|
Deidre's Dream of a GTO
Ever since I was little
I'd wanted my grandparents white '64 GTO convertible (they had gotten it
“used with a few thousand miles” in '65). I remember liking the
turquoise interior Since I was only six at the time, I didn't know a GTO
from a Studebaker; to me it was just grandma and grandpa's car. As I grew
up, I still didn't know what a GTO/muscle car was, but my Uncle Veldon
(Butch) sure did. He used to tell me what a great car it was with his
stories of racing 120 miles per hour down the road, to the time he got
totally side swiped.
When I was sixteen, in
1975, I remember grandma talking about selling the car. At the time my
grandparents lived in New Mexico, where they raced horses at Ruidosa
Downs. Once I heard about my grandma's intentions, I came up with the
idea of buying the GTO (with what I don't know). I thought I could fly
out to their place and then drive it home. But, my grandma (and my
parents) put a hold on that idea by saying "Oh no, girls can't drive
a car like this. It's too powerful and not for a girl " My thought
was "what about you grandma?" Even after I was told no, I still
dreamed of cruising down the road with the top down and my hair blowing
in the wind.
Mark and I met in '98. He
had a '55 Chevy Bel Aire and loved going to car shows. Naturally I wanted
to see what they were all about. Through the years I had seen
"old" cars on the road. usually rusting away in people's yards
and I hadn't ever given them a second thought. But now with my honey
interested, I wanted to learn more. I went to my first car show at
Pleasanton's Good Guys in March, 1999. Once I saw the restored old cars,
I fell in love-all those beautiful cars and I was hooked. We saw some
GTO's (a few guys from GGG) and suddenly I remembered "Uncle Butch
has grandma's GTO in his yard". After seeing how cool a restored GTO
looked, I told Mark all about it and how I had always wanted it. I called
my uncle and told him if he ever wanted to sell it to let me know.
Around Sept. of 1999 I was
talking to my mom and she happened to mention that Uncle Butch was
thinking of giving Darren (my brother) the GTO. I was livid-reminding her
how I had always wanted the car, I had asked my uncle first, offering to
buy it even, and wanting to restore it. My mom then told me that my Uncle
Butch thought that Darren should have it because he's the only grandson.
Well this male thing was going too far---first with my grandma telling me
that "a girl can't have this car" and then with my uncle. After
all of my reasoning (I did finally calm down and spoke rationally), my
mom said she would see. A few weeks later she called and said "I got
you your birthday present." She continued to tell me that
"Uncle Butch said you can have the GTO. but you have to promise to
keep it in the family and never sell it." '"No problem!" I
told her.
Now, Mark warned me that
it was probably in worse shape than I remembered. I didn’t really
listen to him though, I was ecstatic about my dream finally coming true.
So, on November 2, 1999, we went to pick up “my" GTO, taking our
flatbed trailer down to Santa Cruz. After Uncle Butch uncovered it, we
saw that Mark was right (as he always is!). The rug was rotted away, the
seats were torn and broken down, the engine compartment was rusty. the
white convertible top was gray, and there were many dings and dents. But
that's ok. it can be fixed! Uncle Butch told Mark he had started it
"sometime last year" The battery had to be jumped and they had
to pour at least a gallon of gas down the carburetor to get it up on the
trailer
We brought it home to
Sebastopol and slowly started to clean it up and change parts, Mark and
our sons, Eugene and Vaughn, replaced the ignition system, starter,
carburetor. fuel lines etc. Over the next couple of months they stripped
off the chrome and any other parts that would be in the way for getting
it painted. In February 2000 we took it to ‘Big Steve’ at Acme
Customs here in Sebastopol. (‘Big Steve’ is an old biker with tattoos
all over, who does awesome paint jobs and body work). Also at his shop is
Jim of "Do It All Upholstery". So, while Steve was stripping
the car down - finding all the bondo (from some accidents we never heard
of that Grandma and Grandpa were in), Jim started the upholstery. We
decided to paint the car Black on black, with a black top. We had a
little over three months to get everything done - because, I had a dream
- to be ready for the Good Guys June show in Pleasanton where the Golden
Gate Goats were hosting the show. Not everything went smoothly, but oh
was our car starting to look good!
The week before the show,
‘Big Steve’ told Mark that the car wouldn't be done. The final hand
rubbing had to be done and all the chrome, bumpers, etc. had to be put
on. So Mark, the wonderful husband that he is, took the week off work and
went down to the shop and helped get it finished. On Friday June 2, 2000
the car was done. Three hours later we had it loaded on the flat bed
trailer (we really didn't know how well it would run or how reliable.) We
had a great time at the Good Guys show (which is only to be expected
being part of such a great club.) Over the last couple of years Mark and
the boys have spent countless hours working on keeping our car running
and reliable. I get to help keep it clean and polished. We still aren't
there yet but getting closer. Thanks to my Uncle Butch and to my
wonderful husband for giving me my dream come true.
Mark & Deidre Stipanov
|
