Many nuances in the muscle car hobby go way beyond big engines, wild colors and unique options. There are many other things that keep enthusiasts buzzing about how rare their ride is. One is documenting the history of the car by collecting every shred of paperwork from the bill of sale, window sticker, build sheets, receipts and so forth on your car, which makes it more valuable. The saying goes, the more of a paper trail you have, the provenance of the car goes way up. But that means one has to be a detective and track down prior owners going back for over 50 years. However, it can also turn up more details on the vehicle than you ever suspected. That’s how some vintage cars have been traced to being ordered by Chrysler’s PR/Marketing departments for promotional duties such as print and TV ads along with many other functions that highlight the new model introductions.
These cars were used for catalog photo shoots, long-lead media events or press duties to be loaned to automotive journalists to burn rubber and tear up the streets and drag strips. In some cases, these cars were used in movies and TV shows such as Vanishing Point, Mannix, The Brady Bunch, The Beverly Hillbillys, on other shows that are a snapshot of American pop culture. While the life span for these unique cars is relatively brief due to the short shelf life of media and corporate marketing functions, they still leave an indelible mark on our minds. Remember, Steve McQueen and his Mustang may have been the good guys in the iconic movie Bullitt, but it was the sinister-looking black 1968 Charger R/T that everyone remembers going airborne and blasting through the streets of San Francisco burning rubber and chucking wheel covers. Since these one-off cars with a unique back story seem to evaporate when they get cycled through wholesale auctions for dealers to stick on their used car lots, it adds even more ambiguity to their true origins.
So, how does one identify their car’s lineage? Luckily there are identifiers on the window sticker, build sheet and, if it’s a vintage car, the data tag that’s bolted to the driver’s side door on older vehicles. But that doesn’t tell the whole story of what the car was really used for. Today, the Dodge Marketing Department still selects and orders certain vehicles for its promotional fleet. If you’ve ever attended a new car show anywhere in the country, Mecum and Barrett-Jackson Auctions, SEMA, Carlisle Chrysler Nationals, or even Roadkill Nights, you’ve seen swarms of shiny factory-fresh Scat Pack and SRT® Hellcat Challengers and Chargers on display. Each one is picked to highlight a new color or engine option and gets massaged at an outside facility to gleam even more. The “auto spa” treatment includes making sure all the body panel gaps are within spec, the paint looks flawless, and the wheels, tires and wheel well liners are shined up.
Sometimes these vehicles will end up with a celebrity and be used in a music video as it’s an effective method for an automaker to get more eyes on their products. Dodge has led the charge on that form of organic and viral marketing for decades and recently with Hollywood A-Listers and many Grammy winners, including Billie Eilish, whose music video “Oxytocin” features her piloting a Challenger SRT Hellcat. Dodge Challengers could also be seen in the Emmy-winning TV series Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and many movies, including Night Crawler with Jake Gyllenhaal.
Away from the Hollywood scene and more in-tune to its blue-collar Motor City roots is another Challenger from the Dodge Marketing convoy that pays homage to the infamous “Black Ghost”, a 1970 HEMI Challenger R/T. It celebrates the car’s original intention of taking down the car in the next lane when the traffic light turns green. The 2023 Challenger SRT Hellcat Black Ghost Special Edition celebrates not only that car but the mark it left on the Detroit street racing scene in the early 1970s. With only 300 units for consumers and one specially ordered for shows and events, this model, like many others with that same lineage, will be a collector item. However, it’s still up to owners to do their homework, research and become an investigative reporter. What may look like an ordinary Challenger or Charger sitting on a used car lot may have led an extraordinary life on the big screen or on display at a major event for thousands to admire its beauty.
So if you’ve bought a slightly used late-model Challenger or Charger and if it looks like you’ve seen it somewhere before, check the VIN and do some digging, you may be in possession of a rare gem.
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