Recently, while stripping my '78 Monte Carlo parts car, I found the build sheet. Not a huge thing, I've seen others, and even have the one from the car I am working on. While looking over the specs on both sheets, though, I got to wondering about the "history" behind both cars, and how two cars built in California sometime in or around 1978 racked up over 100,000 miles only to end up in piles of parts in a garage in Wisconsin. This stuff can be pretty neat if you think about how your vehicle wound up many miles from it's origin (Or, maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way..... ) Oh well, they say the background is half the fun......
Here's what I know so far.....
My car was originally sent 170 miles from the Fremont assembly plant to Boyett Chevrolet in Corcoran, Ca. That dealership is now called Richards Chevrolet Pontiac. From there, it found it's way to Kentucky where a (now deceased) Lutheran minister owned it. Some time after he relocated to Wisconsin, he traded it into the local Ford tractor dealer in southwestern WI for a new riding lawn mower (Fair trade I suppose ). The guy I bought it from picked it up from them. After a year of hard running with the car, I relocated my address 190 miles from where I grew up and have had the car patiently waiting in my garage for nearly ten years. I'm sure there's a few other owners along the way I'd like to find details from, but I'm content knowing what I do.
My parts car, however has a complete missing history for me. From the Fremont plant, it went to Rodway Chevrolet in Redding, and then the trail goes blank for over 25 years. After all that time, it was relocated to Merrill, WI, before I took ownership. Now it sits while parts are completely stripped of all usable parts.
Do you guys ever do this type of "investigating" while working on your projects? Ever "try to catch a previous owner" for the history of modifications? How about, ever consider where you vehicle originated from? Better yet, have you ever been approached by a previous owner (I have been twice, and I thought it was neat as all get out both times....)?
In a while, Chet.
Here's what I know so far.....
My car was originally sent 170 miles from the Fremont assembly plant to Boyett Chevrolet in Corcoran, Ca. That dealership is now called Richards Chevrolet Pontiac. From there, it found it's way to Kentucky where a (now deceased) Lutheran minister owned it. Some time after he relocated to Wisconsin, he traded it into the local Ford tractor dealer in southwestern WI for a new riding lawn mower (Fair trade I suppose ). The guy I bought it from picked it up from them. After a year of hard running with the car, I relocated my address 190 miles from where I grew up and have had the car patiently waiting in my garage for nearly ten years. I'm sure there's a few other owners along the way I'd like to find details from, but I'm content knowing what I do.
My parts car, however has a complete missing history for me. From the Fremont plant, it went to Rodway Chevrolet in Redding, and then the trail goes blank for over 25 years. After all that time, it was relocated to Merrill, WI, before I took ownership. Now it sits while parts are completely stripped of all usable parts.
Do you guys ever do this type of "investigating" while working on your projects? Ever "try to catch a previous owner" for the history of modifications? How about, ever consider where you vehicle originated from? Better yet, have you ever been approached by a previous owner (I have been twice, and I thought it was neat as all get out both times....)?
In a while, Chet.