Historic Vehicle Register Adds Police Officer’s Illegal Street-Racing 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE

It’s named “Black Ghost” and turns out it was a Detroit police officer’s illegal street-racing machine.

The Historic Vehicle Association recently added a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE to its registry of significant vehicles. The black coupe dubbed “Black Ghost” was purchased in 1969 by Godfrey Qualls, a Detroit Police motorcycle patrol officer and U.S. Army vet recipient of the Purple Heart.

The HVA said the story behind the nickname is that Qualls would show up and dominate an illegal street race, then disappear for months, turning the car into something of an urban legend. However, towards the end of the 1970s, Qualls put it away in his garage and left it there for decades.

Qualls son, Gregory, says that he remembers going for thrill rides in the car as a child but didn’t know about his father’s illicit street fun until after he inherited the car after his father’s death in 2015, the Detroit Free Press reports.

After the car sat for years, Gregory brought it back to running condition, however, has left it unrestored with just over 45,000 miles on it. He mostly just drives it to car shows these days.

The Challenger joins the HVA list of 28 vehicles (currently) which include the Ford Mustang from the Steve McQueen film “Bullitt” and Ronald Reagan’s 1962 Willys CJ-6.