November 5th, 1975 (yeah, I know, I'm stupid with dates, anniversaries, etc but it just sticks with me)
Anyway, November 5th, 1975 I traded my 1965 Canso SD for a 66 Grande Parisienne. It was black, black Strato bench interior, 283, Powerglide, power brakes, that's about it. Owned it for 15 years and sold it. During that time, I also owned another 66 Grande Parisienne factory 4 speed, big block, lots of options. I owned that one 1981 to 1989. I haven't had a GP since and as lots of you have heard, I've been longing for one.
Fast forward exactly 36 years to the day, November 5th 2011 I drive north of Winnipeg to see a 66 Grande Parisienne that is advertised on Kijiji, no pictures. The seller is not around but his wife shows me the car and I know in 15 minutes that this is "my" car. It only worked out for me today to finally go and pick it up. I've been sitting on this since Saturday night, waiting to get the car and it's been driving me crazy!
Driver quality. It runs, drove on to the trailer but likely is in need of a rebuild is my guess. Last sticker was 2007 on the plate. It's exactly what I was hoping for.
-Right colour
-Reasonably solid car
-Affordable
-Close to home so I could inspect it
-Great history
Here's how it looked when I went on Saturday:
And now, today---
Same rare GM accessory tach that Ken (66Grande) has in his. However, mine seems to be stuck!
This was a bonus when I looked under it on Saturday.
And this was a real bonus when I picked it up today. Parts book chassis manual, owner's manual.
And like some others, I'll be looking for 2 66 "Grande" emblems.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
whoooo hooo!Was that the factory 8 track in the trunk?Take out the muffler and put it on the ford.You are gonna be busy now,alot more cars on Carl Island!party on carl
Finally, is correct!!! Protect-O-Plate?? Those Classic emblems look to be off the mid '90's Caprice.... Too bad on the Grande's... Jim has dibs on these.... BUT, I will keep my eyes peeled!!!
-- Edited by 67Poncho on Wednesday 9th of November 2011 09:46:26 PM
Finally, is correct!!! Protect-O-Plate?? Those Classic emblems look to be off the mid '90's Caprice.... Too bad on the Grande's... Jim has dibs on these.... BUT, I will keep my eyes peeled!!!
-- Edited by 67Poncho on Wednesday 9th of November 2011 09:46:26 PM
Oh great, rub it in!!!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Awesome Carl! It was getting harder and harder to keep the secret! I'm sure it's no coincidence that you got this GP on the same date as your first one!
The other night I sat down at the computer and was planning to email Jeremy and tell him I'd buy his black 67 Canso SD for 10K. (I think that car was a steal.)
I think that was Thursday night. I decided that since our son was happier with the 67 Nova, I'd have to keep on waiting for the right 66 GP. I had searched Kijiji once again that night to no avail. Late that night, Beaumont4008 sent me a note saying to check Kijiji, there was a 66 GP on there! The ad had no email address, no phone number so my only hope was to email through Kijiji and wait for a reply. Waited, waited, no reply, no reply, kept emailing, searched sellers other items for sale, found one of the ads that had a facebook contact, signed into Facebook (into my account I had created and logged into TWICE in my life!), waited, waited and finally got an email Saturday! Got a number, called, didn't suit seller to show it Saturday and I couldn't go Sunday! Twisted his arm hard until he relented and said I could go look at it out in the country where it was stored and his daughter could let me see it. Wanted the car, seller was not available until Sunday afternoon!!!
Patience my aching butt Vince, I was annoying and persistent!!!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Thanks Ray. When I looked outside tonight on the trailer, it all just looked totally normal to see a 66 GP on my yard. Those cars were a big part of me from 75 to 90 and I have missed having a classic "boat" as the rest of my family describes it.
-- Edited by Carl Stevenson on Friday 11th of November 2011 10:51:01 PM
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Congrats Carl We all have that one that we shouldn't have let get away. But you've been able to recapture yuour dream. Hopefully someday I'll get mine.
NICE!!!! Congrats !!!! The RIGHT colour combo for sure
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1960 Pontiac Strato Chief Safari 1960 Laurentian Safari 1960 Laurentian 4door(scrapped) 2001 Grand Am Traded on a '96 Suburban 2WD 2002 Hyundai Accent(SOLD) 1968 Grand Parisienne Scrapped and SOLD
Good score carl appears to be in fairly solid cond.???Hows frame floors trunck etc???MB. Car???
Haven't found any frame rust so far. From what I can see, the floors are good too. I think the trunk may have had a repair by each tub (common) but looks like if it was, small repair and well done.
Oh, I forgot to mention a cool thing about it. It was sold new at Winnipeg Motor Products, same place my 65 Acadian came from.
The original owner passed away last year. He had signed the ownership over to his brother who in turned signed it over to his (brother's) son. So, if you followed that, I got it from the nephew of the original owner. The whole family knows the history of the car since new.
The widow apparently has all the original paperwork from the purchase.I asked about it but they are not sure she would be willing to give it up. I asked if I could at least get a copy of it but told them I understand if they don't want to do that. It sure would be cool to get it all though.
The nephew told me he thinks the original bill of sale is framed and hanging on the wall in his aunt's house!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
