Here is the car my father bought new in Aug. of 1969. The pictures show it in front of my grandfathers Conoco station in Feb. of 1970. The Lemans blue beast was purchased at Van-t Chevrolet in Topeka Kansas and was a stripped down, radio delete, carpet delete, 396 with aluminum heads race car. My father put a little more radical cam in it, 10,000 rpm tach, hooker headers, and a mallory ignition, maybe a few extra parts. He then began racing it at Manhattan raceway west of Topeka.
The cool stinger hood that is on it in the pics. was the hood off of the #4 **** Harrell, tripoli turqouise, 68 nova that was owned by jim Mirowski. He traded my dad The stinger hood for a tunnel ram and 2 four set up. His car was found and subsequently restored and now belongs to Dave Belk in Illinois I think.
My father kept the nova until 1974 when he sold it to a guy in Oklahoma city where he was living. The car had had a few different paint schemes over the years. The cool one was a pearl white with candy red scallops and a Chevrolet shield on the doors, like the Fred Gibb cars. I wish I had pictures of it then. The car changed owners for a few years and dad lost track of it in the late 70's. All we had to of the old nova was a 1974 insurance slip that my grandfather found in a box in the attic which had the vin number on it.
In 2000 when we found the insurance slip, I took it to a local tag agency to see if I could track the car. Back then they would tell you almost anything you wanted to know. The lady said that the car hadn't been tagged since 1986, and it was probably in a salvage yard. However to my surprise the last registered owner of the car was just 10 miles away in Midwest city. So I took a long shot and drove to the guys house to see if he still had it.
When I pulled up in the yard I could see the car way back by a fence next to an old pile of junk. I was pretty excited. The car was pearl white, and had all the signs of an 80's era hot rod. You can see in the pics. that the car was in pretty good shape and had very little rust. I knocked on the guys door but no one was home. I called my dad and told him I though I had found his old car and he told me to go over and stick my hand under the rear fender well and feel to see if it had been trimmed out. He told me when he bought the nova he cut the wheel wells out so he could fit the M&H slicks under it. I felt and sure enough it had been. I then went up and checked to see if the vin matched, it did. This was his old car 26 years later. I left a note on the guys door and got outa there. Didn't want to get shot. I hadn't heard from the guy for about three days and I was starting to get ****ed. He finally called me, and after a two day hassle he agreed to sell the car to me. I guess this yahoo had traded for the car in 1986 and never drove it. He parked it in a garage next door and there it sat for 14 years. He had just pulled it out of the garage a few weeks earlier because he sold the house next door where it was stored.
I picked the car up and began working to get it running. After a few hour of dads mechanical ability it was running. I couldn't believe it. The guy told me that it had been restored in the early 80's and had a blower motor in it and was shown at a couple super Chevy shows before he got it. I've had it now for almost 9 years and have since built a new engine and done cosmetic work on the inside. You can still see the Lemans blue paint under all the door panels and trunk which is cool. I intend on finishing the car sooner or later, but had to quit on it to go back to college to get my nursing degree. I got really burnt out on it and almost sold it a few years ago. But have since started to get excited about maybe a nostalgia theme for the car. My dad has told me cool stories about the car. My favorite one, is when I was a baby I would get colic all the time and he wouldn't be able to get me to sleep. So he would take me out and put me in the front seat and start the car. That big 396 rumbling that car would put me right to sleep. Funny now that I am almost 41 years old.
That's most of the story. I'll keep posting pics of it as I mosey down that long resto. road.
Check out the price of gas in Feb of 1970. This was taken during the gas wars some of you will remember of that era. Dad said they didn't make much on gas back then. Most of the money he made was from doing engine rebuilds for drag racers.
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The cool stinger hood that is on it in the pics. was the hood off of the #4 **** Harrell, tripoli turqouise, 68 nova that was owned by jim Mirowski. He traded my dad The stinger hood for a tunnel ram and 2 four set up. His car was found and subsequently restored and now belongs to Dave Belk in Illinois I think.
My father kept the nova until 1974 when he sold it to a guy in Oklahoma city where he was living. The car had had a few different paint schemes over the years. The cool one was a pearl white with candy red scallops and a Chevrolet shield on the doors, like the Fred Gibb cars. I wish I had pictures of it then. The car changed owners for a few years and dad lost track of it in the late 70's. All we had to of the old nova was a 1974 insurance slip that my grandfather found in a box in the attic which had the vin number on it.
In 2000 when we found the insurance slip, I took it to a local tag agency to see if I could track the car. Back then they would tell you almost anything you wanted to know. The lady said that the car hadn't been tagged since 1986, and it was probably in a salvage yard. However to my surprise the last registered owner of the car was just 10 miles away in Midwest city. So I took a long shot and drove to the guys house to see if he still had it.
When I pulled up in the yard I could see the car way back by a fence next to an old pile of junk. I was pretty excited. The car was pearl white, and had all the signs of an 80's era hot rod. You can see in the pics. that the car was in pretty good shape and had very little rust. I knocked on the guys door but no one was home. I called my dad and told him I though I had found his old car and he told me to go over and stick my hand under the rear fender well and feel to see if it had been trimmed out. He told me when he bought the nova he cut the wheel wells out so he could fit the M&H slicks under it. I felt and sure enough it had been. I then went up and checked to see if the vin matched, it did. This was his old car 26 years later. I left a note on the guys door and got outa there. Didn't want to get shot. I hadn't heard from the guy for about three days and I was starting to get ****ed. He finally called me, and after a two day hassle he agreed to sell the car to me. I guess this yahoo had traded for the car in 1986 and never drove it. He parked it in a garage next door and there it sat for 14 years. He had just pulled it out of the garage a few weeks earlier because he sold the house next door where it was stored.
I picked the car up and began working to get it running. After a few hour of dads mechanical ability it was running. I couldn't believe it. The guy told me that it had been restored in the early 80's and had a blower motor in it and was shown at a couple super Chevy shows before he got it. I've had it now for almost 9 years and have since built a new engine and done cosmetic work on the inside. You can still see the Lemans blue paint under all the door panels and trunk which is cool. I intend on finishing the car sooner or later, but had to quit on it to go back to college to get my nursing degree. I got really burnt out on it and almost sold it a few years ago. But have since started to get excited about maybe a nostalgia theme for the car. My dad has told me cool stories about the car. My favorite one, is when I was a baby I would get colic all the time and he wouldn't be able to get me to sleep. So he would take me out and put me in the front seat and start the car. That big 396 rumbling that car would put me right to sleep. Funny now that I am almost 41 years old.
That's most of the story. I'll keep posting pics of it as I mosey down that long resto. road.
Check out the price of gas in Feb of 1970. This was taken during the gas wars some of you will remember of that era. Dad said they didn't make much on gas back then. Most of the money he made was from doing engine rebuilds for drag racers.
