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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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”)😂

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.

Dumb money is ruining the classic car market to where the regular guy can’t afford one anymore.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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!

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.

Great video Tony, as Mel Brooks would say, "forget the steak, sell the SIZZLE!"

Mecum doesn’t care . Hand them your 20% and be gone . It’s why the market is so topsy turvy with pricing .

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.

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.

Uncle Tony always out here spitting out facts. Appreciate the lack of BS.

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.”

You’re the BEST! I was born into this crap in 1971.. I’m so happy to be open minded and have the common sense to see to crap for what it is and people like you are sooo helpful in magnifying and breaking it down.. o hope the younger generations are paying attention. Thank you.

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!

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.

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

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”

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.

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’

*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!*

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.

Would have totally owned the streets in the 1940’s

It's nice to see that some people in the world can still use their head for critical thinking ! Thanks Tony.

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.

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!

Finally ! You and I agree on something. As far as Mecum goes, I wouldn't put anything past them either.

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.

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!

Mecum, Hagerty and everyone else promoting this car should be ashamed.

When I saw the KZfaq 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!

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

I KNEW that story was horseshit! I remember watching the documentary on KZfaq 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.

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!

Tony . . I have Elvis Presley's 2028 Cadillac Escalade that HE personally bought brand new with Bitcoin. . . I paid $4 Million Dollars for this Caddy. . . I sleep well at night 😊

In Philly we had two places for serious racers,the big daddies were Front st,and people would actually trailer their cars in to race.The other near Northeast airport was Decatur Rd,that's where the daily driver hot rods raced,loved going to those things.One car that stood out was a Boss 302 Maverick yellow in color,man that thing could move.It was not unusual to see pros like Bill Grumpy Jenkins running a couple cars the streetable ones

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.

As someone once said”never let the truth stand in the way of a good story”.

I found an article online that was written in 1976 about Detroit Street racing. It's called the Heirs of Woodward Avenue. Google it. It's undeniable proof of what Tony is saying. The Black Ghost wasn't the king of the streets, the only street the Ghost ruled was Sesame Street.

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 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.

Interesting perspective from all sides. Nice to hear a true Mopar guy say that HEMI was at best a 14 second car.

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).

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

One mil? Someone paid about $700k for a feel good story.

When I heard the story a while ago, the same thoughts went through my head as Tony regarding the set up. I just figured it was a "local legend" story with a heavy emphasis on "local" involving a unique car. To me, it made sense. The guy was a local cop and being caught street racing wouldn't be a good look. So my thoughts were this guy goes out once in a while picking his fights and having some fun all the while remaining anonymous due to his job. Even me, not being a hardcore gearhead, knew a bone stock car with it's specs wasn't gonna put fear into too many people.

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 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.

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.

Every SBC is out of a Corvette. Every Ford 360 is a 390. Every guy who ever hit a track had a car that pulled the front wheels once.

I believe your description of these events and stories to be quite true !! And I say this because there was a rumor that the son really wanted the car to go to Barrett Jackson for auction but was refused because Craig Jackson and his team knew the real story of the car !! And that story is the one you just described !!

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.

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.

I've been dealing classics for years and I'm 100% sure Mecum and all the big auction houses do not care or research authenticity. There's dishonest people stamping numbers and most people just want the car. A fool and his money.

I don't see any scam. I watched the Hagerty piece on the car. No where did they say the owner dominated the streets. They just said the guy took his car out occasionally at knight and raced and then disappeared. I'm sure he won his fair share against random guys. Of course if they're going to make a feature length film the story is going to be quite embellished Hollywood style.

The son planned this out the whole time, all while his dying father wished nothing but the car staying in the family. I feel bad for the buyer, Hagerty for their feature in this, and one day that son will wake up and realize what a mistake he made after his money is squandered.

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.

Tales from the Crypt did a similar story back in the late 90's with Brad Pitt. The black ghost was called "iceman" who drove a badass '57 Chevy with no front bumper.

never looked into the story to see if it was true, but now im glad you did! that's crazy!

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!!!!

What pisses me off is how FCA included this 'ghost' in their special edition challenger cars based of legend hearsay but didn't do one for Vanishing Point. There's no way a local to Detroit car is more famous and popular than the white Challenger from that movie which millions and millions of people have seen

Tony, IN 1972, I bought a 1970 Hemi Orange Challenger R/T 383 Magnum 4 Speed car I Built the car up from a bone stock car to a halfway decent street racer, it ran in the mid 13’s at Orange County Drag strip in California. I was in the Navy Stationed at San Diego. I loved that car and I have always regretted selling it! But I had to during the first or second gas crisis. I won almost every street race I got in, the only loss I can remember was to a Hemi challenger. In Long Beach Ca. I’m now 71 yrs old and still a hard core High perfomance gear head! I lived the story that you related with a few differences. I was White and most of my races were in Long Beach California, and Waukegan I’ll. 1972-1975. And my Challenger was Orange with the white R/T stripes rather than Black

I am so glad someone finally pointed all this out. Thanks👍

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.

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.

UTG being Great as always. 💯💯💯💯 Reason, Logic, Honesty and Integrity things more unique than rare on YT but always present here

Glad you made this video. I saw this car at the MCACN show in Rosemont Illinois and thought it was an interesting story and a very cool car. Fast forward a few years and this same car is selling for 1 million dollars??? I guess there are fools everywhere eager to believe something they want to believe. If I had 1 million to spend on a car = I would be spending it on a variety of great cars and still have plenty left over.

The only thing I can figure is it was “owning the streets” by beating other random cars at stop lights just driving around. But, it is a great story and good marketing. Got the car to sell for way more than it normally would.

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.

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 used to work for Chuck Honeycutt at Auto performance. From 1970, to 79, his 1970 455 Grand sport stage 1, was the most notorious car on the Woodward Ave. They had a 455 4-barrel, an experimental crown racing transmission, with no speedometer gear in it. And the D and R driveline built, 411 rear end. Chuck owned, fourteen super shops from traverse City to Dallas Texas. And the auto performance center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That is where I began working for him in 2012. He passed away in 2016. In 2014, the car was totaled out, when Chuck hit a deer, at over 100 miles an hour. When Chuck was 88 years old. When I asked him how he purchased his super shops franchises, he pointed to that Gran Sport. Every time he won a race, he put a tally mark on the bottom of the deck lid. At last count, over 750 cars failed to cross the finish line before Chuck. I drove that car several times. And that sumbitch was evil, wicked, mean, and nasty. I would give one of my testicles, to have that car. Unfortunately, I think his son-in-law sold it to our local scrap dealer. And he may have scrapped it. Mainly because, when Chuck died, he was attempting to fix the deer damage on it. Which was, the bumper, the hood, the fender, the grill the head lights... It was the biggest deer, Chuck ever got. 😕

Agree Tony... I owned and raced a 426 Hemi Dart that was built for Street racing against the big boys in Brooklyn, and Queens NYC in the late 1970's.. The car was a 10.60 car... in order to get there, the stock bore hemi had a 612/.593 custom grind cam ( chosen by Dick Landy), Engle roller lifters, and roller rockers, hand fabricated Hooker headers, 12 qt Sox and Martin oil pan.. Edelbrock. Rat Roaster intake with 1050 Dominator carb.. Twin Carter electric fuel pumps, 4 spd with a 58lb flywheel, and 557 gears in a Dana 60. Dandy Dick Landy supplied the cam, and set up the carb... Back then, I could call Mr Landy, and he would would make recommendations.. He was instrumental in helping get the car in the right direction..Rear suspension was a Motown Missile leaf link suspension with Super Stock springs... Those are just some of the modifications, that come to mind...Plus all the machine work, and a Moldex crank... Agree, the Black Ghost is a scam to make money... And fool clueless people...

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.

Uncle T . This one will go down in history as your best expose ever . Somebody got played real hard . The best part is that Haggarty and Mecum now have to live with promoting the scam . What can they do now ? There are only two ways out . 1 Admit that they got played or 2 Dig the hole deeper . I'm betting on numero 2 ....break out the shovels gang ....your rep is shot for sure . Thanks Tony , this is great stuff .

I know guys racing that era in Detroit. I raced the Detroit streets in the mid 90s early 2000s, never herd of this car. My best friends uncles and cousins raced that era on Woodward. Use to tell us stories never mentioned this one. Gonna make some calls for sure. I’m agreeing with you 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.

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.

I completely agree that this is horseshit. I am 67 years old, and was an avid street racer starting in 1972 in northern Illinois. At 16, I built a 1965 Dodge Coronet 500 (that I blew up....413 wedge) with a 440 bored, isky cam, 6 pack of Holleys. A 1968 close ratio 4 speed, and 4.11 gears. I was a gearhead that hung out with other gearheads. All of our cars we modified heavily ourselves, often after hours in the gas stations we worked at. I was very hard to beat, but did loose occaisionally. Everybody KNEW everyone else. Even the outsiders that often showed up, would eventually be known, as someone would follow them and eventually find out if they were not so friendly. The rich kids on the other side of town (whose mommies and daddies bought them new Z28's and GTO's.....all factory) could not beat any of us that sunk our hearts and paychecks into our cars. Anyone that was "undefeated"..... yes, and I still remember most of them today, as do others. Anyone that was proud of their car and their talents did not hide their identity. It's also kind of hard to believe a carreer traffic cop would double life as his own adversary. But yeah, no FACTORY cars would beat us for certain. I have to wonder if this "Black Ghost" bs evolved from the older long known "Ghost Rider" in Europe. Attempting a U.S. equivalent. That would make more sense.

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.

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

My brother and I...20 and 16 yrs. old in 1970, He ordered a new 1970 Hemicuda. He drove his old VW bug to work during the week and pulled the Hemi out on the weekend evenings for street racing and cruising while I learned to speed shift his VW on the weekends till I bought my 55 Chevy. We ran 13.50-13.20's at 105-107 with the super track pack 4.10/ headers and 7 1/2 J.C Penny slicks which were made by M&H. Later 4.56 gear went in along with a pair of grooved with a screwdriver slicks on the street. Had a 3 stoplight runs with a real 1969 Yenko Chevelle and when we 3rd gear in the Torqueflite we would pull away for a win by 1/2 a car. Brother made good money working for the telephone company AT&T to afford it all. All it really needed was a bit more cam and thats when he got carried away and added all the Race Hemi parts....12.5 pistons 1965 magnesium cross ram with the correct 770 Holley carbs ...Racer Brown STX 22 cam and the S&M large aluminum oil pan with the swinging pickup....and full manual Torqflite with 9 inch convert. We still drove it on the streets at night and it made a name for itself. REAL story here no B.S. Have the pictures and old 8mm movies. Wish I could go back and do it again! He still owns the Hemicuda and it shows 10,000 miles and sits the way it was on flat 50 year old slicks. Paint and body/interior all factory with no rust being stored in his garage. I don't understand why he does nothing with it. This a legend too? It was around our town....many real stories to tell! Tony I can email you some pictures.