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Car
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For April 2000 |
RAY & ELLIE IBIA'S
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RAY and ELLIE IBIA'S 1965 LEMANS All right, already! Okay, I am one of those club members that's coming out of the woodwork to prevent Guido from coming after us! Our story is somewhat interesting in that I kinda fell into it! Here goes, I am Ray Ibia. By now most of you have met my wife Ellie & I. We hail from San Jose and drive a '65 LeMans. Prior to the inception of the club, I had been Russ & Sandy Louthians' tax acct. for some years. When Russ' car was completed, he would deliver his tax papers to me driving that '65 Pontiac GTO! I always had a love for older cars, 40s, 50s & 60s. However, my interest was in a '65 Chevy Nova SS which I wanted to restore. In fact there was one that I was just about to buy. At about the same time, a co-worker friend of mine had a '65 LeMans that he wanted to sell. Needless to say the Chevy Nova was history! Of course, with the influence of Russ and seeing his beautiful GTO, I decided to go PONTIAC! Although it isn't a GTO I am having a lot of fun with it. It runs, looks half way decent and that's all that matters to me!! Just a reminder GTO owners, the LeMans was the "birthmark" to the GTO. I purchased the car in June of 1993 and started driving it in October '95. When I purchased the car, my intentions were for it to be just "an around town knock around car." As long as it would look halfway decent and take the wife and I around town, it would be good enough for me. Yeah! right!!! Since the club has started, I have put almost 29,000 miles on it! And I don't even commute. I do drive it daily, all in San Jose, and as a result it has it's share of bumps, scratches, messed up body work, chrome peeling, etc. etc. What the hell!! Who cares, I'm having fun! I have created two lists, the "eternal parts list" and the other, the "eternal repair or to-do list." I am creating another list it will be called the "re-do list." Seems like every time I cross out one or two items, I add ten more to the list! Thus, the birth of my "eternal list." When the club was formed, Russ invited me to go with him to the first meeting. I was a little hesitant since the ad appeared to focus only on GTO owners. In fact the group that was there all had GTOs. We went around the group introducing ourselves and the car that we drive. When it came to my turn I modestly introduced myself and my LeMans. At the time, it didn't matter because I had no intentions of joining because I had a LeMans and not a GTO. For some reason (must have been Russ) I decided to join and guess what? The rest is history. Here I still am, into my 3rd year!! The members of the club have been terrific. The events that the club offers are so "rounded." There are events for everyone, from the very youngest to the oldest. I think that what makes this club so unique is that it is a "fun for all club." The bonding, sharing and the enjoyment of each others company and of course the love of these cars. No matter what the condition. That's what the club is all about. P.S. Scratch us off your list, Guido. Ray & Ellie
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