[78Macho]

I like a paper trail and provenance for a car. This project car had a faint story that didn't tell much. I was able to reach out to the previous long term owner who had the car stored in his barn for years. He purchased the car from his best friends younger brother. The younger brother is the one who ran the car hard and put it away wet one too many times. I am hopeful to someday talk with the best friend. I reached out to to the younger brother owner, but he wasn't receptive to talking and cars are far out of his system now.

The PHS showed the car was delivered new to Coopers Pontiac Olds GMC in Chestertown, MD. I did a search on Goopers after initially getting the PHS, but it is closed. I recently thought, who might have bought the dealership and if they might have any old records? Ramsey is the current dealer in Chestertown. I called Ramsey, explained my reason for calling and ended up speaking with the owner, Henry Ramsey himself! Remember this is small town USA. He was extremely helpful and directed me to call Bill Cooper, Jr. After several phone calls, Bill and I were discussing my 1979 Trans Am that was sold new from his father's dealership. He was very receptive to my call and explained to me that about two weeks prior to my call, he had purged all of the old records he had kept from the dealership for years! Ugh, what rotten luck! Two weeks!!! I explained to Bill how unique my car was and how it was a special order car and not one that the dealer might have ordered and put on the lot for sale. Bill understood everything I was saying and then some! His father had passed away several years back and a number of the folks from the business had too. Over the next few weeks I would hear from him about a friend he had talked to or another lead that didn't pan out. Finally, this past Thursday, Bill sent me a text that he had found the original owner of my car! No way!!! I tried to phone the man and left a voicemail message. Friday morning I got a text reply saying that he would call me later that night. I was thinking he would be calling earlier than later assuming he was back in MD. Around 8 pm Friday night, the call came in! Albie McHenry phoned me from his son's home in CA where he was visiting, a two hour delay from the central time zone.

Albie was raised on a dairy farm in Chestertown, MD and started saving his money from when he was young. At age 20, he went into Coopers Pontiac and special ordered his Atlantis Blue 1979 W72, 4 speed Trans Am! Evidently a friend had a similar blue 1978 W72 Trans Am that was an automatic. The two raced frequently, with the 4 speed winning!

Albie was very excited to hear from me and to hear that his old car is still intact and in the process of a complete restoration. He has promised to dig through his records and photo albums when he returns home after his visit in CA. He also mentioned that his parents are true believers in keeping everything and that they too might have something for the car!

I am hopeful for pieces of the cars history that I can get from Albie will help paint a picture and complete the story of this very unique car!

More to come!