My Monte Original Owner Grandson

[Rob Peters]

When I first purchased my Monte Carlo back in 2000 I had also gotten information on the original and second owner before me.  Through the years I have owned this Monte I have tried to get, from the previous two owners, some memories from them on this car.  I am officially the third owner of the car because the dealer I bought it from never titled it.

I had information on the second owner and sent a letter to their address that went unanswered.  I knew the name and address of the original owner but they had passed away.  

I have searched for a connection of the first owner and his wife and I knew the ornginal owner had passed away and after awhile his wife, who rarely drove the car gave it or sold it to a family friend named Frank Tobias, it was Mr. Tobias that had not responded back to my request for information.

I knew the original owner was named Mussina and that their grand son had played professional baseball.  I was able to search and found their grandson, Mike Mussina, had pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees and was selected to All Star teams and later was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame.  Back in the days when I first started to search for Mike Mussina to see if he had any memories of the car I kept hitting brick walls and could not find any way of getting in contact with him.

Back in October Patsy and I visited some friends in the Phoenix area and while we were there we met up with an old Air Force friend of mine and his wife and the conversation turned to my Monte.  This old Air Force Friend grew up in the Lock Haven/Williamsport Pennsylvania area and told me he knew of the Mussina family and that this grandson of the original owner still lived in the Williamsport, Pa area and may still be coaching sports at the high school.

I looked up this high school and sent an email to the Head Coach in the athletic department and nothing reallly came of it.........................................................................................................................................UNTIL TODAY!!!!   Today I got a text from Mr. Mike Mussina and we conversed over text messages for a little while.  Here is what I learned so far from Mike but we only chatted through text for a short time because he had to go to a meeting:

"Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.   Sounds like it's possible that you own my grandparents car.  Would Love to see a picture of it"  He asked me if I could send him some pictures of it and I did but told him when they owned it the car did not have rally wheels but did have the color keyed hub caps.

His reply "That looks like what I remember.  My gram passed away in the mid 1990's and my grandfather in the early 1970's.  I do remember the car but only drove it once."  "That's Nuts"

I told him they had taken very good care of the car and I was lucky to have been able to purchase such a low mileage car. and he said that "She barely drove it the last 15 years she was alive."    He went on to say..."Is it your only Monte Carlo?  Obviously you're a car guy."  

He said of his grandfather...."He was a minister, died in his early 60's and Gram lived to her mid 80's and never remarried."

Mike told me  "Ironically, I'm a classic car guy myself.  I have 20+ cars and trucks from a wide range of years.  I don't show them too much, I mostly drive them."

He told me "What's funny is when Coach Keefer told me about this guy with a Monte Carlo that was my grandparents, first thought was that he knows I have old cars and wants to sell the Monte to me."

I told Mike, No, it is not for sale and he texed me.... "I figured out pretty quickly that it wasn't for sale.  I always wondered what happened to it.  It's great the owner appreciates it"    He added, "I have Corvettes, Camaro's Pickup's etc and I'll send you some pictures later.

At that point he said he need to run because he has a meeting to go to.  

Since he has GM's I have invited him to come to the get into one of his cars and drive down to Carlisle with it in June and attend the GM Nationals and he could hang out with us some if he wished.

I am sure Mike and I will chat again in the future.  Today was a feel good day

rob

 

 

[MC1of80]

Awesome! Just... Awesome!!! 

[cny first gen 71]

That is a very cool story and I do remember hearing that name before from baseball. Maybe he'll be able to make it to Carlisle. 

[Canuck]

Very cool!

Even though I purchased my 70 Monte only 6 months after the original owner sold it I do not have any original owner info. I did talk with the person who factory ordered the car though but they decided not to wait for it to be delivered and got a different 70 Monte.

[stangeba]

Rob, that is the best story!!

Thanks for this.

 

[1970mcss]

Cool story, I think I  remember seeing him pitch. My wife and I went to a White Sox - Orioles on our first date. In Chicago

[Michael Boyte]

Wow , That is a fantastic story  !  I would have been so excited !  Thanks for sharing that Rob. 

[Searsman]

Fantastic! A great connection.. thanks for sharing.. I got back about 3 owners on mine but the 4 th one never responded.. maybe someday :).. thanks for sharing.. 

[willie]

Great story Rob!!!!   Nice work!!!!  Hope to see him at Carlisle.

[MC1of80]

Spoke to the orignal owners son, who owned "Big Red" after his mom. He turned out to be a D@#k!  And that's not dork. Lol.  

[714024SPEED]

Great story. Thanks for sharing it with us

[Rancid87]

Very cool story. He was a great pitcher.

[EVC]

Very nice story, Rob… 

It gives me great pleasure to know my grandsons are fighting over who gets my Monte.. 

Ed C 😐

[Glen]

Great story Rob.  I also recently was able to connect with the guy who owned my 70 three owners ago. I’ll share the whole story another time, but it was nice to get some history on the car and validation that the mileage when I bought her (54,921) is original.