Ralph Gilles, head of design at Stellantis, didn't set out to make a statement with the Black Ghost and King Daytona. While most of the lineup of Last Call special-edition Chargers and Challengers announced to date nod toward models from Dodge's muscle car history, only these two pay tribute to noteworthy figures who contributed to that history, both of them Black racers. The decision to do so was far from unintentional, Gilles says.

"We auto enthusiasts don't talk about diversity enough," Gilles says. "We didn't set out to solve any problems with these cars [...] we want to shed a light on the diversity in our history and open the doors to that conversation."

The Charger King Daytona pays homage to Los Angeles street racer Big Willie Robinson, a influential Black racer who founded the International Brotherhood of Street Racers, raced in a series of Dodge Charger Daytonas, and fought to open the Terminal Island drag strip in Long Beach as means to keeping Southern California youth safe from gang activity and street violence. Robinson died in 2012, but his legend has only grown since: His last remaining Daytona, after a full restoration, sold at auction for $154,000,

The Challenger Black Ghost, in turn, pays homage to Detroit street racer Godfrey Qualls and his Hemi-powered 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE, a car that reportedly proved nigh-unbeatable on the streets of Detroit. The illegal nature of street racing — compounded by Qualls's day job as a traffic cop for the Detroit Police Department — kept him from interacting with many of the other street racers in the scene or from regularly throwing down against them. He'd randomly appear on the streets then disappear for months or years, leading some to consider the all-black car with the Gator Grain vinyl roof something of a wraith and an urban legend, dubbing it the Black Ghost. Qualls died in 2015, leaving the Challenger to his son, Gregory, who has since maintained it in unrestored, as-raced condition, and had it added to the National Register of Historic Vehicles.

Read on for more...