Mopar Muscle – October 2019

Russel know this car would probably

be best avoided at all cost.

But Russel didn’t want to hear it. All he

saw was this brazen, retina-burning, sleek

E-body sitting in front of him. “The girls

are gonna love it,” was his reasoning to

his brothers for wanting to buy it. It was a

done deal in Russel’s mind, and the broth-

ers couldn’t turn him. The Challenger was

definitely coming home with them. For

$1,800, Russel received what he paid for,

and he was fine with that. “It’s yellow, it’s

bad, and its mine,” was his battle cry.

As soon as the Challenger hit the pave-

ment at the Castiglione house, Russel was

elbows deep into it. He fixed what he could

and drove the car as much as humanly

possible. When something broke, he fixed

it and carried on. But soon, the depraved

318 would finally give out, and Russel

needed backup. A 1968 Satellite gave up

its 383 powerplant for the project, and the

motor was quickly infused into the needy

Challenger. It was an immediate improve-

ment to the E-body, but as one thing got

fixed, another part was ready for extraction.

Just as he got the engine swap finished

and ready to hit the pavement, tragedy

struck. On August 5, 1990, Russel sadly

passed away without warning, just five

days shy of his 21st birthday. It was

a devastating blow to family, friends, and

to anyone who had ever come into contact

with Russel.

In the weeks that followed, the fam-

ily had decisions to make. They decided

for now not to sell Russel’s Challenger.

Instead, they put it in storage to decide

its fate later on when things moved toward

equilibrium in their upturned lives. That

would take several years, as the question

of what to do with the Challenger was

never answered.

PAUL’S IDEA

Big brother Paul was a steadfast muscle-

car guy. Over the years, he had owned

several hot rides, which in turn made his

brothers retaliate and keep up with him on

the streets. “I had a ’71 Z28, and Joseph

had a ’69 Z as well. That’s what pushed

Russel to find the Challenger,” Paul says.

There was friendly family competition on

the streets; each brother wanting to show

off his own piece of Detroit steel.

Paul had thoughts about restoring

Russel’s Challenger over the years, but

with family life and a time-demanding job,

the opportunity never arose. But after a

dozen years in storage, things were about

to change for this E-body.

“After 12 years in storage, I decided to

pull the car out. It was 2002, and I felt

I could give the car the time it needed,”

Paul says. So he and his son, Paulie, made

MOPAR MUSCLE OCTOBER 2019 63