RUSSEL’S MUSCLE
CHALLENGE AHEAD
Russel Castiglione was a 19-year-old kidfrom North Babylon, New York. It was
1989, and the time had come for Russelto seek out a new daily driver to call his
own. The young gun had plenty of supportaround him to help out with discovery or to
just bounce ideas off of. His brothers, Paul,Joseph, and Matthew, were always nearby
ready to lend a hand and, of course, give
an opinion. So with that piece of mind,Russel set out to find a new ride to hit the
streets with.It was his brother, Joseph, who found the
car that would become Russel’s soon-to-beinfatuation. It was a freshly painted 1972
Challenger that was for sale nearby andready to go to a new owner. At first look,
Joseph figured this was right up his broth-er’s alley. So like a good brother, he let him
know it was there for the taking. Josephand Russel then saddled up and went over
to see what this E-body was all about.Closer inspection found a pretty-used
Challenger that had just had a quick father/son “restoration” done on it. The paint was
fresh, but the 318 was truly tired. Whenthe guys opened up the passenger door, it
dropped 3 inches from a bad door hinge.With this simple fix going untouched, the
brothers could only imagine what else hadbeen overlooked. The drum brakes squealed
so badly on the test run that they couldbarely hear the smoking small-block beg-
ging for a 911 call. They did their best to let62 moparmuscle.com