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One of the most enjoyable past times for me and my wife is taking weekend drives through the back roads of our small town looking for old cars. We enjoy going to areas we have never been and enjoying the scenery. It appeared while on our back road excursions my wife was coming along simply as a means of doing something different. In the beginning we had no intention of actually buying a car. Things changed, she began revealing a side of her that had been hidden all those years. She began spotting cars well in advance of me. Not only did she spot those cars, she knew what they were. “My friend in high school had a car like that it’s a…”, “My parents had a car like that it’s a…and I think it had a 4 something engine” ouch, “There’s a…” and “There’s a…. For a guy that was an immediate turn on! It was then I knew we might actually buy one.

The 1962 Gulf Oil Corvette Race Car sold for $1.65 million at a recently held RM Sotheby’s auction. It was sold with eight other first and second generation Chevrolet Corvettes that made up the Andrews Collection, yet the Gulf Oil Corvette generated more than half of the total value of the collection.

I’m at a car show drooling over a drop-dead gorgeous ’69 Chevelle SS 396. I had one when I wore younger man’s clothes. I want one… trouble is they’re priced way out of sight. While wiping my drool from his car, the Chevelle’s owner tells me that a friend has an El Camino for sale. Sounds interesting. I always liked the El Caminos and there are not a lot of them left.

Three months ago, we brought you the story of Terry Dietrich and her 1972 Chevrolet Corvette — the one she bought at age 19, had stolen six months later and was found 43 years afterwards by a car restorer in North Carolina. At the time, it looked like Dietrich would never get her car back thanks to an ocean of red tape. That ocean parted Monday, and Dietrich had a reunion in her driveway.

Time: 3 hours

Tools: standard socket set, rubber mallet, crankshaft socket, breaker bar, feeler gauge

Cost: approximately $50 for bearings and supplies

Tinware: quality set of rod bearings, Plastigage, 3/8”rubber hose

Tip: To avoid scratching or damaging the cylinder walls when removing or installing piston and rod assemblies, cut two short lengths of 3/8” hose and slide it over the rod bolts.

Performance gains: smooth, reliable operation from the lower rotating assembly

After many months of looking, driving, searching and disappointment, turning into the long driveway in Caro, Michigan, my wife Barbi loudly exclaimed "That's It!" Sitting at the end of the driveway was this beautifully restored 1953 F600 that had been listed on Craigslist. We greeted the owner, and without hesitation, I told him that we would buy it. I asked him the story behind the vehicle, but he didn't know too much about it. We agreed on the price, and I was now driving this classic for the next six hours to Petoskey, MI.

Our '55 Chevy Bel Air began its life in Baltimore, MD, and somehow found its way out to California. It is believed that in 1972 the original owner of our car was stopped by the California Highway Patrol and arrested for drunk driving. The car was impounded and sent to the Mojave Desert Auto Wrecking Yard. There, it would be abandoned and parts taken from it for the next five years.