In 1974, I was about to turn 18 and unlike most kids, I had been working for my dad at our family's store since I was 14, sold stereo stuff out of my bedrom, and I was lucky enough to have an uncle who found me endlessly entertaining, and before he died when I was 3, he bought me a couple of savings bonds. I had $10,000 in my bank account! I wanted a Challenger or a Cuda, but being 17, I wasn't able to buy one, my mom had to sign for it. I found a black Cuda at a local dealer, 360 4 barrel, auto, pretty much loaded up. This was about a month after they had stopped making the E-body cars, and I just couldn't get my mom to go over there and put a deposit on it, so it got sold. I had a couple of local dealers look for a Challenger or Cuda and nothing they found was acceptable. Either it was a 318, or it was an awful color, or it was a stick. I can drive a stick fine, but I would never buy a stick as a daily driver.
Eventually, I gave up and ordered a '74 Roadrunner about the end of May. In July, I get a call from the dealer saying "Your car came in, but..well, you should come down here and we can talk about it!", so I did, and this is pretty close to what I see..
Somehow, the dealer messed up the order form. They had already reordered the car again, but it was so late, they weren't sure if it would be built as a '74, or a '75, which I told them I wanted no part of. They assured me if the car came as a '75, they would find me a '74 that I would want. So I wait and wait, and wait. Just before Thanksgiving, it finally shows up, as both a '74, and a '75, same options and colors. The car seemed to be a leftover parts car, as it had the taxi rear end, no posi, police brakes, and the only really scary thing, incorrect front wheel bearings which soon began to fail. The right front spindle was taken off a new car in the lot and new bearings had me back on the road. Several other teething pains caused issues, but by the end of the first month, the car was pretty rock solid reliable.
3 years later, it had a bunch of upgrades, and was running mid 13 seconds at the Las Vegas drag strip. And I decided to trade it for a truck, which was one huge mistake, the truck was total garbage. I always wondered what happened to my Roadrunner. I figured it was long since scrapped. I had moved back to Ohio a long time ago, but a friend I'm still in contact with said he kept seeing a twin to my old car driving around looking great and sounding very strong. I still have the sales receipt for the car and when he finally found the twin to my car, it turned out it was my old car. It has a 478" motor in it now, with an added on overdrive. The interior is real leather and the paint is light years better than the factory paint ever was. I have an invitation to drive it if I ever get back there.
I finally got my Challenger desire taken care of when I got my '10 R/T in Nov 2010.
In July 2018, I finally got the Challenger I really wanted, a Scatpack 392, and it just makes me happy every time I drive it..One year old in this pic..
