Today I closed the deal on a 1984 Shelby Charger that had been mentioned in Shelby Times #4 in 1986. On page 35 there was an article and two photos of the car once owned by Bill McPeak of Central Florida.
I had discovered the car 6 years ago at a buy here-cry here lot in Apopka but at the time the car had a price tag of $6k. With 2 car payments already under my belt I didn't have the available funds to pull off buying the car.
Back then I had made contact with Dave at Positive Impressions who quickly narrowed down the previous owner of the car based on the unique license plate attached to the front which read Shelby Dodge Club, Jacksonville.
Dave pointed me towards Mr McPeak who had confirmed it was indeed his old car which he purchased new for his wife back in 84 and also made mention that the car now had a 2.5 and a 1800 stall converter for a little extra kick.
When I looked at the car 6 years ago it was looking at a time capusle. At the time it had just over 40k garage kept miles and it sported a Direct Connection valve cover, louvers and a odd accessory Mopar radio. The grey interior was spotless and the paint was near showroom perfect.
Well a few years went by and in my travels around Orlando I stumbled on the car once again.....at another buy here-cry here lot. This time the car was looking a little sad, the paint was failing and from the road the body had a couple noticable dings. I called the lot the following Monday morning and was told the car had a sticker of $2500 cash. A couple days went by and a 16v car came up for sale and I directed my interests towards it.
While surfing the net for another VW project I decided to do a quick search of Shelby Dodges just to see what came up......there it was, Mr McPeaks car, now looking like total a$$ with weeds growing around it and a smoked automatic.
I quiclky called on the ad and spoke with the seller. Not 100% sure that it was Bills old car I asked a couple key questions about the car. When I asked about the front license plate the guy on the other end said yup its still on it. COOL!
I just went today and looked at the car in person. Although the paint is weathered the interior is still an easy 9 out of 10 and the oddball radio and Direct Connection valve cover are still present...the louvers were ditched sometime back and the odometer now reads just over 55k.
So, long story short.....the car is finally back in the hands of a FWD Mopar guy!