69 Camaro...found my first car..NOW WHAT?

As if I don't have enough to keep me busy, with the launching of the 23 T-Rod rebuild, and preparing for the birth of our son.....something very interesting has come up.

I tell a story about my first car, a 1969 Camaro, that my Dad helped me build back in the early '80s. Here:

69 Camaro Page

Here is the twist. As a result of some indepth research, nearly 15 years later I found the current owner of the car. Turns out he lives about 3.5 hours from me. The car is now going through a second restoration, and is far from finished. The current owner was working with a body shop, but finally gave up on them after taking way too long. The car has been in the body shop for about four years.

The good news is they hung new quarter, floor, etc, in the car. The bad news is, they already started jamming it in a blue color.

This was a big weekend for me, and very emotional. I traveled with my wife in our 69 Corvette for a quick get away weekend, and made a visit to the old Camaro part of the trip.

I want to buy it back, so that I can put it back to where it wa in 1989...but the current owner does not seem interested in selling. I expect him to loose any money, and I realize I would pay more than the bucket of bolts is worth....but how many people get a chance to buy their first car back???????

Here is a picture of it taken Sunday 1/4/04

Well now, that's pretty cool!

I'd suggest you keep in touch with the guy. Not too much to make him mad enough to ignore you, but enough to assure him you're both serious and able. Even if he doesn't want to sell today something will happen to motivate him. Could be tomorrow, could be three years, you never know, but you want to be the first person he thinks of when that moment comes. You may want to figure out where his head is, there's a reason he's been willing to leave the car in a shop for four years without going ballistic. He's gotta be motivated by something.

That is not a story you hear every day... Cool Photo too... Got any pics from when you owned the car? I would enjoy seeing what it used to look like!!!

Good luck to you on getting it back...

Dave Brisco

i had a 70 ss monte carlo that i built up in high school, and about 10yrs later i was hunting for parts for my 67 acadian and this guy was parting out a 67 ss nova. When i got there his driver was my ss monte carlo. It was still the same way i sold it just 10yrs older he did'nt seem to care but i was excited. Still had the same bush party marks on it. fun stuff

Quote:

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Originally posted by dangeroustoy
That is not a story you hear every day... Cool Photo too... Got any pics from when you owned the car? I would enjoy seeing what it used to look like!!!

Good luck to you on getting it back...

Dave Brisco

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I guess I linked my webpage wrong on my first post on this thread. Sorry about that.

Here is the whole scoop on the car:

http://www.mcspeed.homestead.com/69_Camaro.html


This is what it looked like when I got it from my oldest brother. My dad was a rep for Chevrolet, and that yellow 4th gen camaro you see behind it was a ultra new 85 IROCZ. It was my dad's company car. My mom had a black IROCZ. We had the first couple of Irocs in N.E. Florida in early 85.
http://www.mcspeed.homestead.com/files/cam2.jpg

Here is me going to my Highschool prom in 1988 after we finished it up.

http://www.mcspeed.homestead.com/files/cam52.jpg

I wrote a thank you card to the current owner and mailed it today. I wanted to thank him for letting me come look at the car, and I once again requested he think of me if he wishes to sell the car.

Who knows?????

Keep intouch with him. might leave your name and phone number with him just incase he ever changes his mind

I know the feeling of wanting to buy back the first car you owned....When I joined the military I had to give up my 69 Firebird because I had nowhere to store it. Last Christmas the guy I sold it too decided that he was finished messing with it, and he actually called me back and asked if I would like to buy it back before posting it in any paper. Of course I jumped on the oportunity, and am now in the process of restoring it. Good luck with your car, I hope you can get it back :)

WOW that is very cool! I agree with the others, keep in touch. I suggest contacting him once a year and make sure he has your phone number. The prior owner of my 63 vette has a really nice 62 - so every year he receives a holiday card from me which includes my phone number.......that way when he thinks about selling I am at the top of the list.


Good Luck,
Jordan

Well....I guess he is just not interested in selling.

As I said above, when we go home from our trip I hand wrote him a "thank you" note, as it was very nice of him to let us just barge into his garage and look at the car. I also followed up with me request to open discussion about selling the car.

He would have received it by mid last week. He has my email, address, and phone numbers. Not a single word from him.

I really got the impression his wife would like to see the car disapear. She wants him to finish some major remodeling on the house. He does not have the skills or tools to finish the car on his own, and I assume there would be a fight if he hauled it back down to the local body shop with a blank check. I think his wife wants any money spent, to be spent on the house.

What a rare opportunity it would be for him to sell it "as is" and basically get his money out of it. Any other person would not offer much for it as is...new parts or not.

The more he does to the car, the more I would have to undo as he is painting it blue.

Arghhh. It is killing me!

However, I will be calm, and just let it go for now, then follow up in six months or so.

I am really wondering however if his lack of response is because I have not come up with a number. So maybe if no word in six months, I will just get back with him and actually present a number.

The question is...what would I offer? I have no idea what he paid for it, or what he has put into the new quarter, trunk, cowl, and other body work...not to mention the "stacks" of new parts in boxes in their house. He said somebody offered him $3,500 for the car as is, and it offended him. That makes me wonder if he has actually had it for sale. I realize I am putting money on the table by asking him to just add up his receipts...but this is not about an "investment", as if I get the car back, I will never sell it.

A decent running driving basic 69 Camaro goes from $5K to $10K. A nice one goes for $10-$15K. I have to focus in these ranges, as the car was not a Z, SS, or RS. Heck...it even had/has drum brakes on the front. It was just a plain 307 basic model from the factorywith auto trans and a/c.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.