Ok, it wasn't exactly this car. Inexplicably I can't find one single picture of my Challenger anywhere in my stuff.
Ok, OK. It wasn't even this model. You can tell because of the passenger side mirror.
Anyway, enough of the interruptions. Can I finish my story?
I love this car. At one point it had shark teeth, Flying Tiger style. At one point it had a Batman logo on the driver side door. Then the Principal of Regent College drove it for a year and asked if he could paint it, so it became British Racing Green.
At some point the original 383 motor blew and a 440 was installed. Didn't run any better but it did get worse gas mileage.
Skip forward twenty eight years. Over the years various people crashed into me, causing damage that I was or wasn't able to fix depending on their car insurance and my financial state. The transmission had started to slip and the engine was burning oil. One day my wife pulls up in front of my work, comes in and says "Honey, the car is making a funny noise". Apparently women find loud knocking noises funny. Who knew?
Shut it off, tow it home, there it sits. I love this car. Coolest car I ever owned. After one Dodge, I am a committed Mopar man. I will fix the motor. I am a mechanic, I can do that.
Sort of expensive though. One year follows another. The tires rot. The headliner collapses. The seats start cracking and falling apart. I keep thinking, "One day I will restore this car. I really love it."
Last week I gave in to the inevitable. It ain't gonna happen. I don't have a shop, I don't have the tools, I don't have the money, and I don't have the time to do a full restoration on an old classic.
Today my baby went away.
The good news is that the new owner loves Challengers, has a fully restored Barracuda sitting in his garage, and is committed to fixing her up. NO SCRAPYARD for my baby.
Someday, maybe, I will buy one that has been maintained properly and never sat in the back yard of someone's house for fifteen years. It will run and just need minor work to clean it up and make it really nice. I will do that because that is something I can realistically do. I can dream, can't I?
2 comments:
Up until a few years ago I owned a 67 Cuda, Root Beer Brown. I put a 440 big block in it which meant I had to change out the headers as they were barbecuing the brake boosters.
Cool Car.
And as to the flying, I'm cryptic for a reason. Few women did what I did. but Lord it was fun.
B.
They did have the "coolest" colors back then, didn't they? Who thought "Let's build a sporty fast car and paint it in a really ugly color? Root beer brown, dark metallic gold? Yeah, that's what sporty people want!" :)
Thanks for the update on your flying career. Makes sense to want to keep that privacy. I'm enjoying your blog and will keep checking it out.
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