Glen

I remember the video of this car online. Specifically the “Stovall Chev. Co.” sticker. If I remember correctly it had already sold by the time the video came my way… Beautiful car…if it was still for sale when I first saw it I would’ve definitely made an offer.

Got a couple interesting plates in the family. We’re big Simpsons fans, so the MMM BEER was mine when the ‘08 Sonata was my daily driver (plate now retired and hanging on the wall). If I had a nickel for every time I looked up in the rearview mirror to see someone taking a picture of it. Then when Mama took the Sonata from me when I got Vicky, she put her nod to Jimmy Buffett - CHSBRGR - on the car. Interesting sidenote… The crushed fender is a result of my daughters first attempt at backing the car into the garage when she took it over from Mama. Better the 130K mile daily driver crush the door frame /weatherstripping than Vicky 🤣🤣. And the ZR-1 has a spin on one of my favorite sayings: “gotta pay your dues”.

Do you need a tetanus shot to ride in that thing? 🤣😂

It’s a great road car. Very comfortable to drive long distances at a time. 19 gallon tank and averages 25-27 mpg at 75-80 mph. Everything is overbuilt on these cars, so they’re super reliable. Firmer suspension, heavy duty brakes, trans cooler, oil cooler, oversized radiator, 200 amp alternator, Watts linkage rear suspension, a 3.27 Trac-Loc diff, aluminum driveshaft… and the list goes on. Oh! She has a YYYUUUUGGGHEEE trunk, too. Great daily driver, too, if you don’t mind feeding the V8. I’ve got a separate set of winter tires that’ll be going back on when my next days off roll around in a week. She’ll last forever with routine maintenance.

If you’re looking for one in good shape, try to get one before they’re all gone… 2011 was the last year they made them. And stay away from any canine vehicles… they run all day long, and the idle hours clocked are off the charts. Ford’s Fleet Vehicle info for the Crown Vic’s shows every idle hour is the equivalent of 33 driven miles for maintenance reasons. I have driven cars at work which had over 12,000 idle hours and 180K on the odometer. CPD runs our cars into the ground.

This was a supervisors car, and it had very little law enforcement equipment on it. There are no extra toggle switches or buttons on the dashboard and everything works as it should, which is sometimes in issue with these cars when they’re decommissioned. I was so happy with how clean this car was, I actually had a buddy who owns a body shop fix the four holes in the roof where the light bar was mounted as well as the one hole in the decklid where the antenna was. And since it was a supervisors car it originally came with the SAP (Street Appearance Package): Chrome grill, chrome trim on the tail light housings and across the back panel, which was also painted white. It looked a little too “grandpa” for my tastes, so I treated it to the honeycomb grill, new tail light housings and black rear panel.

What’s up with the ‘71 grill and hood(ornament/spear)? Also… is the black & tan color combo original? My daily driver is a super clean ‘08 P-71, retired from DHS. Gotta love the Feds… dumping cars at +/- 10 years old regardless of mileage. Picked her up in October of ‘18 with 8,600 miles and 22 idle hours - not even broken in. Spare has never been on the car. And check out the protective plastic film still on the face of the radio. Here’s ‘Vicky’…

Too funny. What’s also funny is that my computer illiterate [censored] just did the same (only with an old school cutting board and tape) with a work-related document. But once scanned and copied it looked almost professional. There’s some new tricks that this old dog doesn’t need to learn.

Very nice Monte! Gotta love the cars that appear to have spent most or all of their lives out west.

I find it interesting/suspect that the black couple are featured in the colored photo while the white couple occupy the black and white photo.

Better late than never… excellent story, I absolutely love it.

Scott, actually, more than the last six digits of the Vin number are stamped on the transmission, only on mine you can barely see it (the “7 0 L” that precedes 166103 is only partially - and BARELY visible). Regardless, it’s visible enough to verify it is the original transmission. File that stamping under a Monday or a Friday job 🤣

Hey Scott, The trans will be stamped with the last six numbers of the VIN. You’ll (hopefully) find these on the driver side of the transmission Also, if the tag is still attached to the tranny, it will have numbers to corroborate the assembly date (Julian date) and it should mirror/match the Protect-O-Plate (if you have it). Below, see pictures of the last six digits of my VIN stamped on my transmission as well as the build tag which matches the Protect-O-Plate.

The “BR” also appears in Box #46 “RADIATOR” on the build sheet for my ‘70 SS. Not sure what the “57” represents, though. I thought that maybe the “IA” and “XP” on the tag you found might’ve been the radiator hoses, but they don’t match the letters on my build sheet.

Ahhhh!!! Your baby's birth certificate has been located. Very cool for a variety of reasons. I’m hoping to find a second one when my interior gets ripped out. And welcome. Tom! Great looking ‘71, love the color.

The guy who rebuilt my trans said he’d be happy to do the exact same swap to my 70 SS - 3:42 Posi unit for the stock open 2:56. I’m aware of the potential… just need some persuasion. Is the swap all its cracked up to be?

Run. Run like your hair’s on fire, Steve. Just kidding! Congrats! If you know you’ve got a good one who puts up with all your s$&t, then you need to keep her on the payroll. Mine has put up with me since we started dating in ‘93. Why? No clue. But I do know that I wouldn’t be half the man I am without her. She has my back 100% of the time and didn’t bat an eye when I decided to buy myself the ‘70 SS as an early retirement gift. Or when I bought my ZR-1. Or when I, on a whim, came home with a new ‘04 GTO just weeks after our daughter was born (“nice car, good call on the 6-speed… have fun getting the baby seat in there” was the only thing she said). Kinda makes me feel bad when I tell her “if I would’ve killed you when I met you, I would’ve been out of jail by now“. When ya know, ya know. Congrats again.

Welcome, Rob! Looks like you have a very solid start on which to build. Like Paul said, there’s a lot of knowledge here for the picking. Not to mention a thread or 2 dedicated to buying and selling cars and parts. Keep us updated and the pix coming.

“Quitcher cryin’ and walk it off, Sally!” - Every High School Football Coach

You still cool with a third-party, post dated, out of state check, Rob?

Best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery. Take it slow and heal completely.

Beautiful! And welcome.

Very cool! With all the nonstop technology kids are inundated with on a daily basis, it’s nice to see them enjoy something older. Now introduce them to a rotary phone and traditional clock and watch the looks of confusion.

That looks like one helluva meet / show. I also like the fact that they set parameters on age of vehicles. There’s a local cruise / show here which I haven’t been to yet, but I know they also stop at late 70s or 80. Keeps the Fast & Furious wannabes, the coffee can exhaust tip posse, and the Tokyo drifters out. And I’m cool with that, as is pretty much everyone else. At last weeks show (which was in the parking lot of a church whose priest graciously allowed us to use the grounds as well as his building for the bathrooms), The standing rule was no burnouts leaving the parking lot. Of course, one goof in a ‘69 Camaro had to go thru 3 gears leaving. The MC stopped the music and took the microphone to remind everybody that was a no no. There is always one asspipe that can’t behave and potentially ruins it for everyone else. So it’s always a good idea to try and minimize the potential…

I’ll keep you in mind when it rolls around again unless you hear about it first.