Naming Her Lucy

I generally do name my vehicles, I'm a passionate guy who sees them as more than just steel, nuts and bolts. For most, ie: daily drivers, they're simple fun nicknames like "The Ute", "Vin" (for a diesel car, "Vin Diesel") and one of the more well know vehicles I created, "The Batram". When it comes to a vehicle like the Challenger, to me (and most classic car guys) these cars have soul, character, personality and a real presence so deserve more thought and passion behind the name.

The reason she's called "Lucy" is all do to with a crush I had in primary school. I was only 7 or 8 years of age and Lucy was a girl at school who was a few years older than me. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and was your typical miss popular. I'd get butterflies when seeing her. We usually made friendly eye contact and were warm enough but before I could muster up the courage to approach her and say "I liked her", she moved schools and I never saw her again. I was heart broken when one of my friends told me at school the next day. Gone. Never again.

So, in honour of that "feeling", I named my Challenger after her, my first "crush". I get the same vibe and butterflies with the Challenger so it has real meaning behind the name. Ironically, I located Lucy (the actual girl) some years later and chatted about years gone by. She was absolutely blown away when I informed her that she was the namesake of my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. She was honored and thought it was the cutest shit ever hahaha! She is now happy in life with a cute daughter and doing well which was awesome to hear. A happy ending for all. All my friends, family and a staggering amount of Mopar guys in New Zealand and Globally, know her simply as, Lucy.