As a 6 year old in 1964 growing up on Long Island, we took a trip to the Worlds Fair where there was a brand new Mustang on display. I can remember being instantly taken by it. Beutiful car! But that was early summer. A few months before that my grandmother had just gotten a light blue 1964 tempest 6 cyl. Late in the summer, my cousin John, who lived next door to me and had just graduated high school, got this car as a graduation gift from my Aunt and Uncle. It was Dark blue with white interior, manual trans. Didn't seem like anything special though to this 6 year old because it looked just like my grandmothers car. The only thing that confused me was that my cousins car had these "GTO" emblems on it instead of Tempest. Well we lived right across the street from a park and one day my brother and I were watching my cousin with this car pulling holeshots in the parking lot. HOLY ****!!!! Talk about thunder! This 6 year old had never seen anything like it!! Screw the Mustang!!! I was hooked. Fast forward to late 1966. 8 years old going on 9 and now a HUGE fan of the Monkees. Of course I fell in love with the Monkeemobile. BUT, I never realized it was a GTO, I swear!! Just thought it was a cool looking car. Subconciously it did plant something in my head. Had to because my first 4 GTO's were 66's and I prefer the 66/67 style over all others.
Fast forward 1975, 17 years old with a brand new license. Been working part time since 1973 at a local Dairy Barn saving EVERY penny to buy myself a car. That car, much to the shagrin of my Father, was a 1966 GTO. Silver HT, Black vinyl top, 389/4bbl, Auto, PW, AC, PS, PB,PA...All for the bargain price of $495. Had the car for 6 months when my boss at the Goodyear shop I was now working at rolled up with a gorgeous, 50k mile, red 1966 ragtop with a white interior/white top. I asked if it was for sale. He said yes so I sold my car for $775 and bought the ragtop for now sickening price of $800. Needless to say, This car was a big hit in High School with the chix
I sold that car in 1977 for $1100 and bought a blue 66' 4 speed which I worked and raced both on the street for cash and for time at Englishtown in NJ. The racing stories I'll save for another thread but I had the most fun with this car. Sold that car after blowing the rear end for the 3rd time and bought a black 4 spd 66'..Over the years I would own a white 65', Champagne Gold 67' Ragtop which I bought from the original owner in 1987 for $4500 and the car I have now, a red 1967 HT, 4 spd, 3.55's and packing about 430HP...
Sorry for the exhausting post guys but hey...I didn't start this!!! ;-)
Jeff Foglietta