What's my FBBO story?
The story begins long before FBBO even existed.
I was maybe 5 or 6 years old.
Dad would often take me to Lancaster Speedway for the 1/8-mile drag races on Friday nights.
Although dad was a Chevy man until his dying breath(he died with his Chevy hat on), I fell in love with the '68 & '69 Roadrunners that put on quite the wheel-stand show regularly at those drags.
Below is Dad's hat contrasted with a shirt with my car on it. What a clash there, huh?
My love for those cars grew, and I always dreamt of owning one myself.
In fact, for years I had a page of an old Motor Trend magazine posted in my garage of a '69 Roadrunner (as Car of the year), thinking that was likely the closest I'll ever get to owning one since they were so expensive.
Fast forward to summer of 2020 and I ran across a local ad for a '69 Roadrunner for sale.
I had no intentions of buying it, as it had a pretty steep price tag, far more than I wanted to spend on any car.
However, I hadn't seen a nice one in years and my wife was encouraging me to go at least look at it, so per usual I did exactly as mama said lol.
Upon looking at the car and HEARING it, I fell in love.
Over the following days, mama and I discussed the potential of buying it and what our absolute maximum offer would be on the car, as we didn't want to insult the man too bad by offering what we could afford.
But we did offer him about 1/3 less than what he was asking, in cash.
Well, he had his wife to discuss it with now too.
And to our surprise, he accepted our offer within a couple of days and we drove my '69 Roadrunner home from Buffalo, NY.
My son followed me home that day and was in awe that the car in the picture on the garage wall dad had always dreamed of owning, actually became a reality.
Shortly after buying my Roadrunner, a friend of mine(a lifetime Mopar guy), told me there was a forum that was a must to join if you own a B-body Mopar, a place called "forbbodiesonly".
So in Spring of 2021, I joined FBBO.
I lurked around this place here and there for the next year or so and saw what a great bunch of guys you all are.
Some trust was built just by my eavesdropping on what goes on around here.
So in Summer of 2022, I took my first leap of faith to engage on this site by making my first post.
Here it is...
Ticking/knocking after warm up
And the reception and support I got was overwhelming.
It felt the guys genuinely cared and wanted to help.
Well, not long after me immersing myself in this place, my dad suddenly and unexpectedly passed.
Cars, especially old cars, were a huge way I related to my dad growing up.
So I figured, "What better way to honor his memory than to do that through cars?" and "What better place to do that than in this place that has an appreciation for all things cars?"
After I had some time to catch my breath from dad passing, I returned to FBBO and began a journey with a lot of you folks here that is forever written on my heart, his tribute thread.
Dad's tribute thread...
John S. Rehberg, 8/31/1956 to 9/14/2022, Dad you may be gone but you're always with me...
Please forgive me if I forgot some names here.
But during that journey of paying tribute to dad on this site, several members here stand out to me as folks who really helped carry me through that thread to see it through to completion.
Some even contributed by sharing some of their story and how they related to their own dads with cars.
Just to name a few (Again, forgive me if I missed someone here. Unintentional if so).... @68BabyBlue, @moparedtn, @HawkRod, @Hey-O, @Cranky, @Budnicks, @guy gadbois, and many more...
From that point on, this place has become a sort of home to me. And all thanks to you folks here on FBBO. I really do feel you folks are like family to me.
I have since met many of you in person at the last (2) years' Carlisle event, something I may not have ventured to do if hadn't been for the encouragement to do so by some of you...
The story begins long before FBBO even existed.
I was maybe 5 or 6 years old.
Dad would often take me to Lancaster Speedway for the 1/8-mile drag races on Friday nights.
Although dad was a Chevy man until his dying breath(he died with his Chevy hat on), I fell in love with the '68 & '69 Roadrunners that put on quite the wheel-stand show regularly at those drags.
Below is Dad's hat contrasted with a shirt with my car on it. What a clash there, huh?
My love for those cars grew, and I always dreamt of owning one myself.
In fact, for years I had a page of an old Motor Trend magazine posted in my garage of a '69 Roadrunner (as Car of the year), thinking that was likely the closest I'll ever get to owning one since they were so expensive.
Fast forward to summer of 2020 and I ran across a local ad for a '69 Roadrunner for sale.
I had no intentions of buying it, as it had a pretty steep price tag, far more than I wanted to spend on any car.
However, I hadn't seen a nice one in years and my wife was encouraging me to go at least look at it, so per usual I did exactly as mama said lol.
Upon looking at the car and HEARING it, I fell in love.
Over the following days, mama and I discussed the potential of buying it and what our absolute maximum offer would be on the car, as we didn't want to insult the man too bad by offering what we could afford.
But we did offer him about 1/3 less than what he was asking, in cash.
Well, he had his wife to discuss it with now too.
And to our surprise, he accepted our offer within a couple of days and we drove my '69 Roadrunner home from Buffalo, NY.
My son followed me home that day and was in awe that the car in the picture on the garage wall dad had always dreamed of owning, actually became a reality.
Shortly after buying my Roadrunner, a friend of mine(a lifetime Mopar guy), told me there was a forum that was a must to join if you own a B-body Mopar, a place called "forbbodiesonly".
So in Spring of 2021, I joined FBBO.
I lurked around this place here and there for the next year or so and saw what a great bunch of guys you all are.
Some trust was built just by my eavesdropping on what goes on around here.
So in Summer of 2022, I took my first leap of faith to engage on this site by making my first post.
Here it is...
Ticking/knocking after warm up
And the reception and support I got was overwhelming.
It felt the guys genuinely cared and wanted to help.
Well, not long after me immersing myself in this place, my dad suddenly and unexpectedly passed.
Cars, especially old cars, were a huge way I related to my dad growing up.
So I figured, "What better way to honor his memory than to do that through cars?" and "What better place to do that than in this place that has an appreciation for all things cars?"
After I had some time to catch my breath from dad passing, I returned to FBBO and began a journey with a lot of you folks here that is forever written on my heart, his tribute thread.
Dad's tribute thread...
John S. Rehberg, 8/31/1956 to 9/14/2022, Dad you may be gone but you're always with me...
Please forgive me if I forgot some names here.
But during that journey of paying tribute to dad on this site, several members here stand out to me as folks who really helped carry me through that thread to see it through to completion.
Some even contributed by sharing some of their story and how they related to their own dads with cars.
Just to name a few (Again, forgive me if I missed someone here. Unintentional if so).... @68BabyBlue, @moparedtn, @HawkRod, @Hey-O, @Cranky, @Budnicks, @guy gadbois, and many more...
From that point on, this place has become a sort of home to me. And all thanks to you folks here on FBBO. I really do feel you folks are like family to me.
I have since met many of you in person at the last (2) years' Carlisle event, something I may not have ventured to do if hadn't been for the encouragement to do so by some of you...
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