The army green muscle car shined in the hot sun.
Both its hood and trunk were popped open for display in the park as hundreds of people marveled at its authenticity.
At the end of the day, the car was named first-place for “Magnificent Mopar” at Crofton Cruisin’ Day on Saturday.
But, those who read the poster board propped inside the hood know there is more to this story than meets the eye — much more.
As John Arens recalled the story, a smile spread across his face and reached his eyes.
The 76-year-old Crofton man gazed fondly at the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner — the first car he ever owned — and told the tale of how he bought it back more than two decades later.
Arens was born and raised in Crofton until he was 6-years-old when his parents bought a farm near Randolph. He graduated from Randolph High School, volunteered for the draft and was sent to Vietnam.
Arens was a gunner with the infantry for the U.S. Army, and served one year in Vietnam. After completing his tour of duty in 1969, the 20-year-old returned home and bought a brand new car from Cobb Motors in Norfolk for $2,800 — a green Roadrunner.
“The reason I bought this color and this kind was because I saw a staff sergeant where I was last stationed and he had a car just like this and I liked it,” Arens said. “And that money I paid for the car was the same amount of money I was paid for one year of duty in Vietnam. You got about $3,000 a year.”
After Vietnam, he went to the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture in Curtis on the GI Bill. Arens studied surveying for one year and decided it wasn’t for him. He worked a construction job for three years and then returned to the family farm, working with his dad and brothers.
In 1975, Arens traded in the Roadrunner for a new Dodge Charger.
“Roadrunners in 1975 weren’t that popular, weren’t that well-known yet,” he said. “I wanted a new car and I saw this Dodge Charger, and I just loved this Dodge Charger, so I traded it.”
Arens later met Sue Rogers and they married at St. Francis de Chantal Catholic Church in Randolph when he was 31. The couple had three children — Jennifer, Brenda and David — and raised them in Randolph. They now have eight grandchildren.
But, as the years passed by, he never forgot about his first car.
A mechanic at the dealership, Jim Brandl, had bought the car after Arens traded it in. Brandl was originally from Randolph, but he was living in Coleridge at the time, working for Larry Cook Motors.
“Every once in a while I’d see it going down the road,” Arens said of his beloved Roadrunner.
In 1998, he got a surprise postcard in the mail from Brandl.
“On the postcard, he asked, ‘Would you like to buy your old car back?’ That was really nice of him,” Arens said with a smile. “So we got together on the price and I bought it.”
He purchased the Roadrunner for about the same price that he had bought it brand new all those years ago. The original window sticker was even still with the car.
“I was really happy about it,” Arens said. “In the back of my mind, I always wanted to get that car back, and Jim just made it much easier when he dropped that postcard in the mail. I appreciated that very much.”
He was sentimental about his first car. “It was the first car I ever bought. It was brand-new. It was after I got back out of ‘Nam,” Arens said. “In 1998, they were starting to gain popularity, muscle cars were starting to gain popularity, ao that’s another reason I wanted to get it back.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get it restored right away.
“That’s when hogs went to about 20 cents a pound, so it sat in my shed for a while, for two years, before I had it restored,” Arens said.
Eventually, three men did the restoration work: Doug Stevens was the mechanic, Gordon Steffen did the body work and Andy Uhing did the upholstery. Together, they made the Roadrunner look like the day Arens first bought it.
He said most of the work was complete by 2005, but he just had all new glass installed this year. It even has Road Runner cartoon decals on both doors and the horn sounds “Beep! Beep!” just like the cartoon character.
“I always liked the seats with the two-tone green,” Arens said, admiring the interior. “That’s the original seats in it. The standard equipment was pretty simple, just an AM radio, there was no FM.”
Although it is 55 years old now, it looks and drives like it is brand new again. The only visible sign is that it isn’t — there are 103,000 miles on the odometer.
He doesn’t take it to many car shows, but says he probably should. In the past, it has won trophies for best paint in the Wausa Car Show.
But didn’t restore it to win trophies. It was for the memories.
“The best part is driving it and driving with my grandkids,” Arens said. “They love it. I love it. I just love driving it. This car was a lot of fun on Saturday nights.”
