My dad was (not so much anymore somehow) a real car-guy. When I was young, he spent his weekend restoring a Lotus Elan from the sixties he bought in England. I remember it came in boxes of just old parts and a carbonfibre body. Similar to this one:
When it was finished, it must have taken 4-5 years, I remember driving with him, THere was no wind-shield in yet, no paint, but man, did it go. Around corners like on rails (it weighed 600 kg or so). The convertible feeling was fan-tastic.
later he bought an Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV Bertone from the seventies.
He still has that one today. With me brother restoring mini's, me buying an old BMW at the age of 16 (we don't get drivers licence untill 18), we pretty much had some old rust in the driveway at some point. A few years ago i felt like buying an old American car. Didn't have a lot of money, but saved up some. Always liked the look and sound. Browsing the internet I looked at some 68-69 Chargers for fun: way too expensive. Didn't even really think of buying one. Here in Europe it was all way too expensive. Also looked at an old German Mercedes benx 500 SL to import, but thought they were too small. Then, all of a sudden, I came across a 67 Firebird Convertible. WOW. That was the best one. I rembered seeing a Camaro once, but liked the front end of the Bird way better. I looked at a few on Epay, and started bidding on one the amount I could afford. The auction ended without meeting the reserve. Then the seller e-mailed me if I wanted to buy it or not, and made me an offer. I thought he was kidding, the price was pretty good. I had never seen the car in real life, so knew I was taking one HELL of a risk. After checking all Firebirds on the web here and in the States, I figured: what the ehck, take a walk on the wild side... If I get screwed over, I loose some money and learn a valuable lesson.. If I winm, and the car is good, I have a great investment. You live only once, so I just did it. Arrenged the shipping all from here, and 4 weeks later I could go and pick it up in the harbour. That was one exciting day. Would even be the car from the pictures?? When the garage-door opened, I spotted the Bird between all other classic cars just imported, waiting for pick up... The first time I saw a 67 Firebird in real life, and I had already bought it! Everybody said i was crazy. I said: you live only once...
Turnt out to be a numbers matching Californian car, 2 previous owners, 0 rust. i drove it the same day.
