Challenger anniversary for me

[Brads70]

Facebook memory came up today. 15 years I've had the privilege of ownership! I've wanted this car since I was 9. I still feel really blessed! Not many get to say that they actually got their dream car!

[RUNCHARGER]

The Challenger was lucky to find you Brad. A lot of them get screwed up, what you did with it is awesome!

[anlauto]

Yea, even I'll agree to that....your car is unique and different in a great way 

[cudaragtop]

You've built a killer ride there Brad! 

[usraptor]

Happy Anniversary.  Beautiful Challenger 

[blown motor]

Here's to many more years!

[Brads70]

The Challenger was lucky to find you Brad. A lot of them get screwed up, what you did with it is awesome!

The story on how it came to be mine.
My Mom had passed away the year before and left me a little bit of an inheritance. I bought the wife a new to us Suburban and ordered a brand new travel trailer for my family to enjoy. I had a little left over but not enough to buy a Challenger as they were going for around 45-50 K back then. I had a Buick at the time , nice car , I enjoyed building it but it was no 1970 Challenger. While on E-Bay looking for Buick parts I stumbled across this Challenger that was not listed under Dodge or even Challenger for some strange reason. I had bid on cars before but in reality only for entertainment value as usually with in a hour I was out bid more than I could spend. It was a 6 day auction, maybe 7 I can't remember but the car was in California. I would come home from work thinking oh I'll for sure be outbid but nope. Auction ended on a Sunday at 11pm , now come Sunday I was really starting to worry thinking " someone bid on this car already!" But as the auction drew down to an hour or so then minutes then poof! I was the only bidder.I won the auction for 12k. I was in a bit of a panic thinking oh man the wife is going to be pissed ( I was not wrong on that one!) and also how the heck am I going to get this car home? Was the car a rot box? I was pricing flights and talking to the owner, when he said it drives but I wouldn't trust it to go that far! So then I was looking into shipping companies. Keep in mind I had never shipped a car, or even seen this car in person! E-Bay at that time recommended DAS auto shipping.(Dependable Auto Shipping) So for 3500 they would deliver it to my hometown. I didn't have many options so I went for it.  3 months go by and still no car? I'm getting pretty anxious at this point thinking" good grief , it only take 3-4 days to drive that distance?" Then I get a call saying the car in inoperable and they need another 400 to complete the shipping, oh and the " best part" was that the car had been sitting in Detroit for 2 months now. They didn't offer any details as to why the car was inoperable just that I needed to pay another 400. Not much I could do , so I paid it thinking great this car will be nothing but a picked over shell now sitting in Detroit? So a few weeks later they called and said to meet at 1pm and the customs bond shed and gave me the address. So I arranged a buddy with a stock car trailer to help me go get it. To my initial surprise they had dropped off the car around 11am and were no where to be seen. Car looked complete but when I got closer ( after I had run around town with the supplied paperwork and paid the taxes I was free to pick it up. It was now Mine! Got back to the car only to discover why it was inoperable. They had been doing burnouts with it, rubber all down one quarter panel, driveshaft was hanging on the ground, transmission had oil running out of it and the rear end actually had teeth coming thru the diff cover! Front valance had run into something also. It started and ran but wouldn't drive obviously . I didn't care as I was so relieved it was not stripped and in relatively one piece . Best of all the car was really solid as far as rust goes. Keep in mind this is the first I had laid eyes on it. Go it home and on cloud nine! When I posted on cuda-challenger.com about my experiance I had many people helping me out! Perfect strangers started sending me parts I needed, k-frame from Vlad, 8 3/4 rear housing and axles from someone else, gear pot with 3:55 sure grip from another member, tranny parts from another, all at no to very little cost to me . What a great bunch of people I had made new friends with. Got the car running and drove it down to Carlisle for the first time ever and got to meet many of these fine people face to face to thank them! The best of humanity that I had experienced to date! Made lots of lifetime friends due to this car!  Made my dreams come true, something I'll never forget!
Thanks everyone!

[RUNCHARGER]

Fun story Brad: When you're a Canadian and have dealt with fixing rusty cars you can identify with Brad's story. Nothing stops you from seeing the finished product.

[Dakota]

Great story Brad!   

I know from first hand experience how you've personally "paid it forward" with that approach of helping other people out with their cars, which I've tried to do as well.  It's a great community. 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

An inspirational story for sure. Always liked your car.   

[YellowThumper]

Wow that is an adventure.
Glad it worked out for you.
Also the wife "forgiving" you?

[HP2]

Congrats Brad! that is a great story and you have turned it into a great car!

I also have stumbled upon deals by searching out misspelled or mis-placed items. Especially when I was building Mopar F bodies and 50% of the sellers didn't know how to spell Volare (heck, a percentage of Camaro owners can't even spell Camaro correctly). I acquired my Challenger by answering a newspaper ad (remember those) for an "old dodge doesn't run" as the title.

[jimynick]

I, too, am a recipient of Brad's paying it forward, as without his generosity, I wouldn't have been able to drive my car for quite a while longer. He is quite talented in restoration and fabrication as well as being a really nice man with a big heart and capable hands! Good on you mate!