50 Years Now

[71vert340]

 I got home from a month long trip yesterday and realized it was 50 years ago I bought my 71 Challenger for $1950. It was right around June 30th in 1972 when I brought it home. Here's a couple of photos of it that day. I have a photo of it when I received my 2015 R/T in July 2015. I've aged! But then so has the car.
Terry 

[moreparts]

Classics don't age.  They just get better.   

[71vert340]

Some more info. I was in the Navy when I bought the car. The fender was dented as shown in photo and it cost me about $90 to get it repaired and painted. At the end of December in 1972, I was stationed in upstate New York and was at a friends house at night. The kid across the street backed out of his driveway right into the driver's fender and there was no repairing it that time. It also put a small crinkle in the inner fender but no frame damage. I had to replace the fender after that incident. About 10 years later, I bought an NOS inner fender and had that replaced. I drove the car from New York to California in 1974 when I was stationed on a ship in Long Beach. In 1975, I drove the car back east to my parents home in Ohio. In 1980, I drove the car from Toledo Ohio to my home in Washington state and it's been with me since. My sister drove it for a brief time when she was in college in 1977. She really enjoyed having it and she impressed the guys while at college.  I bought it from Dean Belden who ordered it in 1970 and received it in Dec 1970. He passed away in 2011. I contacted his daughter who lives in Washington DC area but she has only seen photos of it and she told me her mother remembers the car. Not much else to tell. I'd like to totally restore it one day but who knows. 
Terry W.

[Floyd]

What a great run!  Congrats, and that's a super cool Challenger.  Go Navy BTW!

[71vert340]

 I found one more photo from the day I brought it home.
Terry W.

[B5fourspeed]

Bought my first Cuda in August of 72 for 2k with 22,000 miles.Same year I got out of High School.I put down 1k and my payment was 50 dollars and the insurance was a 100 a month.

[70/6chall]

50 years!! Wow, sounds like me with my 70 Challenger Slant6 base model car. When I returned from overseas in 1972 after a 4 year hitch in the Navy (stationed on a carrier). I found my Challenger as a trade in with 40K on the clock from a Dodge dealership for $1,100. Put it into daily driver duty from that point to 2005 when I took it off the road with 625K miles on it now. Still have it and it just passed over 50 years of  owning it in March of this year. What a ride.

[anlauto]

Great stories