Dodge Challenger Special

Dodge Challenger Special was built by Frua in 1970, with Pietro Frua responsible for its design. The car began as a Dodge R/T SE 383 Challenger. Dr. Alfred Schäfer, a director of Schweizer Bankgesellschaft, commissioned the project with Walter Haefner, a Swiss entrepreneur and Chrysler importer. Schäfer and Haefner were friends, and their collaboration led to the conversion of a standard Challenger into this special car. Frua fitted an Italian body and incorporated European car components.

The project followed a meeting in Turin between the commissioners and Frua. Schäfer and Haefner narrowly escaped a plane mishap while returning from that meeting, an incident that nearly stopped completion of the Challenger. The finished car retained its Dodge R/T SE 383 basis beneath the Frua body. Its specification combined Challenger mechanical hardware, an Italian-built exterior and European components. The car was completed in 1970.

The Dodge base gave the Special its starting point, while the Frua work transformed the exterior and altered the car’s equipment. Pietro Frua designed the body for the commission, and Frua built it around the R/T SE 383 Challenger. Schäfer and Haefner commissioned a car outside Dodge’s regular production form, with an Italian body fitted to the American donor vehicle. The resulting Special brought the two elements together in a single 1970 car.

In 1977, the Challenger passed into the care of Nicolas Leutwiler Zumikon. Although only seven years old, it underwent a comprehensive restoration. The interior received white cream leather. Black chrome was applied to the radiator grille, the bumper overriders were removed, and wire wheels replaced the originals.

The restored Dodge Challenger Special was shown at the 2007 Villa d’Este event, the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este. The car’s recorded later specification retained the white cream leather interior, black-chrome grille treatment, deleted bumper overriders and wire wheels introduced during the 1977 restoration.