$975,000 for Black Ghost

[WileE]

Yep, V code. The story according to Jerry….. I was just out of Vietnam, and this was my first car. I wanted a 383 4 speed Roadrunner, and I went and sat in every Roadrunner on the lot thst day, but I couldn’t get my fat *** in those damn bucket seats. Then, all the way back at the back of the lot I saw this car, I sat down in that bench seat and grabbed that big shifter and said “where do I sign”? The salesman said “this car isn’t what you think it is and opened the hood”, when I saw that motor I said “I’ll take it”!

This car sat on the lot for almost 5 months before Jerry bought it, it had 14” whitewall tires, dog dish hubcaps, no striping of any kind, and it was not an ordered car. Nobody knew what it was, it even has the 383 callouts on the hood insert, and no 6bbl stickers on the hood, which were standard when the 6bbl was present. It was a factory sleeper car, and he left it just the way it was. He was a foreman at the Chevy spring plant in Livonia, and it was his daily driver. It’s a pretty unique car, and I love it just the way it is. And yes, those are the original dog dish, still in place after all these years.

Great story. Your car looks exactly like my brother-in-laws friend had back in the day, except a 383. I asked him why he left the hub caps on, instead of installing mags like everyone else. He said he peeled off the road runner decal on the fender so everyone would think it was a plain belvedere at the stop-light

 

[68BabyBlue]

Great story. Your car looks exactly like my brother-in-laws friend had back in the day, except a 383. I asked him why he left the hub caps on, instead of installing mags like everyone else. He said he peeled off the road runner decal on the fender so everyone would think it was a plain belvedere at the stop-light

My friend Bob did the almost the same thing with Baby Blue back in the day, leaving the original full wheel covers in place, and replacing the 440 hood call outs with a set of blanks that his dad custom made for him in the machine shop where he worked. But he told me years later that he would have just gone with magnum 500s, but he couldn't afford them, so he took the sleeper approach.

 

[padam]

It doesn’t make any sense for people to fault someone for getting the maximum amount for something they are selling.
Not for what is essentially an investment grade luxury item anyway (something that is a survival item, debatable . )
Anything else is charity.

 

[icetech]

Yeah, i don't understand why either of those cars brought near the money they did

 

[68BabyBlue]

It doesn’t make any sense for people to fault someone for getting the maximum amount for something they are selling.
Not for what is essentially an investment grade luxury item anyway (something that is a survival item, debatable . )
Anything else is charity.

Much smaller numbers, but 25 years ago, I took my third GTX to a local show with a car sale corral. The car was a nice, numbers matching, documented one previous owner for 22 years, and was completely original except for one re-paint. I put a $13,000 ask on the windshield. A younger guy from the local Mopar club, of which I was a member, got in my face and told me that old guys like me (I was 45 at the time) were ruining the hobby by driving prices up. I didn't think it was funny at the time, but looking at the Ghost numbers, it seems kind of amusing now.

 

[slimt]

So the whole story of the Challenger was bullshit? A Million does not last long in todays world .

 

[padam]

Much smaller numbers, but 25 years ago, I took my third GTX to a local show with a car sale corral. The car was a nice, numbers matching, documented one previous owner for 22 years, and was completely original except for one re-paint. I put a $13,000 ask on the windshield. A younger guy from the local Mopar club, of which I was a member, got in my face and told me that old guys like me (I was 45 at the time) were ruining the hobby by driving prices up. I didn't think it was funny at the time, but looking at the Ghost numbers, it seems kind of amusing now.

Exactly. He expected you to be charitable, in this case to “the hobby.” In reality, he hopes that the charity of people like you will allow him to buy a toy for less money.

While we are at it, I propose that almost all charity involves a certain amount of fraud, or profit motive.

 

[SlingLow]

A seller can't 'drive the price up'. He can only ask too much. Nobody can force the dollars out of another's wallet into yours. The buyer has all the power and is therefore responsible for 'driving the prices up'.

 

[chargervert]

So the whole story of the Challenger was bullshit? A Million does not last long in todays world .

I bet the kids dad took the Challenger out a few times and beat up on some lesser muscle cars from time to time,but the fairy tales that a stock mid 13 second Hemi Challenger was out there beating the heavy hitters that were on the edge of breaking into the 9s and then disappearing into the night are completely embellished to the nines!

 

[padam]

I bet the kids dad took the Challenger out a few times and beat up on some lesser muscle cars from time to time,but the fairy tales that a stock mid 13 second Hemi Challenger was out there beating the heavy hitters that were on the edge of breaking into the 9s and then disappearing into the night are completely embellished to the nines!

A car guy embellished a story?
What’s next, lying politicians?

 

[chargervert]

A seller can't 'drive the price up'. He can only ask too much. Nobody can force the dollars out of another's wallet into yours. The buyer has all the power and is therefore responsible for 'driving the prices up'.

As Tony states,the kid made the stars align, everyone bought the tale,and big time corporate entities pushed the narrative, resulting in a huge payday for the kid.

 

[SlingLow]

A car guy embellished a story?
What’s next, lying politicians?

I really wish we had a 'now that's some funny **** right there' button!

 

[chargervert]

A car guy embellished a story?
What’s next, lying politicians?

Now every car of significance will have an accompanying BS story to increase it's value on the block!

 

[padam]

A car guy embellished a story?
What’s next, lying politicians?

I wish I had a dollar for every “buddy’s dad’s brothers cousin’s “ street car (Camaro or hemi) that can pull the wheels in any gear or light the tires at highway speeds.

 

[patrick66]

About cop caps/poverty caps/dog dishes/WTF you wanna call them - They were what came with a car, unless you stated what wheel cover or wheel option you checked off. Generally speaking (prior to the 1973MY), if you had body-colored wheels, you had the caps. If you had BLACK wheels, you had wheel covers. Of course, a black car could've been caps or covers!

I agree with much of Uncle's points in his YT screed.

As for my little collection - my plans are to sell before I assume room temperature. My older son has a very nice '76 Buick that he has driven once in two years. It sits in my shop, very well-protected. I keep it fueled and cared for, as I DO drive it on occasion. My younger son likes my Coronet, but has precious little mechanical prowess, much to my chagrin; and frankly, wouldn't be able to care for any of them properly. My wife doesn't want to drive or even ride in any of them, and is very ambivalent towards the whole thing.

Plus, I want to do a few things before I expire, whenever that time might be. I just got back from an Alaska cruise with my oldest brother that, quite frankly, I wished I had done 20 years ago.

 

[chargervert]

I already started writing the fictional BS story for my V code Charger R//T so I can cash out big time when it rolls across the block! My 70 Sixpack Charger R/T was once owned by Frank Sinatra and he raced it on the Vegas strip every Saturday night! He beat Mean Dean Martin in his Shelby KR 500,and Gear Slamming Sammy Davis Jr in his COPO Camaro! He beat everyone on the Vegas strip with the car! He won so many races that he wanted to change the name of his song to "I beat your *** my way "! The reason the story of these street racing celebrities is not very well known is that anyone who talked about it went swimming with the fishes with a 440 engine block chained around there neck! Whose next!

 

[chargervert]

About cop caps/poverty caps/dog dishes/WTF you wanna call them - They were what came with a car, unless you stated what wheel cover or wheel option you checked off. Generally speaking (prior to the 1973MY), if you had body-colored wheels, you had the caps. If you had BLACK wheels, you had wheel covers.

My parents bought their Charger R/T SE brand new in 1970,and I was at the dealer many times and the only cars I saw the dog dish hubcaps on were cop cars,taxi cabs and the occasional 4 door Dart. I never saw them on a muscle car.

 

[patrick66]

My parents bought their Charger R/T SE brand new in 1970,and I was at the dealer many times and the only cars I saw the dog dish hubcaps on were cop cars,taxi cabs and the occasional 4 door Dart. I never saw them on a muscle car.

They were definitely there, and as I stated. I was around these new, too. Of course, the dealer wants to up-sell as much as possible, and likely changed wheels or wheel covers to dress up the display cars, and add to the price. But off the transport...! If you had an orange car with black wheels, the covers were in the trunk. Orange wheels? The cops were back there.

 

[chargervert]

My brother in law bought his V code Challenger R/T from the original owner in 1974. It had Cragar S/S wheels on it with Polyglass tires on them. The guy had the full set of 15 inch rallye wheels and tires that came on the car. He said you can take those too for another $100.00. My brother in law declined the offer for the wheels! $1500.00 to buy the car was all he could afford at the time.

 

[SlingLow]

Whose next!

This one actually happened.

I snuck Steve McQueen into the drive-in theater in the trunk of my 65 Coronet to watch Beach Blanket Bingo. When I got back from the concession stand, Steve had commandeered my car and was drifting it in circles around the merry-go-round! The cops were apparently called and when they hit the scene, Steve backed up into the corner and launched directly toward the teeter totter and hit it perfectly with the driver side wheels, executing a perfect 360 lateral spin as he sailed over the fence and escaped. Miraculously, when he returned the car to me 2 years later (we weren't that close), there wasn't a single scratch on the car. This guy is good! Unfortunately, I had left my cell phone several years into the future. We never told anyone who the driver was as Steve was embarrassed that he was too cheap to pay the admission. He told me he won numerous races in my Mopar and even used it in one of his films that unfortunately never aired. The original film was destroyed in a fire several years later.