You've done everything like a gentleman, if he can't appreciate that, you might not want to deal with him anyway. As has been said, atleast you know where it is, if and when the time comes.
My love for the '66 Impala goes back to when I was a youngin. This was my dad's daily driver until he sold it in the mid 90s. I looked for this car in the early 2000s and found out it had been crushed, and so was I. This is me with the car at our new house in 1986.
This is my 66' Caprice. Running a Chevrolet performance 502 with a 700R4 and 12 bolt with 373 gears and a Holley Sniper 2 to feed it.
Great looking Caprice. I remember when I ordered the SS I almost ordered the Caprice but maybe it cost more money or I thought the 2 door hardtop was better looking? That was a long time ago, ordered the car in 1965 took delivery in Jan of 66.
Don't be put off by the guy not wanting to talk about or show you the car. I have multiple cars and a lot of the things that go with cars. I will usually talk to somebody about a car that is sitting outside, but not always. A stranger will seldom get into a garage for the tour. The short story is... My pop was an easy touch to show off the cars. One time I was sitting in a bar 30 miles from home. There are guys talking about some cars one of them had recently seen. And all the automobilia to go with them. It was my stuff. The exact location was mentioned. As the bar was on the wrong side of town, the best bars are, I realized that at least 10 other people now knew my inventory. Some of them had colorful histories. I would never have left them on the patch, and never in any buildings. Just give it some time. Maybe a mutual friend or a bit of luck will get you in the door.
Hope you are able at some point to get your old car back. In 75 I bought a 66 SS, 396-325, 4spd, white with a black interior and black vinyl top for $800. Drove it for a year and sold it to a guy I worked with who painted it a charcoal grey. It was his wife’s daily and she drove it for about 10 years, and then sold it. Last time I saw it was about 10-15 years ago. It had been fitted with hydraulics and 13’s. The left front tire was about a foot off the ground, paint was in need of a redo, but the black interior was still in great shape. The young guy that owned it wouldn’t part with it. Haven’t seen it since, in that configuration anyway.
Can't get this car off my mind. The fact it's survived and is in good shape for it's age and not being restored makes it a special car. Maybe the owner has dreams of it being discovered by Wayne or the Pickers and getting big bucks? I'm stymied as to how to approach the current caretaker. Through a friend I found out he's following in his fathers footsteps. My friend said he is very difficult to deal with and has other problems. I hate to walk away but?
Do ya like to drink?? Go to his bar and hang out at the bar sipping a couple beers. May be a way to get to know him and slowly ease into chatting about the car?
I still can remember when my father sold his 64 bonneville.it was something 87-89. I know who owns it currently and i been telling him, i will buy it back if hes willing to sell. He just stores it and do nothing about it. Yeah, totally understand the frustfration.
you just never know when you will get the call. Had that happen with our 61 impala and Taboo actually. On the impala, grandparents sold the car back in like 2008/2009, when my grandmother passed my grandfather wanted to track the car down and get it back if possible, same guy we sold it to still had it. Called a couple of times and left messages and then just figured it was not gonna be for sale or it had been sold and we didnt know. Then one day out of the blue, got a call from him, car was for sale at this price and we went and looked and made a deal. Taboo was more of a surprise. We figured that the family of the guy my grandfather sold the car to would keep it in the family as they all enjoyed the car as well (owner was also the original owner), then once again out of the blue he called and said he talked to all his kids and they didnt want to actually have to maintain the car so he figured he would sell it to us then and there so it could get the restoration it needed at that point.
The Jalopy Journal
