27 years ago, this 16 year old kid would have been pissed to find out what some old dude did to his car! He spent hours working with his dad to build, buff and polish the hot rod into a daily driver while he attended high school. Weekends were spent hanging with friends, lying about drag racing, and trying to impress girls.
Somewhere in that 30 years, a girl did get "impressed" and agreed to get married. That kid's old car got parked and forgotten (out of sight out of mind ain't bad... because the old car never got sold!). Over the years, the kid ran a hot rod business, changed careers and got promoted to "dad" twice... Fast forward to a few weeks ago... that old man's roof needed replacing. But, not just replaced, rebuilt as it leaked above the kitchen and over the garage....... THE GARAGE: Where the lawn mower, weed wacker and kid's bikes are stored. The domicile of household trash, garden tools and tomato cages 9 months of the year! The Garage where spiders, flies and crickets thrive... alongside that 16 year old kid's old car. A forgotten place, behind a stack of insulation boards where sunlight only shone through the holes in the roof. When the day came to repair the roof on the sticks & bricks garage, it was decided, the old car was in the way! Hastily, a battery was tossed into the old Plymouth... sadly, the magic 12 volt smoke came out before the car would run. 14+ years being parked were hard on the old car! As a result, rather unceremoniously, the tattered sedan was dragged out by the roofer's dump truck. After many conversations about the old Mopar, my 9 year old has asked if we could get "IT" running. Almost with renewed vigor, the old dude who was keeping the car captive remembered the enthusiasm of the young kid who the car belonged to. "Sure we can fix it!" was the reply. I'm sure that 16 year old kid I once was will forgive me as my boys and I get the old car going again! This will be a slow process! I've had the old girl out of storage a few times over the past ten years, but could never get started on a resurrection. It's funny today as I once marveled over the fact that guys would wait until their kids were grown to work on a hot rod..... then I had two boys. Those monsters can EAT & school, braces and college planning ain't cheap! As the budget allows, I will post pix of the progress. First up, I have to get the old girl back in the garage. Then it's a rip and strip of the 1980's velour interior and wiring harness. That stuff is FREE! And my boys will LUV tearing stuff up!!!!
Excellent story and start of a refresh thread! That car looks pretty cool as it is. Just get her running and drive it!!
Hurry up soon them boys will be chasing girls and then to college, and you wont even see the years go by. Enjoy your time with them while ya can. I lost both my girls to college 2 years ago and cant wait till I get to see them again. Tony
As a person who has seen that car in person a few times all I can say is .....YES YES YES 100 TIMES YES! Hopefully you know someone who can put a cool interior back in it.
Thanks John... I'm gonna repaint the dash white (it's gray now) and I plan on s***ching some black and white tuck & roll. Dad and I got a chuckle out of the Mustang shifter we used "back in the day"... gonna have to remedy that... and the 1973 Chevy pick up steering wheel, LOL!
Enjoy every minute with your family and Hot Rod brother ... great to see and hear from you. God Bless !
The Jalopy Journal
