It was 1976 and 18-year-old Pete Cellini had just graduated from high school. He shared, “Since getting my driver’s license at 16, I had been driving any $300 cars I could fix and get on the road. Coming from a Ford family, I mostly drove old Mustangs, Mavericks, F-100s and Torinos. I’d drive the wheels off it and get another.”

Now, looking forward to College, Pete knew he needed something a bit more reliable and that a cheap beater wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Knowing he was hunting for something, a friend told him that she knew of a really cool car that her next door neighbor was selling. She didn’t know what it was but knew it was cool.

The seller was only about a mile from where Pete lived with his parents at the time so he contacted the seller and set up an appointment to come see the car. Pete tells us, “When I first saw the car, it was love at first sight. There sat this root beer brown muscle car with a cool looking hood scoop and a manual transmission with a shifter that looked like a gun. I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at being a Ford guy per-say but I knew I wanted it.”

He continued to say, “I would soon learn the car was a 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T. In fact, I’m not sure I even knew what a Challenger was before I saw this one. I struck a deal with the guy and I still remember when I brought the car home, my Dad being a true blue Ford guy jokingly said “Get that rat out of my driveway”!

College started and Pete drove the car back and forth to school. He put side pipes on it, messed with different performance add-ons, and lovingly beat the tar out of the car. Around 1981, he found himself still living with his parents and running out of money to pay for his college tuition so unfortunately had to sell the Challenger.

“I had to go back to a $300 1968 Mustang until I finished my last semester and got a real job. I sold the Challenger to a younger kid in the area for $1,100. I was heartbroken but knew I had to let it go. I would drive by the new owner’s house every so often and about two months after I sold it, I saw the car sitting with the passenger side fender and front end destroyed. It sat for a few months and then it was gone. I was sure it had gone to the scrapyard and crushed. It always upset me”, he shared.

Around 2010, the new Dodge Challengers were out on the road everywhere and Pete found himself getting the itch for another old Challenger like he had back in the day. He would purchase two different 1971 Challenger R/Ts and a ’71 ‘Cuda between then and recent. He told us,

“I was trying to recreate the thrill of my original Challenger with not much luck. Both ’71 R/Ts I owned, I wanted to do a recreation of my original car with but they were either too nice, too original or to cool to do so. One day in 2016, a fellow came to me and said “I remember hearing you had a root beer brown Shaker hood 1971 Challenger R/T back in the day. I think I know where the car is.”

“My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe it as I had given up hope long ago. He put me in touch with a guy that was able to connect me with the current owner. I called him and explained that I heard he had a root beer 1971 Challenger R/T. After comparing the options mine had alongside this one and learning the car was damaged in the front, I quickly realized it was my old car! It even still had the Springfield Dodge dealership logo on the back! When I asked if he’d sell it, he said that he’d consider it for the right money” Pete explained.

He continued, “Shortly after, I was on my way over to his area to see the car and called the owner for an exact address. When he answered, he said he had changed his mind and didn’t want to sell it anymore. When I told my wife he changed his mind, she cried for three days being as we had dated in that car before marriage and we were both excited that it might be ours again.”

In that conversation with the current owner, he was adamant to not come near the car or pester him about buying it. He assured Pete that if or when he wanted to sell it he would contact him first. He kept his distance but every year at Christmas, he would text him saying “I’m looking for a Christmas present for my wife, any chance you are ready to sell?” but never got a response or reply.

Pete shared, “This went on for about 7 or 8 years. One day I thought to myself, maybe the guy who knows the owner and gave me his contact information initially might have better luck with getting this guy off the fence. I contacted him and told him to offer the guy a big number for the car. He did and as money talks, the owner finally decided to sell the car. After getting the exact address, I realized he only lived ½ a mile from where my parents lived when I sold the car 43 years earlier! He even lived on the same street! I went and sealed the deal.”

He continued to say, “It’s pretty cool being owner #3 and owner #8. When I bought the car from owner #2, it had been wrecked already once. After I sold it, owner #4 wrecked it. It was bought and fixed and then owner #6 wrecked it in 1984 which took it off the road. Apparently, the car has an affinity for trees! The current owner bought it wrecked and had purchased parts for it over the years. After moving the car from storage location to storage location, it ended up in his driveway under a tarp.”

Being as the car only had 60,000 miles on it when it was last wrecked and having been mostly in dry storage, the car has minimal rust and most of its original parts. Missing is the original 383 four-barrel. Pete tells us that as of now, the car is in the metal shop getting some new metal before being restored to factory specifications.

Pete wanted to mention some folks that placed a crucial part in the car’s history; Rusty Ward for selling him the car in 1977, Zach Rumble for telling him where the car was sitting and helping negotiating the sale back to him, Jim Ortoleva for preserving the wrecked car for many years and selling it back to him, Dave Geiss for his ownership time and sending him a bunch of vintage photos of it and his friends Jim Zangari, Jim Graver and Kyle Berkstresser for all of the help bringing the car home.

<

►

>