The One I Let Get Away

As you may know from reading Our History, I exported American collector cars and parts to Europe for many years. During the 1980’s, most of the exports were to Sweden. I worked with an importer in Goteborg and often visited Sweden.

Memories fade a bit, but during a visit sometime in the mid 1980‘s, I was looking through computer print-outs from the Swedish car file. These print-outs show year, make, serial number and registered owner. I was looking at the MOPAR listings searching for “J” and “R” codes to see how many Hemi cars had made it into Sweden. Surprisingly there were quite a few and among them was JS27R0B171715, registration number JCN 378. The print-out gave the owners name, address and a phone number. The address was listed as Falkenberg, a small town south of Goteborg. I called the young lady who was pleased to tell me about the Challenger, but sadly she had recently sold it. The new owner lived in Nybro, another small town south east of Goteborg, on the east coast of Sweden.  I was given the new owners name and phone number. A phone call, a pleasant conversation and a meeting was set to visit the Hemi Challenger and the new owner. Sorry I can’t remember the young fellow’s name, but I vividly remember the four hour trip across Sweden. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger

Arriving in Nybro, I found the address with little trouble and there she was, a not quite original pinkish-purple Challenger convertible. The dash tag read “JS27R0B” and under the hood was the monstrous 426 HEMI coupled to the pistol grip 4 speed. In the rear, besides the traction bars, was the Dana 60. The new owner said the car was primer black when he bought it and the repaint was an attempt at Plum Crazy (the original color?) As you can see in my pictures, under the hood seems to be B5 Blue. The rows of holes along the fenders, doors and quarters indicate that the original side moldings are missing as are the R/T exhaust tips. As the new owner said, “It’s a work in progress”.

In the background of one photo you may observe, our young Swede is more of a Ford fan, having several ‘66-’67 Fairlanes. So the next obvious question, “Would you consider selling the Challenger?”. Well that was not in the plans ‘cause that Hemi is a lot of fun, but “I might consider a trade for a ’66 Hemi Charger”.

It was a very interesting, pleasant visit and as I headed back to Goteborg, I seriously thought about trying to make a deal. Could I find a ‘66 Hemi Charger, at the time for about $5,000 to $7,000. Because of business and other concerns, I never seriously pursued it.

Fast forward to January 2011. Among my e-mail is an announcement from Russo-Steele about the upcoming Scottsdale collector car auction and one of the feature cars is a somewhat familiar Hemi Challenger convertible. One of five 4 speeds, the only with Super Trac Pak. As I look at the various documents and articles accompanying their auction listing, there it is: the export document from Sweden to England showing registration number JCN 378. The one I let get away!

Link to Rosso-Steele auction info page:
http://www.russoandsteele.com/collector-car/1970-Dodge-Hemi-Challenger-R-T/6372

It will be interesting to see what it brought on the auction block January 22, 2011.

Tell us about your experiences and the ones that slipped away.

Spring Carlisle 2010 Event Report

Spring Carlisle 2010 was fun and the weather was nice until late Saturday afternoon when it clouded up and began to rain lightly. Sunday dawned cold and wet, which pretty much ended any action at the flea market.
The crowd at Spring Carlisle 2010 appeared to be the biggest in at least a couple of [...]

Miniature Cars and Scale Modeling

Sometimes collecting vintage and collectible cars can get out of hand, sometimes it is addicting. Over the years I have bought a lot of interesting cars and still have many of them. Fortunately, I have managed to find places to keep them. Occasionally I wish my collection was more manageable and required less space. One way to manage a large collection with limited space is with scale models.

“Does Chrysler have a future?” Thanks for your many comments!

Since I wrote my article on the future of Chrysler, we have received dozens of interesting comments. Some were harsh, some were funny, others were insightful. One such comment was from the President of the Chrysler Owners Club in Queensland Australia. Graham had some interesting observations.

New Sections On Our Site

Does Chrysler have a future?

The Chrysler Corporation has a wonderful and interesting history. It started with Walter P. Chrysler and the Maxwell Motors re-organization in 1925. Through the years Chrysler has offered many engineering and design features that were leading the auto industry. The first Chrysler automobile had both oil and air filters plus a pressurized lubrication system. Later models introduced four wheel hydraulic brakes and rubber engine mounts. In the mid-1930’s Chrysler built the Airflow, the first auto maker to consider aerodynamics and an all steel unibody type construction. The 1950’s brought us the first Hemi engine and the Virgil Exner “Forward Look”. We also could buy the first “Muscle Car”, the 1955 Chrysler 300. The 1960’s found Chrysler experimenting with Turbine power and building High Performance cars with 426 Hemi engines. The 1970’s brought us the Challenger and ‘Cuda. The 80’s had Shelby Daytona’s and GLHS’s, the 90’s introduced a V-10 Viper. So many exciting “American Dream Cars”, but what will the future bring?

AACA Fall Hershey Meet

The AACA Fall Meet in Hershey Pennsylvania was, as always, a very pleasant experience. Every time I attend this meet, I am amazed at the number of fabulous, beautifully restored vintage cars. We have prepared a photo collection that I took on Saturday, October 10th when AACA members bring their cars for judging and display. Follow the link to the gallery. Enjoy and please comment.

Click here to see the AACA Fall Hershey gallery.

2009 AACA Fall Hershey Meet

The weather was good for most of the 2009 AACA Fall Meet at Hershey, PA and I enjoyed seeing many historic and interesting cars.  Hotel rooms were available but harder to find and more expensive close to the show.  I personally think it is worth paying more to stay close to the meet because you [...]

The GM Futurliner at Fall Carlisle

If you have been following these blog posts, you have read that American Dream Cars attended and have vendor spaces at Carlisle. Our neighbor, this year, was the very impressive GM Futurliner #10.

Owned by the National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States, #10 has visited several collector cars shows accompanied by several of the volunteers who helped restore this magnificent piece of industrial and automotive history.

The Futurliner is basically a bus with large clamshell type doors on each side. When opened, #10 becomes a stage where displays are set up. The volunteers have created an interesting display showing the Futurliner’s history. There was always a large numbers of visitors surrounding #10 and each visitor was given the opportunity to ascend stairway to the drivers seat.

Click here to view our photos and article.

Photo Gallery of Fall Carlisle 2009

For Collector Car enthusiasts, late September often means planning a trip to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the annual Fall Carlisle Collector Car Swap Meet and Car Corral. This was the 35th year the meet was held. The weather was nearly perfect with lots of sun and almost no rain. Hundreds of venders selling everything automotive related. Hundreds of interesting collector cars were for sale in the Car Corral and thousands of attendees enjoyed the weekend.

Click here for the virtual tour.