Arlen Vanke's Duster

I took pictures of that car when it was BRAND NEW. Greg had just done the paint and it was beautiful.
My buddies and I went to Dragway 42 in very early spring 1970. It was the first day they were open that season, kind of a test-n-tune day. Arlen showed up in his 70 Duster P/S. He made several part throttle runs, just easing it through the gears checking things out. When he wanted to run, the track just let him go to the front of the staging lanes anytime he was ready. He did make a couple faster runs. I had my 35mm camera and took maybe 6 pictures.

Fast forward to maybe 15 yrs ago. I took one of the pictures to the Mopar Nationals and asked if he would sign it. He held it for awhile looking at it then asked if I could send him prints. I said sure! He explained that a model company was making a 1:18 model and needed color pictures. He had his wife give me one of his business cards. I had 4x6 prints made from the negatives and sent them to an address in Michigan as he had retired and moved to Michigan by then.
I was between jobs and money was tight but did it. For a few years I would see him sitting at a table signing the finished models at various Mopar events. I even talked to him once and reminded him that I was the one who sent him pictures. It would have been nice to get something in return but got absolutely zero. Even a discount on the $80 model would have been ok.