Original owner story

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by Mike Trom, Jan 14, 2022.

  1. CanadaCat

    CanadaCat Well-Known Member

    My dad was the original owner of my 70 Wildcat. He owned a 67 Mustang fastback 289 and wanted to trade it in for a bigger car (about to get married to mom and needed a family car). He was at a curling bonspiel out of town and went down the street to look at a Chrysler 300 Hurst in between games. The salesman looked at what he was driving and was pushing him to buy a duster, he got irritated and went across the street to the Buick dealer and bought the Wildcat right off the floor. It was driven daily until 1983 when they got a 84 Regal and got parked in the tree line at the farm where it stayed until I pulled it out in 2003.
     
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  2. Thumper (aka greatscat)

    Thumper (aka greatscat) Well-Known Member

    I love reading these stories. Seems Buick owners many times own family hand me downs. I'll bet more so than other makes, appears to be a hidden loyalty for some reason. I am proud and grateful to be a member of this fraternity.
     
  3. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    Im happy that I inspired you guys!
     
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  4. Daves69

    Daves69 Too many cars too work on


    OK Gary.

    Time for you to post some pictures from back in the day.

    Start a new thread.

    Dave
     
  5. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Mr. Cook suggested I go on my own archeological dig, so I did.


    December/1969 – Regal Black GS 455 w/”Stage 1” option is built the last week of 1969. The “Transition car” (plastic radiator cover, clear overflow but flat gauge lenses) is assembled at the Flint plant and delivered to Fritchey & Waddell Buick in Woodward, NJ in January of 1970 just before being shipped to Lebanon, PA.

    February/1970 - The GS ends up repossessed - with very low miles - and returns to Gingrich Motor Sales (of Lebanon) after auction. Added to it is a Buick 8-track player and the original 14” wheels/hubcaps (that are listed in the GS Historic Society documents) are swapped out for the “flashier” chrome Buick rally wheels. This is most likely in an effort to sweeten the pot on the dealer lot – a practice that is still very common today.

    Still within this time frame, the car is next purchased by Robert Demler Sr., who traded in his recently bought 1970 Skylark. It would be owned by him and his sons Robert Jr. and Gary until early in 1975. Robert Jr. subsequently removes the factory chrome wheels (which he's still in possession of today) and replaces them with aluminum slots. Also added are air shocks, rear brake drums painted red and the period correct raised white letter tires of the era, to complete the “Day 2” trim look. Also, the car is subsequently clear coated by Gary because he wanted it to be “nice and shiny”. That clear coat still remains today.

    Early 1975 – The car is purchased by Jack Yeagley, who turned out to be the cousin of the next owner's future wife. Jack owns it for a short time and then trades it in at Goodman Dodge (also of Lebanon and now named Ladd-Hanford Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep) for a new Dodge Ramcharger.

    Spring/1976 – Keith Peiffer – now the 6th owner of the car in 6 years – purchases the car from Goodman Dodge for $3500. He owns the car for 2 years and then trades it in to Ed Miller's Auto Sales, also of Lebanon, toward a 72 Chevrolet Impala with a 400 CI small block engine and a host of other options.

    Spring/1978 – Ed Miller's nephew Joe (future owner of Joe Miller's Paving) buys the car from his uncle's lot and owns it for a couple years. During this time, he replaces the clutch and subsequently sells it to another native of Lebanon, a high school kid named Micah Miller.

    1979 – Micah Miller (no relation to previous owner Joe) owns the car for a short period of time before managing to blow the original “SS” Stage 1 block. Amazingly enough, the born with Muncie M21 and 10 bolt 3.64 rear are still with the car today. Micah also sideswipes a stop sign, resulting in the driver's side quarter being replaced with an NOS one. This is the only area of the car that doesn't have the small bubbling/spiderwebbing from the excessive clear coat applied a few years earlier by Gary Demler. As an aside, (years later) a subsequent owner would actually track down and contact the shop owner who replaced the blown Stage 1 motor in an effort to retrieve the car's born with block. The shop owner recalls the car and also recalls the motor was too far gone to repair.

    1981 – By the very early 80's and at the behest of his father, Micah took possession of a first generation Mustang and some cash in return for the Gran Sport. Dave Donmoyer would own the car the longest – from 1981 until October of 2016 – and only amasses roughly 8,000 miles during that time. Some of these miles were done a quarter mile at a time at race tracks local to that region. As the years go on, he drives the car less and less. In the fall of 2016, Donmoyer decided it was time to find another home for the oft passed around, rare piece of Buick history and he posts an ad on Craigslist.

    October/2016 – Having been out of the car game for a while and recently scouring Craigslist, Dano happened upon Donmoyer's ad and contacts him right away. This was done in an effort to both send a deposit and then get the ad taken down as quickly as possible, so there would be no other potential suitors. A couple weeks later, Dan goes to Lebanon (with trailer in tow) and purchases the car, subsequently posting a picture of it on a Buick Facebook page. I saw the picture and inquired with the WA resident who finds cars for people all over the country. (more so the reason Dano hurriedly sent the deposit to Lebanon, PA)

    February/2017 – After much dialogue that began between the December holidays of 2016, I flew down to suburban Baltimore (with my longtime mechanic/close friend) to get a better look and drive the car. The car far exceeded my expectations and the exchange was made. 7 weeks later, the car arrived in Southeastern, MA – changing hands for the 10th time.

    As they say - the rest is history.
     
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  6. Thumper (aka greatscat)

    Thumper (aka greatscat) Well-Known Member

     

    Attached Files:

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  7. Thumper (aka greatscat)

    Thumper (aka greatscat) Well-Known Member

    An oldie. Now a current. I have some old car pics somewhere.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Mister T

    Mister T Just truckin' around

    Reading these stories reminded me of the first 65 GS I bought about 15-16 years ago through this forum from a member in Northeast, MD.
    It wasn't perfect, but got me into the GS game. The car still had its original paperwork from 1965 when it was sold by Orange Buick in Orlando, FL.

    I was unsuccessful in locating the original owner, a doctor of unknown specialty. He would have been well into his eighties at the time, and may have already passed away. Sold that car to someone in the northeastern PA area several years later. Pretty sure I kept copies of everything somewhere.
     
  9. Daves69

    Daves69 Too many cars too work on

    Here is my story of the original owner story and my 71 Stage 1.

    Contacted the original owner via the information on the protecto plate.
    He stated that he purchased the car after seeing it on the showroom floor Sunday afternoon. Went back the next day and bought it right off the floor. I asked if I could meet him, and if he had any pictures from new.
    Jerry was very adamant about not wanting to see the car again and asked me not to contact him again. He had found the Lord and the car was a big part of his bad past.
    Since owning the car I have met a few people who remembered the car and Jerry.
    Butch was friends with Jerry and told me a couple of street racing stories involving alcohol and the Buick. My 71 usually was the victor.
    One story involved the reason Jerry was not at a New Years Eve gathering. Jerry, with a big smile on his face, reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a picture of a naked woman in the back seat of the Buick.
    Another friend of Jerry's asked me if I found any bullet holes in the car.

    I have owned the car since 1987 and still have people ask me if it was Jerry's car.


    .
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2022
  10. Thumper (aka greatscat)

    Thumper (aka greatscat) Well-Known Member

    How great is this.
     
  11. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    AWESOME stories:cool:
     
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  12. GKMoz

    GKMoz Gary / Moz

    My dad bought a 64 Skylark in Feb.1964 and he and my mom went shopping about a year later in 65 and poof there it was a 65 GS Thin Piller coupe. Next thing my mom knows it's in our garage!
    Pretty much the same thing with the 68 GS.
    My mom broke the 68 in and when I got it it was a dog compared to the 65 I bought from them.
    My Grand National I was the first owner off the showroom floor 1.1 miles on the clock.
    All the other Buicks were fixer-uppers one way or another.
    Enjoyed them all! I'm an OG with Buicks at 14 all my friends drove Ford & Chrysler junk and the exception was Gary.
    Gary and I were both neighborhood Buick Guys (Thumper)
     
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  13. Thumper (aka greatscat)

    Thumper (aka greatscat) Well-Known Member

    Yeah Gar, you . me and Rich were pretty much the only GSs east of Cleveland in the Collinwood area, We were picked on by the brand Xers untill we kicked their asses, lol. Then they steered clear. Remember the unofficial 1/4 mile marked off in the industrial area next to the freeway? Lots of friday night challenges took place there.
     
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  14. weim55

    weim55 Well-Known Member

    Holy cow, you’ve got to have some serious time and effort rounding up all of that history! Once more it seems like you got it all with no holes all the way back to day one. Thank goodness I only have to track down ONE person…..

    it’s nothing short of amazing your car could’ve gone through so many different hands and all the episodes (and rusty Pennsylvania!) to go with that and it came out the other side such a solid example today. And one more, a 4 Speed big block car that certainly was driven HARD by more than one of those owners.

    Steve weim55 Colorado

     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2022
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  15. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    It wasn't actually as time consuming as one might think.

    The article I submitted to the now defunct Musclecar Review "Readers Rides" section was the jumping off point for the dig.

    One of the previous owners - who I'm since in regular contact with - saw the article when it hit the newsstand and his wife reached out to me via Facebook. A subsequent conversation with him finished the puzzle.

    And I agree - it's amazing this car is still in one piece after so many owners, so much time and taking into account it's been an East Coast car its whole life.
     
  16. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    Cool more Cleveland area Buick guys!
    Guess I was a few years late tho, I felt like I was the only one in the area that had a GS in the '80s:(
     

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