What a cool day. I took some old receipts and using some detective work thought I located a old owner, I wrote him a letter and he called me today!
He and his brother owned it in the early 80's and did all the metal work, sold it off and bought it back a few years later. He lives about 20 minutes from me and told me he has pictures and such of it winning car shows, if I would have gotten to him a year ago he had a trophy that wouldnt fit in the back seat from one win! threw it out though. Also said he had taken it to the local drag strip and posted some low 13's in its hayday. unfortunately the owner between us really tore it up and wore it out.
he also said alot of the inconsisties in the car came from the guy before him who bought old muscle cars when they were 10-12 years old and tore them apart and added/changed what ever cool go parts were available in the day, hack artist at his best i guess
this guy had the engine running right and perfect from head to toe. We are meeting up and gonna chat about it soon, he said he'd like to keep some memorys of it but will give me some of the 8x10 professional pictures taken when it won a car show!
That's great to talk to some old owners (as long as they don't want it BACK!) Talked to our original owner in Montezuma, Ga. pretty cool info. Bought it for his daughter to go to Jr. Coll. (still has the parking pass on windshield!) motor dropped a valve and parked it, right after graduation. I guess they were trying to get all that horsepower out of the single throat OHC! Whew! lol It was under the barn leanto, and that is why it was in the good shape it is. No peacan or oak leaves just alot of pollen and Ga clay.
I'd rather see a rust bucket on the road, than a garage queen anytime!!
I think he was more excited to see it than I was, he called an hour after we talked and wanted to meet. Met him at a local Chuck-A-Burger (50's style cruise spot) to check it out. He had a folder full of pics, boy I wish it looked like that again!
We took it back to his house to show his 16 y/o, he sold it when he was one so he had only seen pics. He still had a handmade 4 x 3 wooden sign hanging up in his garage (he didnt live there yet when he sold the car but it still made it on the garage wall!) from when he showed it. The only draw back was he didnt want to part with all the pics so I got to choose a few. Maybe I'll sweet talk him into letting me take them for aday and get them scanned and get the originals back to him. We both cussed that the owner between us treated it like a disposable car.
His history was that when new it was ran hard and the 400 HO was blown, so it sat in a field for x amount of years until the hatchet man got a hold of it and pieced it back together with what ever drivetrain parts he could find, then his brother got it in the early 80's from him, after a few years he sold it to a dad in arkansas for his 15 y/o, who at 16 didnt want anything to do with it, and later traded it back to the first brother around 86 for a wedding ring, he was young and in love and the owner is a well known jeweler in the area, so he called him up and asked if he wanted it back in trade. They trailered it back and by 88 the owner I met bought it from his brother and then had put it in show condition, winning most he entered. In 93 he sold it to help pay for a larger garage on his house being built (the garage that has the show plaque in it now). the Guy who had it from 93 to 08 tore it up, from its glory, getting rid of the rally one's (68tpls400 now owns them!, PHS said Rally II's so I sold them, not knowing, no harm no foul) he raised the rear end, got rid it the carb, intake, distrubutor, put the solid American racing rims that are on it now. totally let the interoir deteroirate....AND now....it is my turn, to right the wrongs of the past...lol
I'll scan the pics and post them, in 1993 he sold the show condition car for 7500.00...how nice it woule be to rewind and cut out the last owner!
My favorite is the big one, he had three more, one being a 11x14, didnt want to part with it! He is a police officer and used it to promote safety, at this show he actully had a mock radar gun and "EN4CER" licence plates.
Wish I had that steering wheel back, and a engine bay that clean!
I have a name and address from my Protect-O-Plate that was still with the car. The address is about 45 minutes away. I don't see the name with that same address currently listed in the directory but there are other local listings for the same name. You never know - I could stumble upon the actual owner or at least a relative. Worth a shot!
Mark
68 Firebird 350 auto (sold) 70 Trans Am RAIII 400 4-speed (sold) 2011 Challenger SRT8 IE392 6-speed (sold) 2017 Challenger Hellcat 1966 Dodge Coronet 440
My cars p o is a divorcee, she got the car in the divorce, let her 16 yr old son drive it to school 2 yrs...would tak to her for nothing....LOL
they were at least 3rd owners, but had no idea...they bought it "restored" 7 yrs before I bought it from her...amazing how they could get from "restored " to the point it was...after owning the car 9 yrs, its now in 'restored' (almost) shape , for the last 7 yrs
It almost made this guy cry, he said he personally hand painted the engine and painted each bolt and stud black, said after every car show he would spend hours cleaning the engine bay. Loved it to be clean. Last owner was a kid and just liked to do burnouts and ride it hard and put it away wet...
Right on....my car was originally sold here in Vancouver, so who knows....I have all the PHS doc's but no buyers name...I wonder how I could go about finding it, short of contacting my RCMP buddy to do some sort of under the counter search?
That's some very nice pics. Wow that was a very nice bird indeed! At least you have some pics for reference if your trying to restore it to it's former state.
"An ignorant man thinks he knows everything, a wise man knows he doesn't."
Definately lit a fire to get it back to that shape, I guess i always figured it got bad real quick and was slowly brought back by each owner, and I was just carring the torch...now that I see thats what it looked like just two owners ago and only 14 years. I want it back in that shape!
