Way back in time,peering thru the mist to 1966,I remember my big brother finally buying his car,after we had searched and searched,test drove a zillion cars,and he talked Mom and Dad,into signings on this car. He was 19,in college,and I was 16,still,of course,in high school.Dad and I were the "wrenches" of the family,and I had passed him by that age.Brother and his friends were always bringing cars over for me to change carbs,manifolds,heads,ect.
Anyway,back to the mist of time. Brother had been turned down for a 64 ,tri power,4 speed, GTO, dealer wanted to much.Twas a black beauty,sadly we bid her farewell. Few days later,up drive brother in a tux. black,61 fuelly.Priced at 12 hundred,99 bucks a month, it just fit into his budget...with,of course,my help. Ah,what a car this was. We worked together,could only buy 2 mags (radar) at a time,mohawk tires and lots of polish. Brother was cool,joe cool, in his vette and soon just raced other cars that "deserved " it. We took it to Phoniex City drag strip (outside of Columbus Georgia) more than a few times. Brother would let me drive it to school and on dates..for a price,of course. Being 16, I drove the heck out of it,taking on all commers. Can you say,"power shift ,here we go" lol. But like i said,brother was "joe cool".
Showing off for a cheerleader,brother ran thru the gears (with me in it). He perhaps should have drove down the road before he did that. Yep,almost a right hand turn/curve lay just down the road.Brother froze,with foot down on the go pedal.The vette flipped on its side after running down an small embankment,thru the hedges,that were being trimed at the time. Wrecker comes,we both get picture in local Columbus paper,"sports car flips".
Bill Heard Chevy was chosen to fix. Brother ask if I would go half on new paint job(100 dollars to change colors). Ok, I say. As car was being repaired,we walked thru stageing area and "replaced" parts that were missing,such as little round inside door handles,to match new color. Out comes a gleaming,Ermin white,shinny as heck, 61 fuelly. We even had the trunk sprayed in spotted gray and black( I think) ,very cool. Brother had me go in with him to buy a new top (rag) and get the black seats resown. Brother had other ideas also.
He wanted me to go in with him to have a front straight axle put under it from a ford van. Was the "style" of the time.Fortunetly,I didnt. We still raised heck in that car,even took it up to 155 by the speedo,before the clutch stared to smoke..lol,thats another story.
Anyway,all good things must end and brother had to sell the vette. Took darn near a month to get 12 hundred back out of it,but we did. A solider from Fort benning bought it.Hope its still around,and hope the solider is too,as it was the era of Vietnam.

 

Nice story exceptin for the wreck part of it, but oh well, I betcha you have a smile on your face when you think of that car, that story and your cool brother. Thanks for sharing,,,Peace, Moosie