"Silver Sapphire" for $2900.00!

You could have bought the famous "Little Deuce Coupe"
for under three grand!

I lived about ten miles from Washington, PA.
$2900.00 seemed like a million to a 9th grader back then.

From October 1963 Hot Rod Magazine cl***ifieds.

 

well, it dose say "firm".

 

That was more than a loaded, brand new Impala convert

 

I was just reading the 1963 October issue of HotRod and saw that ad, I was going to post it but here its old news in more ways than one. $2900.00 in 63... by 67 you could barely buy a base model OHC fire chicken for that.

 

Good thing Barret-Jackson wan't around then, it would have been tripple that.

 

It was bought by a gentleman who then owned it for over thirty years before he sold it back to the Catallo family. I helped Chili Catallo pull it out of the weeds in 1956. He paid $75.00 for it.
I keep telling my wife that cars are a good investment and appreciate in value.

 

I think I was making about $2.10 an hour back then. That $2900. price sounds pretty reasonable when you consider the price of a comparable car at today's prices..................Woody

 

Who has it now? And how many people actually know the car by the Silver Sapphire name?

 

GaryC Check out epay # 330204700235. Look at the top of the poster. I think you will remember that bunch.

A friend of mine from Wheeling W.va visited with the WTA every so often. One day he said someone was really driving the Sapphire too fast over one of Washington Pa's rough cobblestone stone streets and the front grille fell out and the car ran over it.

 

My god man what did you do I was only making 1.00 an hour.
You was a high roller.

 

The car was repurchased by "Chili" Catallo around 2000 and unfortunately he p***ed away shortly thereafter. The car is now owned by his family who totally restored it to it's former glory.
The Silver Sapphire name stuck with the car until the car appeared on the Beach Boy album cover, and from then on it was known as "the Little deuce coupe".
Since I was involved in the early history of the car, I also knew Ray Woloscak who owned the car for thirty years and purchased it from the ad in this post. The car appeared several years in the front of the Old Farts Car Club tent at the Turkey Rod Run. I have movies of it then.

 

awesome history lesson

 

I was making $1.55 an hour in the oil patch and thought I was rich.....Ken

 

In 1963 I was very excited that I brought home $100. after taxes for the first time in my life. I was a journeyman sign painter and that was great wages for the time. I was driving a 1941 Chevy that took two quarts of used oil that you could buy for 15 cents a quart, to get to work everyday.

 

Anyone have new pics of the "Coupe" they could post??? Thanks in advance!!

 

Lead East a few years back...

 

2006...I'm glad it got restored is all I'm gonna say.

 

Thanks guys!!!! I'd love to do some research on it from the time it was born (in '32) at Rouge ***embly just a few blocks away from me. I'd love to find out where the car has been and who were the original owners were before Clarence got a hold of it. That could take forever..

 

Some more history on this beautiful car. Click to make them bigger. Click again to make them WAY bigger.

 

One more picture. For some reason I couldn't do it the other way. Sorry for the size.

 

What cost $2,900 in 1963 would only cost you $20,103.31 in 2009. Sounds like a good deal to me! Anyone know how to fix the flux capacitor in a DeLorean?

 

Thanks Brother!!

 

I wish I knew.... You'd have to ask Doc Brown.

 

I don't know which version I'd want more, Pre-chop or Post-chop. If I hit the lottery, I'm getting BOTH!!

 

On another note, doesn't everybody miss the days when the magazines would tell you EVERYTHING about the car?

 

I like the "post chop" look with the 3 carbs on a 6:71. Makes it look wicked.

 

I might be wrong but I think I remember seeing it at the peterson museum 3 or 4 years ago.

 

It's probably still there.. I hope they bring it up to the big Ford car show FMC is having at the end of the month. I plan on taking lots of pics.

 

Damn, Washington PA is my hometown. Its nice to learn a little history about your hometown.

 

Oh really? they must have it in the ba*****t with my favorite "S****e". That in real life is definitely my fav. Got it tatted on my back