After 52 years I finally own it
 

Very long story:
I was 10 years old and back in 1971 a guy who lived down the street from one of my best friends came home with his new 71 blue trans am. My friend told me about it and in the next few days i was over at his house and saw the guy washing the car. So we rode our bikes to his house and I started talking to him telling him how much I loved his car and that was my favorite car in the whole world. He was very proud of it and was very nice and let me look it all over.

Very soon after buying it he put 5 spoke mags on it with the big 60 series back tires and 70 series front tires on it. it was my absolute dream looking car. (on another visit he let me sit in the front seat of it. i can get chills thinking back about how that felt). i always told him when i get old enough to drive or if he ever sells it i want to buy it. but he always said "ill keep it until i die". when i was 15 and was really serious about getting a car i was begging him to sell it to me and he was about to get married and said bring your dad over and we will talk about it. so my dad and i went over drove it. it was just like brand new, he had taken immaculent care of it. i still have it written down in my note book i had back then, but we made an offer of either $2650 or $2750 and the car had either 26k or 27k miles on it (i cant remember which number was which off the top of my head now). he said let me think about it. i was having extreme anxiety about possibly getting this car, but he called and said he just cant sell it but if he ever does he will let me know but dont get my hopes up because he is going to keep it until he dies and then he wants to be buried in it. :rolleyes2:

over the many years i always kept in touch with him, would stop by and talk to him and remind him that i wanted the car. about 15 years ago the car had 55k miles on it and still looked like new. he had an accident and tweaked the front bumper and bent the fender. it absolutely killed him that it happened and then the car sat outside with a tarp on it. i begged him to put it inside and even offered to let him keep it in my one of my buildings for free if he would make sure his family sells it to me when he dies and if something happened to me, my family would let him get it out and not owe anything for storage. that didnt work and so it sat and sat.

fast forward to last sunday i am going to the airport to pick up my wife and daughter and am running about an hour early and i thought i havent driven by his house in probably over a year now and need to. so i drove by (he lived in a very small neighborhood and at the end of a deadend street) and took these two pictures. i didnt stop because i knew i didnt have time to talk. crazy thing but later in the week i get a call and find out he had passed away and his family was willing to sell me the car. i picked it up yesterday and now am the owner of the car i dreamed about owning a little over 52 years ago. his wife told me that he really wanted to be buried inside the car but the city would not ok it. sadly sitting outside under the tarp has done a number on it. what is left of it is the original paint. the interior is really dirty and unfortunately not in good shape. the engine compartment is still very original including the original carb and hood scoop solenoid system. the alternator and master cylinder have been replaced. (reciept for having it done was in the glove box). has 55k original miles and still has the dealership nameplate on the rear. ernie miller pontiac has been in tulsa since the late 60's.

he was a friend of my dads and i have bought a few trans ams from them. his son is a friend of mine and now owns the dealership which is a buick / gmc now and is named marc miller. still at the same location they have been at since 1971. even though i have owned countless 70-72 trans ams and still own numerous ones, this particular car ranks up with a few of my others i own that i have known since they were new. enjoy the pictures and i know it is sad to see it in this shape.

Awesome story! Glad you finally got it!

Great story. Keep us updated on the restoration.

What a great story, your childhood dream car. I'm glad you ended up with the TA even if it's in rough shape. Please keep the pictures coming.

How cool is that!!!

Gary we have similar stories I was that way with the Stephens car I have I used to draw pictures of it in school, so I totally get it! Doesn’t matter how rusty it is you see that car you saw in 1971 and your back on your bicycle in that guys driveway again, and I know you’ll probably make it look exactly like that again .

Spectacular that you never gave up and ended up w the car. Such an awesome story, love it.

awesome!

Great story but as you wrote sad condition of car but in good hands now.

Fantastic story glad it ended up where it needed to be.

Congratulations!

Great story and patience on your part! Are you going to restore it or just keep it as is as a reminder of the past? Surely you would be upside down on a restoration, but I know with cars like this money may not be a factor in your decision. Congrats!!!

That is fantastic that you ended up with it. It amazes me how these guys profess to love a car so much they can't sell it, but are perfectly fine to watch it devolve into that condition outside. Glad it is in better hands now!

Great Story! Congratulations on getting her!

Congratulations. Now as you return it to former glory with your time and effort, it will be your car! Looking forward to seeing it progress!

And now it gets the nice parking space - cool & congrats!

Great find,by chance did the family include original dealer documents and vintage photos and any spare parts?

Very cool, congrats!

Wow! What a great story and thanks for sharing it with us. This car will certainly have a special place in your heart and the restoration will be very rewarding to you as well. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Amazing story. When I was about that age I was obsessed with some neighborhood cars, guy down the street had a '69 Camaro with a big hood scop, camming SBC with a Milodon gear drive. Another one was a '71 Mach 1 on blocks.

Nice! Glad your persistence (and luck) paid off!

The car is your reward for extreme perseverance! Congrats and looking forward to progress pictures.

she told me that they have the original window sticker and all the paperwork from the dealership and will get it to me as soon as she digs it out. looking forward to getting that and hopefully pictures from back in the early days of it.
thanks for all the congrats on it. i always worried someone would stumble on to it and he would sell it. which has happened to me on several other cars in the past.

Are you kidding me? Isnt this every forever gearhead's dream come true? I can remember my brother's buddies all having cars I lusted over....would give a premium to rediscover any of one of them. Also, there was a '69 Mach 1 that travelled by our grade school, acapulco blue, but I'd never met the driver. I digress, as it's so easy to do on this very subject. Great on you to perservere, but I have to feel a bit for the family and the deceased but I'm sure he'd approve of where it's at and whom with. Thanx again for sharing.

Congrats and good luck with the car!!

Congrats! Do share the details once you've restored it.

Great story and congrats!

Always love reading stories like this, glad to hear that it's in caring hands now with someone that dreamed of owning it one day! Congrats!!

Great story! I am sure the previous owners family will also be excited to see the car restored. Good luck with the restoration, it looks like most of the key parts are there!

Knowing the story now, it's sad to see the mess the car is in now, knowing how nice it should be if it had been truly cared for.

That being said, the story of the owners intent to be buried in it clearly shows he felt there was no reason to maintain it since, if all goes as planned, it will ultimately end up buried with him so what does it really matter.

Happy you got the car from your childhood but ... damn that is hard to look at when we all know this thing, in the hands of a caring original owner, should be a legitimate showpiece.

I'll never understand the mentality ... either use it, love it or sell it to someone who will/does.

I'm guessing the original owner was a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

Congrats! What a story!

I’m glad you posted your story! These are the best kind! Hopefully I will be able to share my chase for a car that has gone on for 34 years now. I won’t give any details at this time because I’m afraid that karma is NOT on my side. Thanks again!!

i totally get it. this is one car i literally never told anyone about. one of my best friends who is a pontiac guy lives 2 miles away and i never mentioned it to him. i guess i should say i told him and others about the car when new but never mentioned i still knew where it was sitting. it really helped that he lived on a dead end street and the street had a dog leg in it so when you drove down the main street and looked down that street you couldnt see his driveway.

Awesome! Is that an Ernie Miller emblem?

yes

Good to see you got it. Bad to see how he let it get so beat to crap.

When are people gonna learn that covering a car or using a tarp only traps the moisture under the cover . Probably the worst thing g you can do to a car outside.
Your better off putting the tarp or plastic under the car and letting the car breath off whatever gets on it . So many people don’t understand how much a cover outside traps the moisture and speeds the destruction of the car a paint.


The good news w this car, is that all the hard stuff ( to find) is there , it’s just sheet metal and paint.