Photo: Mecum
For the entire past week the eyes of automotive enthusiasts were pointed at Monterey, California, where the annual Car Week took place. Amid incredible car launches and other related events, a major car auction took place.
Held by Mecum, the event had some incredible cars to offer, with the most high-profile of them expected to sell for millions of dollars. The Plum Crazy 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T we have here was not that valuable, but it still managed to rock the auction block.
The car is part of the Challenger's first generation, its first year on the market to be more precise. Styled as a convertible with the R/T goodies on, it needs little else to be an incredible offering for car collectors.
Yet this example takes things one step further and adds some elements of rarity that make it even more valuable.
The main thing that helps with that is the car's engine. It is the largest of all engines offered for the Challenger back then, a 440ci piece. We're told the 390 horsepower powerplant is one in V-Code configuration, of which just 1,640 were made back then.
The rarity of the car gets a boost thanks to the fact that the engine (which is a period-correct one) is paired with a matching numbers 4-speed manual transmission, the convertible body, and the R/T package. And back in 1970 just 61 of these babies, in this exact configuration, were made.
Another thing going for the car is its color, perhaps the most famous of that age: Plum Crazy. Spread all over the bodywork, it works wonders with the black top and Rallye wheels wrapped in Goodyear Polyglass tires.
Went it went under the hammer last week the car's odometer read 61,000 miles (98,000 km) of use. That's an average of 1,150 miles (1,850 km) traveled in each of the 53 years that have passed since it was born.
When we first brought you news about this car in mid-August we also told you something about the owner's financial expectations. In the most optimistic of scenarios, the Plum Crazy 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T was expected to fetch as much as $300,000 during the Monterey event.
The Dodge did manage to sell, but it fell short of the amount mentioned above. Now that the hammer has fallen, the car is in new ownership after someone paid exactly $291,500 for it.
We don't know who the new owner is or what their plans for the car are (a life as a daily driver is most likely out of the question), but don't be surprised if sometime soon we get to see this car cross another auction block somewhere. After all, profit is the name of the game in this world.
The car is part of the Challenger's first generation, its first year on the market to be more precise. Styled as a convertible with the R/T goodies on, it needs little else to be an incredible offering for car collectors.
Yet this example takes things one step further and adds some elements of rarity that make it even more valuable.
The main thing that helps with that is the car's engine. It is the largest of all engines offered for the Challenger back then, a 440ci piece. We're told the 390 horsepower powerplant is one in V-Code configuration, of which just 1,640 were made back then.
The rarity of the car gets a boost thanks to the fact that the engine (which is a period-correct one) is paired with a matching numbers 4-speed manual transmission, the convertible body, and the R/T package. And back in 1970 just 61 of these babies, in this exact configuration, were made.
Another thing going for the car is its color, perhaps the most famous of that age: Plum Crazy. Spread all over the bodywork, it works wonders with the black top and Rallye wheels wrapped in Goodyear Polyglass tires.
Went it went under the hammer last week the car's odometer read 61,000 miles (98,000 km) of use. That's an average of 1,150 miles (1,850 km) traveled in each of the 53 years that have passed since it was born.
When we first brought you news about this car in mid-August we also told you something about the owner's financial expectations. In the most optimistic of scenarios, the Plum Crazy 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T was expected to fetch as much as $300,000 during the Monterey event.
The Dodge did manage to sell, but it fell short of the amount mentioned above. Now that the hammer has fallen, the car is in new ownership after someone paid exactly $291,500 for it.
We don't know who the new owner is or what their plans for the car are (a life as a daily driver is most likely out of the question), but don't be surprised if sometime soon we get to see this car cross another auction block somewhere. After all, profit is the name of the game in this world.
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