So this is how it all started. I was 15 ½ in 1978 and had just gotten my learners permit and was anxious to drive whatever I could, but the car I really wanted for myself was a 70 Challenger. I was relentless with my parents. “I saw this movie Vanishing Point a long time ago and that is the car I want.” My Uncle took me to see the movie, and we used to walk along Boulder Highway near his house in Las Vegas and look at all the used muscle cars for sale. My dad comes home from work and tells me that a customer of his has this orange 70 Challenger, and he needs a truck to pull his boat. So my dad tells him he has a 66 Ford pickup, would he like to trade? He says “I’ll tell you what; we’ll make the trade and bring it home. Then you can help freshen it up, get a job when you turn 16, and make payments to us for the car.”
He brings the car home: Bright Orange, big block, black interior, black top that looked like alligator skin, air conditioning (big deal in Las Vegas), Indy slot mags with Daytona sport 70’s on the front and studded snow tires on back. What the hell are those for??
I swear I sat in that car every night for hours dreaming of the day I could finally drive it. I waxed it to within an inch of its life, and would start it up just to hear that familiar V8 rumble. While I was waiting for the time to pass until I could drive it, my mom would take the car to work to make it easier for them to get to work.
A couple of months go by and mom says “You know, I really kind of like that car. I think I will just keep it and drive it to work, we will get you another car.”
I was crushed, I wanted that car so bad it hurt. To her credit she drove it for years, went to every car show with us, and it stayed in the family until 1997. The car is now in New Zealand, and with the exception of a slotted valence and exhaust tips being added, looks just like it did when we drove it into the shipping container.
My dad, being the great man he was and still is, finds me another car. It is an SE as well, but it’s FK5 with Burnt Orange Leather and a white vinyl top instead of that cool Gator Grain top. It was a big block too, but a 2BBL that I tried to convert to a 4BBL. I learned that day about the difference between a “B” and “RB” motor after I spent about 2 hours trying to figure out why the intake wouldn’t fit. I drove that car for a few years until someone hit it while it was parked in front of a neighbor’s house. That’s what pushed me over the edge to upgrade and find an R/T, which is the next car in the Peters family Mopar saga, and the subject of chapter 2. Stay Tuned!
Fender Tag Info:
V5X 26 END
M31 N41 N85 R11 V1G
G32 G34 H51 J25 M21 M25
V1G A62 B51 C16 C26 C55
EV2 HRX9 000 A16 000251
E63 D32 JH29 N0E 112781
Jeff, You may want to put this in the Survivor/Project forum, unless you post often & almost daily the "GENERAL" thread will vanish.
