Selling this car isn't an option. It was bought by my dad and given to my mom for graduation, they gave it to me after 25 years and I want to give it to my son or daughter.

 

Hi Thumpin,

Your offer is interesting but I'm a little gun shy after meeting with couple guys I've met on Craigslist looking to restore cars on the side. My cousin and wife's uncle both restore cars and they came with me to these shops that I was inspecting. The shops were total hacks and nothing but problems would surround me if I would have moved forward with them. I wouldn't have known that if they didn't come with me. My assumption is that you're opposite of that, since I read a few testimonials/recommendations earlier.

It is all about trust. I don't do this type of work, that is why I bring people along with me that do. To watch my back, ya know? My uncle just won a lawsuit against a paint guy that charged $5k to do his Nova. Luckily my brother is a lawyer and represented him for free back in Iowa. I don't want to get into that area. You could say I need a new Harnischfeger Worm Gear and I'd have to look into that with some other folks before responding.

 

I do it for fun, the VA pays my bills. I dont offer to do many for people, but yours is quite clean, you are close to where I am, and I am sadly very familiar with your predicament with the wife. So I feel for you and the situation, because its the same one I was in for 11 years.

I dont have any shortage of things to do, so I only offer to do special things for someone else. I dont need or want any profit from it, sounds really strange but the most I would ask is rather than paying for labor, just hook me up with parts for the 71. To me money is just the thing that lets me do cars stuff faster, its why I do cars that most wouldnt consider a decent parts car.

Im not trying to push you or anything, because I can get 3 more of mine running this summer if yours isnt in the plan. It was just a friendly offer to help a guy out. Its how I am, I just do things for people if I like them or have simliar interests/problems. Must be the military part of me, or maybe just growing up on a farm and having to rely on neighbors and family to do things together all the time just to survive.

I did the business thing for 3 years, and I will never go back to it again. Its cool if you want a pro who does it for a living to do it, I dont mind, like I said I have a bunch of stuff to do whenever I feel like it.

Like finishing these two. Did both last year on the cheap because money was tight.


And the yellow and black ones in this pic. The black one is quite rare (1 of 276), and its a factory freak with the highest rated engine and no paint code because it was special ordered.


Plenty to do. So its not a big deal to me, just a friendly offer.

 

Do you know anyone in the Wisconsin Early Mustangers in Milwaukee that could vouch for you? Have you done Mustang Convertibles before?

 

Everything I have is a hard top. I would leave the top and interior to someone else, I only do that on my stuff because I dont feel I can do that level of work well enough for anyone else. I dont know many people around here, and the only people in Milwaukee I know are at the VA down there, but you could always come up and see how I do things. I know a guy in Madison who has seen my work, he works for the city as an engineer. Mark Bentley is his name, you could probably find him in the phone book.

 

I'd love to own an early model Firebird/Trans Am. Wish I lived closer or you lived closer to me Thumpin I'd be over in a heartbeat.

 

What year is the black trans am? Is it a 72?

 

That one is a 72 Formula, its the rarest (most valuable) car I have too so it will get my best work and the best parts I can afford for it. Its an original 455 HO and they made 276 of them, and this one is a special order factory freak as its the only one with AC, Auto, the HO, and no paint code. I have 9 second gen birds, 4 are Trans Am the rest are Formulas. One TA is a parts car though.

Is it any wonder my ex left? There is no way she was going to change my mind about cars, not when there are 30 of them laying around.. She tried real hard for 8 years though.

 

Same here

 

Thumpin, you'd probably have alot of us hanging around if we were closer! LOL