Consider this, if you will. You have an impressionable 10-year-old boy, who worships his dad and has gone to car shows with him since he was four years old. Thanks in large measure to his pops, he appreciates and learns about cars from the early 1900's up to the present day, but has a soft spot in his heart and his gearhead brain for automobiles from the Art Deco Design 1930's up through the swingin' muscle car 1950's, 60's, 70's and the exotic super and hyper cars of today.
Writing Carroll Shelby
When I was 10-years old, I wrote Carroll Shelby and asked him to send me Shelby Cobra stickers, Cobra photos, Ford GT40 photos, and Shelby Mustang photos. He sent me a typed letter signed by him in blue ink (probably Ford Guardsman Blue ink), included the 1969 Shelby Mustang brochure just above, and the 1969 Performance Buyer's Digest brochure below. I've included all eight pages of that glorious brochure for your gearhead fix (you can thank me later).
Life Lessons
Not only did dad teach me all about cool cars, with his spectacular stories about cars that he has owned and autos he dreams about owning, he taught me the value of working hard, dreaming big, and being a worthwhile human being when I grow up.
Dad Daily Driving American Muscle Cars
Working for a medical instruments company for much of his career as a sales executive and sales manager, dad always drove new American company cars throughout the 1960's and onward. Since dad travelled a bunch in his sales territory, I often would try and stowaway behind the front seat on the floor, so I could go with him. Regrettably, mom or dad would always find me and tell me to go have breakfast or get ready for school.
Though my dad never had a 1969 Torino Cobra or GT SportsRoof like those detailed above, he did have a 1968 Galaxie 500 SportsRoof with a Ford 390FE big block V8. I hid in that road burner several times and enjoyed family vacations with my little brother Kevin and big sister Melinda. One of us would sleep on the package tray, Melinda usually on the back seat ('cuz she was the oldest and a girl), and either Kevin or me on the floor. Those were the days.
Playing Muscle Car Musical Chairs
Not too long after dad moved the family from Rockville, MD to Palos Verdes Estates, CA to take on the prestigious regional sales manager role in the western region for Becton Dickinson, Melinda and I obtained our drivers' licenses. Dad managed a team of sales executives, who also had American company cars. There was a point in time in which several of these company cars were parked in front of our house. Dad let Melinda and me drive them occasionally around the neighborhood to go to the grocery store or run errands. One of the cars was some sort of Mopar that had a 360 cubic inch Police Interceptor V8. While driving around with my good high school buddy Tom Murphy (nicknamed Murph the Surf) in the rain, I narrowly missed side-swiping a bunch of parked cars while negotiating a fishtail turn. Melinda and I played a game in which, we would drive the company cars until they were just about out of petrol. That's what I mean about musical chairs. The one who got stuck with the car running on empty had to at least put a few gallons in the tank or dad would take away the privilege.
Working with Murph the Surf at the Union 76
The summer after my freshman year of college, Tom and I worked at the Union 76 filling station in the neighborhood. That's back when you had gas jockeys, who would fill up your car, wash your front windshield, and your rear windshield, install new windshield wipers for free, ring you up and give you some change or a credit card receipt, and tell you to have a nice day. When I felt like showing off, I would drive to work in my 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible. Though, usually, I'd either just ride my used Follis racing road bicycle or I'd walk to work. I bought that used French Follis bike for $75. Man that thing was light and fast. One day, I flatted going down a big hill on that bike and bent the wheel, the frame, and almost myself. But, like many a teenagers, I was invincible back then, maybe a bit of road rash, but that's about it.
Since the statute of limitations has passed, I can admit that I learned to drive a manual transmission car in a Union 76 customer's Lotus Europa sports car. The Lotus seemed to work fine when I drove it.
Riding Shotgun in Murph's V6 Powered Ford Pinto
Though his dad and Tom did most of the grunt work, I helped Murph the Surf swap in a Ford V6 engine into his Pinto that same summer. The previous summer, dad and I pulled the 265 cubic inch V8 engine out of my '55 Chevy. We took the engine in my mom's 1964 Plymouth Valiant station wagon to Gasser's Garage in Lomita, CA to have the engine rebuilt. Gasser's Garage still exists (how cool is that?). Mom's Valiant had the 225 cubic inch slant-six engine with the push button automatic transmission. My brother Kevin and I would sneak in mom's car to the local donut shop, buy a dozen donuts, and I'd do some life size, three-dimensional donuts in the parking lot (if you catch my drift). Those Valiant station wagons are pretty light in their backends. When we heard any police sirens, we'd make a quick getaway before the cops would show up. We never did get caught. Although, we might have been able to make the Exhibition of Speed ticket go away with the dozen donuts (I doubt it), if they had run us down.
Two 1968 Mustang Convertibles
I almost sold my 1955 Bel Air convertible to buy a 1956 Jaguar XK140 roadster that was owned by some hotshot TV actor who was on the miniseries Rich Man Poor Man. He played Nick Nolte's son on the show. When dad and I went to look at the XK140 and take it for a test drive, the actor explained to us that it was his daily driver that he would drive to the studio. The guy was so full of himself that dad and I played dumb, saying that we didn't recognize him (though I actually did).
Almost a 1962 Austin Healey 100/6
After not selling the Chevy to buy the Jaguar, I almost sold it to buy an Austin Healey 100/6 roadster. Dad talked me out of that potential mistake. But what he couldn't dissuade me from is buying a 1968 Rangoon Red Mustang convertible with a dark red vinyl interior. The interior was original, but the red exterior was originally Wimbledon White. The pony car had its original 289 V8 and C4 automatic transmission. I wound up finding another 1968 Mustang convertible that had seen a resale red exterior paint job and custom white with red piping seats trimming a couple months later. Kevin bought the Rangoon Red convertible from me, while I thought I was Mr. Big Shot tooling around in my tarted up, 302 V8 powered and C4 backed Porsche Mars Red convertible.
Choose Classic Industries for American Muscle Car Parts
Above: If my second 1968 Mustang convertible was as nice as the red one above, I hope I would have had the smarts and the economic fortitude to hang onto it. It's a 1968 GT390 with a four-speed manual transmission (photo courtesy of Mecum Auctions). All other photos are courtesy of the Ford Heritage Vault.
These old American muscle cars aren't spring chickens anymore like they were when I was growing up as a tyke in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and as a beach bum in California. For that very reason, should you have an American pony or muscle machine at your home that's in need of some TLC - that's why you need Classic Industries. CI offers a plethora of shop online tools or via voluminous Classic Industries' parts and accessories catalogs. Let your fingers do the walking in the CI catalogs or perform some informed web searches on the CI site. There will also be digital CI catalogs for every catalog that is currently published. The first one out of the pony car paddock is the digital Mustang catalog. Make some great memories with your muscle cars!
