Briefly on the night of March 29th my car had the top spot, thanks to all who rated me up! Even Jesus agrees it's a nice car and we all know he wouldn't lie...I had it appraised yesterday for $12,500 which is more than it cost to build so I'm happy.

Here's what I can tell you about the history of both vehicles, thanks to Ontario's "Used Vehicle Indentification Package" and talking to my neighbour Ray, who owned the Caballero for 13 years. I'll start with what I know of it's history:

1985 GMC Caballero : built 11/84 in Ramos Arizpe Mexico. Aprox. 12/84 was delivered to Simon Motors of La Quinta Ca. On 1/11/85 was leased by Hyde's appliances of Palm Desert Ca. with 9 miles on the odo. They're still in business and I got in contact with them, learning they leased the car for 3 years and it was a light duty service vehicle. Ownership after the lease return is unknown but I do know the car was registered in Canada 6/22/94 by David Jewell in Troy Ontario. My neighbour Ray bought it from him 12/30/94. I think he told me it was sitting on a farm. He used it as an everyday car until I bought it in December 2007.

1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham : Built 12/83 in St. Therese Quebec. (A suburb of Montreal) Original dealership unknown, but it was registered by Jack Vanankum in Kitchener Ontario 12/29/83. Because of the particular options on the car I'd say it was special ordered by Mr. Vanankum. Next owned by James Young of Paris Ontario 2/10/00. Sold to Bradley Telfer of Brantford Ontario 11/14/00. In June 2007 Mr. Telfer decided to scrap the car and it was towed in to the junkyard where I was working. I was all over it while it was still sitting up on the flatbed already knowing what it's fate would ultimatly be. I traded a demo derby car for it, basically getting it for $200 6/22/07. It sat off in a corner at the wreckers until I brought it home 12/07. (I actually used the car as my office at this time and me and my buddy Jay would take our breaks in it. Good times!)

On the left are both car's serial numbers. The bottom one if for the Caballero, original and untouched. This is what the car is registered as since it's the frame and shell I used. The top one is from the Cutlass. (It's in my name and I even changed the colour on the ownership to orange!) I cut it off the cowl and it's just sitting there btween the windshield and dash. This way if any feds complain I can pull it out with a knife or pen. On the right is one of the two buildsheets I found for the Cutlass. This one was under the headliner, the other was behind the passenger side door panel. This was a very highly optioned car, had everything (Including power moonroof) except buckets and console. Even though I tore the Caballero right apart, I didn't find a buildsheet for it anywhere.

Just came across these two old ones, these are of the Cutlass in the wrecking yard, fresh off the tow truck. See that white Mercury Slopaz beside it? Long gone! Shredded and sent to Korea and then sent back here as 3, maybe 4 Hyundai Accents, which is what would've happened to the Cutlass had I not had a vision for it....In a way I recued it, half of it get's to live on!

Both cars were very complete considering I'm the 4th owner of each. The Caballero still had it's owner's manual folder, complete with the salesman's business card and the warranty page filled out with "Hydes appliances". The Olds had all it's stuff too, as well as the original "Complimentary tape cartridge" to go alng with the bitchin' Delco soundsystem. Hey Olds fans, anyone else got one of these? You wouldn't think too many of them survived...

Hey, isn't that master fabricator/welder/menace to society Carlo Galli? Yes it is! On March 29/09 Carlo came over for the day and gave me a hand with all the stereo equipment from my blue Cutlass. He chopped up a signboard (Quality plywood) and cut a board for behind the rear seat. We drove over to FabricLand (FabricLand!) and I bought some black felt to cover it up.

Here's the benefit of mounting the spare in the bed - using the hollow part as a sub enclosure. Not bragging, nothing fancy here but Carlo did a wicked job and it works great. We mounted my two 10's two 6X9's, small Alpine and amp and my Rockford Fosgate. Then on Carlo's advice I tore out the insulation and painted the metal parts grey like the rest of the trim back there. As Borat would say, "Looks verah nice!"

Put a little Olds power there in the middle. On the right is my Sony Xplod deck. Again nothing to brag about but I can plug my iPod into it so giddyup!

It was hard to take a good picture of, but another new adition is the 8 ball shift knob. The shift lever itself is from an '86 Parisienne. I liked the way it was angled, felt good. On the right is my giant warchest, covered in years worth of stuff. Kinda hard to see but I wrote "Have a nice day!" on that skull and crossbones sign.

Just a couple of random funny pics. The guy on the left is supposed to be on a motorcycle, but when I looked at him without his bike it looked to me like he was pinching a loaf. I heated up his wrists with a lighter and bent them 90 degress so he could hold a paper. The one he has is actually an AutoTrader magazine I cut down to size. For a couple of days guys would go in to take a leak and move this guy, then move him back when finished. On the right is a set of brass deer at my buddy John's mother's place. He sets them up like this then sees how long before his mom notices. Over and over again....

Here's something interesting - Kinda why I chose the colour orange. For X-mas 1979 I got the "Criss Cross Crash" Hot Wheels set on the left. I played the crap out of this, and my favourite car was the "Flatout 442" it came with. It's based on a '78 Cutlass aero coupe. (Other car was a black Ford Torino but who cares!) So when I was thinking of a colour for the Camino Supreme, I remembered how much I loved that orange Cutlass, and how you never really see them that colour. On the right is a mint "Flatout 442" I got off eBay, as well as the actual car I terrorized as a 5 year old. I really must thank my wife Heather for putting up with my childish indulgance, tracking down this car and all. You really are one of a kind and I love you!