The Story of Ethel
I don't know why we called it that but the name stuck,+ when ever old friends of mine from that time frame get together,"Ethel" always comes up,Like remember the time we pulled all those donuts on main street in front of the library with ethel at about 2 in the morning,with about 5 of us in the car and others like that.
I have way too much story on this car so i'll have to cut it short.
But i sold it around 1978,+later became obsessed with finding it again,
so i put an ad in hemmings,in the D-wanted section looking for the car,It was literally 1 of a kind so anybody seeing the description would recognize it.
So one night i got home from the drive-in + there is a message saying i know where your car is call me,but it was about 1;00 in the morning so i couldn't,I didn't sleep that night + called him first thing in the morning.
After looking for it for about 16 yrs,it turns out it was only about 40 miles from me,+ it was now at the museum of transportaion in brookline ma. + in a yr long car show they were having there called "Wild in the Streets" Alot more to the story but too long to go into,It took me about 3 more yrs to finally get it back,+ swore once i did it would never leave my hands again,But it's the same old story ,I needed extra cash for my business + let it go,I still kick my butt daily for it.It was my first car + one of a kind,+ i got it back in actually better shape,+ with only about 1500 miles more then when i sold it 19 or so yrs before+ I sell it,like a dope :frown:
The pic with the craigers is when i first bought it,at 15 yrs old,imagine that,+ i almost smashed it the first day,i spun it out banging second gear,no license ,barely ever drove a car,but had to take "that car" up the street.
The smudge on the window sticker is from my 15 tr old thumb,
when i bought the car back the second time we were leaving with it on the flat bed + the old guy comes walking down the drive way,with an envelope in his hand,+ i just happened to see his hand in the rear view so we stopped + he says I don't know if you want this or not,He was going to throw it away but his wife said maybe i would want it,It was the original window sticker,
I opened it up and it was laminated,with my greasy thumb print which i instantly remembered,because yrs before i was working under the hood + saw this weird thing on the power steering like a little radiator,so i went + took the window sticker out of the glove box to see if it was an option,+ thats how the print got there.The power steering was intercooled:biggrin: as part of the super track pack,with a little finned line going in + out of the box.
Another sheet is the orig build sheet ,when i got it back the second time i went ooking for it,I reached up above the glove box + felt something rip ,yup the orig build sheet,taped to the glove box I was thrilled.
Another pic is the car in front of the orig dealership where it was ordered new.
when i pulled up 2 guys came out + proceeded to freak out in disbelief,they knew the car imedietly + said it was always their fav car from the dealership,they were kids when it came thru but loved it,+ talked about it over the yrs,+ proceeded to tell me that one day the car was in for service + the service manager spun it out on the ladies lawn across the st + she came out + hit the car with a broom,they had been telling him to get on it + he did + lost it.The two brothers now still have the building + run a body shop out of it.
It was just a tiny dealership right on the street,turns out that is where my father always bought his dodges.Anyway the two brothers remembered the name of the orig owner,so we called + his brother answered brought me up + surprised his brother with it.The pic in front of the garageis the garage the original owner built for the car while he was waiting for it.
He told me the story of how the cars build was canceled 3 times because the shaker was discontinued 3 diff times,(thats why they are so rare on a challenger),but he held out + finally they called + said they were going to build it.It may be the first shaker challenger built,it was built the morning shift of the first day of shaker production which i believe was april 15 1970
he had ordered it in aug or sept of 69
He went into that garage + came out with a bunch of Scat Pack memorabilia,+ gave it to me,he also had the original quad exhaust tips too,whichexplained why it had cuda tips when i got it.he said the quads rattled + they do.
His alderly mother told me stories too of how her + her husband would take the car down to the park + everybody wanted to know about the car.It was pretty cool hearing all the stories.
Check out the shaky pic look whats behind the challenger.