1962 Dodge Polara on Bring a Trailer Has a Wild Backstory
Won in a sweepstakes, it stayed with its original owner for 21 years and was barely driven.By Brendan McAleerPublished: Apr 12, 2025
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- Here’s an extremely original Dodge with less than 10,000 miles on the odometer.
- Originally won in a Coca-Cola sweepstakes, most of the miles were accumulated by the first owner.
- She didn’t have a driver’s license when she won the car but was spurred to get one so she could drive her new Dodge, which she did well into her eighties.
In the summer of 1962, Mrs. J.H. Howard of Greenville, South Carolina, was not above beating the heat with a cool bottle of refreshing Coca-Cola. She’d earned it: At 65 years of age, she’d seen the dawning of the twentieth century, two world wars with a Great Depression between them, and the rise of the automobile. She perhaps thought that in her golden years, no surprises remained. But then she got lucky, winning a gleaming white Dodge in a Coca-Cola bottlers’ sweepstakes. And Mrs. Howard, having never before sat behind a steering wheel, decided there was time for one last adventure.
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That bright white Mopar, a 1962 Dodge Polara 500 with V-8 power and a three-speed automatic transmission, is now up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). The old used car trope of “only driven to church on Sundays” literally applies here, as that’s what Mrs. Howard did with it. She went to driving school, got her license, and then spent the next two decades puttering around Greenville, putting about 9600 miles on the odometer.
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As you’d expect, local Mopar fans were well aware of this car, especially so as its owner approached her ninetieth year on the planet. But she held onto the keys until it was time to draw the curtain, keeping her beloved Dodge pristine and original. Imagine being born in the nineteenth century and then getting handed a 351-cubic-inch Firebolt V-8 in your salad days. All praise to Mrs. Howard for taking up the reins. We hope she treated herself to at least one burnout.
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Today, this Polara has just 9800 miles on the clock, and is in much the same condition as when Mrs. Howard left us in 1983. The exterior paint is Shell Beige, and the vinyl interior is finished in beige and blue. (You have to wonder why it wasn’t red and white given that it was a Coca-Cola giveaway.) Mrs. Howard had a dealer-installed air-conditioner fitted to stave off those muggy South Carolina summers, though that unit currently needs a recharge.
Under the hood is 5.9 liters worth of V-8 rumble, good for 305 horsepower when new. The transmission is a three-speed automatic, as already mentioned, and the car has an open differential. It’s a cruiser, not some drag-racer’s special, but that’s part of the charm.
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The styling of a Polara of this era is something of an acquired taste, but as a car of its time with a fantastic backstory, it’s quite the collectible. You wouldn’t want to put too many miles on it, but on a sunny weekend, it’d be just the thing to cruise on over to the local gas stop and pick up a Coca-Cola in an original glass bottle. Then raise a toast to Mrs. Howard. You’re never too old to try something new.
The auction ends on April 16.
