Whatever happened to Gary Kollofski's 55 Chevy?

This is the coolest thing,posting about the wearabouts of one of your heroes and then they join the forum!

 

Nice to have you on here Gary. Here are some early pics of you at Minnesota
Dragways I took back in the days.

 

I just got off the phone after a great long conversation with "tazhog" aka Jeff Johnson. He does have the complete original car. I'm now glad that I did not buy the one that I traveled to Detroit to buy. It turned out to be another 55 that was done by Greg for Dave Reichert.
I would love to have the original car back and Jeff is thinking. Stay tuned.

Gary

 

Ain't the HAMB a wonderful place !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BB

 

great, now we need to get gary and scott sullivan to bring their iconic 55's to the hamb drags and we'll be in hog heaven. maybe throw in a couple of the graffiti/2 lane cars and have a shoot out!

 

Way cool thread and maybe a happy ending?!?!?!??!!? I love those!

 

Great to see you on tha HAMB

I use to live next door to Gary in our collage days, you should have seen the 55 when he first got in.....perfect patina bone stock six banger, if I rember right he through an over the counter Chev 427 in it. The springs had saged the stock dog dish hubcaps old Chev green no rust the ultimate sleeper. I was mesmerized by the stories of Gary driving it to Rochester Mn and surprising everyone on the street with the big block.

My favoriate car of his was a Black 49 Chev fastbak gasser with tube axle high in the front, Halibrand injectors poking out of the Hood ,Gary used to flat tow it 140 miles to the drag strip in Minneapolis and run C or B Gass if I rember correctly, that was a log time ago, the mid 60's.

 

you fellas are making my wife cry. she loves a happy ending. i'm so glad i stumbled across this site looking for a hot rod to buy.

 

Hey Monsterflake, will they need to change wheels to be allowed on the track?
Gary, thanks for the inspiration from your cars. The Willys calls to my heart more than the '55. Nothing wrong with either.
Good luck with the possible car deal.

 

Had A great conversation with Gary! I know his feeling towards his car . We are keeping in touch ! I've had it for almost 30 years! and Cause I'm trying to find my 50 merc that I sold 15 years ago and would like it back!

 

This was long before the term Pro-Street existed and Rea's car to had it all down, from a Hammered Top, Halibrands,low Stance and a Killer Hot Rod engine!

This car truly did have it all and made an impression on a 5th grader in 1975 at a time when factory cars started using Cats and Unleaded fuels and most enthusiasts thought we were doomed. This cars and Phil Cools 32 HiBoy changed all that. Real Hots rods were Back in a very BIG way!

Mean,Low n Clean,that says it all!

 

Hey tazhog could all us people weened on Hot Rod from this era, possibly have a picture or 2 of the 55?

 

that thing looks bad ass in green...agian , a cool package...

 

Ah,the "Power of the HAMB"! "Reuniting famous cars and builders worldwide."

 

What a great story ........ viva 'la HAMB !

 

Welcome Gary....just wanted to say that as a 17 year old in 77' your 55 made a HUGE impression on me.

Still have the pics I clipped out of the magazine article including the one from the classifieds when you put it up for sale.

Scott Sullivan got a lot of credit for the pro street look but in my opinion you were the first one to truly nail it.

Thanks for the great memories!

 

The 55 made a huge impression on me too. Unfortunately I didn't see it and know Gary owned it until I saw it in the magazines, AFTER spending three years at Wayzata Senior High in the mid 70's. One of those woulds, coulda things that still pisses me off for not knowing.

 

Gary, I'll mirror the last post; I was also 17 in 1977 and drove a 55 Chevy in High School. Pics of your 55 were taped to the underside of my tool chest lid in my garage. I looked at the pics every time I worked on my ol 55.
Great to see you're still around and enthusiastic about cars.
Hope Taz will sell back the 55 to you.
Taz; post some pics of the 55!!!

 

Man, I keep checking in, I mean the only thing missing besides Gary buying the car back is for Taz to post some pics. What a cool story for all of us that wore out those pages. I was getting sick and tired of hearing about members rides getting screwed up or stolen, this is bitchin man! Oh yeah, welcome Gary!!!

 

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Newbie

Jeff,I'm just down the road from you in Benson NC and that car is the best ,Ive loved 55's since the mid 60's..I have one now ,I want it black so bad ,I dream about it.....Its cool that the original owner is also here with us ,now all we need to do is find your 51 Merc.I would love ta be a fly on the wall when you two get together about that car and hear all the storys.

Gary ,You spooled me for life with that car ....I came out of the military in 74 and was lost for a few years ,when I saw your black 55 I knew what I wanted to do ,and got my butt in gear ,Got my 55 shorty after that and have had a love affair with it all theses years,Good luck with Jeff and getting the car again.
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Boy, that would be tough to part with a car you've had for 30 years... even if it were go back to the original owner.

Like my '55... the guy had it from 1962 until 2002... sold it, and was bitter-sweet about the sale... He'd probably like it back, but I have wanted this car since 1986-7, never DREAMED I'd own it... now I own it... and can't even think about ever parting with it.

Looks like in this deal if tazhog finds his merc... he might make a love connection...

Lets start looking for the merc! Got pics? Location? Names? VIN number?

Sam

 

Hot Rod needs to get a hold of this thread. Maybe even do a "Gary visiting his old car layout with the current owner of many years." I know the issue would sure sell enough magazines!

 

tahT

 

did you mean "what"?

 

wow... for your 7,000th post, that was a doozie

 

Man the hot rod legends that show up on here blow my mind! I also remember the first time I saw Gary,s 55 in a magazine....that shit can ruin a guy for life! Welcome and I hope to see more personal pics of the car from both of you guys.....

 

taint?

 

Like Sam said, How about some info on the 50 merc you are looking for (info on what it looked like, who bought it (or location). with the number of people on the HAMB it might turn up in someones garage or buddies shop..

 

Sold it to a cement contractor in Sacramento,Ca. in 1992 (divorce settlement) The only pic right now I have is my avatar because i'm on a new laptop and all our pics are still packed away . Just moved here and doing a complete remodel to the house and building a new garage about 3000 sq. ft so every thing is in storage yet ,slowly getting stuff in the house as we go ! Will post as soon as i find some .Thanks Jeff


P.S.- here is a poster from a French magazine "Nitro" that my wife had framed for me with the original license plate.

 

Hey Jethro:

I've got that plate hanging in my shop, you can have it back if you get the car back, actually you can have it back now if you want it.




BB