For European motor enthusiasts, American cars, including muscle cars, remain “barges” that can’t keep up with the road. Objects of little value and with an uncertain future for collectors. On the other side of the ocean, however, they don’t think so at all. On the contrary: at the last Mecum Spring Classic auction, a 1970 Dodge Challenger “Black Ghost” in just 8 minutes and 14 seconds saw bids reach $975,000. Adding taxes and auction premium, the Black Ghost cost Florida collector Ryan Snyder an estimated $1,072,500. Just to be clear, a value higher than that of a contemporary Ferrari 365 GTB Daytona.
Sure, we’re talking about a special Challenger, but with a smoky past and with important mechanical changes that have altered its originality. Something little loved by collectors but which did not prevent the car from arriving in the USA at a shocking price. Indeed, the Black Ghost remained a secret in the automotive world until 10 years ago. Then, after being retrieved from a Detroit garage, lightly restored, it was put on display, listed on the National Register of Historic Vehicles, and then transformed into a limited edition modern Dodge Challenger.
But let’s go step by step. It all began in 1969, when Army veteran and Detroit Police officer Godfrey “Dennis” Qualls ordered the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE in a spec that experts said was unique to that year. In fact, Dodge made just 23 Challengers with R/T and Special Edition packages in 1970. Then Godfrey tossed out the original engine — a 383-cubic-inch V8 and stock three-speed transmission — and replaced it with the V8 Hemi. 426-inch (if you are not used to US cars, know that we are talking about a gigantic 7000 cc), with a four-speed manual gearbox and added options such as the Summer Track Pak and the Gator Grain roof. A $5,272.40 modification which however made the Dodge perfect for excelling in the illegal races on Detroit’s Woodward Avenue. Indeed Godfrey “Dennis” Qualls would often win (but never show up, he was a police officer) and then disappear until he returned for another night of racing and winning on the Woodward. This story went on until the end of the seventies. Nobody saw the car outside the races, nobody understood who the driver was, nobody knew where the car went during the day.
Then Godfrey revealed his secret shortly before his death, in 2015, speaking for the first time about the car – it had covered less than 50,000 miles in 45 years – to his son Gregory who started the car again but without restoring it, leaving the patina and paint marks as they were. It wasn’t until he started taking the car to shows that he discovered why the car was so important to the US computer community.
Any European collector would be horrified by such a story. And not only for the type of car, but also for the many modifications made, the non-original engine, the dark past. America, you know, is far away.
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