The storied 1970 Dodge HEMI Challenger, nicknamed the “Black Ghost,” just fetched a whopping $975,000 at auction. Adding the 10 percent auction premium, this classic muscle car sold for $1,072,500. It comes with a cool story and a proven rare blueprint.
For the uninitiated, this particular HEMI Challenger is dubbed the “Black Ghost” because it was apparently legendary on the street racing scene in Detroit in the early 1970’s. Always owned by the same family, it was originally furnished and purchased by decorated Army Veteran and Police Officer Godfrey Qualls. The stories told of how he used it in street racing are the sort of things we see in modern fast and furious movies.
They’re so good, too, that they’ve led to Dodge itself honoring the car with a “Last Call” special edition of the outgoing Challenger. And obviously the stories are good enough that someone could shell out seven figures for this car. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the car itself is fairly rare, regardless of the stories surrounding it.
Dodge made only 23 HEMI Challenger R/Ts in 1970 with a four-speed manual transmission and the Special Edition package. This is one of them. The odometer reading is only 45,105 miles (72,590 km). And did we mention the Gator Grain top? This makes it the only known four-speed HEMI Challenger R/T of its kind.
It really is a piece of history and being in unrestored condition gives a glimpse of the age of these cars. According to the buyer, it will undergo a thorough cleaning, but will otherwise remain as is.
This buyer, Ryan Snyder from Florida, sees himself as the custodian rather than the new owner of the car. Of Qualls, he told AutoMK, “Ultimately it’s his dad’s car, I’m just the new caretaker.” Regardless of how true the story of this car is, that’s an attitude towards the family that even Dominic Toretto would be proud of .
