[GM_427_Racer]

All,

I am not a story teller, but the history of this car and how I ended up with it, is rather unique. Chapter 1

When I was 18 years old, I began a career of 40 years working for General Motors (quite a story in itself, but for another time). My father was pretty much a Ford guy so when I turned 18 (late 1967), I wanted a pony car, so my Dad (what a guy) agreed to sign for the loan and I would make the payments, I bought a year old 1967 Mustang Fastback 289 - 4 barrel, 4 speed (sure would like to have it back also) and paid $2300.00 for it. Once I started at GM, I worked every bit of overtime I could and I paid that 3 year loan off in six months. After I had worked at GM for a while and got to drive some big block Chevys and 400 Firebirds, I decided it was time to make a switch, so I had a discussion with my Dad that now that I had a really good job (I was making almost $3.00 an hour in 1968 LOL) that I wanted to order a "NEW" 1969 Corvette Coupe 427-435 HP. He told me that NO way was he going to co-sign for a loan for a "plastic car". In the summer of 1968 my brother and I joined the US Army Reserves and in May of 1969, both of us were called to active duty, so in early May of 1969, we left for Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for basic training. I kind of gave up on the car idea once I got there, the drill seargants had my mind in other places, but one weekend I was allowed to call home and while talking to my Dad, he said, Hey, I found a car for you. He said he had been driving past one of the local Chevrolet dealers and there was a bunch Yenko cars there (he had no idea what they were) and the one that caught his eye was a LeMans blue Camaro. He asked me if I would be satisfied with that car over the Corvette, I should say at this point, I had already looked at all the Yenkos that were at this dealership, so I knew exactly which car he was talking about, but I played dumb and asked what he thought and he said he was good with co-signing the loan for me. I said, "Hey Pop, if you think it is right and you can make a deal, I like the idea." He went to the dealership on Monday and got $200.00 off the sticker price and made the deal. My Mom and Dad went to get the car on Thursday night and Dad drove it home. Fortunately, I got to call home again on the next Sunday and he told me the car was in the garage. Of course in those days there were no portable phones, so I asked him to start the car and have my Mom pull the phone as far as she could towards the garage so I could hear it as he revved it up. What a sound, it was the sweet sound of HORSEPOWER. After he shut it off and got on the phone, I could tell he was as excited as I was and he told me, you are really going to have to be careful when you drive this thing, it is REALLY fast..... This was the beginning of a 4 year love affair with my Yenko.... If you all are interested, I will give you some more stories as the saga continued.
Thanks for reading,
Gary