I completely neglected to realize that I only introduced my car. . . Didn't say a word about myself. lol

I'll be 23 in about 2 weeks, I served in the U.S. Army, went to college for a couple years, and came home last spring to be with my Mom and my Sister after my Dad passed away. I've been into cars for as long as I can remember, I used to be able to pick out the make and model (as well as approximate year) of a car by the shape of it's headlights or taillights alone at night, I think I was around 6 when I started doing that. Dad was an Auto Body/Paint Tech by trade, he taught me everything I know. I'm going to be doing the paint and body work on the GTP myself, to save money, but also because I just don't trust other people with my vehicles.

I'm also a pretty avid motorcyclist, I got into bikes a few years ago, and took a break from them while I was stationed in Korea serving in the Army. I bought an '01 GSXR 600 last summer, fixed it up (it was laid down, I replaced all the fairings on it), and sold it in late summer for more than 3x what I paid for it. I also had an '83 Suzuki GS750ES, but it was pretty much a piece, and I wound up selling it for about twice what I paid for it.

I picked up a "project bike" (that's putting it lightly) that is in about a thousand different pieces in my garage right now, in need of a new motor, wiring harness, brakes, basically everything but the frame. It was a '75 Honda CB750, I picked it up for $50 to turn into a chopper, so even if it doesn't make it that far, it was worth it just to have something to tinker around with.

Lets see. . . My Dad and I were working on a project car when he passed away (it was still unfinished, he died while I was away in the Army), a 1970 Monte Carlo "SS" Clone. It's powered by a 454 BBC bored to 468, 12.5:1 CR, Offenhauser closed chamber heads, Edelbrock intake, and a Holley 850 "double pump" carb, with 3" Flowmaster true dual exhaust with an H-Pipe. The trans is a built TH350. The conservative estimates we've heard from people who are "in the know" about engines range from 600-750HP at the crank. I think it's probably a little lower than that, but I don't really know a whole lot about it, I've only built a few engines.

No matter, the Monte is my Baby. It's the one car that no matter how hard times become, or how desperate I am, I will NEVER sell it. It represents 15 years of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. I remember when I was 5 years old and Dad used to let me "help" work on the Monte out in the garage. I remember years later, I was 14, and I spent an entire Friday night pulling the trans out of the car with Dad, then we drove it to Southfield to the trans mechanic's shop to be rebuilt. I remember when I was 16, and he let me drive it for the first time, the day after we got it back from the mechanic after the break-in was completed. I remember the days, weeks, months we spent rebuilding that BBC after the machine work was done. The sanding, grinding, and painting we did on the car.

Too many memories with that car. It's irreplaceable, and honestly, once it's finished, it will see the road maybe 25-50 miles a year. I drove it a grand total of about 35 miles last year. 4 miles to the tire shop to get new front tires, 14 miles when I drove it to Dad's funeral, 7 miles to pick my sister up from school in it once, and 10 miles to/from work one day, and around town that afternoon. It gets 2mpg, and due to the high compression, has to be run on 110 Leaded "Turbo Blue" race gas. I used about 18 gallons of gas in the car last year, driving 35 miles. At $6.99/gallon, that's an EXPENSIVE car to drive.

Here's a picture.