It was sometime near 1978, I was still working at the gas station (as a mechanic) and I was working full time during the day time, and my wife was an LPN at the local hospital. My wife and I had a Friday night ritual, when I got off work and got cleaned up, we would hit a Fast Food place for something to eat, then we cruised all the local car dealers to see what cool cars they had on the lots. That one night, way at the back of the lot at the Chevy store, sat 2 1970 Road Runners, a Petty Blue convert with a white top and a 383, 4 speed, and a Mopar green hardtop with a 383, 727, and an Air Grabber retractable scoop. It was a dream come true, I was looking for a 70 Road Runner at the time! Naturally I went in to inquire, my heart was set on the blue convert. The salesman (I knew him well) told me the guy that just left put a deposit on the convert. No amount of talking would convince him to sell it to me anyway (I knew that, but had to try). He gave me the option to put money down as a 2nd deposit, so if the first deal fell through for any reason, the car would be mine. If that 1st deal went through I would get my money back. I gave him a $100, which was 2x what the other guy gave them. I also put a deposit down on the green car as well, pending the sale of the convert. Either car was going to cost $600, I was going to be the next owner of one of those Road Runners. He took the deal to his service manager (the normal procedure at that dealership, I'd bought cars from them before). I could hear the salesman arguing with the manager, but when he came out of the office the look on his face told me something was wrong with the deal. The manager didn't think I could afford the price tag for either Road Runner, the other guy that had put down the deposit for the convert because he had to secure financing. I told him to get his manager. Our discussion was pretty short. We agreed on the price of either Road Runner. I laid the cash for one of the cars on the desk. I told him I really wanted the blue convert, but was not going to miss out on one of them. I would be in next Friday to pick up my fully paid for car. I got the word from the salesman that Thursday evening that the original deal with the convert did go through, so the green car was going to be mine. As we were pulling into the lot the next week, the blue convert was pulling out of the lot with its new owner driving it. I was the winner of the green Road Runner, it wasn't a bad consolation prize. That Air Grabber was pretty cool, you could open it, or close it with the flip of a switch on the dash. Closing it in a rain storm was a nice feature. With it open, at 100 mph, there was a gap between the back of the hood and the cowl, so I know it worked pretty well. I drove the car for 2-3 years, then someone wanted it way more then I did, I sold it for 2x more then I paid for it.
The Jalopy Journal
