Well, I sure have been thinking about this place for a long time and just wanted to drop in and say howdy. This past Dec 19th was 4 years that our 68 Bird was rear ended and put down by the illegal that we now fondly refer to as Maria Garcia (real name) who has since been deported and her husband is now in US Federal Prison for life on child porn and child rape charges. Yea nice family huh. Meanwhile their 5 US Citizen children all live the the oldest sibling here in town. Wow, what a crazy mess!

Anyway, fortunately for us good ole illegal Maria & Jose amazingly had decent auto ins. much to everybody's surprise! My wife Tammy ended up having to have her back surgery redone due to the accident as the surgery she had was only a year old when we were hit at 45mph from behind while sitting still waiting for the draw bridge to reopen as some of you may remember.

Oddly enough we now own a home less than a mile from that bridge thanks to Maria Garcia. Her ins. co. settled two weeks before the four year anniversary (in FL the ins. co. have 48 month waiting period for trial by jury) and just as our attorney said, they rolled over and paid out policy limits to both of us which then forced our ins. co. (which happened to be the same) to kick in and pay out under insured motorist (only because I just happen to check the box for it and paid the $7/month extra by dumb luck. Had her ins. co. (which is the same as ours duh) only paid out one dollar less than policy limit, then the under insured on ours would not have kicked in. Shows you how stupid these ins. co. can be, But because her case manager and ours did not communicate they did not realize we had the same ins. co. until AFTER we accepted their offer.

Anyway, it's all said and done and we now own a home again after losing ours to Wells Fargo and the illegal foreclosure game that they played, And after being a lifelong anti-law suite kinda guy and getting rear ended by an illegal, I figured you know what, I am sick of getting "f-ed" over and we sued Wells Fargo for the forgery and we won! So yea, it's been a crazy four years but things went from really bad to decent. We now OWN our home and we now OWN our very first brand new car!

Sorry it's not a First Gen Firebird obviously. But, it is a muscle car and I can still drive for a little while as I have to go every six months to have my one eye tested as it is barely passing the test right now...

2013 Dodge Challenger HemiOrange R/T 5.7 HEMI 375hp (stock) dynoed at 335rwhp/410tq
We have done a TON of mods (yes I know, not bone stock like the ole Bird, that's for sure) LOL and I have a Shaker hood coming next week and she goes in for a supercharger in the fall if I can still drive and custom HemiOrange leather interior as well!

I see my "registered" date is somehow incorrect. I registered on this site back in Aug 2000 the day or day after I bought our 68 Firebird immediately after selling our 68 RS/SS 350 Conv Camaro!

Welcome back Joe! I almost have my coupe done. Your former doors are reborn!

Welcome back Joe- it's been a while for sure. Good to hear that things are turning out ok for you after all.

Still playing the music?

Nice to see you back. I was just wondering the other day how you were doing. I thought you were going to write a Pontiac book or some kind of info write up on Pontiac's.

Good to see you're doing well Joe!

Thanks guys. I did in fact write a manual of sorts about "surviving the aftermath of an accident in a Classic". The manual was quite lengthy and quite detailed and the publishing rights were sold off to one of the classic car ins. co. that many of us use. I am not sure as to why or what the plans are as to date. It was a very involved project at the time and it in fact referenced this forum in it's final version.

In the event I hear anything further I will be sure to follow up. In the meantime I have been toying with the Challenger and pretty much kicking back for once in my life. Bought a house that needed a TON of work but that is all coming to an end now after 18 months straight of non stop remodeling!

Wow, my old doors never looked better my friend! That car is simply gorgeous! LOVE IT! Nice to see and hear from you all once again...

Yo Joe! Good to hear from you! Glad you seem to have landed on your feet, so to speak. That was an unbearable ordeal to have to live through. Challenger looks kick [censored]!! Hell yeah!! I am a new Dodge convert as well. Started with a 12 Charger and now have a 14 Durango. As much as I wish, no Challenger in the future, not enough doors! Ohhhh... That's ok though, I'm enjoying my kids.

It's so nice to hear from you all!

nice seeing you post again!

Thank you!!! Nice to be here!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Joe, good to hear everything is going your way at least. Sorry to hear Tammy have to redo her back surgery .
Nice ride, (sorry you had to sell your Le Mans, I loved it.) Hopfully I will have time to a vacation in Florida this year, could be nice to meet up with you again.

That would be great. Still have the same number, call me anytime!

Joe

Joe! Very nice to see you posting again my friend.

Great news on the house and new found financial stability. I am very happy for you and your family.

I'm betting your son has his eyes on that orange speed machine.

Larry,

I was hoping you would jump in here. Hope all is well with you and your family. Yes on both counts. Nice to be stable once again financially, it's been a while.

And yes, our 15 y/o Son has had his driver's permit now for five months, one month after we bought the orange beast! LOL How is that for the first car you ever drive?????

He is VERY intimidated by the car in every way. It's brand new, it's a big car, it's a power house, it's loud (no mufflers or resonators and will have headers in a month) etc. He is looking now for a v6 Camaro/Firebird, late 90's early 2000's for his first car. He just joined public schools for the first time in eight years for 10th grade and is a 4.0 student and scoring at college level in all classes on State tests. So all those years of home schooling paid off big time! We are quite proud. Our older two struggled all through school from 1-12 in public schools so there is something to be said for homeschooling IMO.

Anyway, all is well as can be and we are looking forward to having the supercharger installed on the orange beast next fall and our Shaker hood and ram air kit will be here next week. So we are really enjoying the whole Mopar gig quite a bit!

Heh Dude!

Good to hear you slammed the banks! Family must be relived it's all over. Everything in life you learn, makes you stronger.

Good luck!

Thanks Gus!

Yes, chalk one up for the little guys indeed! As I noted, I have been a life long, outspoken person against people suing each other etc. But, after the BS we went through on two counts, I simply had had enough! I had been pushed against the wall! Forgery and illegals, two things that just don't go well together and a bad cross of paths to say the least! LOL

Don't know you but after reading your story I feel compelled to say glad your family is okay and that you got paid. I am going to go back and check my insurance to make sure I have every box checked! Lots of illegals around here.

Marc

Joe, Glad to hear everything is going well you deserve it. Love that Challenger!

Welcome back, glad to hear that things are going your way now.
And Mopars can be fun too!
Cal

Hi Joe,

Nice to hear things have worked out for you. Congratulations on the house.
Today is the first time I've been on the site in awhile. Major shoulder surgery 2 yrs ago put a stop to my project and I havent gotten back it. I still have the parts from your '68 sitting in a box waiting to be installed on my '67.

Nice car too!

Tammy

Thanks everyone! Feels like I was never gone. Such and awesome family here!

This house that we bought here in DeLand, FL is a 2500 sq ft house on a double lot. It was bank owned and it was a DUMP. A MASSIVE tree had fallen through the house and it had a new trussed roof installed and new interior walls, all new heat-a/c and all new electrical. New walls with new dry wall all finished but not primed/painted.

So, this meant the house needed to be COMPLETELY finished inside. It needed interior doors, base molding, carpet, it also needed all new windows, plumbing fixtures etc. The only thing it had going for it was all new dry wall walls, and brand new porcelain tile throughout the main body of the entire house.

We were able to get the house from the bank for 65k and we put 35k into it in materials at cost because my friend owns the builder's supply place here in town. So all new windows, doors, ALL new plumbing, we now basically have a brand new house that was built in 1975. So we reap the benefits of low taxes on two massive lots but a house that meets all new codes.

When I graduated from HS in 1986 I started my own contracting business and that is all I did for ten years. So we were able to do all the labor our selves as we have friends who helped as there are some things that are hard for me to do because of my vision issues etc. However, our 15 y/o son has learned a lot about remodeling a home in the past 18 months!

So yes we are in a much better place now that is for sure! Great to stop in and say hi to everyone again!

Good to hear from you again Joe. I was wondering how things were working out for you. Glad to hear things are on the up & up.

This is out front of our house:



Here is the garage/shop:

Hell I can't stop looking at the green grass. There are still 8- 10 foot snowbanks outside my office window today.

Oh man, serious? We are heading up to Buffalo this weekend for a visit. Our Daughter just had her second baby boy this past Saturday. I am dreading the drive (can not fly due to my fragile optic nerves). We are renting a car. My Shaker hood will be here when we get back home, looking forward to that!

Joe

Yes sir. Only about 28 today. Supposed to be in the 40's the rest of the week though.

Congrads on the new grand baby!

Glad to see you check in with us Joe! Yes, very glad to hear things have turned around for you guys over the last year or two... quite the wild ride! But I'm glad you made it through ok...

Kicking back? That's why you bought the table saw and the circular saw? I think your busier now than ever... but in a much more therapeutic way. And it sounds like you've been helping a lot of others out as well. The Place looks great by the way, and the car? What can I say, looking pretty trick... would love to get one some day... Hope you guys are hitting the cruise-ins again!

Keep us posted on things - Brett!

Thanks Brett and yes, you are correct. I have been quite busy. LOL Not only with our house but our neighbor across the street as well. She was in desperate need as her house needed a COMPLETE re-plumb as her copper went bad under her slab and in some places in the walls. So I opened up walls and re-plumbed the entire house from the street all the way through with ultimately ended up a living room, COMPLETE bathroom gut, and then a complete kitchen/dinning room remodel. Her entire house now has all new plumbing, one bathroom guy and remodel and a total kitchen, bedroom removal and conversion to a dinning room. She is such a wonderful person and good friend I did not charge her a dime for any labor as she is a single women who raised two girls on her own etc. She needed something like this in return as she is ALWAYS doing stuff for other people! Happy that I was able to be the one to give her something in return. It was a TON of work and put our house on hold for several months but was well worth it in the end!

Anyway, we just got back from Buffalo to see the new Grandson, two weeks old now. We had a great time. Now waiting for our Shaker hood to arrive, should be middle of next week. We are also getting ready to paint our house then we are done working on our house until next Winter!