Original Owner Interviews.

[jtower1969]

I also think the regular car thing is cool. My parents would drive to my grandmothers house in a Nomad with 5.13's..it was 40 miles!! My dad told me that was his car..it went to work..to the store..all over.

[Xplantdad]

Tom...you just made a memory of my late mom pop into my head. My mom had to borrow my brother Gary's 1970 Formula 400 Firebird once to go to the grocery store...and I went with her.

We were at Brookhurst and Ball in Anaheim and the light turned green. My mom (used to her 1970 Pontiac Catalina with a 350) got on the gas fairly hard...and fried the tires all the way across the intersection. It scared the hell out of her (she panicked)...and an Anaheim policeman going the other way looked over and laughed. I buried my head in my hands and slid WAY down low in the seat...LOL

Thanks for making me remember a really cool memory!

[mockingbird812]

Most excellent!

[Schonyenko2]

Sam, if you want you can call and practice on me. I'm sure my wife would like to relate how she drove to the local lumber yard, and hauled home 3 bags of sakreat in the trunk of my deuce.

[mockingbird812]

[ QUOTE ]
Sam, if you want you can call and practice on me. I'm sure my wife would like to relate how she drove to the local lumber yard, and hauled home 3 bags of sakreat in the trunk of my deuce.

[/ QUOTE ]

Schonyenko - I may have to take you up on your offer. As "Col. Sherman Potter" used to say, "curiosity K.O'd the cat", but I have got to ask: Did she get your permission to do this? And if so, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! LOL, that's a gem!

BTW, did you like the car's stance with nearly 200#s of ballast in the a**-end? Did you notice the car hooking any better?

[mockingbird812]

Your inputs have really got me thinking and I really appreciate all suggestions. The overriding theme I am getting is to make it as personable as possible which makes a lot of sense. I am really looking forward to this as one of my passions with this hobby is to not only appreciate what the car is today, but to know where it came from. Muscle cars always have unique pasts and it makes them more interesting to unearth them and hopefully get to know the personality of the 1st owner.



Keep the suggestions coming.

[P.J.]

Copo 427 hit the nail on the head. I was able to find the original owner of my 68 camaro, helped me a great deal gave me the original bill of sale for the car and helped me with the restoration. Gave me a sined statement of fact for the car and the 427 Modificatio. He gave me a copy of the record he set with the car in 1969 at the detroit drag strip.he also gave me a copy of a drag racing news papper article when he won top bracket racing eliminator.
then i called the second owner after a lot of research
and at first he was very interested and told me that his most memorable racing story was one night he was racing a Hemi Cuda 4 speed,for $100.00 US per gear, a lot of money
back in the day. He won the race and at the end of the quarter the fuzz was waiting for them the Black camaro
took off the fuzz shot at the car to try to shoot out the tires missed the tires and hit the rear quater. He hid the car for one month and repaired the car himself. He told me that he won everyrace never lost with the 427 going 10.60s
he also told me that he had many pics the car racing
many time slips. He promised to send me some if I let him drive the car with his son and I in the car. I told him anytime. I sent him pics of the resto. the last time I spoke to him (John E.)he told me that he was impressed with the quality of the resto, and comented that if he had the car today he would sell it at the BJ and retire with the proceeds. Everytime I called He was never home after that.
conversation.I have mountins of paperwork for the car though it would be nice to get that extra history.
good luck
PJ

[mockingbird812]

PJ,

You mentioned...." Gave me a sined statement of fact for the car". I am interested in what things you included in the statement. Did you have it notarized?

<font color="blue"> Curious what others think about signed statements/affidavits from original owners. </font>

[Schonyenko2]

No she didn't. I was at work, and she needed the sakreat to set the swing set in. The kids ratted her out. I think one thing you'll find is that none of us took these cars all that seriously back in the day. They were kinda special, but were your tranportation. When I was playin in the band, I just threw the amp, and bass in the back seat, and away we went. Now you have to call specialty companies like SMS to get the seat material that you tossesd your stuff on. Remember too, Vietnam was going on, and those of us who were draft age were kinda livin the day.Future planning was not necessarily in your own hands. Had I known that I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

[L72COPO]

"Had I known that I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."

Amen, Schony