Gary bought this 68 Torino Squire wagon new. “I special ordered it with the towing package,” Williams says. “Only 158 were built with the GT 390 engine, disc brakes, heavy-duty suspension and eight-ply tires"

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/inside-the-ford-total-performance-show

original owner of an immaculate 58 Impala just sold it. No info on how much, or the mileage

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.rumley/posts/pfbid02xPQDxdgV5ShSJAGELZNB4k1r4kh11dLue45obrKKiSHHvbbBesHtgjhk3AaVuCFal

Amelia bought this car brand new off the showroom floor at Central Chevrolet, in downtown Columbia, SC. Her dad loaned her $500 for the down payment. Then went and ordered the cruiser skirts at Kenny's Auto Supply in Columbia when the car was new.

this GT350 fastbacks built for 1968, this was a commuter for 24 years, 5 while attending college, then 7 as a tax accountant, and 12 more during an FBI career. No AC, and an automatic... in Florida, Alabama, and new Jersey

Joining the FBI had not been on Sizemore’s radar when he was in high school. He was also working part-time at Southside Ford in Jacksonville as a mechanic’s assistant in electrical and tune-up. His dad worked in the dealership’s parts department.

The teen saw Shelbys in the dealership, but it was not until he was driving behind a ’68 in his mildly hotrodded ’59 Chevy that he felt the urge to buy one. He followed it into a Lou Bono’s BBQ restaurant, captivated by the car’s sequential turn signals, a feature of the 1965 Thunderbird taillights used on 1968-1970 Shelbys.

“When I saw those, I immediately thought, ‘That’s my car,” he remembers.

That summer, Sizemore had money from his job and from selling his Chevy. Because he’d earned a full two-year athletic scholarship to Florida Junior College, his parents approved his using the $1500 they’d saved for his education toward a car.

“My mom helped talk my dad into letting me buy a Shelby, but he would not allow a GT500 KR,” Sizemore says. “I guess he figured I’d hurt myself, and he was probably right.”

That July, Southside Ford still had a half-dozen ’68 models on the lot. The young man picked a GT350 with the automatic transmission but without air conditioning.

“I knew that the A/C would take a little bit of horsepower when it was on, and I didn’t want to give up any. I regretted that decision every Southern summer since!”

At college in Florida, Sizemore became an All-American in cross country and two years later earned a full scholarship at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The Shelby went with him. His girlfriend, Cathy, also attended UA and owned a 1967 Mustang six-banger hardtop with a three-speed stick. The couple married in 1970 and recently celebrated their 55th anniversary.

With his accounting degree, Sizemore first worked for a Jacksonville CPA firm and picked up extra cash working in his dad’s gas station on weekends. He had hood stripes added to the Shelby, saying the shop did “a halfway decent job.”

In 1980 and with two children, Alton III and Kimberly, the family began moving around with Sizemore’s FBI assignments: Jacksonville, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Birmingham. In the Jacksonville office, a colleague spotted the 1977 Wallace Wyss book, “Shelby’s Wildlife,” on Sizemore’s desk and offered to get it autographed by Carroll Shelby through a connection. He got it back six months later, with the signature.

“The Shelby sat in the garage a lot, and we got a second car, a Plymouth Volare station wagon with a Slant Six. My wife hated it and couldn’t wait to get rid of it.”

Sizemore’s drive from D.C. to his Birmingham assignment in 1992 was the Shelby’s last such trip.

“I met so many people in the Bureau, but even now, when I talk to someone I haven’t seen in years, the first question they ask is how I’m doing, and the second is always, ‘Do you still have the Shelby?’”

“I wanted to preserve it for my family, so I needed to be more careful with it,” he says. “When I retired in 2005, I went right back to work as a forensic accountant and had the extra income to get the Shelby restored. It wasn’t in poor condition, but it had 40 years and 130,000 miles of wear. I wanted it to be like new again.”

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/original-owner-slick-taillights-sparked-an-fbi-agents-mission-to-buy-a-1968-shelby

It's not a barnfind... Jim knows damn good and well his Porsche 356 is in the garage, where it's been for for a while. He intends to give the 356 to one of his sons, the other gets a Mercedes

Jim bought it before his Air Force adventures, then he was a pilot for United

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/vietnam-vet-bought-a-new-porsche-356c-in-1965-60-years-later-it-s-still-in-the-garage-260235.html#agal_0

original owner has held onto their 79 Camaro

 

and it has this very unique and specific grill ornament... I looked online, and the usual ones didn't have the year 

The 1972 SS396 Camaro... not very common, and this one? Still owned by the guy who bought it at age 17!

He optioned it with air conditioning, power steering, a center console, and posi. Overall, the extras added up to over $1,500, more than half the base price $2,879 of a regular Camaro Sport Coupe.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/17-yo-buys-new-1972-chevrolet-camaro-ss396-53-years-later-takes-it-to-its-first-car-show-246405.html#

Harry Carson From West Virginia and his survivor 1970 Plymouth GTX he has had since day one.Only 44,600 miles on it

Except for air conditioning and power steering, his 1970 GTX has pretty much everything on it – a radio with stereo 8-track, a console, the floor-shifted automatic, power disc brakes on the front, undercoating

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/vietnam-veteran-bought-a-new-1970-gtx-55-years-later-he-still-drives-the-survivor-246206.html

Margaret Kloecker of St. Louis has hung on to her 1971 high school graduation present, a Plum Crazy 1970 Charger with a 383... she got it for the last 2 months of high school, and used it to deliver tools and drive to ballet classes

the first time she laid eyes on the Plum Crazy machine; “That fun day began in April, and I began cruising around my town and rolling through the parking lots of the Steak ‘N Shakes where the high school kids hung out. They’d do a double take on a girl driving an awesome muscle car with high-impact purple paint.”

 But it wasn’t all about looking cool for young Margaret among her peers. “I delivered tools in the Charger for my dad’s business and drove to my ballet classes, rehearsals and performances"

her father was a Mopar guy, a mechanic and a Mac Tool Salesman.  Her dad accepted a Cornwell Tool Distributorship in 1973 and Margaret went to work for the Tool Company in 1974

https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/owners-clubs/2024/12/daughters-1970-high-school-graduation-present-was-a-new-dodge-charger.html

rare all-original 1970 slant-six Barracuda that a woman bought in 1970 as a retirement gift to herself, and she kept it until now, when it's been put on Ebay, for 43k, obo. It's not likely to get more than 25k. It's rusty

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196682982066
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/grandma-s-retirement-gift-needs-a-home-original-1970-barracuda-is-a-family-owned-surprise-241907.html

Chuck Knudsen saved for 3 years to buy this Cyclone GT at age 19 in 1968, he parked it in 1974, kept it ever since, and stored it 47 years without a drive, only to finally restore it!

Chuck was a teenager in 1966 when his father took him to a Ford dealership and in the showroom sat a Cyclone that drew his attention so fully that he told his father he wanted one. Knudson Sr., informed him ‘When you’ll have enough money, you can have it.’

Chuck saved money for three years, and in the fall of 1968, he ordered a brand-new Cyclone GT 390, and drove his Mercury through college

For the next 2,744 days (seven years, six months, and six days), the Mercury was his primary car. On June 5, 1976, he parked the car in the family garage, and that was it. The odometer reading was 32,282 miles

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/19-year-old-saved-money-for-three-years-to-buy-a-new-1969-mercury-cyclone-gt-he-still-owns-231492.html#

Johnny Davis was a 9-year-old in 1961 Macon, Georgia, and was focused on earning enough money from his daily newspaper route to buy a car by the time he got his driver’s license. He still has the 69 Olds 442 he bought new

Outgrowing the paper route at age 15, he boosted his earnings to about $1 per hour at a grocery store job.

it has a 400 cu in and a 3.42 gear set in the back, and power steering

the 4-4-2’s price tag was nearly four grand. Johnny got a much-needed $567 discount from the dealer, a friend of his father’s. That brought the cash price down to $3553 with Georgia’s sales tax. “I had a little over $3000, so I had to borrow $600,” he remembers.

In 1985, with 140,000 miles on the clock, the 4-4-2 went into Johnny’s one-car garage and under a cover for a 15-year rest.

The restoration was nut and bolt, and took 5 years in the garage, completed in 2005. With the body off and engine sent out for a rebuild, the frame was powder-coated. Johnny added front disc brakes, which necessitated 15-inch wheels to replace the original 14-inchers.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/original-owner-this-georgia-man-bought-an-olds-4-4-2-with-money-hed-been-earning-since-age-9/

original owners of a 66 396 SS Chevelle parked it in the yard in the mid 1980s, at the end of it's daily driver use, and it just sat there for 35 years. Then it was sold, refurbed, and they got to take it to a car show

https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2022/11/12/video-original-owners-drive-their-rusty-1966-chevelle-ss-396-to-a-car-show/

Original owner of a 70 Malibu got a rare mix of SS parts on her Malibu, as she bought it when they were starting to put 1971 parts on the 70s, and it's got buckets, center console, and round gauges with tach. Not 70 Malibu normal stuff!

round dials and tachometer normally featuring on the top-of-the-line SS version of the 1970 Chevelle, as well as the deletion of the side vent window according to H&H Classic.

https://www.hotcars.com/grandmas-ride-1970-chevelle-malibu-50-years/

Hagerty now has a weekly "original owner" article.... a new series showcasing people who bought a classic car new and still own it. The cars don’t need to be factory-original, just still in the hands of the first owner and still getting driven.

In the summer of 1969, Ray Eugenio was 19 in army service in Vietnam. He was stationed at the 29th Evacuation Hospital on an airbase and ordered a 1970 Plymouth ’Cuda 340, through the PX

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/original-owner-a-young-soldier-buys-his-dream-car-in-a-warzone/

the MCACN (Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals) is full of just exactly the vehicles I'm most interested in,

 the Mr Norm 1974 Dart Sport sold new with a Six Pack ( mentioned here https://moparconnectionmagazine.com/gallery-winged-mopars-invade-mcacn-2022/ ) still owned by the original owner

Mr. Norm’s personal conversion van

here are some links to other sites coverage of past years...    

https://blog.consumerguide.com/auto-shows/mcacn/

https://www.motortrend.com/news/car-crafts-top-25-picks-2017-muscle-car-corvette-nationals/

https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/uncategorized/2021/12/mopar-vehicles-shine-at-the-muscle-car-and-corvette-nationals.html 

https://musclecarsillustrated.com/mcacn-2022/

https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/events/2022/11/muscle-car-and-corvette-nationals-rumble-into-chi-town.html

https://adventuresofacargirl.wordpress.com/2022/11/29/mcacn-2022/

it stayed in the family 52 years, was restored 5 years ago, and was sold for $230k to fund the retirement of the original owner. That's pretty good use of a musclecar. 1970 GTO Judge convertible

Ram Air III with a 400 and and a 3 spd auto

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-pontiac-gto-54

Bob Karakashian has hung on to his A12 Super Bee Six Pack for over 50 years

His parents drove a Coronet Station Wagon, and his older brother had a 1965 Coronet with a 426 Street Wedge. So, it’s easy to see how Bob got his love for the Dodge brand. 

Another life-altering moment for Bob came when his family moved from Highland Park to Farmington Hills, Michigan, in the mid-to-late 1960s. One of his neighbors was none other than Tom Hoover

“In 1969 I was in my second year of college and I wanted to buy my first new car. After driving my brother’s ’65 Coronet with the 426 wedge, I knew I wouldn’t be happy with a 383 Road Runner or 383 Super Bee, as they ran about the same as the 426 wedge. I really wanted a 426 hemi Road Runner, GTX or Super Bee but it just wasn’t feasible, being a full-time college student at Lawrence Tech University,” reminisced Bob.

The Mopar gearhead he was, Bob asked Tom Hoover for some advice on what new car to purchase. “Bobby, I think we have a new package coming out that you’re really going to like,” said Hoover.

With that, Hoover gave Bob all the specs on the new mid-year A12 Six Pack option on the 1969 Super Bee with a matte black fiberglass liftoff hood held on by hood pins, Dana 60 axle with a 4.10 ratio and, of course, a 390-horsepower 440 big-block with three Holley carburetors mounted on an aluminum Edelbrock intake

With a mere 1,400 miles on the Super Bee’s odometer and with that pungent new car smell emanating from the interior, a Racer Brown SSH-25 camshaft and JR Headers got installed to give the already stout 440 Six Pack even more horsepower. “My mother and father were so upset seeing their son take apart his brand-new car, but when they saw Mr. Hoover helping me and teaching me things like how to degree a camshaft, set ignition timing, adjusting the carburetors and other things, my parents’ attitude quickly changed.

By the early to mid-1970s, Bob’s Six Pack Super Bee saw less street duty and more drag strip usage, specifically racing in Super Stock and eventually Stock Eliminator. During this period, Bob’s Super Bee was used as a development vehicle to evaluate prototype performance parts and packages for the new Mopar Direct Connection program.

With its original red paint still shining bright, pristine engine compartment looking as if you can eat off it and interior that smells as fresh as when it was delivered to the dealer in the spring of 1969, it’s hard to tell Bob’s Super Bee has made thousands of passes down the drag strip. Make no mistake, it may look like a restored muscle car with only 20,000 miles, but Bob’s basically stock blueprinted 440 Six Pack Super Bee can click off 12.0-second ETs on the skinny production G70X15 Redline Bias Ply tires anytime at any track.

https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/owners-clubs/2020/06/six-pack-super-bee-still-stings-after-50-years.html

Betty Shaw, of Ontario Canada, has been driving her 68 Mustang, for over 50 years (thank you Andrew! )

see the video on Twitter at : 

https://twitter.com/cbcthenational/status/1556966020731981824  as there is NOTHING on the internet about Betty or Mustang other than that

with 47 years of ownership, Dennis has kept his 75 Road Runner immaculate

One weekend evening in the summer of 1976, while driving her mother home, a young lady named Ellen noticed Dennis and the Road Runner. Ellen pointed out the Road Runner to her mother, and as she gestured, Dennis noticed her. 

After dropping her mother at home, Ellen stated she would take a little drive. She was soon back where she saw the Road Runner. Just minutes later, Dennis flagged down Ellen in her Firebird.

After their impromptu meeting, the Road Runner became a focal point in their courtship. Ellen used the Road Runner to drive her bride’s maids to be fitted for their gowns. Dennis and Ellen were married in December of 1976, and the Road Runner was the mode of transportation during the honeymoon. On the second day of the honeymoon, the Road Runner had to navigate through a couple of inches of snow, one of the few times it encountered the white stuff. A few years later, Dennis and Ellen brought their daughter home from the hospital in the Road Runner.

https://moparconnectionmagazine.com/gallery-dennis-straussers-one-year-only-75-road-runner/

a GE engineer bought a brand-new Shelby GT350 Fastback in 1966 and after 56 years, he finally decided to sell it at auction today, and got nearly $400,000, for the super charged 289, with 491 hp, and only 29,431 miles

6S2045 has had the rare good fortune to be an original owner car until today, and that owner was able to take great care of it. 

By the early 1970s the government disallowed the use of premium fuels in  New York State, leaving 87-octane gasoline as the best that high-compression, high-performance engines could get at the gas stations, so, the owner lowered the compression ratio to avoid engine damage. 

He discovered that the cylinder heads from the 351 Windsor small-block offered more volume in the combustion chambers, and polished and CCd the chambers and installing stainless 1.9-inch intake and 1.6-inch exhaust valves. 

With compression lowered from 10.3:1 to 9.25:1, the engine pulled 491 HP at 6,000 RPM with a B&M Super Street camshaft and racing hydraulic lifters

 

https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0522-502543/1966-shelby-gt350-fastback