My baby turned 53 today...

[patrick66]

Sometime during a shift on September 1, 1965, my '66 Coronet was being built in Hamtramck, MI. She's 53 today. Took her out to the local Cars n Coffee gathering (about 900 cars today!) and let her shine. Very few older cars today, unfortunately, it tends to look like a newer car lot with all the metric Challengers, Corvettes and exotics. That's ok, though.

One demented soul had a '66 Barracuda Formula S 273 4-speed for sale on a trailer, blue/black interior, non-runner, needs complete restoration. I figured $4K...nope...$9,500. Put another $40K in it and have a $20K car. Not me.

So, here's my car. When I got home, I parked it in front of my new project, a '55 Sierra 1300 camper my late brother started on. Looks good!

 

[R/T Boy 67]

I wish my car looked as good as yours.

 

[multimopes]

A Happy Birthday to your 65! She is definitely not showing her age!

 

[GetX'd]

Congrats - I hope you buy her something nice like a tank full of race gas or something like it

 

[Bb70charger500]

Sweet ,very cool !
Car looks great!

 

[66383]

Remember the old song "Treat Her Right" by Roy Head around 1966? Nice car!!

 

[Officer Higgins]

Great car outclassed those metric cars anyday

 

[patrick66]

Another neat thing is the Scheduled Build Date was September 1. I took delivery of the car from my brother in law (who was car-sitting it from a year prior) on April 1. I'm coming up rapidly on 40 years of ownership. Part of me wants to do a refresh on the car - take care of a handful of very minor rust areas, touch up a few paint scars, and paint under the hood (that's original '66 paint there!). Part of me wants to change the color to black and install a 6.1L Hemi with a six-speed automatic, leaving it bone-stock appearing on the outside.

 

[MoparTattoo]

funny comments about the car show. A beautiful wonderful car. I love the color and that black vinyl top looks wonderful with that paint as well. i havnt seen that color combo much, if it all... nice!!!

 

[PeteBell68]

Beautiful car , would not change it love the way it is . Also love old campers show us an inside picture .

 

[patrick66]

Sold the Shasta this week. I had gotten started on it over the past couple of weeks, and my heart simply wasn't into building it. I'd see my brother everywhere inside that rig, and I just couldn't do much on it without tearing up. So, I ran it on the local CL and had it sold within a few days to a couple about 100 miles West of me. They were very excited to get the trailer, and I was very happy for them. Off it went for its new adventure!

On another note, my initial plans for the Coronet.2 version, just made no economic sense. Especially with the ridiculous prices of anything now; paint, parts, labor, everything! I was at $50K+ in no time! Screw that! Instead, I plan to get a few spots on the body and trunk worked, repaint those areas only; and update the stereo system with a completely hidden Bluetooth set-up.

 

[BDF6]

Nice car & storys!
I like your 'signature' at bottom as well.

 

[PeteBell68]

I agree , memories can cloud things that way I hope they were good to remind you of the good times .
Love the car drive it have fun .