carburetors, a setup commenters refer to as the ‘340/6’ shorthand. That six-barrel 340 was tuned for the kind of high-revving, balanced handling character Trans-Am racing demanded, paired with a fiberglass hood, side-exit exhaust, and a distinctive matte-black hood treatment that visually set the T/A apart from a standard Challenger R/T. One commenter captures the whole argument in a single line: ‘The T/A was such a balanced package and the 340 is so fast, it would be a shame not to keep it totally original.’ It’s a reminder that the T/A’s identity was never really about peak horsepower at all — it was about a specific, purpose-built balance the Hemi was never part of.
Roughly 115 Reasons This Might Be a Canadian Car
One of the more specific and genuinely interesting details buried in the comments concerns exactly how rare this particular Challenger might be. ‘Back in 1970 about 115 T/A’s were shipped to Canada,’ one commenter notes, adding that if Nick’s car is one of those Canadian-market examples, keeping it original isn’t just a preference, it’s practically an obligation — ‘this is a no brainer, KEEP IT ORIGINAL.’ Another commenter separately flags the paint as ‘a very rare color for that car,’ stacking a second layer of scarcity on top of the first. Between a genuinely small export run and an unusual factory color, the case for leaving this specific Challenger alone gets considerably stronger than it would for a more common example. Rarity arguments like these carry real weight in the muscle car world precisely because they’re often irreversible — a Hemi swap can always happen to some other, more replaceable Challenger, but an original, documented, low-production T/A can’t be un-modified once it’s changed.
The Vanishing Point Myth Commenters Keep Correcting
More than one commenter reaches for the same pop culture reference and then immediately corrects it: the 1971 film Vanishing Point, whose white Challenger is one of the most recognizable Mopars in movie history. But as one viewer points out, that film car was actually powered by a 440 Magnum, not a Hemi at all — which undercuts any argument that installing a 426 into this T/A would somehow be honoring that specific cinematic legacy. It’s a small but genuinely useful correction, since Hemi swaps into Challengers are sometimes justified by exactly that kind of movie-car logic. Strip that justification away, and the decision facing Nick comes back down to what’s actually documented about this specific car rather than what fictional Challenger it might evoke. For a channel built around real mechanical work rather than movie-inspired builds, getting that detail right in the comments matters more than it might on a less detail-oriented corner of YouTube.
The Case for Leaving the 340 Exactly Where It Is
Several commenters land on essentially the same practical suggestion, phrased slightly differently each time: keep the T/A’s original 340/6 combination intact, and find a different, less historically significant 1970 Challenger — ideally one that’s already missing its original engine — to become the home for the freshly rebuilt Hemi. One viewer lays out the plan almost step by step: get the T/A running, put it on the dyno to verify what it’s actually making, restore it to correct original specification, and separately hunt down a donor Challenger that needs an engine anyway. That approach solves both halves of Nick’s dilemma at once — it preserves a rare, documented car exactly as built while still giving the Hemi a legitimate home, rather than forcing a choice between the two. It’s the kind of compromise that only works because Nick’s situation happens to include two separate problems that can be solved independently, once someone points it out.
A Compromise Nobody Asked For but Several Commenters Landed On
Underneath all the specific advice about engines and colors sits a broader argument several commenters make explicitly: the muscle car hobby has plenty of Hemi-swapped replica Challengers already, and comparatively few surviving, unmolested original T/As. ‘The world needs more original T/A’s, not another replica clone,’ one viewer writes, framing the decision as bigger than just Nick’s personal preference — treating it almost as a preservation responsibility given how few genuine, documented examples remain compared to how easy it’s become to build a convincing clone from a common Challenger and a crate Hemi. That argument doesn’t dismiss the appeal of a Hemi-powered Challenger; it just insists that appeal is better satisfied by literally any other 1970 Challenger than by one of the roughly 2,400 T/As Dodge actually built that year. It’s a values-driven argument as much as a mechanical one, and it’s clearly landed with a meaningful share of Nick’s audience.
Original Versus Clone: The Debate That Follows Every Hemi Swap
What makes this video worth revisiting isn’t a definitive answer — Nick leaves the decision open, and the comments never fully converge on one path. What they do converge on is the underlying respect for what a genuine T/A actually represents: a homologation special built for a specific racing series, sold in genuinely limited numbers, and increasingly hard to find in unmolested, original condition. Whether Nick ultimately keeps the 340/6 combination intact, finds a donor car for his Hemi, or does something else entirely, the comment section has already made its case with unusual clarity for a YouTube audience — rarity, documentation, and originality outweigh the appeal of building ‘a one-of-none dream machine’ out of a car that’s already one of relatively few of its kind still on the road.
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This guy has great videos on YouTube.
If it’s original, I wouldn’t touch it.
That car you keep original. It’s a one year only model. And my favorite car too.
Keep it numbers matching.
Stay original!
Yea keep it original. Put that Hemi. In a 64 Superstock clone. And leave the line wheeles up.
Yes keep it original
Original definitely
Leave it!
The T/A was a nimble machine due to the relatively light weight of the 340. You may sacrifice that with a hemi.
Original
Awesome
Stay original
Keep it real
Original
Build the 340 use the hemi for something else
keep the original, find a basic 70 challenger for the hemi
D do what the fuck you want to. It! It’s your car, your money and you’ll have to drive it!
Keep it a real TA..but obviously he can do what he likes..if he has the $..
Either way, nice value ride
Restore it as original and find another 70 Challenger RT with a 383 and toss that boat anchor and put the 426 Hemi in that!
The value would probably go up with 426. Keep original motor in corner of garage.
I’d restore it to original. Get a base model to make a one of none into
It’s yours build your way make that a wolf in sheep’s clothing
I had a 73′ R/T 340 and it had the 440 in it best damn car Ever
Original every time
Restore it with the 340 Six Pack that it is supposed to have leave the butchery to a car that isn’t rare !
This hobby is about building what you want not what the so called experts tell you to do
Do what feels right to you.I know what I’d put a blower on it.
Don’t screw up an original find like that. Leave it original.
Keep it original
If you own the car it’s your rules. Do what you want!
Build your dream brother , you only live once . I would keep all the original equipment for the car if you ever want to set her back to factory specs . That way you have the best of both worlds . She would rocknroll with a 426 my friend !!
Both.
Pull the original engine.
Rebuild it close as possible to NOS condition from the bellhousing to the harmonic balancer.
Then properly seal it up, then crate and store it. Worth its mass in gold.
Next build a blueprinted modern spec engine and go hog wild.
Drop that in under the original hood. And have fun trolling everyone.
Done & done.
Wow that’s some good information too bad Mike took himself off my Facebook page you might appreciate this
don’t fuck a rare car….sell it and buy another one to put that in.
Stock is worth more.
Rebuild the T/A worth more in the end find another to build your dream
No.