Muscle Car Memories

An interesting gentleman came by the shop to get some work done on his ten year old Mustang and while he was there he and I had a chance to talk.  He and I went to the waiting room where I had shown him some of the photos on the walls of some of the cars that I’ve had as track cars and then he pulled out his phone to show me a shot of an old Polaroid (before there were digital phone cameras) of a 1971 Pontiac hot rod he had once owned.  I looked at it and guessed that it was a GTO or a Judge.  Nope, a LeMans, he said.  “Let me tell you the story behind it,” he said.

He explained that he had worked while he was going to high school and not only earned a good amount, but he saved it so that he could buy the car of his dreams by the time he graduated from high school.  He had a used Cutlass with a smaller V8 with a two barreled carburetor that needed far too much to turn it into a muscle car.  He came across a classified add (the days before craigslist) of a draftee who was going to be sent to Vietnam and was selling his 1958 Corvette that he had transplanted a 327 cubic inch V8 into.  He wanted $1400 for it, so he and his father went over to take a look at the car.  The owner let him take it for a test drive and he fell in love with it.  It was everything he was looking for.  It was light, fast, and had great look.  He told the guy that he would buy it and gave him a check for $100 and told him that he would return the next day with a check for the balance and they could go to the DMV and transfer ownership,  They shook hands and he could hardly wait until the next day.

He drove over to they guy’s place and there was no Corvette to be seen.  The young soldier was standing with his check in his hand and explained that after he had left someone came and offered him much more for the car so he sold it.  Our high school graduate was not happy and went away quite angry.  A day or two later he dropped by the local Pontiac dealership.  As he got out of his car a salesman who was leaning against the building smoking a cigarette (typical back in those days) said hello and asked him what he could help him with.

“I want to buy a car.”

When the sales guy asked him what specifically he was looking for he told him he wanted a GTO.  The salesman shook his head and said that while they had two on the lot he could sell him,  that he shouldn’t buy one.  At his age the insurance company would charge him big bucks for the auto insurance.  “But,” he said, “you can buy a Pontiac LeMans and you and I will go through the order sheet with you and we can get every option you would have if you bought a GTO, yet all the insurance company will see is that it is a LeMans and your insurance will be something that you can afford.  As they picked out the big engine, the heavy duty clutch, the big rear end, the Hurst shifted four speed, etc. the dealership owner happened by and looked over their shoulders.  When he saw what options were being ordered he told the young man that since he knew his father he was going to give him a call.  His father was only a block or so away and was soon over at the dealership to see what his son was ordering.  His father shook his head in disbelief, but said that he wouldn’t stop him.  At least he would have more than a fiberglass body surrounding him.  When his new car arrived at the dealership it was a true muscle car and he promptly brought it to the local hot rod garage and had it enhanced even more.  It was a blast and his LeMans surprised many a Corvette with its power and acceleration.  But by 1974 America went through its first gas crisis and gasoline went from twenty-five cents a gallon to well over a dollar more in price.  Suddenly his gas guzzling muscle car was bleeding his wallet dry so he put it up for sale as many muscle car owners of the time did.

He wished he had been able to keep the LeMans, but time went on and many years later he was visiting with his father in his final weeks battling cancer.  His father said that he had something important to tell him.  He said that the reason the Vietnam bound soldier didn’t have the Corvette when his son went back for it, was that he had bought it out from under him the afternoon before.  His father had been so afraid that his son would end up killing himself in the fiberglass rocket of a sports car that he offered hundreds of dollars more for it and then sold it again so his son wouldn’t end up dead.  When he saw his son was buying another performance car he gave up and felt that at least he might be protected by a metal bodied muscle car.

It is tough being a parent.