What car did you own, and would give anything to have back

Sean Cour · 12-25-2012, 02:50 PM

My first was a 1963 1/2 Galaxy 406 tri power, four speed. But my second is the one I wish I still had. '70 Boss 302, shaker, slats, spoilers, yellow, and black.

brent flynn · 12-25-2012, 05:44 PM

My Senior year in High School, with about 2 months left, before graduation(1987), i bought my 2nd '60 Pontiac 2 door post Catalina...had 27,000 original miles on it,,, 389/215hp 2bbl. It was white. I put some 5/16'' poli-locks on it, holley pump on the engine, opened the single exhaust dump...with 2.69 road gears in it, 205 radials on back, 1'' horseshoe spacers in front springs and tall front tires, it went 16.30s/85mph. I won street class with it, that Fall and a few other trophies. I had it until Fall 1990... i had swapped another 389 in it , for awhile(THanks Dad).. had 093 Tripower heads and a 4bbl cast intake...3.90 gears and Grandma cam(hehehe) and went 14.90s ... still through manifolds and single dump. Put original engine back in and sold it... Nice car...shoulda never sold that one!!!

Larry Merk · 12-26-2012, 12:20 AM

I sold the first race car I ever owned in 1974 and knew I would later regret it because it was such a cool and fun car. Here we are years later and the stars all aligned for me and I was able to buy it back last week, 4 days before Christmas. It has been through many hands and was covered in dirt and cob webs, like your typical barn find, but it is my old car. Talk about the coolest Christmas present EVER!!! I'm still pinching myself.

This is an original L79 327/350HP 4 speed car. Original colors are black and black. It shows 27,000 miles on the odometer. I turned it into a race car with the help of Cal Method and it has not been on the street since 1971. My son and I are going to have a ball restoring it (back to a street car).

The photos show the car at the Seattle Point Meet in 1972 (and yes, I beat Mark Coletti) and a few days ago in the trailer when we picked it up.

Jeff Lee · 12-26-2012, 01:46 PM

Larry,
Tell us more! What condition was it when you sold it, and again when you bought it back?
How much did you sell it for and how much to buy it back?
And how did it come back to you?

Larry Merk · 12-26-2012, 07:42 PM

Jeff,

When I sold my 66 Nova I had raced it for a year in SS/J with a 327/275HP then the following year in SS/O with a 283/220HP. Cal Method set the record in the car in SS/O in 1973. Later we parked the car; I had no job and no money. I sold the car as a roller for $1,000 to a racer in Vancouver, Washington and he raced it in the Portland, Oregon area for a year, then moved to Anchorage, Alaska where he raced it for a year before moving back to Vancouver. At some point after moving back it was parted out and parked.

In 1997 I got a phone call from a guy in the Portland, Oregon area who had purchased the car. It had been sitting out behind a barn for a year or two. He was tracking down previous owners of the car. He planned to restore it. I tried to buy it from him but no sale. I sent him some pictures and time slips from the 2 years I raced the car. He said he would call me when he finished restoration. He never called.

This year me son asked me about the car so I called the guy. He had just sold the car back to the guy he bought it from! Restoration turned out to be more work than he expected and he gave up. I called the new owner and we made a deal. I paid a lot more to buy it back than I sold it for, but it IS an original L79 car (only 5,400 built), has 27,000 miles on the odometer, and it WAS my car 40 years ago. What do you think the other posters on this thread would pay to get back some favorite car they once owned?

The body is still fairly straight, but the rear sub-frame has been cut, banged, and welded on. Big holes in the trunk floor; don't know why. The two previous owners had accumulated a lot of parts to restore the car and I got all that with the car. So I have a leg up toward restoration. All I know is that this car will be restored and stay in the family. I can't think of a better father/son/grandson project than restoring this car. Well, other than racing together, but we already do that.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year to everyone on Class Racer. Santa was good to me, hope is he was good to you too.

Jeff Lee · 12-26-2012, 09:20 PM

Great story; being that it was parted out, it literally will come back from the dead! I would have paid as much as I could for a car with such a personal history.

I had a '71 Challenger 318 in High School. My first fast car as I added typical bolt-ns to the 318 then built a 340 for it. Painted it black & gold with a T/A hood. First really fast car for me (but no doubt a slug compared to some of these stories), first awesome paint and stance car. Spun a rod (oh, you shouldn't wing it to 7,000 in the driveway?). Parked it and accumulated a 440, roll-bar, Jaz seats; basically building it into a real race car. A friend had to have it and I realized I didn't really have the funds to do the job and I traded it for his '68 Barracuda Formula S 383 / 4-speed car which now had a 440 in it with a Hurst Ram-Rod shifter and a solid puck sintered iron clutch disk. What a treat that was on the street with 3.23 gears! Never took a liking to that car and I don't even remember what I sold it for.

A few years went buy and the Challenger went through a few owners. Then one day I saw in the paper "Parting - '71 Challenger". I called. The guy said it was black and gold and all that was left was the 4.10 center in the 8 3/4". I could have that for $50.00. I arrived and the front looked like it went through a tree. The rear was jacked up with two bumper jacks; one on each rear quarter. I about cried. Didn't say I was the one that built the car as the guy was a real POS. Took the gears out and left.

I had 4 years and a lot of memories in that car and it was somewhat of a trend setter for the day. Only lost two street races in it with that 340 (weighed 3200#'s) and I hung pretty close to their rear bumpers in the process. Learned a lot on that car!

If I found the car today? I'd pay some stupid money, probably like you. But I'm sure it was recycled long ago.

I'm not even going to get into all the cars I've owned because they were short term. But there's a good half-dozen at least that should have been keepers!

Geerhead55 · 12-28-2012, 01:20 PM

How about this shot? I've been sitting on this photo for over 30 years in a box of racecar pics I've accumilated,, some by me and this one that was shot by Rich Carlson at Seattle International Raceway back in the day. I picked it out of a table top of 8x10s that Rich would sell at car shows years ago. Looks like Richard Schroeder in the background.
I'm glad to hear that the car is on the road back to recovery, and thanks for the story, Larry.
Be sure to keep us up to date in the new racecar builds section, please.
Danny Durham

12-25-2012, 02:50 PM	#1
Sean Cour Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 459 Likes: 171 Liked 125 Times in 40 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba My first was a 1963 1/2 Galaxy 406 tri power, four speed. But my second is the one I wish I still had. '70 Boss 302, shaker, slats, spoilers, yellow, and black. __________________ Sean Cour T6066 ladle

12-25-2012, 05:44 PM	#2
brent flynn Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Middletown, IN Posts: 593 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba My Senior year in High School, with about 2 months left, before graduation(1987), i bought my 2nd '60 Pontiac 2 door post Catalina...had 27,000 original miles on it,,, 389/215hp 2bbl. It was white. I put some 5/16'' poli-locks on it, holley pump on the engine, opened the single exhaust dump...with 2.69 road gears in it, 205 radials on back, 1'' horseshoe spacers in front springs and tall front tires, it went 16.30s/85mph. I won street class with it, that Fall and a few other trophies. I had it until Fall 1990... i had swapped another 389 in it , for awhile(THanks Dad).. had 093 Tripower heads and a 4bbl cast intake...3.90 gears and Grandma cam(hehehe) and went 14.90s ... still through manifolds and single dump. Put original engine back in and sold it... Nice car...shoulda never sold that one!!! __________________ 1968 Bird/TRW 455/Home ported 13's, '70 Qjet,Holley Street Dominator manifold, Comp Solid FT, 10.817/122.30/1.440 Workin' on E/SA combo 3119 E/SA

12-26-2012, 12:20 AM	#3
Larry Merk Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 213 Likes: 47 Liked 314 Times in 113 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba I sold the first race car I ever owned in 1974 and knew I would later regret it because it was such a cool and fun car. Here we are years later and the stars all aligned for me and I was able to buy it back last week, 4 days before Christmas. It has been through many hands and was covered in dirt and cob webs, like your typical barn find, but it is my old car. Talk about the coolest Christmas present EVER!!! I'm still pinching myself. This is an original L79 327/350HP 4 speed car. Original colors are black and black. It shows 27,000 miles on the odometer. I turned it into a race car with the help of Cal Method and it has not been on the street since 1971. My son and I are going to have a ball restoring it (back to a street car). The photos show the car at the Seattle Point Meet in 1972 (and yes, I beat Mark Coletti) and a few days ago in the trailer when we picked it up. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Larry Merk

12-26-2012, 01:46 PM	#4
Jeff Lee VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Anthem, Arizona Posts: 2,766 Likes: 0 Liked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba Larry, Tell us more! What condition was it when you sold it, and again when you bought it back? How much did you sell it for and how much to buy it back? And how did it come back to you? __________________ Jeff Lee 7494 D/S '70 AMX

12-26-2012, 07:42 PM	#5
Larry Merk Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Kennewick, WA Posts: 213 Likes: 47 Liked 314 Times in 113 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba Jeff, When I sold my 66 Nova I had raced it for a year in SS/J with a 327/275HP then the following year in SS/O with a 283/220HP. Cal Method set the record in the car in SS/O in 1973. Later we parked the car; I had no job and no money. I sold the car as a roller for $1,000 to a racer in Vancouver, Washington and he raced it in the Portland, Oregon area for a year, then moved to Anchorage, Alaska where he raced it for a year before moving back to Vancouver. At some point after moving back it was parted out and parked. In 1997 I got a phone call from a guy in the Portland, Oregon area who had purchased the car. It had been sitting out behind a barn for a year or two. He was tracking down previous owners of the car. He planned to restore it. I tried to buy it from him but no sale. I sent him some pictures and time slips from the 2 years I raced the car. He said he would call me when he finished restoration. He never called. This year me son asked me about the car so I called the guy. He had just sold the car back to the guy he bought it from! Restoration turned out to be more work than he expected and he gave up. I called the new owner and we made a deal. I paid a lot more to buy it back than I sold it for, but it IS an original L79 car (only 5,400 built), has 27,000 miles on the odometer, and it WAS my car 40 years ago. What do you think the other posters on this thread would pay to get back some favorite car they once owned? The body is still fairly straight, but the rear sub-frame has been cut, banged, and welded on. Big holes in the trunk floor; don't know why. The two previous owners had accumulated a lot of parts to restore the car and I got all that with the car. So I have a leg up toward restoration. All I know is that this car will be restored and stay in the family. I can't think of a better father/son/grandson project than restoring this car. Well, other than racing together, but we already do that. Merry Christmas and Happy New year to everyone on Class Racer. Santa was good to me, hope is he was good to you too. __________________ Larry Merk

12-26-2012, 09:20 PM	#6
Jeff Lee VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Anthem, Arizona Posts: 2,766 Likes: 0 Liked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba Great story; being that it was parted out, it literally will come back from the dead! I would have paid as much as I could for a car with such a personal history. I had a '71 Challenger 318 in High School. My first fast car as I added typical bolt-ns to the 318 then built a 340 for it. Painted it black & gold with a T/A hood. First really fast car for me (but no doubt a slug compared to some of these stories), first awesome paint and stance car. Spun a rod (oh, you shouldn't wing it to 7,000 in the driveway?). Parked it and accumulated a 440, roll-bar, Jaz seats; basically building it into a real race car. A friend had to have it and I realized I didn't really have the funds to do the job and I traded it for his '68 Barracuda Formula S 383 / 4-speed car which now had a 440 in it with a Hurst Ram-Rod shifter and a solid puck sintered iron clutch disk. What a treat that was on the street with 3.23 gears! Never took a liking to that car and I don't even remember what I sold it for. A few years went buy and the Challenger went through a few owners. Then one day I saw in the paper "Parting - '71 Challenger". I called. The guy said it was black and gold and all that was left was the 4.10 center in the 8 3/4". I could have that for $50.00. I arrived and the front looked like it went through a tree. The rear was jacked up with two bumper jacks; one on each rear quarter. I about cried. Didn't say I was the one that built the car as the guy was a real POS. Took the gears out and left. I had 4 years and a lot of memories in that car and it was somewhat of a trend setter for the day. Only lost two street races in it with that 340 (weighed 3200#'s) and I hung pretty close to their rear bumpers in the process. Learned a lot on that car! If I found the car today? I'd pay some stupid money, probably like you. But I'm sure it was recycled long ago. I'm not even going to get into all the cars I've owned because they were short term. But there's a good half-dozen at least that should have been keepers! __________________ Jeff Lee 7494 D/S '70 AMX

12-28-2012, 01:20 PM	#7
Geerhead55 VIP Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Tacoma, Washington Posts: 1,632 Likes: 0 Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Re: What car did you own, and would give anything to have ba How about this shot? I've been sitting on this photo for over 30 years in a box of racecar pics I've accumilated,, some by me and this one that was shot by Rich Carlson at Seattle International Raceway back in the day. I picked it out of a table top of 8x10s that Rich would sell at car shows years ago. Looks like Richard Schroeder in the background. I'm glad to hear that the car is on the road back to recovery, and thanks for the story, Larry. Be sure to keep us up to date in the new racecar builds section, please. Danny Durham Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Geerhead55; 12-28-2012 at 03:52 PM.