10-29-2011, 09:53 PM
It was 1976, and I was 17 years old. I liked all types of muscle cars, but was partial to Chevys, and owned a 1962 Impala convertible. A friend had just bought a grabber blue 1970 Mach, 351 Cleveland 4 speed, and offered to take me for a ride. As I walked up to his car, I was awestruck - the styling was way ahead of it's time, and as I sat in the high back bucket seats, and looked at the cockpit style dash, i was hooked. When he started the engine, I knew then and there I had to have one.
The next part of this story should be called "The one that got away".
I began searching feverishly for a Mach 1 - didn't have a whole lot of money, as I was working in a garage making $2.50/hr. They were everywhere back then...a lot of them beat, modified, and surprisingly quite rusted already. One day this 1969 Mach rolls into our shop - red with gold stripes on the side, white interior, and a black hood. It was a little on the rough side, jacked up in the back with enormous tires, rusty Keystone Rogue mags. and white painted steel wheels on the front. I had never seen a shaker hood before and thought it was cool...I also liked the "snake" on the finned aluminum valve covers. It had a sale sign for $1200. I bought the car, fixed it up, drove it for two years, and sold it because it got bad gas mileage. I had no idea what I had owned until a few years later....It was a 428 SCJ, 4 speed, 3.90:1 traction lock rear with the factory oil cooler. No one knew back then what anything was going to be worth, and most people my age have let something, or a lot of things get sold. I almost bought it back for $800 from the kid who got it and blew the engine, but he backed out last minute. I owned a 1970 after that for a short time, but it had an automatic, and I wanted a 4 speed. Sold that, and decided to buy one to keep forever, which led me to my current project which I am trying to finish in this lifetime. You can see it here, if you're interested in doing so: http://mach1club.com/showthread.php?tid=1195
Thanks for reading.
The next part of this story should be called "The one that got away".
I began searching feverishly for a Mach 1 - didn't have a whole lot of money, as I was working in a garage making $2.50/hr. They were everywhere back then...a lot of them beat, modified, and surprisingly quite rusted already. One day this 1969 Mach rolls into our shop - red with gold stripes on the side, white interior, and a black hood. It was a little on the rough side, jacked up in the back with enormous tires, rusty Keystone Rogue mags. and white painted steel wheels on the front. I had never seen a shaker hood before and thought it was cool...I also liked the "snake" on the finned aluminum valve covers. It had a sale sign for $1200. I bought the car, fixed it up, drove it for two years, and sold it because it got bad gas mileage. I had no idea what I had owned until a few years later....It was a 428 SCJ, 4 speed, 3.90:1 traction lock rear with the factory oil cooler. No one knew back then what anything was going to be worth, and most people my age have let something, or a lot of things get sold. I almost bought it back for $800 from the kid who got it and blew the engine, but he backed out last minute. I owned a 1970 after that for a short time, but it had an automatic, and I wanted a 4 speed. Sold that, and decided to buy one to keep forever, which led me to my current project which I am trying to finish in this lifetime. You can see it here, if you're interested in doing so: http://mach1club.com/showthread.php?tid=1195
Thanks for reading.
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