I first saw this car when I was in high school. It was parked at a guy’s house that doubled as the local junkyard (READ: he had a yard full of junk). This was back in the early ’80s and he wanted $1500 for it. Way out of my price range, so I didn’t even make an offer. A few years later I stopped by to check on it, and it was slowly sinking into the mud; but it still had some life left in it. I had $750 CASH in my hand, but he turned me down flatly. A few more years go by and I stop by to check on it again, but this time was different. What you see is what I got, for a whopping $40.

1971 Challenger R/T, 383 Magnum, 3 speed stick, Plum Crazy Purple, black interior. Upon further inspection, I’m glad I did not pay any more for it. It had been wrecked on 3 sides much earlier in it’s life and the welds were rusting apart. I parted it out and gave the rest a proper funeral.

The fendertag was a rectangular pile of rust and when I blew on it, the pile completely blew away. I drug the engine and a bunch of parts to the swap meet. There were several guys interested in the engine but were hesitant about the $150 price. Finally one guy asked if I’d take $100 and I said YES!, but with the condition that he get it out of my truck right-the-fuck-now. He brought his truck over, we slid the engine from my truck to his, he paid me, and off he went. Later that day, all of the guys who were hesitant stopped by and were disheartened that they had missed the engine for $100. Hey, you snooze, you loose! The front fenders were too rough to sell so I gave them to a guy who wanted to use them for patch panels. The rear end was used to make a small trailer for my friend, Pat, who had a tiny hydroplane boat. I saved the flywheel and it eventually helped complete my 1969 SuperBee.