FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — A love of cars and a love of Roberto Clemente led Franklin native Randy Dye to a unique purchase and once-in-a-lifetime restoration.

(Photo courtesy of Randy Dye and clementecar.com)

At an auction preceding the 2017 MLB All0-Star game in Miami, Dye, who owns a car dealership in Daytona Beach, Fla., purchased a 1972 Special Edition 440 Magnum Charger that was presented to Clemente for winning the 1971 National League World Series MVP Award.

“I have restored a lot of cars in my life,” Dye said. “I don’t know if I want to do many more. But it is a rare occasion that you can restore a car that is No. 1 a vintage that you appreciate from the Mopar Muscle era and also belonged to your boyhood hero. It made all the sense in the world.”

After purchasing the car for $105,570 — a price Dye said was more than he would have liked to spend but less than he would have — the next question was what he was going to do with it.

The restoration came first.

“The goal was to restore it like the day they handed Roberto and Vera (Clemente’s wife) the keys, at least make it that good,” Dye said. “Chrysler, at the time, was building cars in mass quantity, they were mass produced. This was a singularly reproduced. We can make it a lot more detailed than the assembly line.”

Dye said he is a perfectionist when it comes to cars, and he wanted to uphold Clemente’s standard of excellence.

“Knowing all the Clemente fans who appreciate his baseball life and the benevolent life he lived, you know people are going to be expecting a lot and looking. Roberto is held in the highest esteem. You have that on your shoulders. You want to meet the fan expectation. I think, and we hope, people will find that to be true with the car.”

Dye said it took him a little over 10 months to restore the car.

“We have restored almost all the original parts, restored the parts that we had,” Dye said. “Everything works, that is important. We can’t do the car and it not work right. That is important.”