The Story behind the Car
Back in the summer of '89 I bought my '71 Charger R/T 440- 4 speed Trac Pac car with the optional N96 fresh air package. I knew when I bought it that it wasn't going to be painted the original GF7 Dark Green Metallic. Let us back-up over 3 decades ago.
In November of 1971 (Yes I'm dating myself) I made a trip from Medicine Hat to Calgary with my '71 Charger 6 Pac R/T I had bought from Gardner Motors where I worked. I was sitting at a light in Kensington when a new 1971 Panther Pink Charger R/T pulled out in front of me. WOW!! It looked fantastic!
I noticed it had B.C. plates, the factory air grabber and rear spoiler. I followed the car through downtown and finally lost it on Macleod Trail. I thought at the time it would be cool to have a Pink car like that but, I would probably get pretty sick of it driving it every day.
So when I bought this car I knew it was going to be Pink. Well I trailered the car home and stripped it down to an empty rolling chassis. A few days later we hauled the car to a friend's farm where we stored it inside until 2003.
Finally I had saved enough money and room on the credit cards to get Terry at Investment Vehicle Restorations to do all the body work and get the car into paint. Terry took extra care in doing the job with the plan to put the car in the World of Wheels. That summer I brought the car home to start on the assembling. Because I work 7 days a week the car only seen the odd day of work here and there. Plus I still had to collect a few new parts and find more money.
Two and a half years later and over 600 hours the car was ready to go. Now the big problem is should I drive it or sell it? It is still a #1 car at this point. I sold the car to Rob Blair with a chance to buy my 6 Pac R/T Charger back???? In September 2008 I bought my 6 pack Charger R/T back.
Thanks,
Dean Tilleman
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