Dodge pays homage to a legendary vehicle that roamed the streets of Detroit years ago
Detroit, 1970s. The city was still lively with auto plants littering the streets at every corner. You cruise down Woodward Avenue, looking for a poor soul to pick a street race fight against. Seemingly out of the low blowing smog comes an eager looking 1970 midnight black Dodge Challenger. You line up and he somehow leaves you with the billowing trash on the street. You just fell victim to the Black Ghost.
As eerie as that story is, Dodge’s newest Last Call variant is a “modern manifestation” of that. The original Black Ghost roamed the streets of Detroit on Woodward Avenue in the 1970s. Owned by a police officer named Godfrey Qualls the Black Ghost was a noir black 1970s Dodge Challenger SE R/T that would leave racers in the dust and disappear for months, earning the moniker Black Ghost.
Now the name takes on a contemporary meaning with the new Challenger Black Ghost. Using the Challenger Redeye Widebody as its base, the new Black Ghost is a salute to the racer of years past.
Power is upped 10 hp from 797 with the standard Redeye Widebody to 807 with the Black Ghost. Painted to look as sinister as possible, the car is draped in black with the gator skin vinyl wrapped top like we’ve seen on the original. Not just that… we mean everything is black. Even the 6-piston Brembo brake calipers are touched up in the dark hue. It’ll only come in the 8-speed auto, which is sad compared to the mythological reputation Qualls’ car got for having a 4-speed manual with a wood-grain pistol grip.
On the inside, you guessed it, more black. Carbon fiber accents and the old-school Dodge nameplate emblazoned on the hood finish the Ghost off to haunt plenty more stoplight racers to come.
The Black Ghost sits itself as the penultimate Last Call variant of the vanishing Dodge Challengers and Chargers. Like the other Last Call models, only select dealers will even get a whiff of the apparition and will be limited to 300 models.
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