Katrina Victim

bstan70rr

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I thought some of yall might find this interesting. About ten years ago I found a 70 RR on ebay. I did not bid on it, but told the guy to call me if all his deals went bust. Two months later, he gets laid off and needs to sell the car. I cold called a Pep Boys in Ohio (I live in Mississipi), and I asked a mechanic there if he would look over the car and let me know what they thought. He loved it, but I was still not ready to pull the trigger. The seller offered to bring the car for me to inspect for $1000. He would take that off of the price of the car if I wanted it; otherwise, I would be out of $1000.

Long story short, the car was awesome. Bad-ass 383 pistol grip 4 speed--woo-hoo!! I did not have to do too much to it. Mostly detail work. It was one of the nicest muscle cars in the area.

Fast forward to August 2005. I am getting ready to head into the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. My wife calls at about 4:00 and lets me know the tropical storm has blossomed into a category 5 hurricane. At first I thought she was kidding, but she was able to overcome my alcohol induced perspective, and I promised to head home.....after the race.

Fun night still at the race. Sleeping in the truck at a nearby truck stop. Driving twelve hours when everyone else is heading AWAY from the gulf coast. Getting home to batten down the house. Cooking dinner. Sitting down at 9:00 and seeing the friggin' storm of the century for the first time. I wasn't planning on leaving until i saw it and heard Jim Cantori explain what we should expect. We left at 9:00 that night. (And here is the sad part: I did not have another licensed driver and never really thought we would get that much water, so I left my 70 Road Runner in the safety of my garage--right next to my son's 72 Dart without an engine and transmission.)

Katrina and nine feet of water. My car, fully weighed down with engine and tranny, gets washed about fifty feet away. My son's Dart does not move. GO FIGURE!!!

Car is wasted. Not too beat up, but it was under water. No explanation needed. The only weird thing was the twenty pound chunk of concrete I found in the passenger seat. I guess I was lucky the passenger window was down. LOL!!!

I trade the car and $3000 for a 67 Dart convertible that needs some work.

The new owner pittles with it for a couple of years and sells it to a guy in Ohio.

Now, I know the car is back in it's former home state, but I do not know how to get in touch with the original owner that sold it to me.

This last Sunday night I get a call from the original owner, and he tells me that.........get this..............he just found the car on ebay and is going to be picking it up Tuesday.

I am not sure you can go more full circle than that.

Just thought yall might be bored and want a good bedtime story. Here is the ebay address (the guy was actually in the process of parting it out):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Plym...Cars_Trucks&hash=item20bfc07fa7#ht_500wt_1022
 

abodybill

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Good story about your car. :thumbsup:

Sorry it had to happen that way but my dad always had a saying what goes around comes around.

Looks like a complete resto needed but when done be a very nice car again.

Another good Mopar will not die. :beep:
 

A31PKG

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Wow! Great story, sounds like the kind of topic that MCG writes about. I saw that car on the bag a day or so ago... man, water can do incredible damage. You really can't imagine it until you've seen it in person.... At least it's "home"!
 

John69RR

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Great story. I remember that storm. A month later the media built up Rita so much that almost everyone left Houston. Glad tha car is going to be saved.
 

Basketcase

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wow...only three hours from me. damn shame.
but l can't get past why someone put a BLUE fender on a GREEN car.... :acme: :jester:
 
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