......Christmas, 1988..... I answered an ad to purchase a pair of rust free front fenders for a Panther Pink Challenger T/A I owned ...I was in the process of parts gathering for a much needed resto of the scruffy old pink Challenger when I stumbled across a HEMI Challenger RT/SE in the same garage the fenders were located in...the HEMI was covered up to protect it from the winters cold, or so it seemed...this was the car of my dreams, sitting right in front of me, It sparkled, and it was for sale ...I quickly sold my green Daytona to a collector in sunny Florida, gathered my cash and headed back to the cold of northern Ohio with trailer in tow and brought my bounty back home to Indiana in an ice storm.....
......during the next decade I drove the HEMI Challenger RT/SE on the streets quite a bit, even though it was the first HEMI Challenger EVER BUILT.....I drove it to shows, smoked the tires at stoplights, and in general had a blast with the rare red MOPAR............until, one day I became bored with a garage full of rare cars I hardly ever drove anymore and sold the HEMI RT/SE along with a triple black T/A, and the first Daytona ever shipped in the USA, to a collector in Michigan ....I gave each of my kids a Challenger T/A, my son got the Plum Crazy 4spd and my daughter got a Panther Pink T/A and so the last 5 cars of my collection were liquidated...
......since then, I had never been in a HEMI Challenger again, until yesterday.........a friend of mine just kinda showed up, HEMI idling at the curb, and asked if I wanted to go for a ride.....I didn't even answer, just headed for the waiting bright orange HEMI Challenger and climbed in....since auto photography is my hobby, we took a little time to shoot some pictures before taking the HEMI out for some exercise....
......the ride was like a flashback, about 10 years back.... the feel, the power, the smells and sounds were just as I remembered from my long gone HEMI Challenger...we lugged the car down the 4 lane state highway with an occasional burst of power and speed, passing the more pedestrian rides with ease..... the exhaust note was just as I remembered from a decade ago, a strong growl, kind of like a lion awakening and letting out a blood curdling growl right before it attacks an unsuspecting victim.....
......we soon arrived at the entrance to the interstate and I realized I was in for the ride of a lifetime ....growling up the ramp like a giant wild beast ready to pounce, the Challenger emerged from the ramp at interstate speed, instantly merging with traffic, still in 2nd gear, shifting to 3rd caused us to catapult ahead of the other cars on the highway and 4th put us into triple digit speeds, all the while, the eight barrels sucking gas and air like there was no tomorrow....the exhaust note was loud, unmistakeably HEMI.....it SCREAMED HEMI....we literally passed every moving car on the interstate for miles before dropping back into traffic.... it seemed like Star Wars and we were now in HYPERSPACE.....
.......we eventually exited the interstate to make the return trip, winding thru the gears, letting the HEMI stretch it's legs and snarl for the next 15 miles back home, back to the land of 4 cylinder imports and minivans...the ride reminded me so much of the old days, or as I call them the "black and white" days....within an hour I had gone from working at my desk to cruising in a HEMI Challenger with a couple hundred EXTRA horses, and back to work.....some of you older guys remember the black and white days, we didn't take pills, had plenty of hair and could see our shoes without bending over....yes, we were younger, and so were the girls
.......thanx to my good buddy Juan for a day I will remember as long as I live, it was like being a kid again
