[67Twistytee]

Found some old shots of my car to share. First one was of my dad with the car shortly after they bought it 67/68. It's still sporting the original skinny redlines and wire discs. I'm surprised how low it sat in the rear on the 14" wheels and suspension.



Second one was its first trip in the snow after moving back to the Chicago area from Florida in 1968. You can barely see the roof line around where my dad dug it out. It was my mom's daily driver until the late '70s, so I guess she got accustomed to scooting it around in the snow. It's amazing it stayed relatively rust free all those years up north.

Third one is my mom getting to drive it for the first time 35 years after my parents had to sell it in 1978. If you look closely you can see my mom giving me (taking the photo) the high five wave through the windshield. She was thrilled to see and drive her old car again. She couldn't quit talking about the "wonder touch" power steering and brakes. Must have brought back a wave of nostalgia

Interesting the car was sporting bias ply redlines again (on Rally I's) at the time of this photo in 2013. Still has its original cordova top and interior too.

[muscle_collector]

that's great, how did you manage to get it back?

[67Twistytee]

I posted a thread on the story a bit over a year ago after I bought the car back.

A family that owned an apple farm near us purchased the car in 1978 and it went into their barn shortly after we sold it. It stayed there until about 14 years ago when a family friend of theirs purchased it and moved the car down to North Carolina. He got it road worthy but left it largely original - essentially a respray, new suspension, and rewiring. He got interested in selling the car a couple of years ago and decided to try to track down the original owners.

My dad was meticulous about record keeping and gave all the original paperwork to the first buyer and it luckily stayed with the car. The last owner started with their address in Miami from the original invoice and followed the car's history through Illinois and New York. Eventually he found my phone number listed in North Carolina. It turned out he lived less than an hour away from me so he invited us all up to see and drive the car. I couldn't let it go a second time, so I stayed in touch with the guy and eventually bought it back. Wish we had kept it way back when, but I was not yet old enough to drive and they had nowhere to store the car.

I'm trying to make-up for lost time now and hope one of my kids will take an interest in it when it becomes time to pass the torch

[Jeff Hamlin]

Great story!
It always makes me smile when I hear or read stories like this or similar stories of cars always owned by the same family.
Funny how we look at them now versus how it was JUST A CAR back then,
and how they become part of the family.

[OCMDGTO]

Awesome pics! I wish my parents were that cool! Dad always thought fast cars were nothing but trouble & a waste of $$$$$$. He was right as usual, but damn they are fun!

[67Twistytee]

We were stoked when we found out the car had survived. I used to rib my dad about selling it, especially after I got my license. My mom would talk about her friends always knowing when she was pulling down their street because of the V8 and exhaust. I don't think she was too embarrassed as she had a habit of getting her foot on the gas with some frequency. Pretty crazy to think us kids rode around in it without car seats. I think all 4 of us came home from the hospital in that car.

Attached are some ads from the local swap sheet around the time they sold the car. Pretty neat to see what they sold for as just "used cars" back then.

[400 4spd.]

That's a neat story, Andy. Nice that you have those early pictures to go with it.
Right now I'm probably going to sell my similar '67 that I've had since 1973. Your story makes me think I should contact the guy I bought it from just in case he wants it.

[cuz68]

Love the pics and the story, Thank you Andy.

[jd66]

Great story, mine is very similar, I also have pictures of my GTO in the snow in 66 and 67 in south western Pa. at mom and dads place, some with snow tires on the car. lol my mom loved to drive the car while I was in Viet Nam in 68, got pulled over by the State Patrol ounce, she never did live that one down. jd grim 66 gto

[67Twistytee]

I drove a Buick with a 4 barrel olds 307 in high school. Not particularly sporty, but it was big, rear wheel drive and had twitchy power steering. I got pretty good at doing power slides across the snow and into the HS parking lot with it - lol.

When digging through the box of old photos, I also found a pic of my dad washing his first car ('54 Ford) and a photo of his '65 Mercury Marauder that he traded in on the GTO. Come to think of it, I don't think I have any photos of my first car that I can find.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by 67Twistytee

I drove a Buick with a 4 barrel olds 307 in high school. Not particularly sporty, but it was big, rear wheel drive and had twitchy power steering. I got pretty good at doing power slides across the snow and into the HS parking lot with it - lol.

When digging through the box of old photos, I also found a pic of my dad washing his first car ('54 Ford) and a photo of his '65 Mercury Marauder that he traded in on the GTO. Come to think of it, I don't think I have any photos of my first car that I can find.

Original photos from when the car was in the family the first time then getting it back again is priceless. Thanks for posting. Its great to hear when these things happen.