I remember the car and when it was being built. I later saw it at several local shows, and possibly at a POCI convention or some show where it was shown indoors. I liked John. He was a nice enough guy, and gave me some solid advice when I was just a pup in the hobby.
He had a Bluemist slate '65 GTO with blue interior that was a frame off that he drove every day. Bragged about stamping the block correctly. I don't know what ever happened to that '64 Lemans they show in the picture of the article. It was rough, but complete and running.
My recollections is that he built several Fuel injected "57 Bonneville convertibles. Back then I think they were selling in the low 100's. I reached out to my friend who had babysat his kids, but it isn't the woman that I thought it was. I'm going to have to try and remember who it was. She drove some of his cars to shows, and rode in many of his cars, and has inside details that I never knew.
I'm fairly certain I met John in late '88. After that the time frames are a bit sketchy. The guy that did his interior work was one street to the north of him. If I remember correctly, his warehouse was either on Evernia or Fern street in the original industrial area of Jupiter Florida. Some years before I had the engine of my '66 GTO built at Mr Bill's which was a general autmotive shop to the south of where Fitzgeralds warehouse would eventually be.
Going back a few years, if you mentioned Fitzgeralds name in POCI circles, it would create a rumbling as it appeared that he had some bad dealings with various folks.
About 2-3 years ago, I met a fellow at an AACA show in Vero Beach, Fl. He had worked as a "gopher" of sorts for Fitz, and had nothing but nice things to say about him.
I can tell you this much. The quality of his restorations at that point in time were above the level of a Scott Tiemann restoration. I know this because right about that same time frame, my friend Steve Brown had his 71 Judge convertible restored by Scott. Not sure if he had gone pro yet, or was just doing restorations as a hobby. That Judge was the green one that I'm sure many of you will remember. Not sure where it is now.
Speaking of all this reminded me of another renowned resto shop in our area- J+J Enterprises. They were in the Ft Lauderdale area, (John and Jackie) Top notch shop that restored at least 2 of Steve Ames cars. They moved away many years ago, but I think they have a shop in Illinois under the same name.
Of course with the good also came the bad. That started and ended with Custom Classics of Florida.
I've now used up all my words for 2014.
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