Hi, Gentlemen,
Couldn't hide any longer! Thank you all for your comments. We were just trying to release the debutante closer to her restore completion in full dressage.
Yes, we are the original owner. We special ordered it in Sept '70 (after selling our '69 Cardinal Red Judge, Conv, Blk Top, 4 spd, 400 ci/365hp ... don't we wish we had kept that one, too !) didn't take delivery 'til Jan '71 due to the GM strike. Car has been at our restorer since Nov '04,(as shown her leaving in the pic) and is just taking shape now. Getting nervous with anticpation.
Unfortunately, any pics of the car when new have "disappeared", but I did find most all of my original ME registrations, though,
'71 original, '72,'73, '74, sat idle for'75/76 then reg'd again in '77 and '78.
We didn't find out about the rarity of our car until late '79. We had a stock car then and entered it at a local "World of Wheels" car show. There was a white '71 conv Judge clone on display. After discussions, we advised the owner of our "real" car, and he offered to trade me his brand new TA, sight unseen. Only after that did we discover our "diamond in the rough". He kept calling us every 3 months for 3 yrs, asking if we would change our mind. Kept low key all these years because of situations like that.
Now we're in a position to bring the diamond to a full polish.
Will try to send pics later as the rolling chassis is completed. Waiting on tires to arrive, will visit engine re-builder this week (no major parts needed) to schedule reassembly and dyno, transmission is completed, rear end and drive shaft are completed, hope to have the rolling chassis fully assembled by mid-Feb.
Body parts (~90%) have been completely restored to date and are in primer. May have the body painted by late Feb./early March. Then it's all internal reassembly. We're shooting for it's premier release to the public at the "Show" in Dayton in July.
We will certainly try to keep you all supplied with progress reports and pictures.
