The Family Garage (a.k.a. My Toys Page)
Introduction
During this introduction you will see lime green Hyperlinks,
these links will take you to more detailed descriptions and
pictures of the cars I am reminesing about.
I have loved 60's and early 70's Muscle cars since about the
age of 8 or 9 years old. My first car was a 1970 Chevy Nova that
was given to me by my Uncle Tim around my 14 th or 15 th
birthday. I toyed around with it a little but ended up selling it
to pick up my dream car (at the time). The Nova left home and a
1969 Mach 1 Mustang replaced it. The ole Mach 1 was in pretty
sorry condition but after a long summer my best friend Kris and I
were able to have it looking quite nice. I got my drivers license
early that Spring and saddly due to my superior confidence and
lack of driving skill the car did not live for long. I ended up
launching it off the road banking it of some rather large
boulders and wedging it all the way to the doors inbetween two
rather large trees. I walked away from that accident with nay a
scratch (gotta love good seat belts).Some would think that after
that experience I would have had enough of Fast Cars, well I had
not but my Mother had so my 3rd car ended up being another
Mustang, kinda. The second Mustang was a 1979 Mustang with the
V-6 and an Automatic. Talk about lethargic! That car had nothing
but problems and would just not die. It ended up staying in the
familly long after I disowned it.
Car number 4 was the worst basket case I had ever bought as
well as being the most powerful car I have ever driven. It was
also my first step into the world of Mopar. The car in question
was a 1967 Dodge Coronet 500! This car was owned by a guy who had
built the motor for Bracket racing and was in the middle of a
divorce so he had to sell it. The motor was a severly built 383
that was rear wheel dynoed at 472 HP! Saddly the motor was the
only decent thing about the car when I picked it up for $1,000.00
in the late 80's. The body was in sorry shape there was lot of
rust and the car had been side swiped into a guard rail. But once
the motor fired up I HAD TO HAVE IT! The interior looked as if a
family of Racoons had made it their home. I spent the next year
dumping every dime I had into the car. I had the interior
completly restored by a local shop and performed all of the body
work myself. After destroying the original and 2 junk yard 727
Trannies I had a local Tranny shop build me a transmission that I
could not destroy! I never raced the car on a track so I can't
give numbers but I can tell you that my ugly Coronet humiliated
many locals on the streets of Wasilla, AK. This car also enabled
me to meet the majority of the Alaska State Troopers that
patroled our town. Saddly I ended up selling/trading the car not
long after I was married the first time. The evil Ex badgered me
into selling my pride and joy. Of all the cars I have ever owned
this is the one I wish I could go back into time and stop myself
from selling.
Car number 5 was actually a truck and it came out of the
cash/trade that I recieved for the Coronet. The truck was a 1978
Dodge Power wagon with a 440 and 4 speed. This truck was a ton of
fun to ralley in and it seriously took some abuse from me. I
ended up giving it to my dad to liquidate some debt I owed him
when I joined the Army in1990. After graduating from basic
training and AIT I was assigned to Ft. Campbell, KY. Within 3
days of arriving I bought car number 6, a
Camaro. It was a pretty decent car equiped with a 350/350
combo. I ended up blowing the motor on a road trip right after I
got it out of the paint shop and sold it for about what I had
into it. The Camaro was replaced by car number 7, a Cadilac Hearse talk about a way cool
car. 472 big block auto tranny and allof the "trunk"
space you could ever want! Little did I know the Army was
conspireing against me and my hearse and I came down on orders
for the republic of Panama. Now as I am sure the majority of you
know the Republic of Panama is a heavily Catholic Country and I
was informed by just about everyone who had ever been there that
a Hearse was not the type of car to have there. So I sold the
Hearse and bought car number 8, a 1979 Porche 924. I drove this
car to the Port in South Carolina and had it shipped off to
Panama. This car ranked up there with car number 3 the horrible 6
banger Mustang so I quickly got rid of it and was able to score a
1967 Plymouth Baracuda (car number 9)! This car was another
basket case but I quickly found out that labor was really cheap
in Panama. I had all of the bodywork done to include hand
fabrication of replacement body panels and had the car repainted
for the total cost of $500.00! I restored the interior myself and
ended up with a pretty nice car. I drove this car for a little
over a year and then the motor (318) and tranny both started
acting up. At that point I found out how difficult it was to find
Mopar parts in Panama and decided to get rid of the car while it
looked good and still ran. Car 10 was bought while I was still
driving the Baracuda. I was home on leave in Alaska and was
looking for a project car to put into storage until I cold get
home and work on it. I found a 1971 454 SS El Camino and bought
it on the spot. I drove it the whole month I was home on leave
and had a lot of fun with it (more to come on this car when I
reach it cronographicly). Car 11 was a 1971 Fiat Spyder. A really
cool car that was the perfect little convertible to have in a
tropical country. This car was sold when I came down on Orders to
return to the states, Alaska to be exact at this point I moved
into car 11 a 1979 BMW 530i.
The BMW was one of the most luxurious cars I have owned I
loved driving it and it was pretty peppy. Saddly this car died by
my hand. I made a fatal flaw that I should have known better
than. I drove the Beemer all summer in Alaska and as winter came
around I failed to test my coolant to see what level it was
protected to. Well on the first real good cold snap -27 the block
froze and the Beemer died. Luckily I still had car 10 my El
Camino that I had been working on so I was not carless. However,
I was living about 50 miles away from where I worked and as you
can imagine a built 454 does not get very good gas mielage and
then add to the fact that the roads get pretty nasty up north in
the winter so I had to find a vehicle that got excellent mileage
and could handle the bad roads and be mild enough that my wife
who was just learning to drive could drive it so enter car number
12. Number 12 was a Brand new 1995 Suzuki Sidekick. The first
brand new vehicle I have ever owned.
Now here is where things start to get interesting. I sold my
El Camino to finance closing costs on my new house. I know had my
own property with lots of room and a large shop. I paid the
Sidekick off completly in less than 18 months. This was actually
a pretty decent little ride. But you know what as much as I liked
it, I hated it. It was pretty good at everything but it was by no
means great at anything. Add to the fact that I could not work on
it due to all the computerized electronic crap so it started to
bore me. During the 18 month period I owned the Suzuki I also
bought a basket case 1967 3/4 ton Chevy short bed stepside truck
(number 13), a 1971 Chevy Suburban (number 14), a 1984 Pontiac
Trans Am (number 15) and a 1977 Chevy Suburban 4X4 (number 16). A
tree fell on the 71 Suburban crushing the cab which really sucked
because it was in really good shape. On the bright side the
Suburbans sacrifice allowed me to scavange it for parts for my 67
Chevy. The burban gaveup it's front clip and motor, a sweet litle
327. I drove my 67 for a couple of months until I picked up the
Trans Am at that time I parked the 67 Chevy again. The T/A came
to me with a blown transmission but, luckily at that time I had
like 3 or 4 TH 350 trannies in my shop and it just so happened
that one of them was actually good. So in went the tranny and I
was on the road in my T/A. But once again fate that bitch goddess
reached down and smited me. I was going to work one morning when
the T/A burst into flames. I was able to get it pulled over and
get out in time to watch it burn to the ground. The fire
department later stated that it looked like a fuel line had burst
spraying atomized gasoline all over the hot exhaust manifolds.
This was around the same time the 4 X 4 suburban ended up
becoming mine. I pulled the 327 out of my 67 Chevy and traded the rest of the 67 Chevy to my friend Kris and went to work on the burban. I added big tires and
drove the hell out of it. In fact I drove it sraight into the
ground and it to ended up in truck heaven (aka stripped of all useable parts by my friend Kris).
So now my family was back to having only one car. The
Sidekick. One day while driving home from work I passed a used
car dealership called Deal's on Wheel's parked on there lot was
the most beautiful Chevy Blazer I have
ever seen! It was black had a very mild (2 inch) lift and decent
sized tires on it. I knew it had to be mine. After negotiating
with them for a little while I got the price to were I wanted it.
I then sold the Sidekick and bought my Blazer (number 17). I have
spent an insane amount of money getting my Blazer to it's current
condition. I just had it repainted (black of course) and for now
I would have to say that I amhappy with where the project went.
Due to a new project I have decided to leave the Blazer as it is
(for now). Car number 18 was for my wonderful wife Betsy it was a
1987 Ford Tarus Wagon (bad mistake) we got rid of the car just in
time to save us some major repair costs. Car 19 is the car my
wife is still driving and really likes a lot. It is a Ford Probe. A cute little red car that
she really seems to enjoy driving. Let's see car 20 would have to
be my Porche 914. I am curently in the process of selling this
car to my Uncle Tim. Car 21 was the first car I bought in
Colorado Springs. A 1980 Saab 900 Gli. The Saab was a sweet
little car that I just recently resold for a nice profit. The
reasons for selling it were the price of the parts and the fact
that Betsy said if I wanted to buy my Charger (car 22) the Saab
had to go. So off it went and I had my Dodge Charger SE towed home not too long after.
This is where the story ends for now at least. My Charger is
in a SORRY state and will be needing much of my attention and
extra money. I plan to document the restoration of my Charger
here on this website. I am going to attempt to keep track of
every thing I do to the car and document the five W's; Who, What,
When, Where and Why. As well as a detailed account of every cent
I spend to get the car to the end state I desire for it. My goal
is to have the car ready for the Hot Rod Power Tour for 2000.
Lets see how it goes. For now this end the tour of my family
garage but, rest assured the story will continue as new additions
are added. I hope you have enjoyed the visit.
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