The Black Ghost - The Greatest Scam In Collector Car History!
Vložit
- čas přidán 19. 05. 2023
- It's the kind of story Hollywood dreams about. Decorated war hero becomes a cop who has a secret identity as a notorious underground Street Racer. His 1970 Hemi Challenger is feared by all, wins races and then just disappears into the shadows.
And now, 50 years later his son, who inherits the legendary black Dodge learns about it's true history and brings this story to the world...and the world eats it up!
Problem is, it's only a story...and not a very good one at that.
Here is how the car itself betrays it's supposed role in history, and how some serious Hollywood horsepower seems to have aligned itself with some of the most reputable names in the collector car industry to perpetrate a high dollar fraud in the name of promoting a movie already in production.
Ya just can't make this stuff up!
#classiccar #musclecar #hagerty #mecum
MERCHANDISE:
Get Your UTG T-Shirts Here: uncletonysgarage.com/product/...
Get Your UTG Stickers Here: uncletonysgarage.com/product/...
OUR STORE: uncletonysgarage.com
*SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: / uncletonysgarage1 - Auta a dopravní prostředky
The worst part of the whole story is that the son sold the car when his dad told him not to. Money over memories, just sad.
I was highly disappointed when his son sold the car. It soured the whole story.
1 million dollars. A house and your children's higher education. Anyone wants to buy the Silver Phantom? Legend has it that it made the Kessel run in ....umm no, that's not the one...
For $1m I'm selling. Unless you live a gilded life, having an extra $1m going towards any combination of retirement, kids/grandkids college, financial security would be a real blessing. If you are already set with millions in the bank, then God blessed you. Every year at Barrett Jackson there are at least a couple of now blue chip cars being sold by long term regular guy owners for these exact kind of reasons. It is more likely that the father never imagined his car would fetch $1m at auction - I suspect that at that price level the father would highly approve of its sale.
@@Thomas63r2 Wasn't it the grandson that decided on selling it? Son kept the car (& the promise), grandson turned 16 or whatever, got gifted the car from his father, decided to sell it. That's what I understood from the videos anyways.
Crazy how it can be worth 1 million dollars to someone else and it isn't their father's car, yet he's willing to let his fathers car go for that much. Idk, I just could never relate to if my dad had an all original triple black hemi rt se 4 speed challenger. It's so 1 of 1 and incredible you should be so attached that no amount of money can buy it.
Saw that it sold this morning and thought to myself: “if I sold my moms challenger(which was her prize possession) after she died I wouldn’t be able to live with myself and she’d be spinning in her grave so fast she could power Las Vegas perpetually.” Absolute shame.
The fact that his dad told his son, “don’t sell my f***in’ car,” or something similar, while on his death bed is just insulting.
Edit: After watching this you shattered my impression of the Black Ghost and I’m even more unsettled by the actions of Godfrey’s son. Damn.
Did it for his kids id guess his dad would be fine with it
My dad sold his big block Mach 1 so that my little sister could go to college he was crying about on his Deathbed he missed that car to the day he died. He had a 2013 Shelby GT500 when he passed and he took a s*** in it and lit it on fire if he could have got his Mach 1 back. Grabber yellow 428 4-speed Toploader car with the brown vinyl interior pee on that car for the better part of 30 years
@@robertstone9988 Please don't tell me she took any courses on "Gender study theory" Daddy's job is not to pay her University, nor buy her a car. Traditionally, that's her husband's job.
A million is a good price it had all the options. Taken in mind if you have that kind of money. 🤷♂️
@@Daniel-fd3wpthat car is nowhere near worth a million without a legitimate and verified history. Even I know that and I’m a moron.
I saw the car in person. I was there when it sold. You're absolutely right about the poor worn out condition of the vehicle. It was rode hard and put up wet. A good candidate for Grave Yard Cars restoration. The story seems clearly to sensationalize the importance of the car to enhance the possible economic returns. Like PT Barnum would say, "There's a sucker born everyday. "
Be prepared for Hate Mail for calling this one out.
They are gonna milk it with publicity and merch like Rock Bands are forced to do with all this streaming stuff ruining cd etc.sales. Sell t shirts t shirts t shirts !
As I began to watch this, I thought to myself, "If Uncle Tony is knowledgeable about Detroit street racing, he better mention the Silver Bullet." Well done, UTG.
There was suppose to be a mean 69 GTO Judge that had a reputation.
The big red flag for me was when I found out he was selling the car. In the Hagerty feature on it, he literally said his dad told him to never sell it and it was going to be passed to his son. To be clear like you said, it's not Godfrey who made these claims, it's his son. To be honest, I was glad for Godfrey to get the attention, whether his street racing legend is real or not. He sounds like an amazing guy and our vets are never celebrated enough
For a million bucks he can buy another one make up another story for his son, and just leave out the part about him selling it.
@@camaroman101 ya they'll be taking about the electric ghost that never needs charging
The shame of it is that the real story is cool enough. A one owner 70 Hemi Challenger purchased new by a Green Beret who ordered it with every option you could get. He drove it until it didn’t run anymore and then tucked it away in a garage where it sat until he left it to his son on his deathbed. Hell, I’ve seen people making up that kind of story. I’ve encountered many claiming to know the whereabouts of some one owner super rare muscle car. Most times the cars been long gone to the crusher, it’s just a base model, or it’s some barely salvageable rusted out hulk with no identification to verify what it was.
I have, or any of my friends have never heard of this car, our whole life any such thing as the black ghost racing around in Detroit on Woodward or Gratiot but we all don’t know everything, but it seems berries, scratch, fruit
If the grandson sold it, officer Qualls son hold his word to not selling it. It was gifted to his son when he turned 16. For what I know officer Qualls son got over 1 million in price for the car when he owned it. Then the grandson got it and he got the offer for 1 million and sold it.
This legend lives in every community with variations. There was once in a small town I lived in, a black ghost '69 Nova that was built to the teeth. It came in and raced and won these illegal races and took off without saying a word to anybody. The car disappeared until the next race where he came, kicked ass and disappeared.
I loved hearing my old man tell these stories. "The green eyed monster" was a 440 6 pack Cuda that paid for its own gas when the owner would bet their passenger they couldn't get a $20 bill off the dash by the time it was in 4th gear.
Yeah in my area it was a hopped up GT500 that was covered in a mixture of primer and different body panels painted in every color of the rainbow. The most detailed version of the story that I was told was that some guy who had been a bootlegger in the 40s/50s had bought it from a junkyard and rebuilt it just so he could still have some Saturday night excitement racing up and down the twisty backroads, and pissing off the locals who couldn't keep up with him.
I don't really believe the story, but it was still a good story.
Redneck Wangan Midnight should be a thing.
Not surprised by this 😅
For sure. I remember grandpa spinning yarns about the Amish street racer Hamish with the Black Ghost carrage that would wipe the floor of the rival Quaker gang.
@@TorqueKMAlove it
My late wife labeled my Mustang “The beast” I wonder what my kids will get for it one day lol. (It runs low 13s maybe my kids can sell it as “ the car that was quicker than the Black Ghost”)😂
I'm from Detroit, I ran the streets during the era this car was allegedly "famous."
Never heard of the damn thing until it hit the internet a few years ago..
Utter load of shite.
I'm 23 so I will not try and bullshit and say I was there. But I've done light research on the Detroit street racing scene back in the day and I've only seen two people say they heard of it and it was well after the car came out of hiding a couple years ago
“A black man owned a car in 1971. Let’s make a movie. “
you're not the only one I've heard this from, ask people from detroit about "the black ghost" and they give you a funny look.
why not tell the story of the actual guys that where there and did it? that's a better story imo
I totally agree .. I'm westside ran 'graph and a Mopar guy so I think I would've heard about it,
As a kid I was "Mopar or No Car" back then, 1982-87. I bought every HotRod, PHR, Car Craft, Mopar Action, Mopar Muscle, and Mopars Collecters Guide I could get my hands on. I never even saw a small blurb, with no pictures, about this Legend stuffed in the back of any of these Mags. I looked high and low for Mopar Legend stories, since I thought every other make sucked back then.
Great video Tony, as Mel Brooks would say, "forget the steak, sell the SIZZLE!"
And P.T. Barnum, also said, ( quote, There's one born every minute unquote)
Ive been watching you for years . Your channel just gets better and better .
I remember a kid who wanted to by a mechanics street rod for a reasonable price and asked me what i thought about the purchase. I asked him if he had tools and knew how to tune a street rod ( which i knew he didn't ) . He told me no but the seller was a good mechanic and wouldn't sell him a car that wasn't any good . I said yes , ( i knew the car and the seller ) but you have to realize that he may drag that car every Friday and Saturday night but on Saturday and Sunday morning he's turning wrenches on it .
I told him if he bought that car and didn't turn a wrench it would only last him 2 weeks .
He didn't believe me . He bought the car , it lasted him 2 weeks and he sold it back to the seller for half price .
I really do miss the days when you could tell the make of a vehicle at night by its lights . And the weekends whan 1 out of 5 cars on the road had something cooking under the hood .
Thank You for bringing back memories of a simpler time.
As soon as I saw a black ghost edition new Challenger, I thought to myself if I was that family I'd sue them for licensure rights. That moment I should've realized the gain the family was getting off of this story. It was at that point right then that I knew it was not any dominating Street racer or anyting but like a family story. Glad that you pointed out that it's a stock car and a 14-second car I thought they were faster than that.
my guess is Chrysler was in cahoots with the family...they all profited from the folklore story...wouldn't be surprised if Chrysler gave them a new black ghost challenger or 2...
You wouldn’t be able to because you lack elementary school literacy. .
Story reminds me of being a kid in the 70's....there was a Chevy II in a town a few miles away with a fearsome reputation as unbeatable.
396 under the hood and would pop wheelies at the traffic lights any chance it got.... nobody would challenge it.
Decades later was talking to a guy my age from that town and he remembers the car...."Oh yeah, they had it weighed down in the trunk" . "Just a stock 325 horse 396... nothing special".
Small town legend stuff....
It's almost impossible to pop a wheelie on the streets. You need the grip you get at a prepared track. Doesn't matter if you have 4,000hp, you're going to spin the wheels.
@@tlr-nut7275 read his comment again but all of it this time…
@@tlr-nut7275 My lawnmower does it all the time, I win.
Stick enough weight in the trunk behind the rear wheels and you're already halfway to a wheelie before you start the engine.
I REMEMBER MY OLDER BROTHER'S FRIEND, HAD A CHEVY II BOX NOVA. I THINK IT WAS A 64 WITH A 396 AND A VERTIGATE SHIFTER. I REMEMBER ME AND MY FRIEND LOOKED UNDERNEATH THE FRONT CHASSIS. AND IT HAD A FORD I-BEAM FRONT END IN IT FROM A VAN. I REMEMBER THE LEFT FENDERS WAS RATTLING VIBRATING MOVING BECAUSE THE BOLT FELL OFF. WE TOLD HIM TO PULL A HOLE SHOT AND THE CAR DISAPPEARED DOWN THE AVENUE. IT WAS AN ALL-OUT RACE CAR AND THESE WERE THE TYPE OF CARS THAT WERE PROWLING THE STREETS BACK THEN. WHEN I SAW THE VIDEO ON THE BLACK GHOST A FEW YEARS BACK. I POSTED A COMMENT I KNEW IT WAS B*******. THE HEMI WAS NOTHING ON THE STREET. YOU NEVER HEARD ANYBODY MENTION THEM OR SEEN THEM ANYWHERE RACING.THE 440 WAS THE FORCE TO RECKON WITH ON THE STREETS.
I watched a show featuring this car and story a year or so ago. It featured the son and an old friend who supposedly rode around in the car way back when. When the hood was opened you could see how stone stock it was. The friend who was telling the story seemed a little over the top and then there was the ride along, which the car did not sound like it was running very good. The son seemed amazed at the "hemi power" and then I immediately knew two things.
A) That dude didn't know jack shit about cars, fast or otherwise and
B) he was going to sell this thing as a lottery winning.
Thanks for confirming what I already knew.
On a side note, I believe these auctions have destroyed the Mopar market for the average Joe and I absolutely hate them for it.
Yeah. In the video he claimed he was never going to sell it, but within a month of the film coming out, it was up for sale.
The whole story seemed so fishy that I started questioning all of the story, including his father’s backstory and whether he really owned when knew.
Yep all this TV drama gets people thinking the turds in their back yard and dry rotted tires are gold. And want too much for them. Nobody buys them , they collect moisture and rot.
@@CamaroAmx don't forget they made the claim that his lawsuit with the dealership is what made Chrysler add the Shaker hood to the Challenger option list in April of 1970...
Ronnie Sox could have made it a 13.75 car.....but he was the best 4spd driver out there. Without modifications, that's it. The son is living on hot air and bullshit.
I wish I could go back in time to the mid 80s when you could pick up a decent Mopar for less than 5 grand. I paid 700 bucks for a roached out 66 Belvedere in 86. It was a runner with a 383. Now it would be 20,000😅
The story is true man. My father's wife's son told me that he had seen the Black Ghost emerge from the midnight fog, roaring like the sound of an enormous stampede of wild stallions. The windows were very tinted, and many witnesses claimed that there was no driver inside the beautiful beast. The owner of the car had no idea that his car was sneaking out at night creating a reputation for itself. Each victim that the Black Ghost consumed made it feel 500 miles younger again. It ran on whiskey and tears.
Now YOU my friend are an EXCELLENT story teller! 😂👍
The story IS true, but you left part out.... the car only "LOOKS" stock. In reality it was made of "Energon" the same as Optimus prime, and it would transform into this beastly god-awful street race for eveyr race, and then return to its stock secret identity afterward. If you can find a bit of the allspark to awaken this beast, youj will see it transform again!
Your father's wife's son is full of shit. Nobody that has ever seen the Black Ghost lived to tell the tale
Bruh!!😂😂
You are a good writer, you should pursue this craft.
I drove a 2nd hand small-town legend car. 1969 Coronet R/T. 440, AVS, 727 auto. I heard stories all the time. A young fellow told to me one day at a show "I've ridden in that car, at 120 mph it shifts into another gear". Originally red, it was afterwards orange. The 1st owner said "the paint looked red when it was in the can". And he "kept the carb in the house thru the winter". Mopar stories are the best.
Oh yes i heard the carb starts spinning when it detects the summer heat is not far off.
I owned a 1969 Red Coronet R/T 440 AVS 727 auto. in 1978 I moved to Springfield MO. from Des Moines, Iowa. I Hooked a 10 ft Uhaul to it and Headed right on down I35. Oh, to be young again.
I think the stories he was told were simply stories of remembering a time long ago. The car probably raced a handful of times and that was probably all it did since it was his pride and joy. We may never know the true story, but the legacy of the man behind the car is priceless.
Just the story of the original owner and playing with his car should be impressive enough. The fact these corporations and the original owners son set up this huge grift is sad.
Dodge is just smart to jump on the hype. I think it's sad that he sold such a great medium to connect to his late father more than anything else. Even if the story was true there's nothing else seperating it from another stock Hemi Challenger. If someone want to pay a fortune for that story that's on them.
Grift is "The American Dream"...Look around...everyone is scamming...nothing new...More power to Gregory Qualls...at least he is not spending tax dollars on hookers and blow like most elected folks...
My guess is they didn't jump on it, they are in on it.
People of Uncle Tony age group, place of origin etc. cannot help but tell the truth. In todays era of propaganda and bull sh t. Most "P.C." folks will be critical, but many East Coast people grew up this way and they're not going to change. Thx. Tony.
Is it? I'm pretty sure making bank by selling someone else a bill of goods is as American as it gets.
When I was a mechanic at a car dealership, a salesman told me 'there is an ass for every seat'. People are less street smart nowadays, some even think men can get pregnant.
Yes, we call them democrats.
@@MoparRob440 dummycraps
@@MoparRob440Those who know - Call them communists.
Those are the morons that prefer a Prius over a 73 super duty trans am, have pronouns and think Biden's policies are great.
Well anyone going around with a uterus could potentially get pregnant, and some of those people identify as and live as men.... Which even a small child can understand is different from a "male"
I lived and raced in Detroit from the mid seventies up to the late 1980s on Woodward and Telegraph, never heard of this car until recently. Tony, your summation is spot on!
There was an episode on MASH, a '70's sitcom, and someone concocted a fictitious person named, Tuttle. By the end of the episode, every one claimed to have known Tuttle. A person who never existed. The Black Ghost story is similar to Tuttle. LOL!
And then American Dad show put Tuttle as a character who appears time to time.
And now he’s gone; nothing left but his dog tags.
I was at the Mecum auction in Indy yesterday when it sold. They made a huge production of the whole thing - turned down the lights and had strobes going while they played the video - similar to what happens at NBA games when announcing the home team. They had a ton of people taking videos and pictures- but mostly Mecum employees- almost like they were all instructed to play along. Just seemed like too much hype. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
My friend was there too, and documented the whole thing on his f/b page. He agrees, it was all hype designed to drive the price up. Was the car nice, rare as optioned, and stock? Yes. As shown, was it worth maybe $125k? Sure. But the rest as he witnessed was all designed to get buyers into some kind of frenzy, all PR and rumors. Sadly, it worked.
Typical lying auction houses to make as much as they can on the sale....
Hype, for the sake of hype to make money selling the story.
I hope they give my car that treatment when I put it on the block!
A bunch of crooks involved in whole thing, I am thinking. Geeez
Dumb money is ruining the classic car market to where the regular guy can’t afford one anymore.
I the buyer was a billionaire, he'll just shrug his shoulders about losing a measley mil.
1000% this. Me over here looking at rotted javelins for 3 grand smfh
I totally agree and completely botched resto mods probably for Mecum its advertising piece come sell your car here.
Agreed. I'm getting priced out of the G Body and C/K markets and those are my 2 favorites on the planet. I still own my first vehicle ever, an '86 C10, and also have a '78 Cutlass as well as a '78 El Camino but the parts cost 3x what they should.
Tried to buy a Boss 9 in the eighties for $14K, I had the cash, owner got cold feet. What are they going for now $250K? Ended up buying an L89 Corvette for $11K
In 1970, I remember an article when I was young about the 1969 Dodge Charger Hemi stating the quarter mile was about 12.6 seconds. I loved that car.
I just looked up the 1970 Dodge Challenger Hemi Quarter mile. The articles vary from the mid 12's to 14 seconds.
There are many factors for quarter mile times. Anyone who has been on a drag strip knows that.
What cannot be disputed is the excitement of the muscle car era. Many beautiful cars and victories on the streets.
I am a little late to the game, but I too have a Mecum story that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I know a gentleman that purchased a vehicle advertised as having 64,000 original miles. I understand the whole “buyer, beware“, but this gentleman is well to do, and doesn’t really know a lot about vehicles. After delivery, he asked me to go over the vehicle, and, like you said, it was painfully obvious that this vehicle was ridden hard and put away wet. The flipper didn’t even bother to clean out the glove compartment, where I found receipts and repair orders for various things, including a rebuilt transmission . They also showed that the vehicle had 164,000 miles on it. I don’t understand how an auction house that deals in such high value classic cars, is allowed to let something like this through without impunity.
Tony, Your right!!! I grew up on Woodward Ave. Started driving in 1965. I ran my SS396 Chevelle all over Woodward, Gratiot, and Telegraph Rd from1970 to '72 street racing. I NEVER heard ANYTHIING about this car. Everyone knew about the Silver Bullet and Jim Wagners' "Blackbird" Firebird. I was at Autorama this year and the "Ghost" was there at the Mechum display. I spoke with them for 45 minutes about my history with the drag racing during that period and the lack of information and credibility of this "Ghost". They had no comment.
I feel everyone promoting this has $$ in their eyes. I just wonder how much the new "Ghost" models will be.
What I don't have to wonder about is the street cred of this car.....it has none.
If you question the story you get called a racist because the owner is black
I wasnt there, but the whole thing sounded hokey to me anyway. No one had ever heard of this car until suddenly now? And then it magically came up for sale right about the same time? Nope. Smells like bullshit to me.
My brother in law would bof known but he passed away , He ran a Road runner there
I grew up literally 5 minutes from where this car was based in East Detroit and I was pretty knowledgeable about the street racing scene in the late 60's and early seventies. Like you I knew all about Wangers' car and the Silver Bullett. I never heard of this car. I'm no expert and I am not the authority on the street scene in Detroit but I can say that it damn sure was a secret. Also, a stock Hemi Challenger would get its doors blown off by half the cars on Gratiot in that timeframe.
So you mean to tell me the whole story about his dad racing in the middle of the night and all that s*** was a lie?
Mecum doesn’t care . Hand them your 20% and be gone . It’s why the market is so topsy turvy with pricing .
Well said!
Worse than that - they promote cool iron as "investments" and roam from trend to trend like locusts.
Approx 200g's hard to turn down... MECUM; me cum is right...
Yeah I'm curious to see how much they're going to get for that show called convertible superbird that's going out on the block
Funny thing about it it's only got a 318
But they did a unique job and it looks almost factory original how they cut the roof and made it look like it it's going across the Mecum auction block in Kissimmee Florida this summer
That's weird. Real auction houses stand behind the sale. If they say it was legendary, then they better be able to back it up.
I remember my first and only encounter with the Black Ghost back in the day. Saturday night, Woodward Ave. I was in my 427 Cobra sitting at a stop light. I had just installed a second 427 in the rear of the car with a highly experimental all-wheel-drive and suspension setup I was testing for Ford. The twin 427s were converted to nitro methane at the time. Earlier that day we dyno’d the car at 2,500 HP @ 12,000RPM. Suddenly I looked to my right and sitting next to me was the BLACK GHOST. He revved on me and I said let’s do it bud. The light changed to green and I remember hearing a noise like an atomic bomb and smelling burning rubber as if a tire factory had exploded. I launched but as soon as I was through the wall of smoke there was….nothing. Not even tail lights! The Black Ghost had eaten my lunch and completely disappeared before I could even get off the line. I will never forget that night.
"And then everybody clapped?"
Okay, Commander McBragg!
lmao people not getting the sarcasm
Based on a true story! 🍻
Haaaa, great story!!!
45,000 or 145,000?
Probably the best advice I ever received on 5 digit rollover speedos was to check out the wear on the pedal pads. It may not be the best advice out there, but it sure is an eye opener on many low milage claims.
That's what I do. I do a lot of pre purchase inspections on pretty high dollar cars and pedal pad and carpet wear is a great way to determine if an odometer is to be believed.
@@bugdrvr I change all my mats and pads on cars.
All these old cars claim low miles. They were driven daily for the most part. Most of the kids buying them in 1970 were out for speed but they also had to drive them daily. The only cars I believe that are low mileage are probably the L88 Corvette from 67 to 69. And the COPO Camaro program and the ZL1 from 1969. All these cars have engines that are not street able. They don't even have air conditioning or heaters most times. And these engines have no choke. They were race only
After the 100000 mile roll over the digits never seem to line up straight across. A little lower or a little higher though the alignment of the digits.
my dad always said “Son, believe nothing what you hear and 1/2 of what you see…” I’m 56 and still use that advise to this day.
I think you nailed the story right on the head and so did my dads sayin’
Baby boomers ruined the country, nothing but trash....
And you believed him? 🤣🤣🤣
My Dad told me the same thing,he also said if you keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut you might learn something.As usual he was right.
After first seeing the documentary on this car I went to my father who was in the Woodward scene in the ‘70’s and he’d never heard or seen this guy. After talking with his friends and fellow street racers from the era, ( which still meet every weekend to this day on the ave), this is just a hyped up farce.
THANK YOU. I've been saying it all over, there's no way this car was an untouchable street racer with stock everything, in a time where there were guys running in the 10's with street cars.
So ...
... what do you estimate what the "Ghost" was actually worth ?
@@rudygeorgiamulesandcountry1594 I don't keep up with the MOPAR market as much, but the car certainly is VERY well optioned and its a hemi challenger, so it is worth some big bucks even without the BS story. Depending on what a potential byuer is looking for (meaning if they want a survivor like this instead of a restoration) I'd put it up there with what other Hemi coupes are going for right now. But it certainly is not worth anything extra for the sake of this fable.
I got to see the Black Ghost in person, albeit behind glass when it was displayed on the National Mall in D.C. a couple years ago (they also displayed the Back to the Future DeLorean and the Cannon Ball Lamborghini, among others). Anyway, I too was surprised at how beat up the car looked on the outside considering it was supposed to be a low-mileage, mostly garage-kept vehicle. Also, considering some vehicles from that era had odometers that reset to 0 after 99,999 miles, I can totally see that this one most likely has 149k on the ticker…
Thank you, Uncle Tony!
I've heard of the "Silver Bullet Belvedere GTX street racer. I never heard of the black ghost story till it got promoted 5 or 6 years ago. Big Willie and his Dodge Daytona was another legendary street racer we heard of. The black ghost is not in either of their leagues. Craig Breedlove's AMX was a car that should have brought more money
Tom Hoover's Bullet Was A BadAss, another one was Jack Roush's Mustang II.🏁🏁
The AMX Car ??
@@bustersmith5569 ok, I meant AMC Javelin. AMC sponsored Breedlove to break a few records one year. That car was at auction at Mecum, I believe
Big Willie was Bad to the Bone he was used for Many Ad's in All the Magazine's back then . Big Willie ......
@@rockymeyers4030 I'm a big AMC fan 👍👍👍
*Uncle Tony nails it again! I was born and raised on the east side of Detroit, and still live in the area. I’m only in my early 40s so I’m not quite old enough to have been involved in the street race scene of the 60s/70s but most of my uncles on both sides of the family were. I too first heard about this car probably 5-6 years ago (on the Internet of course) so I started to ask family members who had absolutely no recollection of ever seeing or hearing anything about this car! And I have one uncle who lived, breathed and slept old Mopars! If the car was real and street racing on Woodward, Gratiot, or any of the other spots back then, he would have known about it!*
Hi, I'm 70 years old and lived in Houston, Texas till 7 years ago when I retired to the Hill County of Texas. I was into the street racing with my cousin also. He owned a 64 Chevy Chey II that we shoehorned a 427 into. It was a horrible death trap. Couldn't hardly steer or brake with the front chopped to hell with dirt dauber welding. It ruled for about a month till the front end died. My point is I subscribed to every hot rod magazine that existed during the 70's. I remember an article about the Black Ghost in one. It was owned by a black guy in Detroit. He had taken a brand new Challenger and completely stripped the inside leaving the exterior stock. He put in a cage, cut interior panels to nothing dash including. Built the Hemi to the max and adjustable long ladder bar suspension. I don't remember what the rest he did to it. I just remember thinking what a radical thing he did to a beautiful new car. Don't remember what magazine it was in but it was the early 70's.
I’m in total agreement. I have a little street racing in my background. When I saw the story something didn’t add up. For example a 68 Dart Hemi or a 69 Camaro ZL1 stock would tear that car up. Not to mention ALL the other cars that had aftermarket parts back in the day. Drag racing was the thing with real racers. Thank you for shedding light on this issue.
Wow. This explains a lot about classic car auctions and pricing in general. Great video, UTG!
Also explains something about the buyers of these vehicles at these auctions. Money doesn’t matter in many cases, they buy them thru corporations and recoup the money and taxes later thru resell.
A good chance to get lubed up with your buddies, flash some cash and be seen doing it.
This also explains why most people who have a piece of junk sitting in the weeds think their car is worth way more than it actually is. Someone stupid enough to agree will end up paying their price
The classic muscle car scene has been corrupted for decades with fake numbers matching cars…reproduction date stamped parts…rebodied cars etc…whenever there is money to be made 😮
@@logicthought24 Yes, you are correct sir. The music is about to stop and people will be scrambling for a chair.
@@chrisvig123 You can replace 99% -literally- of the vehicle with reproduction or used parts and still claim it is whatever the VIN states. But somehow a "clone" made of a clean car with original parts isn't worth as much as a car made of chinese reproduction metal?
That's the open secret. Nevermind the people that blatantly lie.
There's a guy on CZcams restoring an AAR Cuda. Not one bit of the sheet metal is salvagable, but the VIN will likely make it a $500k car even though it's nothing more than a Chinese catalogue metal.
@@fratzogmopars I would love to see these people lose a fortune. These scumbags deserve pain.
Great in-depth dissection and explanation of this shaky story Tony! Scams like these are unfortunately becoming the norm in today's world. People just have no shame about lying where there's a buck involved. Money has ruined the old car hobby. It's gotten completely out of hand.
Finally ! You and I agree on something. As far as Mecum goes, I wouldn't put anything past them either.
You Sir....nailed it. I'm 69 and my Dad and I, in our collective primes, owned some of the best and rarest Chrysler cars ever produced. This was before TV auctions and lottery winners overwhelmed the hobby. Part of our collection was the first Chrysler wing car ever sold to the public....the only 71 Hemi GTX ever built with a canopy top...the only 70 Hemi RT/SE Hemi Challenger ever factory painted FY1 yellow. Having owned, worked on, and driven a ton of 426 Hemi cars back in the day...they were tedious to maintain and on a good day at a great track here in southern PA and with proper air tire pressures...would run high to mid 13's all evening long. Many a 340 four speed Duster and Demon laid waste to Hemi cars during street racing on public roads. The last car on the planet that should have ever sold for this kind of money was this Black Ghost Challenger. Over hyped and way over priced.
Pop's u need to go back to sleep. Ain't saying da CAA was worth a million but a 340 beating a MIGHTY MOPAR HEMI.
Only thing good from PA was Joe Namath
@@wildestcowboy2668 a well built 340 in a light car would walk all over a heavy hemi car back in the day. A factory hemi was not the world beater has made it out to be. Even the guys around back then will tell you the same 😂
@@wildestcowboy2668340 is an absolute monster, especially in the 8th mile
@@silverback8183I agree, I interviewed a guy that used to build cars back in the day and I asked him what the most frustrating cars were to build and he said without a doubt hemi cars (he personally owns a 70 plum crazy hemi challenger currently). I was slightly disappointed hearing about all the issues with the heads and how they weren’t really all that fast. I thought they were top dog back then besides a few BBC cars
@wildestcowboy2668
Never drank a Yuengling have you?
You're 100% right, I took one look at it and the fist question that came to mind is ' what makes it so fast '. Do they have intros very cleverly hidden? Then they panned the camera around the back and there it was. ... it had a trailer hitch! I went to the nearest parts store and bought the biggest hitch I could find, now nobody is beating me!
Has a hitch so lt dragged something along.. close enough for a dragcar I guess lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That’s funny. One day online I seen a trailer hitch on sale for $125 for my ‘12 SRT challenger. I was surprised they made one for that car and I couldn’t help myself. I never use it but I do get a lot of comments about it when ppl see the open receiver and I think it’s hilarious.
Weight transfer is the launching secret.
@@MrJohnnyDistortion Yeah, your right!
Just love how down to earth this dude is lol part of the reason I watch him. Easy to relate to haha thanks for all the great content man keep it up. Btw it's a pretty compelling argument ya got there lol I definitely see how you came to that
Thank You! Straight Facts! THANK YOU!
What a great and informative perspective. I never read your articles from back in the day but I can see why you had a large following. It's good to hear the black ghost being assessed by a real street racer. No way a stock hemi Challenger was blowing the doors off every dedicated street racer it came across. Good video UT
I’ve often thought about how this challenger could pull off beating some of the lightest and fastest muscle cars on Woodward and just said to myself “hmm that’s really hard to believe”
As a younger person, admittedly I kinda fell for it myself, as I know nothing about the old street racing scene, but even then I still had questions after seeing he was selling it, and I believe he actually mentioned his job in a piece I saw too, after watching this I fully believe he inflated his father’s legacy for a cash grab, now I question if that legacy was real in the first place.
My spidey sense was telling me the son was promoting it, to get higher price at auction. People were commenting, " If the car is this special, with all these memories, why are you selling it?" Sounds like he raced it a few times, and the "legend" part was in the sons mind. Certainly other street racers of the era would have had faster MODIFIED cars.
It's the other way around: the auction was fake, to promote the film.
@@johnbriggs3916 Aall of it was fake! They were all in on it! Dodge his son mecum and the sons company! Oh yea and hollyweird has to get their hands in the cookie jar too!
I have it on very good authority that he sold the car because of "Bidenomics".
Uncle Tony always out here spitting out facts. Appreciate the lack of BS.
He stated his opinion. Like he knows the history of every car in Detroit. Car could have been demodded...
clearly tony is a boof head i am in australia and seen a american show many years ago were they go out and fix your car for free and the black ghost was on the show getting fixed and the story goes he was a serving police officer wilst he use to race a car every now and then not a young kid but a fat old dude who would race some one if he ran into them spirit of the moment not hang out with the crowd everyone heard about it and many raced it not even seeing or meeting the driver he couldnt hang out with the crowd he was a cop it was bad enough he was racing them let alone get to know them
uncle tony your a dick head, i know about this fellow and i am in Australia your not knowing about this car is because you clearly wernt following or hanging with the street scene at the time thats your problem not the ghost owners problem you should research you stories before you show doubt towards true stories the dead owner would be turning over in his coffin i have since have been chatting with older friends in the u.s and many have confirmed this story and nobody new he was a cop and raced him and only found out after the show came out
@x yea demodded! You're a kid and I can tell! You're no older than 20
@@mT_atvF5KCVHlk And that's your opinion so??
@@George-dy3pt my daddy has more money than you!!!!
When I saw the CZcams videos on it, the 40-minute one especially, and saw there were no headers...right then I knew this was a story and not a factual street racing legend. Hell, with those 4-speeds, be it 383, 440 or 426 Hemi, you had to be really good to speed shift them and then if you didn't shift well, a low 14-second time card turned into a low 15. Great video Tony.
Spoken like a man who’s paying attention. Thanks Tony!
As someone once said”never let the truth stand in the way of a good story”.
The truth should always stand in the way of a fake ass story.
Is that a Quote from Biden?
I KNEW that story was horseshit! I remember watching the documentary on CZcams a couple years ago and thinking that none of it added up, the car looked completely stock and beat to shit, nothing about it screamed "legendary drag car", and I'd never heard of it before. They had so many people hyping it though and even Dodge was getting behind the story, that it almost made me second guess myself. Almost. Then I looked at pics of the engine bay again and of the rest of the car and concluded "yeah that wasn't no drag car, people will fall for anything these days", and then I forgot all about it.
What a treat that UTG's video popped up on my YT feed today (even though he did this a few months ago, not sure how I missed it). And all my suspicions are now confirmed! Hilarious lol. It sold for a million, its "story" is even archived in Library of Congress.... Lmao what a mind job!
Oh there's no doubt a movie will be made on it. I'll say the REAL reason that no one else has the guts to say: it's because the original owner was black. There, I said it. Not to take anything away from Godfrey Quall, I'm sure he was a great man and deserves to be remembered for his contributions to his country and all that. But the main reason this car got so hyped, and its "legend" wasn't questioned and was handled with kid gloves by Dodge and the Mecum auction and everyone involved with it..... Is because it came from a black family. That's it. That's all it is. Virtue signaling is at all time highs, and what better way to virtue signal than to pretend that a black war hero, cop-by-day, street-racer-by-night, owned a "legendary" car that "owned the streets" of Detroit in the 1970s that then vanished and passed into myth for 50 years. It makes for the PERFECT type of story that Hollywood wants to sell. Had this exact car been owned by a white guy, no one would've batted an eye and no one would've gone along with the clearly made up history of this car. And everyone knows I speak the truth when I say that.
It wasn't cause his race, apparently Hagerty wanted to interview the son bc the classic car market has been topsy-turvy as hell the last several years, they figured if they put together an heart string pulling mini documentary it would give a slight boost in this market, they even had help from that film company Tony mentions in the video. if Hagerty could convince ppl that classic cars are more than just vehicles, it'll convince ppl to go out and buy an old car, and when people buy an old car most are likely to insure through you guessed it, Hagerty, like Tony said this was all marketing.
I am so glad someone finally pointed all this out. Thanks👍
Interesting perspective from all sides. Nice to hear a true Mopar guy say that HEMI was at best a 14 second car.
In a 4,000 pound car most definitely.
@@SoI_Badguy at best 13.9 stock with minimal work
Least biased Chevrolet cope-filled comment:
That was fast in 1970 for a stock car.
@@otisdriftwood8469 yeah but Woodward was a put up or shut up thing . Sorry not sorry but anyone who has a fast car knows you call out faster . There would be more people interviewed than his uncle and friend. Sorry
I loved this! UTG here's a tip: "The Robin's Egg Ghost", a story about a washed up Top Fuel mechanic who builds a junkyard Coronet with nothing but junk parts and his uncanny tuning knowledge, who terrorizes the Nashville street racing scene.
I'd like to hear it
Ya,he won a 5,000 dollar grudge match with it and drove off into the sunset with his fist full of dollars laughing all the way. 😂
Nothing special. I believe he ran nitrous. 😁
I heard of that legend...you can't put a price on that. But if you could...
I think 'washed up' is insulting. How about "long in the tooth"
Oh wow......................
Great vid, thank you for sharing!!!!!!!
I enjoy your work. You tell it like it is. Straight up.
One mil? Someone paid about $700k for a feel good story.
Well said.
Tractor's have become the new investment as well. That's all one is banking on, that the value is sure to rise either way. They just put a lot more eggs in one basket. In many ways the Antique Tractor industry is following this same thing. Draw people in and then seperate the tractor from the implements. Leading someone to most likely end up bidding $15000 just for one implement and destroying the total value of the tractor as a set. We both know why the bidding goes so high on the plows. Tom Dick and Harry planted in the crowd.
There's a Hemi Superbird going up for auction somewhere soon.
They predict it'll fetch
975g.
@@onestepbeyond7240 I wonder how much fighting goes on behind the scenes when 2 or 3 people get together and buy one of these things. They are only worth that much for investment reasons and if you have place and time to store it for 25 more years.
@@kramnull8962
B-J & Mecum have ruined the chances for a average schlub like myself to buy these
" collector" cars.
The same cars I could've bought for peanuts back then.
I do remember reading about the Steve Lisk 1971 Challenger. Hemi with a Lenco and back halved. The first Pro Street car I saw in Hot Rod Magazine. It ran the Detroit streets in the late 70’s.
Seen it out on the street back then. Oooh aaah holy shit moment for a young guy who knew about the legend
Love that car
It was running 9.61 thru the mufflers at 142 mph back in ‘77. And it was street driven.
If the car headed back half it's a race car not a streetcar
@392 Scatpack car was not backhalfed and it was street driven. Basically an NHRA Pro Stock car
My favorite part in all of this? An actual acknowledgement of the likely 14.0 sec best 1/4 mile time. This is the way I remember these cars too. It's not legend or fiction when you hear stories of the 440 cars as faster. Back in the days of 1:1 final drive ratio transmissions few people actually ordered cars that couldn't do 70MPH on the highway with out sounding and feeling like the engine wanted to just jump out from under the hood on high RPM. some cars were sold with really racey gears 3.90:1 and up but usually these were cars headed to the drag strip. Generally speaking they were usually kept simple a light for racing. Rarely if ever as heavily decked out with options you'd like have in a daily driver. The Street and the Drag Strip are two very different places. The Street Hemi is in no way anything even remotely close to it's built up Iconic status. Never has been. Stock vs Stock with street going sensible gears a 440 Challenger walks away easily on the street and at probably at the drag strip too. Things change when you start optimizing things for the two very different engines. 440s with their lack of breathing ability vs the far greater potential breathing in a 426 is where Hemi Drag Strip legendary history is actually found. Small Block flow potential in a stock BB 440 yield a surprising advantage on the street even though it's running out of potential at 5,500 and it's on the down hill slide big-time above that RPM number. TORQUE......a fabulous flat torque curve with BIG NUMBERS starts happening really early in the RPM range for the 440.....exactly where you want and need it in a street race. The Hemi on the other side of this makes far less torque under 4,500 than a 440. It has the potential to hustle and blow far past the 440 above 5,000. To get their though and not fall car lengths behind first though a Hemi car will need a higher stall speed Converter or high RPM Clutch dump, appropriate gearing, Traction, and then Headers to allow it to run where it runs HARD. Do all that and you're well ahead of the potential in a 440 car. How-ever with stock pieces that don't allow the Hemi to get to where it runs hard quickly enough......the car will find itself too far behind that 440 to make up the distance later. Black Ghost? I think I heard that this car did have pretty good gears but no mention made of a cam swap, headers or much of anything else.....like even mini tubs to accommodate tires that would actually have traction. Had the car been set up with a big cam and headers. If it had been lightened up through removed options and pieces that make it a nice street car but would only add weight no one wants when racing I'd have been far more likely to consider the story told as possible.....but anyone who saw the car really should have known better. My first question would have been: "So if he raced it so successfully in the early 1970s I have to ask, "When" and "why" did he put everything back to stock?"
Great channel, great info, good for you calling out these thieves 👍
If you heard some of the stories guys I went to high school with 40 years ago tell about my Lemans you'd think it was a really fast car. Ive even heard it'd pull the front wheels off the ground. It wouldn't
The stories just get better over the years. 😅
I really thought the story on this car was bullshit when I first heard of it over two years ago, I looked for hours and hours digging trying to find anything on this car even going as far as talking to a man that was big on the car seen in Detroit and he also called it a hoax, being in his 20's during this era with a monster Ford 427 shoved into a tiny Ford Falcon he told me 2 years ago someone was hyping this car for a sale, that man even at his age doesn't miss a beat and is never wrong, gonna have to share this with him today, thanks for the video Tony, great job as usual!!!!
Old guys are usually right. Most people you and I's age don't listen. Sucks to be them - I'm out here gettin ahead on old people knowledge. xD
I was immersed in the Detroit street racing scene of the early 70's and never encountered this car. Nice car, worth some money, but exaggeration is rampant. I had to buy my father's car from his trust (my sisters) and they couldn't understand why I would cling to it after it sat for 55+ years. I will never sell it.
Tha ks bubby I seen the story on the net they talked this car up I wondered how is out run a built vet u just answered that what a great way to build ur retirement lol thanks
I believe Tony 100%. Because I saw what I think was the most detailed documentary about "the Black Ghost Challenger", where they were interviewing a couple of the old dudes who supposedly were actually there, and friends of the original owner. Now here's the kicker: the one guy claimed "he always rode shotgun during those races, and he would tell his buddy, the owner/driver of the car "when to shift". SERIOUSLY, I SAW THAT, AND I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF. For starters, when you're racing the fastest street cars around, ya don't go piling passengers in with you. Second and more importantly, if you literally need someone to "spot for you & tell you WHEN TO SHIFT GEARS", that car is obviously NOT being raced to it's full potential......whether it's stock or modded. The man literally claimed he would be looking out the back of the car during every race, and as the other car was gaining, he would tell him to shift into the next gear. WHAT BULLSHIT. LOL. Anyone else out there watch the same video? It was hilarious........and lots of folks expect you to believe that nonsense.
Yea man......been drinking too much Cobra malt liquer for sure in that clip!!! I thought the same when I watched it.
Yep, saw the same video as you and had the same thoughts. Dude just seemed like a kook trying to sensationalize stories of riding around with his buddy.
@@chrishensley6745 I can tell you really saw the same video talking to the same guy, especially when ya said "been drinking too much Cobra malt liquor", lol.
@@MoparRob440 LOL.......absolutely.
I cannot believe this is a real account from someone... absolutely no way they would put that in the documentary and expect ppl to go along with it
Guys with the longest arms always catch the biggest fish. Same story with that challenger. I knew long ago that a movie would be right around the corner. Look up the name of the buyer and see where that million bucks is coming from. Scam for sure.
When I saw the youtube video I thought it would make for a good movie. TBH I think selling the car takes away from the story.
I love Mopar Action magazine. I just came across your channel. Its very entertaining and informative. I knew this story was hogwash. Thank you for taking the time to explain this.
10 years ago there was this guy who went across country in his Mustang. He stopped at all the major cities and street raced everyone. Beat the shit out of everyone. Never raced for money or pink slips. When he beat you at the finish line, he just kept going. Supposedly it was an under 10 second car. Very fast! It was called the Apocalypse Gray Horse. Legend has it, he never street raced in the same city twice, so there are a lot of stories about this racer and his Mustang.
The only thing about the stories that had something in common were that the Mustang was a New Edge body style, it was Dark Shadow Gray, limo tinted windows, chrome wheels, and a unique racing stripe on the hood (one that no one else had).
I'm sure if the stories were true there would have been plenty of guys that were active in the Detroit scene at that time that they could have brought forward with their stories about such a "legendary" car. The fact that no one had ever even heard of this thing until a few years ago when the kid started parading it around tells me all I need to know about the authenticity.
Of course. Because every motherfucker on the road at night drove SOHC powered Thunderbolts and drilled frame Catalina’s.
Its a very odd story the Father was a black police officer, through 27 years of serving his community as a traffic officer in his down time was a street racer in Detroit, , and appeared to have never ever been heard of until his son a filmmaker decided the world should hear his version of his Father's secret , that was by his sons own admissions , his Dad never mentioned his street racing.
My children don't know about my late night clandestine illegal street racing either, and I'm not even a cop.
@@azul93gt38...
Truth is most of us don't want our kids knowing about our youthful late nights.
We all went out as a family on the weekends and hung out with the other car people and if my father raced my mom and myself rode with one of the other people that didn't run and watched the race
@@azul93gt38my dad told me all about his street racing when I was 7
My kids know about my street racing history and son does it now
I think it is just one of those things where the dad was an impressive guy and people liked him. He did have a great car. So everyone around would just keep enhancing the story. Guys saying. “That car was fast. Ran high 13s” then the next guy says “it was probably a 12s” then through the years the story gets bigger and bigger. So a 14 sec car owned by a cool guy becomes the fastest car on the street over the years.
never looked into the story to see if it was true, but now im glad you did! that's crazy!
Just our local street racers back in the ‘80’s were pretty serious machines. Hard working blue color guys put a lot of time & money into their Dusters, Corvettes, Chevelles. Big gears, big cams, lightened cars, slicks, sometimes roll bars. This was all obvious stuff and the real fast cars would probably be 11-12 second cars. Nice call Tony, a “real” street racer is usually a clean, well prepared car with lots of go fast goodies.
Yeah, and back in the 80s we could afford to be hyperpartisan with our brand choices, because there were still LOTS of late 60s and early 70s American cars on the road from every brand. There were still scads of '68 - '74 Novas, '68 - '72 Chevelles, Darts & Dusters, Furys, Torinos, Mustangs, even Javelins. So as a Ford guy, I could afford to roll my eyes at Chevys, because there were so damn many of them!
Fast forward 35-40 years, and it's so uncommon to see any of these old cars on the streets anymore, that I'm no longer a Ford partisan. I'd love to see a nice 69 Chevelle, Nova, a 68 Firebird, a 70 'Cuda, or a 74 Dart. Sure, I may slightly prefer a 65 Comet, but not by much anymore....
@@HighlanderNorth1 I was there too. I granduated in 88 and dalied a 73 Z/28 RS/LT, and had a 46 GMC as my other vehicle. The high school parking lots in the 80's had first and second gen Monte Carlo's, 66-73 Chevell's, 1st and 2nd gen F-Bodies, 62-70 Impala's and Caprice's, Galaxie 500's and Mercury Marauders, some 1st gen Mustangs, Pontiac GP's and Bonnies, Olds Starfires, Cutlass, and 88's and even a few 50's Wampa Dampa dalies like a 57 Chevy post thrown in along with a lot of early and mid 70's land yachts. We didn't know how good we had it.
It's nice to see that some people in the world can still use their head for critical thinking ! Thanks Tony.
As a kid that was appart of the street racing game before fast and furious. I can honestly say no street racer ever had a bone stock car. We all had modified cars, so I can absolutely see uncle Tony's point.
Thank you for speaking the truth. One big ass scam.
I stopped at the instant realization that a motorcycle cop for 27 years is a street racer. Well that's bullshit. He arrested those guys.
Ive lived in Michigan ( 30 minutes from Detroit) my whole life (almost 50 years) I never heard of this car...ever. Until Dodge decided to make it a big deal.
Just because you havent heard of it, doesnt mean it didnt exist. I lived a few hours away in the late 70's early 80's and I've heard of it
@@larryfeasel2403 no you didn't lol.
Lived in Detroit area 70-73 (Mt Clemens) and never heard of it.
Tony, as a Black man let me tell you, he wasn't racing the higher end cars you're talking about, he was racing other black guys , think about it he was a police officer with a family to support, it was all he could do to make the payments! I hate saying this but he wasn't racing at that level, he was racing guys who were racing their daily drivers... and to them he was king of the hill, he wasn't racing guys with 10 second cars, he was racing other guys like himself, this was the early 70's , hp parts cost money and that car was stock, bone stock! It actually was in storage (the garage) for years after pop died, the son was raising a family and barely got it running again! No claim to being a killer of super cars, just that he street raced it, everyone else made up the rest...
Dwight that makes a lot of sense... Don't know why he had to sneak out to go and race his buddies? As far as the "GHOST" I'm sure people see the car everyday and people talk!!
This is pretty much what I assumed when I heard the story of the car. It was a local legend to a small group of people. I have a car like that! I doubt I could get a million dollars for it even with the story.
It is an awesome car with a cool story.
If he was just racing other guys w/ stock junk, what makes it special then? Does that make all the cars of all the guys he was racing worth $1M? Im w/ Tony, something stinks.
I imagine he would just cruise the car on the weekend and there were plenty of others doing the same with small block Novas and Camaros that were easy pickens for the Hemi Challenger. But I doubt he was hitting the main scene on Woodward where the big dogs were hanging out.
My dad left me his amazing Chrysler minivan.. I should make up the story of how my old man raced it on the streets despite the fact he was blind in one eye and couldn't see out of the other and drove like an old lady on her way to church on Sundays..😅
UTG being Great as always. 💯💯💯💯
Reason, Logic, Honesty and Integrity things more unique than rare on YT but always present here
I saw an interview with the original owner. I got the feeling he took it out and "raced" at stoplights and stuff with cars around town, but wasn't really a "street racer". I could see people/family calling it the black ghost. After that, it seems like story/marketing. They took that car, and his story, and ran with it. I wondered how much that car would eventually sell for. It seemed like a bit of a marketing campaign back then. It's a sick car though.
Street racing back then was stop light to stop light
@@jeffhamill5099There’s pulling up to a light and having a “race,” and there’s intentionally pulling up to a light to have a race.
@@jeffhamill5099There was a ton of organized racing done for money and pink slips back then with many sub 10 second street cars. Watch the opening scene of the movie Two Lane Blacktop. Its a very accurate representation of what would have been considered a serious street racing scene during the early 1970s. The Black Ghost wouldn’t have stood a chance.
@@DucknCoverin I loved Tony's video about the NYC street racing scene.
I applaud you Tony, first saw the documentary on the car about two years ago, immediately had a connection with the late Mr. Godfrey Qualls. I am a combat veteran of the U.S.M.C. & retired from the N.Y.P.D. & like Mr. Qualls have a car I'm going to pass down. The story seemed to be manufactured about the car since the father's passing by the son who, oddly enough is around my age and have zero in common with. The old story of follow the money, they merchandised the car with shirts and mini replicas now they cashed in. The son is nothing like the father. God Bless Mr. Godfrey Qualls.
Exactly! Him and his peons at his company got together with hollyweird dodge and mecum and they figured out how they all could make alot of money! Uncle Tony it for everyone to hear but you still have these people who don't know how to comprehend have selective hearing and no common sense! And yea he's just exploiting his dad's name which is sorry!
Thank You for speaking up Mr. Halleran. I have both, my Granddad's car and my Dad's car and I couldn't sell either one if my life was at it's end. The love and honor I have for them is beyond measure.
Too often stories like this reveal uncomfortable truths..... Godfrey didn't give his car to his son until his time was up, for a reason.
@@patrickwayne3701 You have integrity Patrick and that's why your Grandfather's & Father's cars mean so much. My Grandfather wasn't a car guy, he was a WW II veteran and very, very tough man, he was my greatest mentor, he passed on May 31, 2001, I bought his home and that's where I live and will live out my life. Money is nothing more than dirty paper, not everything is for sale. Enjoy and treasure those cars.
@@RaiderX948 Thank You Sir. For your service and the kind words.
My Granddad was 82nd Airborne in WWII. Luckily,, my Grandparents were there for me when my mother decided to be elsewhere. They sheltered me and when Mom was elsewhere, they let me visit with my Dad, until Mom got wise to that,, then Mom urged her new husband to take overseas assignments.
I'm 57 now, and I looked after my Grands til they passed, in 2016 and 2018, 90 for Granddad and 93 for Grandma. Honor of my life.
With you on money. I've only scratched for enough to get what I have wanted,,, spent the rest of my time with friends and family. Never seen a tombstone that said 'Wish I had worked more'....
I agree the story has a flaw. The father was a cop and an upstanding vet, why would he engage in street racing at all? Why not just go to the track? Yeah it's a scam for sure.
The "Grey Ghost" was a 1986 or '87 Turbo Regal. Had something similar to the 1969 RPO code V75 "Liquid tire chain". Didn't use salt brine, it used VHT or Tracbite. I copied that in my budget 4th gen with a washer bottle out of an Envoy because it has two pumps. It actually worked. Momentary switch while doing a burnout.
Tony you are right about this car. The first time I saw the video on them getting the car running I thought this is a bone stock car that has been driven, not just street raced and hidden away. I worked at a Chrysler Plymouth dealer in 1970. We had Hemi Cudas and 440 six pack Cudas. The biggest issue with a bone stock big block was traction. The other was that the carburetors as they came from the factory had flat spots, they stumbled hesitated and backfired. Almost every one we sold with multiple carbs on it was back at the dealership within a month with complaints. The surprise, right out of the box, was the AAR Cuda. We had a one way street by the dealership where we raced the cars against each other. While the big block cars were spinning the tires the AAR was hooked up and gone! The problem with the Black Ghost story is that it is coming from people who weren't even around or were just babies during the time this car was suposed to be tearing up the streets.
I believe he wasn't even in his dad's nutsack when he supposedly raced it! Let alone a baby! It's just what uncle Tony said it was a story to scam people every way possible from dodge to the sole company mecum and the producers from hollyweird
Since i heard about it, I always questioned it's actual existence. I have never seen it personally but especially after looking at the Silver Bullet and how extreme the mods to it were, i was always suspect of the "prowess" of this very stock looking challenger. my brother did some street racing in Athens Ga in the 1990's and the supposed king of the street, I say supposed, because I never lived or visited, all said by my brother, a 1970 Hemi Cuda. While it looked stock from 20 feet away, when you got closer you could see the traction bars, the steel clamps on the leaf springs, the offset slant to the left side due to the super stock leaf springs (to fight the twist on launch) and the slight elevation in the front to plant as much weight to the back tires as possible, BTW the DOT drag tires were also a dead giveaway as well as they were essentially a grooved slick. My brother showed me a pic of this car it really looked the part, not like this stock looking car you speak of
I started racing on Woodward in 1976 and I never heard of this car ever.... and I left in 1980.
The new owner is having buyers remorse at a level I can't imagine after watching this vid Uncle Tony.......😆
Reminds me of the old saying "A legend in his own mind" or "the older I get the better I was". When a story gets passed around from person to person, each one embellishes it little bit more.
Yea but anybody with half a brain can take one look at the car and tell that it was nothing special. (Performance wise)
It is 1 of 1 and that is nice. But it also is loaded with all the luxuries. I mean does it even have traction bars? That car was no unbeatable ghost.
@@josebrown5961how many HEMI cars u got?
@@wildestcowboy2668 right back at you
@@TheCptTrenchfoot 69 charger HEMI, automatic 57 Chrysler hemi (392)
Has anyone checked the prices of these old original Hemi Challengers and Cudas?
This car wasn't bought because of any scams or hyping the car up. No one comes off of a million because they are dumb.
Go to Carlisle Pennsylvania and price cars at the Mopar Nationals. Unrestored hemi cars go for a fortune now. Some Cuda's go for more than a million now.
I'm 100% Mopar but Competition for the Siver Bullet (a built race car) was cars like Sox and Martin, Dick Landy, and many more Mopars that ran on the drag strip.
When did Mecum auction it off? I feel really sad for the purchaser. They'll never get their money back out of that car. Shame on hagerty's for going crazy about it without doing their investigation first I guess they just wanted to be the first one on the block to say hey we got this we got all the information about this car! You all know what I'm talking about.
Hot Rod Magazine just did a feature on this car too and bought the whole story too. This reminds me of the collectible sports card market, with high prices, provenance gets invented.
I’m glad someone that’s respected in the car community said it. I was thinking “did nobody in Detroit in the 70’s have any means to soup up there cars?” You’re 100% right the story is fake.
No, it's really not. This guy is welcomed to his opinion but that's all it is.
@@grdragonslayer lol vitamin C made that "ghost" vanish forever....real deal Detroit Born n raised here...French Road Riders
@@rogadog77 lol, not sure what any of that means, but OK
@@grdragonslayer exactly, you don't....because you're NOT from Detroit, I am.......tony hit the nail on the head perfectly
@@rogadog77 Lol, “I’m from Detroit so I’m an expert” 🤣🤣🤣. Did you know Mr. Qualls personnally? Did you live in his neighborhood? Were you part of his circle? Didn’t think so. Several who have commented on here who DID know him have verified the stories, so your opinion means as little as Tony’s.
God bless and RIP Officer Qualls. The way a few profiteers have tarnished his reputation to cash in on what was supposed to be an heirloom passed to his son is disgusting. The moment I saw the detailed photos of that car and the obviously dramatized “documentary” (really just a hype video for the auction) it was painfully obvious at least 3/4 of the story was fabricated. I base this simply on how huge the street race scene was at the time in Detroit and how many REALLY fast cars there were on Woodward Avenue at the time. You’ll notice the only people who claim the “black ghost” narrative is true are people who have profited from being involved with the story and / or the sale of the car. Aside from that “documentary” and a bunch of web articles citing it as their one and only source for this story, there is nothing supporting this story being true….but there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence, heresay and even direct statements from hundreds of people who WERE there in the time the story takes place that say that car wasn’t any sort of participant, let alone a fierce competitor in any street racing in Detroit, ever. Basically what’s happened is a few clever guys have used a disgusting tactic, race baiting, which is very effective in our divided country right now, to take a neat and unique 1970 Challenger in rough shape that might have been worth $75-90k in the condition it was in on a GOOD day and jacked the price up into 7 figures by convincing those who don’t know much about muscle cars that the car is some kind of civil rights heirloom left by this heroic black “outlaw” who was a cop by day and street racer by night, beating all the dirty racist white dudes on Woodward Avenue in dozens of stoplight races and proving them all wrong. I just pray the son is a gullible man who was sold a bill of goods and not a conspirator in that whole ordeal. It’s obvious his dad wanted him to keep and cherish the car like he did for over 40 years. It would b understandable if he made a tough call and had to go with a $700,000+ payday for selling it after believing what these people told him….but if he was involved in making that whole story up with the goal of a big score after his father’s death then he’s got some BAD karma coming his way.
Wow! I'm a white conservative. Race was never brought up except the fact that he was a black man. That makes you a racist & a gullible envious prick who believes everything he reads & hears! So his son with a family got a million $ and now knows what it feels like to be a millionaire. Your angry at that? That's none of your buisness. I'm happy for him!
Nailed it
I'm not sure its a race thing. I'll eat me words if there is proof of that and I hope it isn't. I think it was just a really cool local story that became too big for its own britches because someone blew it out of proportions. Not accusing anyone but the son would have been in a good place to stop it. But he was also in a great place to profit from it.
@@thomascrum7641 I agree! But if he did profit from it so what. It's his car.
Totally agree. I think there were plenty of people in on building the hype around the feel good black man prevails over whitey and becomes a legend and hero for "the community" story... And hell, I don't blame him for cashing in. I would have kept the car myself and let my kid get rich off it one day if he so chooses, but I'm a car guy and if my pops had handed me down a sweet iconic 60s era muscle car, I'd get it running and drive it to remind me of my pops. That guy isn't a car guy, the car could only mean so much to him, so I don't blame him for selling it. And if you're going to sell it, why not maximize your profits?
I watched that video on CZcams and was stoked on the story the first time I watched it. Its the kind of story people want to believe is true but when I watched it a second time and was able to sidestep the emotional element and remove myself from the hype, it didn't ring true to me at all. And I realized on my own exactly what he's saying about the car...there's no way guys were running stock high optioned cars in the street scene in Detroit back then. There's no way that car was the king of the streets. I'm sure he ran some guys from light to light now n then. You have to. But a bone stock car isn't going to be the most feared car on the streets. Some people may have recognized it because it's a damn good looking ride and the top was unique as hell. But i think that's it. I don't have any grudge against the guy for using his creativity to make a bunch of money off the sale of the car. I do have issues with Mecum and any other company knowingly pushing a b.s. story to profit from it tho.
Plot twist: Buyer puts a junkyard LS in it. Picks up 4 seconds.
Lol in Your dreams
I've never heard of this channel before but I'm glad auto play was on. Funny thing is i just heard about this black ghost then boom your video played. So I clicked subscribe.
“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
It's how America runs.
Never let a good story get in the way of the truth.
Don’t forget about Steven Lisk’s 71 challenger street legal pro stock challenger. That car was a beast!
yup and jack roush 460 mustang 2
Seen it at Milan dragway
Great story! Points out the ridiculous prices paid for cars that we took to the junk yard back in the day. I wish we had kept a few!