A man in an immaculately restored red 1969 Dodge Charger 440 Magnum drove down our cul-de-sac Saturday. I gave him a thumb’s up, and thought he must have been lost and would turn around to leave. But he stopped and parked his car at the end of our driveway. He came out of his car and smiled.

I said, “Hi, do I know you?” He said, “No, but I used to live here as a kid.” His story, which he emailed me, is below.

“It was so nice to meet you and your wife today, I appreciated the hospitality. I am attaching photos that I rounded up from back in 1984-ish. I love what you have done with the house, it looked beautiful today. It brought back many great memories for me, walking through it. My first car was a 1969 Dodge Charger, I purchased it in 1984 for $500. As you can see, it was a project back then. I learned a lot about cars and how to keep them running from that old Charger. It has always been a very special car for me. I sold it in 1986 for $400. I thought at the time I would be able to buy another one for $1,000 or so, but then the prices skyrocketed on old muscle cars. It remained a distant dream until I recently made it a goal to buy a restored Charger. I bought the current car in December from a guy in Los Angeles. I am loving every bit of the ownership, let me tell you.

Back to the house — I had the bedroom on the front corner. Some of the photos are from that room (in the next few emails – I don’t think they will all fit in one message). Downstairs we had a rehearsal room, with my drums set up. Lots of great memories…

I spoke to my mother tonight and asked who the landlord was when we lived there. She said it was a gentleman named Mr. Waterman. We rented the house for $500 a month. As I recall we lived there from winter 1984 through 1986-ish.  I was 17 when we moved in.

At any rate, enjoy the photos!  Ask anything you like, I will try to answer to the best of my recollection.

Best regards,

Mike”