So, yes - the newest Jake has expressed an interest in driving a muscle car this summer. A little back ground on the car - a 1987 Regal Turbo T-Type. Dad bought it brand new in 1987 and was his daily driver for around 10 years. Like all of his daily drivers it was very well maintained. It also saw regular duty at the drag strip over the years, clicking off consistent mid 13 second passes with very minor mods (chip and trans kit). When my brother and I were in High School we regularly enjoyed driving it and both have many fond memories of fun evenings on the street with it. Fast forward a few more years and Dad relegated the car to sitting in the garage with only occasional drives. My brother and I said the car had too many memories to sell it and Dad did not want to store it any longer so it ended up in my garage with the stipulation that my son could drive it when the time was right. All the time it was in our garage we made it a point to drive it every summer and put enough miles on it to burn through a tank of gas. In addition it was still maintained with regular cleanings and fluid maintenance. Last summer he was able to drive it for the first time with his learners permit and immediately was hooked. He turned 16 last fall and over the winter asked about the possibility of driving the Regal next summer when the weather was nicer (he has a daily driver of his own). He has been taking auto shop class this semester and it has piqued his interest in cars beyond attending shows with Dad and Grandpa. Needless to say I was excited that he was interested.
The Regal had 25+ year old tires on it, so the first order of business was to take care of those.
After a quick call to Rusty (Smallhurst) we had a set of the reproduction Eagle GT's. Rusty was great to deal with and we had the tires in short order.
On Saturday I loaded up the old ones and headed over to a friends shop. We had a spare set of almost NOS wheels so I decided to mount the new tires on the newer wheels. I was hoping to be able to have Jake help with this process so he could learn, but he was out of town on a school DECA trip and baseball season starts this week, and we had a timeline we were trying to keep so I did this part on my own.
New tires on newer wheels - happy so far.
