mey6t6
Well-Known Member
When Terry bought his car in 1996, he intended it to be his daily driver. His wife at that time hated the car and threw a fit whenever the car needed a part. His former brother-in-law, a Camero person, wouldn't stop razing him about the car; he insisted Terry was too incompetent to restore any car and how selfish he was being for wasting money on a car that nobody likes when he should give it to his wife. Note: the money Terry got for this car came from selling everything that he owned personally. His wife still got his paychecks and ssdi checks. Terry felt that he had a right to have something nice for himself after being the sole financial provider for the past 20 years and the only one who took care of buisness outside of the house because his agoraphobic wife never left the house. He spent that winter tearing her apart and restored her the best he could with little money, in borrowed garages. He took her to 45 shows. One day, the brother-in-law won his first trophy with his Camaro, so he took it to Terry's place in order to rub it in his face, in front of his family. Terry looked at the trophy, then said "Check this out..." and opened his closet door, which was filled with car show trophies! The brother-in-law made a remark about how it was easy to get trophies if you only go to small car shows where there are more trophies than cars. The dash plaques Terry got from each show proved that he wasn't going to the small shows...he had pulled trophies from car shows with 200 or better cars. During the 1998 season, a tornado rampaged through the Mopar in the Park car show, caused some powerlines to fall on her and sandblasted the paint off one side. So, the following winter was spent doing another resto. Once again, he had her done in time for the car show season and went to 55 shows that summer. We live in an area where most of the people are Chevy people, so many have never seen a 1966 Barracuda or a valiant for that matter. It was October, the car club was doing a last cruise-in before winter hit and the cuda was bringing up the rear. She stopped for a red light when a drunk plowed into the back of her. The drunk was a minor, already had a warrant out for his arrest, no license, no insurance, etc. The drunk was promptly arrested for the old warrant, but never received any charges for the accident he caused. Terry's son ran into him at a party a week later, drunk and bragging about how he got away with it. To make it worst, Terry's insurance refused to cover the car because the agent never switched the car from storage to on-the-road. Terry was so devastated, he took his show car to his sister's house and tried to forget about her for three years. In the meantime, he and his wife divorced, we met, and the love for his car finally got the better of him. So, in January of 2003, we dragged her home. We spent another five years restoring her, piece by piece. Every penny that wasn't needed for basic survival went into this car. We didn't go to restaurants, movies, shopping, sweets, nothing. The two of us finally have her on the road and showing this summer; she is once again making her owner proud by bringing home trophies. I love watching Terry accept a trophy...everytime he is called, no matter if it is for 3rd, honorable mention, or first, he gets teary eyed and hurts his face smiling=D>
