Got a story of a car you "loved and lost" or sold? Or found ... years later?

[jeffg1010]

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Wow these stories are incredible beyond belief

Wait until you read the book my friend. You won't believe some of the stories I have rounded up. Even have one about a restored Chevy that was bought in Brazil, sold, trashed, rolled, recovered, and found gutted ....and then restored 30 years later by the owners son.

Hey, whats up with the new avatar pic, did you finally find your Grandpa's old GMC?

Originally Posted by AntiGov

sorry not a truck or story you can use but my step grandfather bought a full dress Harley (not sure the model) in 59 or 60 blue and white. he burned a valve and it sat for awhile until my dad came home from the army on leave in 1964. He tore it down but wasnt able to get it back together before returning to the army.....49 years later it still sits apart in that tiny single car garage at my step grandfathers house.

This is very interesting. As things have snowballed, and the stories have began to roll in, my wife has told me I need to split the truck stories and car stories into two separate books. Then two weeks ago a guy started telling me his motorcycle "found" story and I thought... maybe I need to be collecting stories those as well?!? Got any pics of the bike from "back in the day"? Next time you are over that way, you'll have to snap a few of it today. By the way... I expect a bunch of guys to be saying "SELL IT TO ME!" I'd love to have one of those old Harley's to restore but you are TOO far away!

[jeffg1010]

We have a website being built that will be launched in late Summer to promote the book, but in the meantime... please like us on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-O...69402729757456

If you have a car/truck/motorcycle that is still "missing" please upload the photo to the Facebook page and we will promote it for you. Or, email it to me at jeffg1010@yahoo.com with "Facebook photo" as the subject and I will list it in the "Ones That Got Away" album. Ya never know!!!

[LEEVON]

I wish I had more details...should have gone back. I walked into the "lobby" of a small used car lot in Bentonville, AR in about 2008. It wasn't really a lobby but there was an office and some storage. Right there on the floor was a '69 GTO Judge, in black with all the goodies in junkyard condition. Of course I asked about it. The owner of the lot and his wife had bought one new, had it for several years and sold it. Many years later they went on the hunt for one to restore. They pulled this one out of a junkyard, it was remarkably complete and in restorable shape. It sat for awhile, until they ran across some old paperwork from the original car...only to find out IT WAS THEIR ORIGINAL CAR!

[SCHRUMGMC]

[QUOTE=jeffg1010;6035845]Wait until you read the book my friend. You won't believe some of the stories I have rounded up. Even have one about a restored Chevy that was bought in Brazil, sold, trashed, rolled, recovered, and found gutted ....and then restored 30 years later by the owners son.

Hey, whats up with the new avatar pic, did you finally find your Grandpa's old GMC?


Nah, I changed it to a Truck like that one, and Im still saving up to get that 1959, If I sell my Boat for $600, then sell my Grill for $300, and this other Boat Trailer for $200..I will get the Truck soon

[jeffg1010]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

I wish I had more details...should have gone back. I walked into the "lobby" of a small used car lot in Bentonville, AR in about 2008. It wasn't really a lobby but there was an office and some storage. Right there on the floor was a '69 GTO Judge, in black with all the goodies in junkyard condition. Of course I asked about it. The owner of the lot and his wife had bought one new, had it for several years and sold it. Many years later they went on the hunt for one to restore. They pulled this one out of a junkyard, it was remarkably complete and in restorable shape. It sat for awhile, until they ran across some old paperwork from the original car...only to find out IT WAS THEIR ORIGINAL CAR!

Yeah, I remember you mentioning that story last year. Thats a great one. I tried Googling a few variations on the GTO board hoping to run across their story, but had no luck. I'd love to talk to them. I believe you said the car lot closed down didnt ya?

[LEEVON]

Yeah, it's long gone. Urban legend at this point unfortunately.

[WIDESIDE72]

When i was around 5 yo my oldest brothers first car in 76 was a red/ red 63 Impala SS 327/ powerglide. My dad bought it for $400 due to a bad trans. It was almost flawless except for a split seam in the headliner. Dad pulled the 'glide out I the driveway and had it rebuilt for around $100(!) I still remember my middle brother and I sneaking it out for joy rides. He was around 14 yo. My brother just drove it a little and wanted a truck so he traded it for a 52 chevy truck. He failed to realize that the truck was slow and rode terrible compared to the SS so was not happy with it either. The first car I remember him driving much was a 75 Camaro. Not a Z28 or anything cool though.
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[WIDESIDE72]

On the subject of z28's, I remember he had tried to swap the SS for a 68 Z28. It was white with orange stripes that a friend of his dad took for collateral on a loan. It was not running right so he and my uncle who is an old drag racer from the 60's and the friend towed the car with a chain to the mobil station close to our house to ork on it. My uncle got the solid lifters adjusted right so it would run but something was wrong with the trans, I forget exactly what. It was over the summer and in his spare time my brother pulled the trans. I thnk he said it was an m21. He figured out there was a broken gear. He found another M21 that someone had broken the mounting ear offof andfook the guts out of it and put it in the z. (remember this is a 16 yo kid ith no formal training at the time.) i was not sure why but for some reason i was enamored ith what was going on and begged my momma to let me watch. She told me i could as long as i stayed out of there way. (Im sure i didnt!) He got it buttoned up one night and he called my uncle to come "check it out" since he didn't have a license yet.
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[WIDESIDE72]

Part two: uncle arrives and we go to the mobil station and they are about to closes the son of the owner that my brother is friends with hangs around after closing to see what's going to happen. His dad the owner of the station says that this car is getting amlot of attention in our town of 300 or so. This is no stocker z28, mind you. It has headers, collector mufflers (no tail pipes). Slot mags all around with shackles on back and big wide n50-15's on back They tinker with the car a little, I remember my uncle adjusting the shift linkage with it on the lift.
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[WIDESIDE72]

My uncle fires the z and i remember that 302'shakin the windows! He backs out of the bay and my brother jumps in the pass side, blips the throttle amfew few times and its like a caged animal to me! I have the urge to run, but can't decide if it's away from it or to it! I decide "to it" and remember hanging on the pass side door begging my brother to let me go with them! They confer and my uncle says "don't tell your mom". My brother opens his door and leans forward to let me in the back seat. My uncle pulls the car into the street and gets it lined up straight. I crawl up between the bucket seats to ask him what he's gonna do, but before I have a chance, he winds the engine up to what I now know was about 6 grand and dumps the clutch! He doesnt know im right over his shoulder and I go flying into the back seat! (seatbelts! Ha!) by the time I sit up and can look out the front, I hear the car hit second and the engine is still screaming and tires are still fighting for traction. He hits third and I cant decide if im scared or having fun look at my brother and he's as white as a ghost!
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[WIDESIDE72]

Finale!: I look at my uncle and he's working the wheel back and forth and the car is back and forth pretty much on both side of the farm to market road that runs through our town. We had started at one end of town and it was about 2 miles to the other end, straight shot. We didn't even have a stop light at the one intersection of the other fm road! He gets the carturned around and we have a repeat performance,except this time my brother and I are screaming our heads off since were having so much fun! We get back to the mobil station and roll into the bay and my uncle jumps out, pulls the door down real quick and kills the lights. It's after 10pm and every dog in town is raising holy hell and porch lights are coming on up and down the street. A few seconds later our local constable comes screaming though town in his dodge (polara, I think). He goes from one end of town to the other shining his spot lot down side streets but there is still smoke everywhere! He gives up and goes home. My uncle tells my brother that the z would be a fair trade straight across for the SS. My brother and I agree, "uh...yea!" I have a feeling ice never felt before, except when the neighbors Doberman chased me! He was on a chain but I didn't know it! It was "adrenaline" and I liked it!

One last hurdle. Our dad. The uncle was my moms brother and my dad slays looked at himas irresponsible (rightfully so haha) so he was not going to be any help. The next day after dadgot home from ork my brother took him to the mobile station to see the car. When he saw the big tires and the car shackled up in back I could tell by the look on his face it wasn't going to be good. Even more so when he opened the hood and saw headers, high ride intake big Holley double pumper and velocity stack air cleaner, but what sealed the deal was when he told my brother to start. The fact that the car practically had no exhaust sealed it's fate. I still remember his decision to this day!"HELL NO!!!"

So the z went back to where it came, except now it went under it's own power and ran like a bat out of hell! The friends dad put it in the paper and sold it for $1500,since there was no way he was letting his 16 yo son drive it either.

My dad now says he knows he should have traded for it and locked it away, but having a car like that with three sons was like having a loaded gun on the coffee table! He has always been a "car guy" but never really a "hot rod guy".
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[Tx79chevy]

My dad used to mow this old lady's yard back in the 90s. He had a station wagon he put his lawnmowers in and really needed a truck. In the old lady's back yard sat a 66 GMC short wide with the original 250ci and 3 speed on the column. It was her husbands truck that he had bought brand new. She sold it to my dad for $500. He actually drove it home under its own power. As a kid I always said it would be mine one day. Well as most stories go, my family needed the money several years later. I think dad sold it for $900. I hardly ever see any old GMCs like it. I would give anything to be able to find it, or even one like it.
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[Damon23]

Mine was a 1965 Pontiac Catalina 2 door hardtop. My wife and I had a little disposable income and I always wanted a old car. Growing up my step father owned a 65 Bonneville Convertible and I always thought it was cool. I flipped thru the pages of a hemmings (which I still have the one) and found in Winterset, IA a 65 original owner Catalina. I talked to the owners son in law and a week later I got the pictures in the mail (It was 1994 and their was no internet to send pictures over). I called him back and we struck a deal. He even sweetend the pot. He said pay for the trailer rental and they'd bring in down on their way to Florida for their annual trip. No brainer. I starred at those pictures for 6 solid weeks until the day it arrived. The lady (daughter of the original owner) told me stories about her mother and her were the only two people to drive the car until the mother became ill and then passed. Then the son in law drove it from the farm house to their house where it sat. She told me about her learning to drive in it and hitting the mailbox and how her mother refused to fix the damage so she could be reminded everyday she walked by to be careful in the car. She had a good cry as she said goodbye and I promised her updates as I went along with the refurbish.

Over the next six years I learned a lot about old cars. I had the motor rebuilt, a friend showed me about suspension, I put new carpet and package try, learned about brakes, carbs and a little about bodywork. I drove the mess out of that car and was proud of it everywhere I took it no matter what stage it was in. It was paid for and I worked on it. I got it put in the magazine Smoke Signals (POCI club magazine) twice and was a fixture over on the forums performanceyears.com. Although it was just a standard two door hardtop it was like my own piece of heaven cruising down the backroads with the am radio playing oldies. I never won a award at a show with it but it didn't matter, the car was the trophy for me.

In November of 2000 my son was born. My wife and I decided that she would stay home with him and some hard choices had to be made. I put the car up for sale and sold it in 3 days. I never came so close to weeping about a car in my life. It hurt in my chest to see it go and I won't lie, I almost regretted having a kid. That soon passed as I started putting away for another. It was about two years later as my wife, brother and his girlfriend were walking out of Underground Atlanta after dinner and there it was. Parked on Spring St. out front of a chinese resturaunt. I almost fainted. It looked the exact same as the day it drove off. I waited for about a half hour to see if it was the person that I sold it too but no one came out. A couple months later I saw if for sale on autotrader.com for $7000. I pleaded, tried to get a loan but everyone said I was crazy and it would be a waste of money so I gave up. Maybe it was just not meant to be but it sure felt like it was.

I still have a set of keys, the fuzzy dice I hung on the mirror, the original 1965 Iowa license plate, a cut of the original carpet and the original leather key holder sitting as kind of a shrine in the garage. I have not seen or heard of the car since. Last I heard it was in California. I admit, I glance ebay and used to search all craigslist in California and here just in case. I've had two other 65 Catalina's since but they just were not the same. I've been fortunate to have had several cars since then but I always search and hold out hope that one day I will see it. I loved that car more than anything and I hold out very little hope that I will ever find it but I know every little thing about it so when the time comes I will clone that car exactly.

Here is one I bought but the rust was just too much so I sold it to a guy that fixed it and eventually sold it. I think it is up in East Tennessee and is painted a light green with a white top.

[Zach B]

i have one for you though its not one that happened to me.

about 10 years ago my cousin got his first truck. it ran great and was perfectly street legal. he was not even old enough to drive it when he got it. it was a gift from his dad. a light blue 53 chevy shortbed. he had it for about 2 years and still was not old enough to drive it. they never even got to work on it for a restoration. his dad got laid off and they needed money in a bad way. the ruck and a van went.

the story is sad to me because my cousin never even got to take her for a spin.