What car did you own, and would give anything to have back

[Jeff Lee]

Larry,
Tell us more! What condition was it when you sold it, and again when you bought it back?
How much did you sell it for and how much to buy it back?
And how did it come back to you?

[Larry Merk]

Jeff,

When I sold my 66 Nova I had raced it for a year in SS/J with a 327/275HP then the following year in SS/O with a 283/220HP. Cal Method set the record in the car in SS/O in 1973. Later we parked the car; I had no job and no money. I sold the car as a roller for $1,000 to a racer in Vancouver, Washington and he raced it in the Portland, Oregon area for a year, then moved to Anchorage, Alaska where he raced it for a year before moving back to Vancouver. At some point after moving back it was parted out and parked.

In 1997 I got a phone call from a guy in the Portland, Oregon area who had purchased the car. It had been sitting out behind a barn for a year or two. He was tracking down previous owners of the car. He planned to restore it. I tried to buy it from him but no sale. I sent him some pictures and time slips from the 2 years I raced the car. He said he would call me when he finished restoration. He never called.

This year me son asked me about the car so I called the guy. He had just sold the car back to the guy he bought it from! Restoration turned out to be more work than he expected and he gave up. I called the new owner and we made a deal. I paid a lot more to buy it back than I sold it for, but it IS an original L79 car (only 5,400 built), has 27,000 miles on the odometer, and it WAS my car 40 years ago. What do you think the other posters on this thread would pay to get back some favorite car they once owned?

The body is still fairly straight, but the rear sub-frame has been cut, banged, and welded on. Big holes in the trunk floor; don't know why. The two previous owners had accumulated a lot of parts to restore the car and I got all that with the car. So I have a leg up toward restoration. All I know is that this car will be restored and stay in the family. I can't think of a better father/son/grandson project than restoring this car. Well, other than racing together, but we already do that.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year to everyone on Class Racer. Santa was good to me, hope is he was good to you too.

[Jeff Lee]

Great story; being that it was parted out, it literally will come back from the dead! I would have paid as much as I could for a car with such a personal history.

I had a '71 Challenger 318 in High School. My first fast car as I added typical bolt-ns to the 318 then built a 340 for it. Painted it black & gold with a T/A hood. First really fast car for me (but no doubt a slug compared to some of these stories), first awesome paint and stance car. Spun a rod (oh, you shouldn't wing it to 7,000 in the driveway?). Parked it and accumulated a 440, roll-bar, Jaz seats; basically building it into a real race car. A friend had to have it and I realized I didn't really have the funds to do the job and I traded it for his '68 Barracuda Formula S 383 / 4-speed car which now had a 440 in it with a Hurst Ram-Rod shifter and a solid puck sintered iron clutch disk. What a treat that was on the street with 3.23 gears! Never took a liking to that car and I don't even remember what I sold it for.

A few years went buy and the Challenger went through a few owners. Then one day I saw in the paper "Parting - '71 Challenger". I called. The guy said it was black and gold and all that was left was the 4.10 center in the 8 3/4". I could have that for $50.00. I arrived and the front looked like it went through a tree. The rear was jacked up with two bumper jacks; one on each rear quarter. I about cried. Didn't say I was the one that built the car as the guy was a real POS. Took the gears out and left.

I had 4 years and a lot of memories in that car and it was somewhat of a trend setter for the day. Only lost two street races in it with that 340 (weighed 3200#'s) and I hung pretty close to their rear bumpers in the process. Learned a lot on that car!

If I found the car today? I'd pay some stupid money, probably like you. But I'm sure it was recycled long ago.

I'm not even going to get into all the cars I've owned because they were short term. But there's a good half-dozen at least that should have been keepers!

[Geerhead55]

How about this shot? I've been sitting on this photo for over 30 years in a box of racecar pics I've accumilated,, some by me and this one that was shot by Rich Carlson at Seattle International Raceway back in the day. I picked it out of a table top of 8x10s that Rich would sell at car shows years ago. Looks like Richard Schroeder in the background.
I'm glad to hear that the car is on the road back to recovery, and thanks for the story, Larry.
Be sure to keep us up to date in the new racecar builds section, please.
Danny Durham

[Geerhead55]

Another car I followed back in the day was the original L-79 car of Jim Parsons who partnered with Terry Harmon in the early '70s. I have these 2 Rich Carlson shots of the Chevy II at Puyallup Raceway ( Ray Rice and Ed Schuler on the starting line) and a little later shot of the car at Bremerton Raceway. Jim still runs the car today in Stock Eliminator.
I picked up my own black on black '66 Nova SS 327/275 4-speed in '74 and sold it in '88. I tried to buy it back a few years ago, but the guy was way out to lunch on the price.
This shot was taken at S.I.R. around 1979, and yes I'd still like to have it back, but I wouldn't give crazy money for it.
Danny Durham

[Rory McNeil]

I had a number of cars that I would like to have back, 66 Plymouth Valiant Signet 273/235HP 4 speed, 66 Fairlane GTA 390, 2 70 Mustang fastbacks (1 was a Mach 1) both had 351Clevland 4 barrels, Grabber Orange and Grabber Green, 3 428CJ Mach 1s (69 4 speed, 69 auto, 70 4 speed, all with Shaker hoods), and 2 69 Fairlane Cobra Fastbacks, both with Ram Air 428 CJs, 1 4 speed, 1 auto.) I bought (and sold) all these cars between 1975 and the mid 90s. As much as I would like to have any or all of them again, no way I could afford, or would want to pay the "Barrett-Jackson" type prices most of those cars demand these days. I`m not much of a "correct hose clamp and paint dab" guy anyhow, so I`d likely "ruin them" by driving them hard. Let whoever owns them all now think that they always led pampered, never raced or abused lives for all those years.

[Geerhead55]

As far as "give anything to have back",, this is the one. I bought it from the original owner in Sept. '72 and was stolen from me in Jan. '75 It was found, in pieces, later that year with other stolen vehicles. My only Z-28,, and I've kept it that way. It was a lot of fun while it lasted,, of course, I was only 19 - 22 years old at the time, that may have had something to do with it.
Danny Durham

[Larry Merk]

Danny,

Thanks for posting the old photo of my 66 Nova. I missed out when Rich Carlson was cleaning out and selling all his old photos. Would have liked to buy a few more photos of the car.

I used to see Terry Harmon and Jim Parsons fairly often since Terry lived in Yakima and they raced the car at Renegade Raceways where I also raced. I know Jim is now racing the car in Stock and running well.

[Geerhead55]

Larry,, no thanks needed,, I was glad to finally be able to use the photo. Just remember, when you guys tear into the 'ol racer, be sure to document the restoration and share it with us in here,,, you know we'll appreciate it. Happy New Year.
Danny Durham

[bmedeirs]

The car that I wish I had back was my first car. I special ordered it new from a Chevrolet dealer. It was a 1970 Chevelle 454 450 HP LS6 Chevelle. I was Green Mist Metallic, Cowl inducted hood, 4:10,PS, PB, Gauges, AM-8Track, automatic transmission with a black bench seat interior. I raced this car in pure stock at New England Dragway form 1970 thru 1972. I always ran class eliminations and still have the trophies. In October 1970 I took the national record for AHRA in both speed and ET at 13.74 ET and 106.76 in A/SA. That record in AHRA was never broken.