When I bought the car 10 years ago, I dealt only with the father of the girl who owned it. The ad showed up on a Wednesday morning, and I called at 8AM. They told me that the car was there, but that the owner wouldn't be home until after 4PM... I did a reverse lookup, left work, and was in their driveway checking it out before 9AM. The dad (retired fellow) came out and let me look it over. Two more guys showed up while he was getting the keys, so I bought it on the spot, no test drive.....

At a cruise Saturday night, a couple came up and asked a LOT of questions about how long I'd owned, where I bought it, etc... She looked at the old pre-resto pictures and said " Well, this used to be MY car!". Found some great history. She had owned it 5 years, after buying it from the original owner in 1989. All the 4 layers of paint were done by that owner, she just drove it and did minimal maintenance, until it got to the point where she felt it was unsafe to drive because of the rust!

She's sending some pictures from "back in the day", when it wore 69 seats, black paint, and styled steel wheels. She had heard that it became a clone and was AMAZED how good it looked. She had figured the buyer (me) would have just parted it out, since it was so bad...

She said they had at least a dozen people call back after 4PM that day, PO'd that the car had already been sold.

It was a cool experience. Have any of you had your "previous owners" view the car after you "finished" it???

 

My first car was a '67 Mustang coupe. Nothing special about it just a Vintage Burgundy, black interior, six cylinder, C4, etc. I guess it was special in the sense it got me into the hobby. I owned it from 1992 until around 1996.

One night at a cruise a couple were giving it a real hard look over. The husband looked at the steering wheel (it had a Cougar wheel as long as I owned it) and then went right to the trunk and looked at the quarter panel patch... when he saw that he declared "I did that quarter panel!"

So they gave me a buch on stories. The most memorable was that the owner before me called them several times begging them to take the car back insisting that it was haunted! Would make strange noises and even start on its own. I never witnessed any of that.

 

I bought my convertible in Atlanta. The previous owners had it for the past 20 years, and had taken very good care of it mechanically. Any time it coughed, it got attention. He was a dentist, and the convertible was his wife's "tennis car".

Well, she finally decided she needed a Miata, so they sold it to a collector, who has cars like Lambos and McLarens. When they realized how much work it needed, they decided it really didn't fit in with the rest of his collection, and sold it to me. I didn't get to meet the dentist at that time.

3 years later, the restoration was completed, and I was getting ready to drive it to Charlotte, NC for the MCA Grand National. I had a folder full of receipts, so I called the dentist, and introduced myself. He was very interested in seeing the old car again, so I stopped by his office on my way through Atlanta. Everyone in his office was shocked to see it in such fresh condition. They knew I was coming, and had brought their cameras. The dentist and I posed for some pictures, and we spoke awhile. Dr. Harvey is a super nice guy, and I could tell he was very pleased with the destiny of his old car.

Come to think of it, that was a better award than anything I got at Charlotte.

 

Funny this comes up at this time. As soon as I get the exhaust rerouted through the rear valance (today), I'm planning a stop by the local Ford dealership where the former owner of my car works (salesman). I'm interested to see what his reaction will be considering that the last time he saw it, it had a crapped out paint job, busted red interior, and a radiator leak. B)

:tex:

 

She sent some pictures....






If you can stand to see the full-size versions, they are in this photo album .

 

Ahhh the Dodge Jacker Shackles!

 

Apparently those were installed to clear the truck tires on the back.

 

Wow! Those look alot like my before pictures. Same colors and all.

 

uh...65 hubcaps and snows in the top pic and 68 rims and caps in the bottom pic.... :shock:


That looks like Lake Shawnee.

 

I've never "finished" a car, but I still speak with the 2nd & 3rd owner of my 3rd Capri, AND I speak to the buyer who bought the Capri. (So I could purchase the Mach.)

I also still converse with the buyer (President of South Carolina Lincoln Owner's Club) who purchased my 1973 Lincoln Town Car Continental. He is in the process of restoring her, and I have first dibs on her should he ever decide to sell her.

 

Yeah, the 68 GT wheels were on it when she purchased it. I also noted RED door panels and remote mirror, both of which were done before I got it. I wouldn't doubt that's Lake Shawnee in the pics.

 

The last owner for my car was my brother. He never could get the restoration off the ground so he sold it to me. The owner before that is the local weather guy for Channel 2. My brother now works for the same station and the weather guy keeps offering to buy the car from me now that he has seen it almost done. At the time he had to sell it cause he was having a baby. Now he wants it back. Sorry dude your going to have to pry it from my cold head hands.

Unfortunately I don't have any pics before the restoration but here is some of it now. It didn't look like this before it was rusting and had like 8 coats of paint on it.

 

great pics you guys

 

Yeah, the 68 GT wheels were on it when she purchased it. I also noted RED door panels and remote mirror, both of which were done before I got it. I wouldn't doubt that's Lake Shawnee in the pics.[/b][/quote]
Cloney, that car has gone nowhere but up, up, up, since you got it
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