# Today I bought one of my dream cars



## Gweilo (Jul 19, 2019)

Today I was able to purchase one of my top 10 cars, the space on this post is not wide enough for a pic cycle of the smile on my face.


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## dvcochran (Jul 19, 2019)

Nice! What year is that?
What are your other nine cars?


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## Gweilo (Jul 19, 2019)

1966, haven't bought the other 9 lol


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## Gweilo (Jul 19, 2019)

But they are 69 camera,  70 escort mexico, any mk 1 lotus cortina,  would love a mk2 gt40,  late 60's barracuda, ditto on a challenger rt, Aston db9, Ferrari 279 gt, and a car that was a UK 60's design, with an American vs called a Gordon Keele,  yes I am a Brit that loves the V8


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## Buka (Jul 19, 2019)

Wow!

GTO is like my all time favorite car. I wrote to Pontiac when I was a kid and they sent me posters. Had them on my bedroom wall growing up.

Nice.


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## dvcochran (Jul 19, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> But they are 69 camera,  70 escort mexico, any mk 1 lotus cortina,  would love a mk2 gt40,  late 60's barracuda, ditto on a challenger rt, Aston db9, Ferrari 279 gt, and a car that was a UK 60's design, with an American vs called a Gordon Keele,  yes I am a Brit that loves the V8


I had a '68 (I think) Cuda. Green with a 440. Lots of fun. 
One of my vehicle tragedies; I bought '69 Dodge Dart super sport with a 340 six pack and factory 4-speed. It was copper with black racing stripes and a factory cowl. This was in the early 80's and I had no idea the car had any value. Me and a buddy of mine gutted it, took the six pack off, put a roll cage in and made it a dirt track car. Destroyed the body and frame that year. I found out several years later mint super sport were going for around 30k. I gave $1,000 bucks for the car.


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## Gweilo (Jul 19, 2019)

I love American muscle cars, there is something about the look, the sound and the smell of a late 60's early 70's V8, it's great at the moment, there are loads of muscle imports coming into the UK,  particularly resto mods, but I like cars they were supposed to be, yeah okay improve the breaks. I am going to to drive this car for all its worth, repair it, then drive it some more, and still probably create less environmental damage than it does to make one of these new cars. But more smoke from the tyres of course.


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## Bill Mattocks (Jul 19, 2019)

Very nice!


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## jobo (Jul 19, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> But they are 69 camera,  70 escort mexico, any mk 1 lotus cortina,  would love a mk2 gt40,  late 60's barracuda, ditto on a challenger rt, Aston db9, Ferrari 279 gt, and a car that was a UK 60's design, with an American vs called a Gordon Keele,  yes I am a Brit that loves the V8


I've had and promptly wrecked two of those


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## JR 137 (Jul 19, 2019)

I love the GTO. A friend in high school (early 90s) had a ‘67 LeMans with the 389 triple carb v8. I have no idea what the difference was between that one and the GTO. He offered to sell it to me for $1k. The engine needed a rebuild and it needed a coat of paint. Everything else was in great condition and didn’t need any restoration. As we were talking price, a guy drives by, slams on the brakes, and backs up. He yells out from his window “Is that a 67 LeMans?” “Yes.” I’ll give you $500 for the wheels.” My buddy tells him he’ll do it for $500 plus any set of wheels and tires that’ll fit. Guy comes back within about 45 minutes with the cash and wheels. I tell my buddy I guess he’s going to raise the price, seeing as how he just got $500 for the wheels alone. Nope. He tells me “I just got $500 for the wheels and wanted $1k for it, so give me $500 and it’s yours.”

My father is a mechanic and owns his own shop. I talked to him about it and it was a quick “no” before I even finished asking.

And I’m still pissed. 

A friend several years later had a ‘70 Chevelle. Needed a new engine, and could’ve used a fresh coat of paint. He wanted $2500 for it. I tried talking the old man into letting me use a corner of the shop that he doesn’t use. Nope. I dragged my feet a little too much trying to talk him into it and then seeing how much someone else would’ve charged to put a new 350 into it. He sold it to a friend of a friend. Guy put a new 350 in, painted it up really nice, then got drunk and wrapped it around a few parked cars about a month later.

And I’m still pissed about that one too.


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## Bruce7 (Jul 19, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> But they are 69 camera,  70 escort mexico, any mk 1 lotus cortina,  would love a mk2 gt40,  late 60's barracuda, ditto on a challenger rt, Aston db9, Ferrari 279 gt, and a car that was a UK 60's design, with an American vs called a Gordon Keele,  yes I am a Brit that loves the V8



What!, no 69 Superbird. I had a 71 GTX Roadrunner, Back in 1976 there was a Superbird and a Dodge Daytona in Abilene, Tx in the paper.
I drove my Roadrunner as fast as I could to Abilene only to find out two guys from Albuquerque flew in and bought both of them.


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## Gweilo (Jul 20, 2019)

Bruce7 said:


> What!, no 69 Superbird. I had a 71 GTX Roadrunner, Back in 1976 there was a Superbird and a Dodge Daytona in Abilene, Tx in the paper.
> I drove my Roadrunner as fast as I could to Abilene only to find out two guys from Albuquerque flew in and bought both of them.


There are loads of muscle cars I would love to own, shelby 350 kr, a proper cobra 427 sc, oldsmobile 440 with the Hurst setup, Plymouth cuda, loads if I had the cash and the space, and seeing as I live in England, and due to current law, any motor that comes into the EU must pass a 1 off test for pollution and noise, currently they have to be under 100 decibels,  which is a tough test for a V8. Then they have to have an anal test known as an mot where all but the noise levels are inspected, and without these certificates, you are not allowed to drive a vehicle on the road, and once a car has been imported and has the certificates, these cars climb in value.


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## Bruce7 (Jul 20, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> There are loads of muscle cars I would love to own, shelby 350 kr, a proper cobra 427 sc, oldsmobile 440 with the Hurst setup, Plymouth cuda, loads if I had the cash and the space, and seeing as I live in England, and due to current law, any motor that comes into the EU must pass a 1 off test for pollution and noise, currently they have to be under 100 decibels,  which is a tough test for a V8. Then they have to have an anal test known as an mot where all but the noise levels are inspected, and without these certificates, you are not allowed to drive a vehicle on the road, and once a car has been imported and has the certificates, these cars climb in value.



Years ago when I just got out of the Navy, my dad got me a job as an assistant driller in Saudi Arabia, . I did not deserve the job, but my Dad was the manager. I had to go to London to get a visa to work in Saudi. It took almost a week. I stayed at the Royal Westminster Hotel across the street from the back wall of the palace. I was bored and the man at the desk suggest horseback riding the stables were not far away, that was an experience. I did not mind the little small saddle since I had ridden bareback as a child. Controlling the horse was a different matter. Horses I was use to you didn't need reins except for backing, you could turn a horse with your legs and body movement. 
These horses only turn with the reins. The traffic was bad getting to the park, thought I was going to die the horse keep jumping and slipping on the rock road. It was very nice once in the park. I was having trouble with the trot with the small saddle. My horse at home I had taught to single foot and had forget how uncomfortable a trot could be. I meet an Australian guy who gave me some pointers. After horseback riding. we hung out together. His grandfather had died so he came to England and inherited a good some of money. So he started a business of buying trashed sports cars and repair the cars to sell. Because the building was small he could only keep cars that they were working on in the building and there was no parking. So he would drive to a parking place put money in the meter and take the other car for a spin to the next parking place and switch cars. It was against the law to keep a car in in one place and feed the meter. I got to pull the cars out , but did not get to drive the cars. Still It was pretty cool. I mean how often do you get to unpark a Ferrari.


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## JR 137 (Jul 20, 2019)

On a tragically comedic note...

One of the guys I worked with while I was in high school (he was several years older) had a roadrunner. It was in pretty good shape; not show-car condition, but definitely not daily driver condition. He was trying to sell it for the longest time, but there was just no market for it. The Mopar cars just didn’t do well for a period. Combine that with being before the internet where you’d find people from all over, he wasn’t going to get what the car was worth. He had it in the regional want ads for a good year or so with zero interest beyond a few callers offering less than half what he was asking. And it was priced reasonably. 

So him and his friends get drunk one night and one of them gets the genius idea that they should set it on fire and collect the insurance money. Sure enough they do. The next day he calls his insurance agent. The insurance guy tells him “I’d love to help you out, but you don’t have comprehensive coverage (fire/theft/non-driving damage).”

Proper site decorum doesn’t allow me to use the words I’m thinking to describe that guy. If you knew him, you’d be amazed by this attempted scheme, but you certainly wouldn’t be surprised by his epic failure.


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## jobo (Jul 20, 2019)

JR 137 said:


> On a tragically comedic note...
> 
> One of the guys I worked with while I was in high school (he was several years older) had a roadrunner. It was in pretty good shape; not show-car condition, but definitely not daily driver condition. He was trying to sell it for the longest time, but there was just no market for it. The Mopar cars just didn’t do well for a period. Combine that with being before the internet where you’d find people from all over, he wasn’t going to get what the car was worth. He had it in the regional want ads for a good year or so with zero interest beyond a few callers offering less than half what he was asking. And it was priced reasonably.
> 
> ...


one in the same vein, a friend of my friend did exactly the same with his 3 l capri with a very broken engine, towed it up on the moors  splashed a bit of petrol in it,threw a match in, shut the door and shot off, when he got home 20 m later, he phoned to report it stolen, to discover the police had already found it and shutting the door had out the fireout, so apart from a slightly charred passenger seat the car was fine so he got a lot  more petrol, and returned, set fire to it properly this time, to find the police had hidden round the corner to wait for such an eventuality


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## Gerry Seymour (Jul 20, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> Today I was able to purchase one of my top 10 cars, the space on this post is not wide enough for a pic cycle of the smile on my face.


Sweet ride, man. Glad you managed to get your hands on something you like that much.


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## Xue Sheng (Jul 20, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> Today I was able to purchase one of my top 10 cars, the space on this post is not wide enough for a pic cycle of the smile on my face.



Had two friends that had GTOs, one was a 64 the other was a 69. I love the GTO, awesome car, congratulations


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## jobo (Jul 20, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> Today I was able to purchase one of my top 10 cars, the space on this post is not wide enough for a pic cycle of the smile on my face.


does that need whitewall tyres ?


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## pdg (Aug 15, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> Then they have to have an anal test known as an mot where all but the noise levels are inspected



Some people think they're anal, but I'll assume you meant "annual" 

It's a '66 you said... Looks pretty stock.

MOT exempt. Tick the box when you get your free tax online.



The MOT law changed in May - prior to that a vehicle had to be pre 1960 to qualify for exemption, but now it's on a rolling 40 year anniversary system in line with VED exemption.

The only real restriction is that it either has to be stock or carry only 'period' modifications (things that were commonly done as a matter of course when it was a current model) - basically the same requirements as to keep it's plate under the DVLA points system.


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## Bill Mattocks (Aug 15, 2019)

dvcochran said:


> I had a '68 (I think) Cuda. Green with a 440. Lots of fun.
> One of my vehicle tragedies; I bought '69 Dodge Dart super sport with a 340 six pack and factory 4-speed. It was copper with black racing stripes and a factory cowl. This was in the early 80's and I had no idea the car had any value. Me and a buddy of mine gutted it, took the six pack off, put a roll cage in and made it a dirt track car. Destroyed the body and frame that year. I found out several years later mint super sport were going for around 30k. I gave $1,000 bucks for the car.



I bought a 69 Dodge Charger out of a junkyard in San Ysidro, CA in 1982 for $500.  Drove the crap out of it until I was sent overseas in the Marines, sold it for the same $500 to a guy who took the Dana 60 rear end out of it and sold the rest back to the junkyard.  In 1985, I bought another 69 Dodge Charger in Denver for $1200, drove it a couple years, sold it to my brother-in-law for $400 because he was hard up for cash and a way to get to work.  He wrecked it.

I've always kind of kicked myself, but life goes on.  Sadly, I will never again own a 69 Dodge Charger.  I let both slip through my hands and now I can't even afford a burned out shell of one.


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## dvcochran (Aug 15, 2019)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I bought a 69 Dodge Charger out of a junkyard in San Ysidro, CA in 1982 for $500.  Drove the crap out of it until I was sent overseas in the Marines, sold it for the same $500 to a guy who took the Dana 60 rear end out of it and sold the rest back to the junkyard.  In 1985, I bought another 69 Dodge Charger in Denver for $1200, drove it a couple years, sold it to my brother-in-law for $400 because he was hard up for cash and a way to get to work.  He wrecked it.
> 
> I've always kind of kicked myself, but life goes on.  Sadly, I will never again own a 69 Dodge Charger.  I let both slip through my hands and now I can't even afford a burned out shell of one.


I realized I mis-spoke when I read your post. My Dart was a GTS, not a super sport. No such car.


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## Buka (Aug 18, 2019)

In 88 I had a 71 Dodge Charger. The floor was rotting out and the guys riveted some sheet metal as a temporary fix, lasted a few more years until the winter salts wore away everything.

Sat in the yard for a year, I was planning on towing it away. Knock at the kitchen door, baby faced kid about 17 years old wants to buy it. A nice kid. I explain it's junk, he explains that almost everyone in his family is a mechanic or auto body guy and he's collecting a bunch of old Dodge Chargers to Frankenstein them together. I sell it to him for a buck and he has it towed away.

A couple years go buy and there's a knock at the door. It's the baby faced kid. I don't even remember him - until I look out the door behind him. There sits what looks like a brand new Dodge Charger from the cover of Road and Track magazine. It's Candy Apple Red - you could comb your hair in the reflection off the paint, he told me here were multiple coats highly buffed, it has all kinds of fancy pipes and chrome. The sucker looks brand new.

The kid points out every part that he salvaged from my particular car. He takes me for a ride. The growl the car makes when he starts it up gives me a woody. My God, what a beautiful fricken' car. Every single part looks brand new.

Never saw the kid again but I hope he's well. I really liked that kid. Loved the car he made.


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## Gweilo (Aug 29, 2019)

Does anybody live near Iowa, have a look at this barn find of US muscle cars.

A secret collection of 93 vintage muscle cars was kept hidden in sheds in Iowa. Now they're going up for auction.


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## Buka (Aug 29, 2019)

Gweilo said:


> Does anybody live near Iowa, have a look at this barn find of US muscle cars.
> 
> A secret collection of 93 vintage muscle cars was kept hidden in sheds in Iowa. Now they're going up for auction.



What a great story. What great cars!


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