The fabled 1970 Dodge HEMI Challenger dubbed the Black Ghost just crossed the auction block for a whopping $975,000. Add in the auction premium of 10 percent and this classic muscle car sold for $1,072,500. It comes with a cool story and a verifiably rare build sheet.
For the unaware, this particular HEMI Challenger is called the Black Ghost because evidently, it was legendary in the street racing scene back in the early 1970s in Detroit. Owned since new by the same family it was originally spec’d and purchased by decorated Army vet and Police officer Godfrey Qualls. The stories told about how he used it in street racing events are the kind of things we see in modern-day fast-and-furious movies.
They’re good enough too that they’ve led to Dodge itself honoring the car with a “Last Call” special edition of the outgoing Challenger. And clearly, the stories are good enough for someone to drop seven figures on this car. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the car itself, regardless of the stories surrounding it, is pretty rare.
Read: Dodge’s ‘Last Call’ Challenger Black Ghost Will Also Be Sold In Europe
Dodge only made 23 HEMI Challenger R/Ts in 1970 with a four-speed manual transmission and the Special Edition package. This is one of them. It only has 45,105 miles (72,590 km) on the odometer. And did we mention the Gator Grain top? That makes it the only known four-speed HEMI Challenger R/T of its kind.
It’s truly a piece of history and as it sits in unrestored condition it’s a window into how these cars aged. According to the buyer, it’ll get a deep cleaning but remain as it is otherwise.
That buyer, Ryan Snyder of Florida, considers himself to be more of a steward than the car’s new owner. Speaking about Qualls he told Autoblog that, “At the end of the day it’s his dad’s car, I’m just the new caretaker.” Regardless of how true this car’s story is, that’s an attitude toward family that even Dominic Toretto would be proud of.
