Articles by Josh Lange

Published September 5, 2024

Andy Rucker of Mishawaka has accomplished a feat that many yearn for; getting his first car back.

Andy is a civil servant, working as an Elkhart police officer. He has also coached little league baseball and currently is an active member of the Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) lodge.

Andy has always had a love and fascination for cars. When he was 16 years old, his parents gifted him his dream car on his birthday, a 1974 Dodge Challenger, because of his hard work and dedication to school. An interesting fact about the 1974 model is that it was the last year of its first production run. Andy fondly remembers driving around with his muscle car as a teenager in 1986 while he had a part time job labeling boxes. He kept his Challenger for about 10 years before selling it to his brother-in-law in the late 1990s.

Fast forward to this year, despite not living in St. Joseph County, Andy’s brother-in-law was still in possession of the vehicle. Andy had the golden opportunity of a lifetime; being able to repurchase his first car. It is amazing to think that even after a quarter of a century, his brother-in-law had not sold it. Had the car been sold, odds are Andy would struggle to find a 1974 Dodge Challenger. There were only a little over 11,000 produced, and the model of that year has a lofty price tag.

After buying it from his brother-in-law, Andy took his muscle car back to his Mishawaka home. The only thing done to the car in the past 25 years, is that the engine was replaced with a better 360 small block. Andy plans to keep his Dodge Challenger as original as when he first owned it and plans on eventually passing it down to keep his first car in the family. He hopes that his kids and grandkids will get as much joy out of it as he has.

Andy’s Car