seedling
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2012
Some 28 years ago, I had totaled my truck, saved my money up and I was prepared to be one of the fastest kids in town! I will never forget the bright sunshiny day ride that took the hour and a half to drive (with my dad) from Baton Rouge, LA to a little town called Summit, MS (just over the Louisiana line right next to McComb, MS). Neither of which is a booming metropolis trust me! However, the point being is that we were headed to Day Motors (Chevrolet, Ford and you guessed it Buick). As we pulled into the dealership my eyes instantly found the magnificent gleaming black beauty over in the wash rack that was being prepped just for me! WOW! I couldn’t have been happier! As I had waited a long time for this moment and finally the time had come at last! Or so I thought anyways!
I made no effort to go and talk with the folks coming out to greet us (my dad worked for an affiliate company in Baton Rouge and he had made all the arrangements). So I walked on over to the wash rack (actually I probably ran). And I instantly fell in love with this beautiful piece of art, a 1986 Grand National Regal.
Not long after my dad rambles over and he said are you ready to go and take it for a test drive and I should have said “NO, I wanna buy it right then and there!” However, I eagerly accepted as I couldn’t wait to show my “Hot Rod Dad” what this baby could do, right? I mean, afterall my dad (being a car guy) had owned all manner of Hot Rods when I was growing up. And I grew up with him “Peeling Out”; “Laying a Patch”; “Burning Rubber” around virtually every corner we’d ever meet! So of course I figured dear old dad wanted to see what “Juniors” new steed would do, right? Hmm, the plot thickens……
Well, we made it through the one or maybe it was two red lights in this Podunk little town and finally I saw my chance! It was Interstate 55 and I took the very tight / very steep little “Clover Leaf On Ramp” to the Interstate and as soon as I hit the exit, I jumped on it! That’s right I matted the accelerator and that black beauty started to spin (and the pitch of the on ramp made for the perfect “drift car sideways move”). Meaning that we rode all the way up the On Ramp sideways and spinning the tires the whole way.
Now prior to my little 84 Toyota Truck (that was just totaled when someone ran a red light on me), I had previously had a 1980 Z-28 (that I hopped up and it would move quite well). So it is not like this was my first go fast goody or the like. Although it was light years faster than that Z-28 ever dreamed of being (ON IT’S VERY BEST LITTLE MID 14 SECOND DAY). At any rate, I don’t remember much else about the ride itself, but what came next was devastating to me for years to come!
You see, when we got back to the dealership my dad went inside ahead of me. Then he came out a few minutes later and he told me to come in there that they had some “BAD NEWS”. Which I figured might be that my payment might be going up or something I didn’t know! However, it was far worse than that! In that, he told me that I could not get insurance on the Grand National. At which point he tells me that it is rated higher than the Corvette! To which I responded but Mom had already checked with the agent and they said that I could and I know that I can afford the insurance as well.
But alas, my dad stood firm on his assertion and he asked that I go find a “New Car”! But who wants anything else? I mean, I came to get the Buick and I had planned on being Tarzan, King of the Asphalt Jungle! But nope, my dad said that I had to pick out another., So I said I know that I can afford that Vette right there then so how about that. He said, oh no insurance is too high on it too. Then I said well lets go down to the Ford Dealership and get a Mustang. Oh no he said that is too high too! Well what was left a freaking cavalier or what?
Folks I drove home in a then brand new black 1986 Monte Carlo SS (and I was sick about it the whole way)! I mean can you imagine buying a brand new car and being sick about it? Well, I was and I did! Even harder was the fact that my friends all had Mustangs, IROC’s and one even had a Grand National as well. So I knew that I was doomed to be the slowest kid on the block.
Now I lived with that stigma (wanting a Grand National the whole time) for twenty some odd years. Then one day at a family gathering my aunt and uncle were down from Shreveport (and they have owned since new a 1987 Grand National which I have taken out once over the years). Well, my dad had apparently had a few too many brewskies that day and he let it slip that he had lied to me about the whole “No Insurance Deal with The Grand National”. Which ignited about 20 years of rage inside me and we didn’t speak for months even!
And for those who would judge me (for not speaking to my dad) then let me just tell you that whenever my dad was around the same age (that I was when buying the Grand National) he had one of only 500 some odd Boss 429 Mustangs! That’s right it was OK, for my dad, to own a 1969 Hemi Headed Boss 9, but it just would not do when his son went to get a Grand National! Uhh yeah okay I smell what you are stepping in! NOT!!
Fast forward some 28 years from that fateful day in 1986 and my Uncle is now 75 (who owns the 87 Grand National). And when I find out that it has been sitting for the past three years? Well, nothing doing I have to have it, right? Not so fast their slicky boy, you still have to convince your Uncle you know? So it took some finagling and I’m still not real sure what kind of a deal it was exactly! But, I do know that I have a 1987 Grand National sitting in the garage with 91,000 miles on it that is a true survivor car!
Come to find out when I went to get it, the car has been sitting since 2007. So I have done a lot of Spring Cleaning and now I may need a fuel pump (and perhaps a power master) but I know she runs and she sounds great. Although without a fuel pump she will only do so on 02 friendly carb cleaner right now! However, that is how I came about the “Ultimate Barn Find”; my very onw “Family Heirloom”! And to be honest with you folks I’m not so sure that this car doesn’t mean even more to me than the one that slipped through my fingers! So the truth be told I may be even more tickled today than I almost was some 28 years ago!
Oh and before my mom and dad road up to get the car with me. My dad had text me the night before and asked if I had checked on the insurance or not? (I promptly told him not to talk to anyone up there until this deal was done this time)! LOL! It has been a journey, but I’ve finally made the ranks of The Infamous Grand National!
I made no effort to go and talk with the folks coming out to greet us (my dad worked for an affiliate company in Baton Rouge and he had made all the arrangements). So I walked on over to the wash rack (actually I probably ran). And I instantly fell in love with this beautiful piece of art, a 1986 Grand National Regal.
Not long after my dad rambles over and he said are you ready to go and take it for a test drive and I should have said “NO, I wanna buy it right then and there!” However, I eagerly accepted as I couldn’t wait to show my “Hot Rod Dad” what this baby could do, right? I mean, afterall my dad (being a car guy) had owned all manner of Hot Rods when I was growing up. And I grew up with him “Peeling Out”; “Laying a Patch”; “Burning Rubber” around virtually every corner we’d ever meet! So of course I figured dear old dad wanted to see what “Juniors” new steed would do, right? Hmm, the plot thickens……
Well, we made it through the one or maybe it was two red lights in this Podunk little town and finally I saw my chance! It was Interstate 55 and I took the very tight / very steep little “Clover Leaf On Ramp” to the Interstate and as soon as I hit the exit, I jumped on it! That’s right I matted the accelerator and that black beauty started to spin (and the pitch of the on ramp made for the perfect “drift car sideways move”). Meaning that we rode all the way up the On Ramp sideways and spinning the tires the whole way.
Now prior to my little 84 Toyota Truck (that was just totaled when someone ran a red light on me), I had previously had a 1980 Z-28 (that I hopped up and it would move quite well). So it is not like this was my first go fast goody or the like. Although it was light years faster than that Z-28 ever dreamed of being (ON IT’S VERY BEST LITTLE MID 14 SECOND DAY). At any rate, I don’t remember much else about the ride itself, but what came next was devastating to me for years to come!
You see, when we got back to the dealership my dad went inside ahead of me. Then he came out a few minutes later and he told me to come in there that they had some “BAD NEWS”. Which I figured might be that my payment might be going up or something I didn’t know! However, it was far worse than that! In that, he told me that I could not get insurance on the Grand National. At which point he tells me that it is rated higher than the Corvette! To which I responded but Mom had already checked with the agent and they said that I could and I know that I can afford the insurance as well.
But alas, my dad stood firm on his assertion and he asked that I go find a “New Car”! But who wants anything else? I mean, I came to get the Buick and I had planned on being Tarzan, King of the Asphalt Jungle! But nope, my dad said that I had to pick out another., So I said I know that I can afford that Vette right there then so how about that. He said, oh no insurance is too high on it too. Then I said well lets go down to the Ford Dealership and get a Mustang. Oh no he said that is too high too! Well what was left a freaking cavalier or what?
Folks I drove home in a then brand new black 1986 Monte Carlo SS (and I was sick about it the whole way)! I mean can you imagine buying a brand new car and being sick about it? Well, I was and I did! Even harder was the fact that my friends all had Mustangs, IROC’s and one even had a Grand National as well. So I knew that I was doomed to be the slowest kid on the block.
Now I lived with that stigma (wanting a Grand National the whole time) for twenty some odd years. Then one day at a family gathering my aunt and uncle were down from Shreveport (and they have owned since new a 1987 Grand National which I have taken out once over the years). Well, my dad had apparently had a few too many brewskies that day and he let it slip that he had lied to me about the whole “No Insurance Deal with The Grand National”. Which ignited about 20 years of rage inside me and we didn’t speak for months even!
And for those who would judge me (for not speaking to my dad) then let me just tell you that whenever my dad was around the same age (that I was when buying the Grand National) he had one of only 500 some odd Boss 429 Mustangs! That’s right it was OK, for my dad, to own a 1969 Hemi Headed Boss 9, but it just would not do when his son went to get a Grand National! Uhh yeah okay I smell what you are stepping in! NOT!!
Fast forward some 28 years from that fateful day in 1986 and my Uncle is now 75 (who owns the 87 Grand National). And when I find out that it has been sitting for the past three years? Well, nothing doing I have to have it, right? Not so fast their slicky boy, you still have to convince your Uncle you know? So it took some finagling and I’m still not real sure what kind of a deal it was exactly! But, I do know that I have a 1987 Grand National sitting in the garage with 91,000 miles on it that is a true survivor car!
Come to find out when I went to get it, the car has been sitting since 2007. So I have done a lot of Spring Cleaning and now I may need a fuel pump (and perhaps a power master) but I know she runs and she sounds great. Although without a fuel pump she will only do so on 02 friendly carb cleaner right now! However, that is how I came about the “Ultimate Barn Find”; my very onw “Family Heirloom”! And to be honest with you folks I’m not so sure that this car doesn’t mean even more to me than the one that slipped through my fingers! So the truth be told I may be even more tickled today than I almost was some 28 years ago!
Oh and before my mom and dad road up to get the car with me. My dad had text me the night before and asked if I had checked on the insurance or not? (I promptly told him not to talk to anyone up there until this deal was done this time)! LOL! It has been a journey, but I’ve finally made the ranks of The Infamous Grand National!
