- Local time
- 6:33 AM
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2020
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- 1,912
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- Location
- State College, Pennsylvania
Sold new at Clark Motor Company in State College, PA. Fifty-one years ago, a week after getting my driver's license, I sat behind the wheel of this unicorn, savored the new car smell, and said to myself, "someday".
It was, oddly, a sales bank car. R4 red hardtop, black bucket seat interior, console automatic, black vinyl top, power steering, 3:55 axle ratio. First owner was Olin Butt, a retired band director who owned a music shop in State College. He used the car as a daily driver until he passed in 1982.
Several deep pocket buyers pursued it over the next two years, but a former Penn State student finally closed the deal in 1984, purely by chance. When I talked to him five years ago, he said he looked over his shoulder the whole way across I-80, expecting a horde of local Mopar guys to be chasing him in Dodge pick up trucks!
When Bob sold the car in 1992, it ended up in Long Island, and when that owner sold it in 1996, the trail disappeared. I made a serious effort to locate it in 2015, but quit the search after lucking into the '69 GTX that currently occupies my garage.
Time is running out, so I figured I'd take one last shot at pulling the sword from the stone. If it doesn't surface, I might consider other '69 hemi Road Runners or GTXs.
It was, oddly, a sales bank car. R4 red hardtop, black bucket seat interior, console automatic, black vinyl top, power steering, 3:55 axle ratio. First owner was Olin Butt, a retired band director who owned a music shop in State College. He used the car as a daily driver until he passed in 1982.
Several deep pocket buyers pursued it over the next two years, but a former Penn State student finally closed the deal in 1984, purely by chance. When I talked to him five years ago, he said he looked over his shoulder the whole way across I-80, expecting a horde of local Mopar guys to be chasing him in Dodge pick up trucks!
When Bob sold the car in 1992, it ended up in Long Island, and when that owner sold it in 1996, the trail disappeared. I made a serious effort to locate it in 2015, but quit the search after lucking into the '69 GTX that currently occupies my garage.
Time is running out, so I figured I'd take one last shot at pulling the sword from the stone. If it doesn't surface, I might consider other '69 hemi Road Runners or GTXs.
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