Friends,

In June of 2023, I bought a Red Dodge Challenger SXT. I named her Molly, since Molly (the heroine of my novel Molly’s Song helped pay for her). The SXT was the base model Challenger with a V6 engine. I really wanted an R/T, but they cost 10-15K more and were not as fuel efficient. At the time, I was driving 100 miles round trip to work and back five days a week, and so I needed something that would be better at the gas pump. I had no idea that a scant six weeks later, I would accept a teaching position at a new college that was not only much closer to home, but also allowed for virtual office hours, which meant I was only driving in 3 days a week one semester and two days the next. In two years, I only had 14K miles on the car.

We’ve had a bumpy spring for reasons too much to get into here, and I decided that I wanted to explore getting an R/T. There weren’t many available in the area that didn’t have a lot of mileage on them. I found one that was still new on the lot with less than one hundred miles on it, all test drive miles. I decided to go in and see if we could work a deal. We could! Not only did they give me a great price on Molly when I traded her in, but the price on this R/T was, two years after it came out, what I paid for an SXT in 2023. This car would have cost me $45K then. I got it for just under 35K. Let me tell you, it is going to take time to adjust to the throttle on 5.7L HEMI V8 after having a 3.7L V6. Not only is she beautiful, but she is so fun to drive, just like Molly was. Though I was sad to part with Molly, I know she will find a new home with someone who loves her as I did. So, without further delay, let me introduce you to my new girl, Mashka.

Happy motoring, friends.

Lee Hutch