vintage cars
STORIES AS CLASSIC AS THE CARS FROM OUR READERS
1 high school stories
My favorite memory of Route 66 was with my sister Amanda. It was her freshman year, and my senior year at Albuquerque High School. My Dad and I had just gotten my 1972 Nova running and on the road. My sister and I, thinking we were cool, thought we would cruise down to Pop n’ Taco on Central and Edith. We decided to go through the drive thru, and because of the loud Cherry Bomb exhaust, I had to shut off the car to place our order. Well, unfortunately the car wouldn’t start again and we had to push it through the drive thru! We were pretty embarrassed at the time, but thankful we can look back and laugh at the good memories. I still own my 72 Nova but these days I enjoy cruising the musical highway on Route 66 in my 1967 GTO.
2 Matt’s 1979 Chevrolet Corvette L82
Choosing a classic car to remodel has been a dream of mine for over 15 years. I chose the Corvette because I was always a fan of that styling, as well as the iconic nature of this automobile. My direction in this restoration is to bring it back to its original condition, enjoy the curves and definitely the sounds. Working on this car has been a lot of greasy, dirty work just getting it to this point, but it has been so much fun learning and appreciating the engineering behind this car. Settling into the driver’s seat, you can feel the car welcomingly wrap around you. The 350 V-8 still naturally sounds like an unhinged beast; growling at the turn of the key even after all these years. It is pulse-pounding excitement when you step on the gas pedal and hear her “roar”! No silly modern day mufflers here, like other modern cars on the road, made to only sound ‘tough’ – the power under this hood is almost dangerous, almost. As you can tell, restoring my Corvette has been gratifying, and sometimes frustrating, but at the end of the day it has been fulfilling because all of that greasy work will soon lead to what has been described as greasy, hot speed.
3 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible
This vehicle is an original 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, which has been lowered 3-inches in the back and 2-inches in the front. Rolling on 560 wide white wall tires, which are way smaller than the original tires that had come with car. The car was purchased in Arizona and the car was sent down from father to son. Unfortunately the son had to sell the vintage convertible due to an unforeseen financial situation.
4 1964 Chevrolet Impala
This car has been in my family since 1972. My grandfather, Gregorio Briceno, had originally purchased the car from a family in Barstow California. The car was just the shell with no engine, transmission, interior or any life. My grandfather restored the car back to its original state and down to its original maroon color. In 1982, my mother purchased the car from my grandfather and drove it from his home in California to her new home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The car was used as our family automobile, until my brothers went to High school around the late 80s to early 90s, which is when they started driving the vehicle to get to school. During this time my older brother wrecked the car into our house, blew the engine and bent the frame. This resulted in so much damage, not only to the house but the car as well. Due to this, the car sat idle until 1995, when I convinced my mom to give me the car in return I would work it off. I spent all summer working to save enough money to purchase a new engine and start the restoration of the car. I had the car running before I got my driver’s license. The car was my mode of transportation to school and work. I can recall so many memories from this vehicle. I took my girlfriend, now my wife, to our school dance in the car; I would cruise with my friends on the weekends on Central Boulevard; my daughter was born in 1997 and she came home from the hospital riding in the back seat of this car.
With life getting in the way, the restoration stopped for years. The car sat idle once again, until I finally was able to breathe life back into it and began restoring it all over again.
5 original 1938 Chevy master deluxe
A touch of VIEJITOS VICLEROS NUEVO MEXICO style. The paint from Albuquerque classic’s restored all the chrome like new, rims are 15 inch arteleries tires are firestone 15 inch 500. Accessories Fulton Viser, original passing lamp fog lights, Appleton spot lights, Fulton fan, Fulton view finder, just alot of goodies all around. Original 216 straight-6 engine.