advertised to sell as the final-ever Superbird sold as a ‘new car,’ as it was titled for the first time ever in 1985. Only has 14, 350 miles on it. Damn shame no one really drove and appreciated it.
I can understand how a dealer owned car can hang around new for so long. Possibly acknowledged as being something a little special, and just too damn good to give away, it found itself in the possession of someone who could afford to just put it away and worry about it later. In 1982, Ford Australia succumbed to the second oil crisis and general social changes of the time and for some reason announced they were to end production of V8's in this country. Of course this changed later. The last V8 off the production line on the 25th of November 1982 was a Silver 302 Cleveland, 4 speed sedan in a pack called the ESP Ghia. It had a gold plaque on the dash stating what it was, and the date. My ex father in law was a Ford Dealer, and a successful one. He was presented this car at a Ford dealer function. He had it delivered to his main showroom and it sat in the back corner on display for nearly 10 years. At this time he sold the dealership and kept the car. It was stored for another 15 years or so in a shed in the middle of a used truck yard until that property was sold. Another brief appearance at another dealership before they went broke only to go back into storage some where to this day. The last I saw it in the early 2000's it had 00000029 klm's, mostly from going on and off transport trucks. It also has all its factory pre-delivery stickers and markings, plus full factory warranty from day of registration. To this day it remains unregistered. So few people have seen this car that Google, Bing, and Wikipedia have no images of it, 34 years on.
good story, sure does bring up how simple it is for a car with notoriety to go under the radar and stay off the internet. I work at a dealership, and the original owner guy died about 10 years ago. But he liked his muscle cars, and could afford to tell the factory what to make for him... and then never drive them. His widow doesn't want to sell them, so his 70 Challenger with 16k miles and 92 Viper with 1600 miles sit in the used car show room. The Viper is the 26th off the production line, tires are dry rotting, and it never will get driven.
I can understand how a dealer owned car can hang around new for so long. Possibly acknowledged as being something a little special, and just too damn good to give away, it found itself in the possession of someone who could afford to just put it away and worry about it later.
ReplyDeleteIn 1982, Ford Australia succumbed to the second oil crisis and general social changes of the time and for some reason announced they were to end production of V8's in this country. Of course this changed later.
The last V8 off the production line on the 25th of November 1982 was a Silver 302 Cleveland, 4 speed sedan in a pack called the ESP Ghia. It had a gold plaque on the dash stating what it was, and the date.
My ex father in law was a Ford Dealer, and a successful one.
He was presented this car at a Ford dealer function. He had it delivered to his main showroom and it sat in the back corner on display for nearly 10 years. At this time he sold the dealership and kept the car. It was stored for another 15 years or so in a shed in the middle of a used truck yard until that property was sold. Another brief appearance at another dealership before they went broke only to go back into storage some where to this day. The last I saw it in the early 2000's it had 00000029 klm's, mostly from going on and off transport trucks. It also has all its factory pre-delivery stickers and markings, plus full factory warranty from day of registration. To this day it remains unregistered. So few people have seen this car that Google, Bing, and Wikipedia have no images of it, 34 years on.
good story, sure does bring up how simple it is for a car with notoriety to go under the radar and stay off the internet. I work at a dealership, and the original owner guy died about 10 years ago. But he liked his muscle cars, and could afford to tell the factory what to make for him... and then never drive them. His widow doesn't want to sell them, so his 70 Challenger with 16k miles and 92 Viper with 1600 miles sit in the used car show room. The Viper is the 26th off the production line, tires are dry rotting, and it never will get driven.
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